Earlier in the week, we’re partnering with the World Water Film Festival to screen How to Poison a Planet, an award-winning documentary that exposes the global impact of PFAS contamination. Free tickets are available here!

Following the screening, Alaina from our team will be moderating a solutions-focused panel featuring:

• Rob Bilott, environmental attorney who first exposed PFAS contamination

• Gary Douglas and Rebecca Newman, lead counsel in the 3M PFAS settlement

• Dr. Junhong Chen, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory

• Michael Strande, father of late activist Amara Strande, who is featured in the documentary

• Mark Ruffalo (virtually), if his schedule allows. We hope to know this week if he’s able to participate!

Join an Illinois Solar for All: Bright Neighborhoods event to learn more about this limited-time initiative that allows residents in select Chicago West Side Neighborhoods, Waukegan, and the Carbondale-Marion area to save on electric bills!

The Bright Neighborhoods initiative helps income-eligible participants in selected communities save money on electric bills by installing solar panels with no upfront costs.

Act fast and sign up for Bright Neighborhoods by April 30, 2025. To get started, visit illinoisSFA.com/Bright.

Film Description: Innovative women are redefining our relationship with carbon by repurposing living materials, reengineering waste into valuable chemicals that clean the climate, and driving decarbonization in our built environment. They share life/work challenges while thriving in male-dominated industries. Their collective wisdom comes together to form a singular belief and purpose to restore, protect and ultimately preserve the planet. The secret lies in the Earth itself. Told through a feminine lens, the story delves into the minds and spirits of dedicated, driven and dynamic 21st century trailblazers whose work is placing them at the core of decarbonization, human health and economic opportunity.

Film Description: The film outlines a global warming reaction by several nation states, where the powerful use force, economics and illegal mercenaries to take control of food and water stocks. The narrative begins with the 2014 purchase of US-based Smithfield Foods by Chinese WH Group, which the filmmakers say gave away control of a quarter of all pigs in the US. It then follows other hard-to-explain deals, such as the purchase of arid land in Arizona by a Saudi company. Russians hiring American cowboys to work in a region too cold for farmland. And Blackwater deals to secure land in Africa. All these strange commercial arrangements are linked by "following the money", a phrase heard several times in the film, which identifies connections between governments, commercial enterprises and legal and illegal military actors such as mercenary companies. The filmmakers ultimately draw the conclusion that it is all planned responses to changes stemming from climate change.

Trash People exists to make it easier to contribute to and connect with community. We do this through our regular hyper-local clean ups, The Volunteer Fair, and our latest project, The Parlor - a resource redistribution project for people & planet.

The Grab will be preceded by One Earth’s annual Earth Day Action Fair, from 11:30A-1P in the Chicago Cultural Center GAR Rotunda. Details are forthcoming and will be shared to this page.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/earth-day-action-fair-chicago-cultural-center-gar-rotunda-tickets-1284791659439?aff=oddtdtcreator

Celebrate the 55th anniversary of Earth Day by taking action for our planet! Join One Earth Film Festival, the City of Chicago's Office of Climate & Environmental Equity, and partners working on environmental and climate justice initiatives. Visit with groups to learn about and plug into their work, opportunities, and events. Enjoy community and fellowship with other environmental advocates.

Film Description: Food, Inc. 2 is a 2023 documentary that examines the food industry's corporate consolidation and its impact on consumers and the environment. The film is a sequel to the 2008 Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. This movie, directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, picks up where the first one left off in exposing the at-times mind-bogglingly unwholesome practices of America’s corporate food concerns in manipulating us to consume that which is bad for us. But it begins by sharing the ostensibly good news, which is that increased food consciousness is making healthy and still delicious options more available to us.

Film Description: From the makers of the international proclaimed films Why We Cycle and Together We Cycle. When We Cycle is a feature-length documentary considering different developments in society and the role of cycling in these possible futures. It takes a look into the great unknown, asking whether the fast and efficient cyclist gets priority or are other scenarios conceivable? In the documentary, various experts and everyday cyclists take you on this journey through different imaginable futures for cycling.

Film Description: Cafeteria Man takes a behind the scenes look at Tony Geraci’s sweeping, tenacious efforts to kick start school lunch reform in Baltimore’s schools, a large urban district that serves 83,000 students, and later in Memphis schools, with 200,000 kids. As the newly hired Food and Nutrition Director of the Baltimore’s public school district, Geraci hatches an ambitious, multi-faceted plan to feed students healthy, locally-sourced meals, teach them nutritional awareness, and offer them training and vocational opportunities in the world of food. His bold vision includes a 33-acre teaching farm, school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, and meatless Monday’s. Cafeteria Man follows Geraci as he partners with a dedicated group of parents and students to overhaul a long-established, dysfunctional lunch program and battle the entrenched bureaucracy behind it. The film profiles Baltimore’s experience as it becomes recognized as part a burgeoning national movement, and includes appearances by food author Michael Pollan, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass.

Film Description: Companies and organizations are increasingly leading the way to a United States economy driven by renewable energy and sustainability. In this series comprised of short documentaries, CEOs and upper management at a variety of companies, non-profits and government agencies will present their science based solutions and visions for the future. We also focus on young leaders that are making those visions of the future a reality. They will present the challenges that lie ahead, and how they are endeavoring to solve big problems and make a difference through their work. Government can set the policy agenda, but for real change to occur the private sector must be incentivized and fully engaged. Companies and organizations are in a unique position to innovate and have a significant impact in a shorter time. An educated and motivated work force is a critical part of affecting change from within every industry. We want to infuse this series with a sense of hope to empower all people, and instill in them a call to action to join the country's move toward a more sustainable future.

Film Description: Plastic is vital in so many ways to our modern way of life and well-being—but not all forms of it. In search of why more and more single-use plastic debris enters the ocean despite all efforts to recycle, SINGLE-USE PLANET goes upstream to where millions of tons of raw plastic are being made amidst the ruins of America's bygone steel industry in Pennsylvania. Further upstream, we see the economic and political realities that have boosted the new industry—realities reaching all the way to rural Louisiana where plans are laid to build the biggest plastic plant in the world. Can the powerful industry be persuaded to temper their production of single-use plastic? Our search leads to Washington D.C.—where a federal bill to regulate the industry remains stalled—and finally to France, where the prohibition of campaign donations by corporations may provide a key to the effective reduction of plastic pollution.

In August 2024, IL Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation requiring Illinois public schools to educate students on climate change starting in 2026. The law requires that students learn about the environmental and ecological impacts of climate change on individuals and communities while also studying solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change. After helping pass this legislation, Climate Education for Illinois, It’s Our Future and Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) sought out a partnership with the nonprofit SubjectToClimate (StC) to support teachers in implementing these updated educational requirements, beginning with the creation of an Illinois Climate Education Hub.

Film Description: SLAY is a feature documentary film exploring the interwoven harms caused by fashion’s use of fur, leather and wool. Following investigative filmmaker Rebecca Cappelli as she travels the world uncovering some of fashion’s best kept secrets, a harrowing story of greenwashing, environmental destruction, unjust treatment of workers, and animal exploitation unravels. SLAY asks an important question to the public, and the fashion industry itself: Is it acceptable to kill animals for fashion? Winner of the 2022 International Vegan Film Festival’s Best Vegan-Themed Feature Film

Film Description: BAD RIVER, narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton; written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio; and produced by Grant Hill (Owner of the Atlanta Hawks) and Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing and descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Band), is a new documentary film which chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience, which includes a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.” Winner of the EMA (Environmental Media Association) 2024 Best Documentary Film Award

Film Description: The documentary about a Los Angeles woman who has made it her life’s mission to rehabilitate injured hummingbirds has a gentle sweetness that feels like a balm. Terry Masear, the subject of writer-director Sally Aitken’s film, has a no-nonsense demeanor, but her affection for these tiny creatures is unmistakable. She gives them names like Raisin, Cactus and Wasabi. She assigns them narratives as she observes their behavior. She painstakingly builds them elaborate aviaries and lovingly feeds them from a syringe. And she devotes every inch of her sprawling Hollywood Hills property, inside and out, to their care. Winner of the Nantucket Film Festival Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Film Making Award

The Hills Film Description: When the steel mills on Chicago’s Southeast Side closed decades ago, they left behind toxic sites that look harmless to the naked eye. Deriving its title from a deserted 67-acre hill made up of slag that Republic Steel/LTV dumped there during the 1950s–80s, The Hills is a place-based documentary where contaminated land, water, and wildlife play a leading role alongside the voices of community members. Easily mistaken for gravel, slag is a byproduct of steelmaking and contains arsenic, chromium, lead, and other toxins. Recently declared a superfund site by the EPA, the abandoned Schroud property has long attracted heavy recreational use and toxins from the slag continue to leach into the adjacent Indian Creek.

Unite, celebrate, and help build resilient communities and a healthier planet! 

Be a part of the 14th One Earth Film Festival official launch on April 22nd, 2025 at Chicago’s thoughtfully modern Sarabande–located steps away from the Chicago River. It’s the perfect time on our planet and the perfect party backdrop to celebrate the power found in unity, as we rally around our essential yet endangered natural resources.

Celebrate! Yes there IS cause for celebration–even amidst great challenges.

Together, in unity, we are helping create more resilient communities and a healthier planet.

Join us for the 2025 Climate Action Hero Awards, an inspiring evening dedicated to recognizing the individuals, businesses, and organizations leading the way in climate action. Hosted by the Climate Action Museum (CAM) this annual event highlights those making a tangible impact through education, advocacy, innovation, and direct action.

Hosted by Oak Park Public Library:

It's Earth Day! Celebrate by making something new from something old by repurposing recyclables. We'll provide a variety of art materials and recylables and we'll have ideas to help you get started! 

For ages 4-11. Young children require adult supervision.

Celebrate Earth Day by helping clean up litter in the Forest Preserves. Litter picks and supplies will be available to check out.

Join the American Indian Center on a hike through the woods to identify trees and plants, discuss sustainable practices, and learn how Native people view plants as relatives. Grove 13.

Celebrate Earth Day by helping clean up litter in the Forest Preserves. Litter picks and supplies will be available to check out.

Do you enjoy crafting and giving back to the community? If so, please join us in this upcycled bird making workshop that will help contribute to raising awareness about bird collision deaths.

The birds made will be part of the Idea Box exhibit Crossing Paths: Migrating Birds and You, created by the Brooks Earth Action Team (BEAT) led by Laura Stamp. After their stay in the Idea Box (May 1-12), the birds will be mailed to artist Holly Greenberg to become part of her project to make 10,836 birds.

Join us for a 3.4-mile walk observing the blooming wildflowers, listening for animals and taking in the smells of spring’s arrival. Perfect for families.

See what your Oak Park neighbors are doing to power their homes cleaner, safer, cheaper, and greener! Check out heat pump HVAC and hot water systems, induction stoves, solar arrays, and more. Homeowners will be on hand to share their experience and answer your questions. Three different houses will be open on each of two days:
Sunday, March 9, 2-4pm
Sunday, April 6, 2-4pm
This event is free, but registration is required and space is limited! Presented by Oak Park Climate Action Network.

Bozho and welcome to Trickster Cultural Center's Intertribal Youth Council!

We are thrilled to have you participate in creating a special space where young people from our community can come together to celebrate their culture, learn from one another, and engage in meaningful activities.

This group is open to all youth ages 10 and up who are interested in exploring and celebrating Indigenous culture. We will be learning all about advocating, developing and implementing policies and services in outreach engagements, coalitions, and government in a range of self steered youth related issues. Bring your enthusiasm, your questions, and your spirit of adventure!

Hosted in partnership with One Earth Local, Climate Ready Community Outreach Oak Park (COOP), and the Village of Oak Park. 

Join us for this Earth Month Community Kickoff event for all ages in alignment with Earth Day 2025’s theme of Our Power, Our Planet. Come to learn, play, and connect with community groups working in the sustainability space while enjoying local treats. 

Registration is encouraged; walk-ins are welcome.

From Repair Cafe Oak Park:

Toss it? No way!

The Oak Park Repair Café is meeting on the first Saturday of each month, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., at Fox Park in Oak Park. We will be in the Community Center in the park, at 624 S. Oak Park Avenue. Free, on-street parking.

Volunteer coaches will be on hand to work with you, helping you fix those household items you’ve been meaning to take care of – everything from toasters to radios, to clocks or torn clothing. Given a huge increase in visitor volume, repairs will be limited to one item per guest.

We respectfully request all guests be masked during their visit.

For more information about the Oak Park Repair Café, please go to www.repaircafeoakparkil.org and to learn more about the international Repair Café movement, check out www.repaircafe.org.