Hello Westsiders!
WEJA (Westside Environmental Justice Alliance) is a group for people who live, work, volunteer, study, and worship on Chicago’s Westside (roughly Ashland to Austin) to come together over our mutual interests of improving the air, water, soil, and health of Westsiders.
“Come Along for the Ride: A Journey Through Climate Grief” follows two women navigating life with climate anxiety. Sophie, a millennial in New York City, balances dating and career ambitions while grappling with the looming climate crisis.
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.
Hosted at Swallow Cliff Woods Pavilion, learn how to make your paper with recycled materials. Supplies provided.
With natural materials and drawings, use the sun to make a one-of-a-kind print. Supplies provided.
Join us for a litter clean up and give back to the community. Grove 13.
Improve native wildlife habitat by removing invasive species. Equipment and tools provided. Ages 15 & under w/ adult.
Explore the beauty of our natural landscapes using natural fibers. Supplies provided.
Join us for an open discussion on climate change and other environmental topics. You are invited to share an article, book, podcast, video, website or film related to environmental issues that you'd like to discuss.
These interactive public meetings will be an opportunity for residents to learn what green stormwater infrastructure is and share their thoughts on how it could help make their neighborhood greener and healthier.
Calling all comic fans, young creatives, families, and community champions!
Join us for Youth Comic Con 2025, an unforgettable day of creativity, community, and fun — where kids are the stars!
This isn’t your typical comic convention. At Optimist Con, every artist in Artist Alley is a student who has written, illustrated, and published their very own comic book through our arts education programs — including our signature Comics in the Classroom initiative! You’ll get to meet these rising stars, collect their work, and be part of the movement that’s changing how young people tell their stories.
Bring in your gently used books and leave with some new-to-you books. Books can be of any genre and at any reading level; nature-themed books are particularly encouraged. Presented by Oak Lawn Public Library and Green Hills Public Library.
We are excited to invite you to our upcoming community "Hike in Spanish" event that we will be partnering on with the Lake County Forest Preserve District this upcoming Saturday, June 07th from 9:30 am to 10:45 am at Fort Sheridan, 1275 Gilgare Lane, Lake Forest, IL, 60045. Join us and explore a new local forest preserve with an environmental educator.
These interactive public meetings will be an opportunity for residents to learn what green stormwater infrastructure is and share their thoughts on how it could help make their neighborhood greener and healthier.
Hosted by Bank of America Chicago 13.1: The Bank of America Chicago 13.1 offers runners a unique experience, bringing a world-class half marathon to the neighborhoods of Chicago’s West Side. The 13.1-mile course weaves through the historic parks and boulevards of the West Side, starting and finishing in Garfield Park with scenic loops through Humboldt and Douglass Parks.
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.
Hosted by Bank of America Chicago 13.1:The Bank of America Chicago 13.1 worked with West Side residents to introduce wellness-based activities to the race weekend experience. Activities including a family-friendly 1.31-Mile Wellness Walk, youth running events and a community pop-up featuring West Side businesses and organizations aim to support, advance and celebrate health, wellness and movement on Chicago’s West Side.
Bring in your gently used books and leave with some new-to-you books! Books can be any genre and reading level; nature-themed books encouraged.
Please come and learn about Briar East Woods- woods that are in danger of being destroyed. Learn what you can do to help save the woods!
Hosted by Oak Park Public Library:
Wish you knew more about how to keep your bike operating smoothly between bike shop checkups? Bring your bike to this drop-by family friendly event in celebration of National Bike Month to learn more about the ABCs of basic bike maintenance. Volunteers from Working Bikes will be on hand to show you how to do basic upkeep of your air, brakes and chain. Keep an eye out for cameo appearances from other friendly local bikes and organizations.
Hosted by Oak Park Public Library:
In celebration of World Migratory Bird Day, drop by the Idea Box for tours of the exhibit CROSSING PATHS: Migrating Birds and You, led by Oak Park Elementary School District 97 students in the Brooks Environmental Action Team (BEAT).
Learn more about their process and about the human-made obstacles birds face as well as inspiration for actions people can take to help them on their journeys.
Join this junky jamboree to celebrate MOTHERS of all kinds: Mommas of humans, Mother of our Earth, and all the mother-junking artisans who transform materials into one-of-a-kind wonders.
There is no other market that offers a "Participatory Production" experience! What does that mean? Not only can you shop for upcycled home goods, art, planters, fashion, body care, and oddball stuff, you can also drop off household supplies to the artisans for their future creative projects. Plus, other hands-on activities.
Our premier event of Chicago Water Week, the Freshwater Forum, will bring together water industry leaders, innovators, and changemakers for an evening of inspiration and collaboration. We'll highlight the momentum behind Chicago’s growing water innovation ecosystem, with a focus on the role of strategic industry partnerships in scaling bold water solutions. You can register here with the promo code FINALFRESH75 to get your ticket at no cost.
Participate in the 2025 Health & Hunger Illinois Regional Summit, hosted by Illinois SNAP-Education, and explore strategies to catalyze collaboration among local, public, and regional organizations to address food insecurity and health.
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!
International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated during the first full week of May throughout the US and internationally. The goal of ICAW is to work together to raise public awareness on why we all should be composting our organics and using compost to create healthier soil.
Hosted by Oak Park Public Library:
Did you know that Chicago is a major flyway for over 200 species of migratory birds that fly from Central and South America to breed in the northern United States and Canada every year? This exhibit in the Main Library Idea Box celebrates the incredible migration paths these birds travel.
And, because bird populations have plunged due to habitat loss and human actions, this exhibit also spreads awareness of how we can protect these birds as they fly through our community in spring and fall.
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.
alt_ [Alt Space Chicago] is marking its 5th anniversary with a grand opening event from April 25-27 at our new location, 5645 W Lake St [Corcoran Pl]. The event will showcase the organization's mission through three key pillars: art, community, and faith.
