Many people are still unsure or unaware of the magnitude of the climate emergency, and what steps are needed in order to properly deal with it.
That is why we wish to start having open discussions and public meetings.
In addition to the problems of the climate emergency, we are also concerned with intense painful living conditions due to homelessness and forms of institutional violation of our personal space and property.
The City of Chicago has formally recognized the climate emergency based on a growing body of overwhelming scientific evidence. It is necessary to understand that the world has limited and dwindling resources and that we must begin to change our fundamental behavior now in order to begin to take the necessary steps to correct this matter.
We wish for the City of Chicago to work with the people in full transparency to address this emergency as a collective and to share our resources and knowledge. The goal is to begin to imagine and create a new world of true 100% sustainability and to lead the way for other cities and towns to bring us into a new truly sustainable world that will be able to support our children for many, many generations to come.
It has become clear to the City of Chicago that if we don’t take these steps, there is a distinct possibility that our children or children’s children will not have a future and that the very existence of human life on this Earth is threatened. We cannot take that chance.
However, we will be able to avert the climate emergency if we all work together with a sense of urgency, using sound information and practices. The public, city government, churches, and businesses will need to cooperate, coordinate, and make decisions for the long-term greater good. This will mean changing the routine choices prioritizing short-term benefits, and overcoming the lack of will power to live and work sustainably. Using clear, honest communication and information sharing, we will work to achieve common understanding, shared trust, openness, and integrity as a means to achieve our greater goals of living and working sustainably in Chicago and bringing neighboring communities along with us.
We are actively planning next steps. For now, the people of Chicago are asked to get up to speed on the latest science of the climate emergency, and voluntarily reduce their usage of plastic, gasoline, electricity, meat products, and other things that contribute to global warming and the destruction of the environment. At first, these steps should be taken voluntarily, for the sake of survival of our species, but the City of Chicago will strive to make these steps mandatory as much as we are able in order to preserve the best possible chance for the future and survival of as many people, animals, and plants as possible.
Signed,
Coalition of Chicagoland Earth Protectors