Event Detail Information

This half-day event will promote awareness and policy engagement concerning carbon emission at the personal, institutional (UIC), city, and national levels.  This workshop will build on two unique and timely features:

• The newly-elected Congress has demonstrated little interest in mitigating carbon emissions
• Rahm Emanuel has been elected mayor of Chicago following 20 years of energy, climate and environmental action by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The workshop coincides with the implementation of the 2011 federal budget and just precedes Congressional debate on the 2012 budget.  The reductions in both the 2011 and 2012 budgets will be widely felt in the community and are likely to stall serious national action on mitigating carbon emissions for at least two years.  This event also falls between Rahm Emanuel's election as mayor of Chicago on February 22 and his inauguration on May 16, making it a prime month for communicating energy and carbon emission priorities to the mayor and his staff.

During the workshop speakers will discuss carbon footprints on the personal, institutional, city and national levels of engagement and then form a panel to stimulate and respond to questions from the audience.  

Workshop Panelists:

• George Crabtree (Moderator) - UIC Distinguished Professor of Physics
• Nathan Kipnis (Personal Carbon) - Principal, Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc.
• Cynthia Klein-Banai (Institutional Carbon) – UIC Associate Chancellor for Sustainability
• Peter Locke (City Carbon) – Co-founder and Managing Director, TerraLocke Sustainability Consultants
• Thomas Cushing (National Carbon) – Development Consultant, Clean Energy Trust (Former Senior VP, Chicago Climate Exchange)

After the workshop, the panelists will be joined by student and community groups to network and discuss their activities and positions.

Groups committed to this networking session include:

• Nuclear Energy Information Service
• Environmental Law & Policy Center
• Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
• Green Youth Revolution
• Terra Society
• Hull House

Included in the event is a free (low-carbon footprint) luncheon comprised of locally-sourced ingredients.

Finally, a bank of computers with draft letters to UIC, city and Congressional leaders concerning specific carbon mitigation actions will provide convenient opportunities for influencing decision makers.

Click the registration link above to confirm your spot at the event!