55 years ago, on the first Earth Day, a grassroots movement rose up to protect the basic building blocks that made America great - clean air, water, and our natural heritage. Our country responded quickly with bipartisan leadership that produced landmark environmental laws tackling pollution of our land, air, and water. Richard Nixon created the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and George H. W. Bush led efforts to strengthen the Clean Air Act. We created national parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas, so future generations would always be able to enjoy America the beautiful.
America quickly became healthier, cleaner, and greener, and also more prosperous. Entire new industries, and millions of good jobs, were created in pollution control, recycling, water treatment, and clean energy. In many ways it was America at its greatest - public policy responding to public concern, delivering real benefits for everyone.
With alarming speed, the policies and systems that delivered these benefits to America are being intentionally dismantled. Big oil and other polluters are getting their wish list, and the rest of us are rapidly losing what we have long taken for granted: science-based protections for our air, water, and land, and dedicated professionals working to enforce them.
We are not powerless. Especially here in Illinois, with a strong history of state and local leadership to protect our environment, we can and must take matters into our own hands. These are steps our leaders can, and must take to step up where our federal government is rapidly stepping backward:
Secure Environmental Justice
For far too long, most black and brown communities have been exposed to more pollution than average. The Trump administration has specifically targeted EPA efforts to address these inequities, and community groups working to solve them. Chicago can step up by passing the Hazel M. Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, which will finally consider the pollution burden neighborhoods already bear when considering any new sources of pollution. State lawmakers can approve pending legislation to ensure Illinois EPA considers pollution already impacting a neighborhood when considering permits for new pollution sources.
Join the Fight to Save the Clean Vehicle Economy
Governor Pritzker has worked hard to attract investment in manufacturing electric cars, trucks, and batteries here in Illinois. What we haven’t done is enact the most powerful policy to drive electric vehicle sales: the clean car and truck standards adopted by most blue states. Trump has picked a fight against the future of electric vehicles, and we need Illinois in that fight. The Illinois Pollution Control Board can adopt the standards in place in over a dozen states, which would ensure Illinois consumers can buy the electric cars and trucks we are hoping to build here. Illinois needs to get off the sidelines, and on the team of states fighting for the future.
Meet our Clean Power Goals
Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, passed in 2021, already has produced a power surge in clean energy jobs and new workforce programs to prepare those who need it most for good jobs in building out our new, 100% clean power supply. The Clean and Reliable Grid Act will keep us on track to meet these goals, by improving energy efficiency programs, adding battery storage to our grid, and ensuring that power-hungry data centers bring their own clean energy supply.
Invest in Clean Water For All
We have to sustain progress toward ensuring Illinois children have safe, lead-free drinking water, and reducing the nutrient pollution that chokes our rivers, lakes, and streams. These clean water investments will create a generation of good jobs, and must be a priority in Illinois’ plans for infrastructure plans. We also need to protect communities from flooding by filling the loophole created by Trump’s Supreme Court in federal laws that used to apply to most of Illinois’ remaining wetlands with new state protections.
Protect the Prairie State’s Natural Heritage
Donald Trump has signaled his intent to open up our public lands to fossil fuel, mining, and logging companies to both enrich these special interests and to help pay for tax cuts for the rich. Illinois can step up with a reinvigorated Department of Natural Resources, new funding to protect outdoor recreation sites, and a shift away from permitting coal companies to dig up Illinois farmland to leave wastelands behind and add to the climate crisis.
Rebuild Illinois’ Environmental Protection Power
Governor Pritzker has steadily invested in the Illinois EPA after decades of decline, and Illinois is in a better position than many states to step up where Trump is gutting the federal government’s authority to protect us. This calls for new capacity and mission for our EPA, shifting its orientation from implementing federal baseline standards to innovation and developing new, science-based approaches to emerging threats like microplastics, new toxic chemicals, and stronger protections for environmental justice communities.
It’s a bold agenda, but this moment calls for nothing less. The threats we face require that we step up, to protect what we love. So just as the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970 called for radical change for the good of all, it’s time for Illinois leaders to show that America is at our greatest when we do what’s right for the future, not just the few.
Jack Darin is the Director of the Illinois Sierra Club