Chicago’s Great (Lakes) Influence
By: The People S Lobby
Tags: Great Lakes, Chicago, Climate Change, Water, Environmental Justice

By Kylah Johnston, Environmental Justice Organizer with The People’s Lobby

Growing up in rural Northern Michigan, I always had a deep respect for the Great Lakes and the natural environment around me. I was lucky enough to grow up in a place that had little pollution, where I didn’t have to worry about my drinking water when I turned on the tap, or if the air outside my house was safe to breathe. In grade school, we learned about The Great Lakes, how they make up 21% of the world’s surface freshwater and 84% of surface freshwater in North America — living right by Lake Michigan made my small community seem special and significant. We had access to one of the greatest sources of life on the planet, and with that luxury, we also carried the weight of acting as guardians for such a precious freshwater resource.

As I grew older and the words “global warming” and “climate change” became more and more common, these sacred waters seemed even more sacred every day. Across our country and globe there are droughts, wildfires, oil spills, and more, but in my small hometown, we felt safe, protected by what felt like an endless supply of freshwater to keep our climate cool and our drinking water clean and plentiful.

Then I moved to Chicago. At the time, I thought that Chicago would feel like the best of both worlds — all the opportunities and more progressive politics that a big city has to offer, but still right on Lake Michigan, a giant freshwater safety blanket that reminded me of home and made me feel safe. Making the seven hour drive from my hometown to Chicago reveals a very different side of the story, though. It seems that the closer you get to Chicago, the more industry and pollution you drive through. My first visit to Lake Michigan down here didn’t make me feel safe and protected like the pristine northern side of Lake Michigan made me feel at home, it instead made me sad and angry to see just how much lower this resource is actually valued down here, and how much pollution has been cranked into the lake for decades.

For a long time, the City of Chicago has prioritized industry over environment, and with that, money over human, and capitalism over community. Our city has used our unique geography to be economically advantageous: tourists come for our lakeshore skyline, our shipping industry has been a stable source of economic activity, and the river canals that lead into the Mississippi River are a convenient dumping ground to get waste out of the city. Meanwhile, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated Chicago’s Department of Environment in his very first year, scaling back air quality and solid waste inspections from levels that, to be clear, were already not enough and were far too reactive. Since then, the city has done little to nothing to address our lead water crisis. Our new Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised to bring the Department of Environment back and made some big campaign promises around the need to focus on environmental injustice in our city, but these have yet to materialize.

Chicago is the most populous US city on the Great Lakes. With that comes great power, and great responsibility. Across the country, Chicago is looked to as a major city with major politics, and so many influential political voices have come out of the windy city. Our political notoriety as a city has two sides: its corruption, and its long history of radical organizing. We are at a point in our city’s history when corrupt politicians, while still very present, are being held accountable for the first time, and new faces are stepping up to steer our city’s future. After the 2019 municipal election, we now have more progressive aldermen in City Council than ever before, and just this February, Chicago’s City Council officially declared a “Climate Emergency”. Our city has shown that they are ready for big change. Now is the time to step up and act.

We must call for a Green New Deal in Chicago, one that brings back our Department of Environment in a way that makes it stronger than ever. We need a Department of Environment that not only holds dirty polluters accountable but also keeps them out, and provides reparations to communities that have long been treated as sacrifice zones. We need to prioritize the health of our communities, and our entire Great Lakes region, over the profit of polluters and industry. While Chicago may only touch one little dot of Lake Michigan, our influence, and with that our responsibility, runs much deeper.