Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy
Chicago City Council
Politics
Remote
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Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Ata Younan
Urban heat island effect, Climate change, Environmental justice, 1995 heat wave
Live reporting by
Cait Guerra
Urban heat island effect, Climate change, Environmental justice, 1995 heat wave
cait g
@grrrcait
Hi all, I’m Cait Guerra and I’ll be live-tweeting today's Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy @ChicagoEnviro meeting for #ChiDocumenters @CHIdocumenters
10:01 AM May 17, 2021 CDT
The first commenter is asking what items are on the agenda. He has not started his comment yet.
He is now speaking on the agenda item related to heat island effect. He says he is looking forward to when the meetings will be in person soon to discuss.
Public commenter Marilyn May is now speaking on the newest ordinance to rename LSD to honor Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Asks that alderman votes yes to the renaming.
Executive Director of Chicago Roofing Contractors Association is now speaking.
Says that ComEd has been "negligent to green energy standards." Calls for more hearings and meetings to address detrimental climate change effects the committee has acknowledged.
The committee is moving onto discussing Resolution R2020-452. This resolution is to call a hearing for solutions to combat urban heat island effect.
Chair @aldcardenas says that a 2019 study shows the relation between lower income areas and higher temperatures.
Dr. Ashish Sharma of Illinois State Water Survey will be the first to speak on urban heat island effects and solutions in Chicago.
A new report on climate change impacts in Illinois has been released. Dr. Sharma is referring to this report: nature.org/content/dam/tn…
Dr. Sharma is demonstrating what is an urban heat island and what a resilient urban environment looks like to combat this. https://t.co/mcvNlm5FXf
Says that in Chicago 72% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comes from buildings, 25% from transportation and 3% from other.
Dr. Sharma says heat mitigation solutions must be a mix. Gives a combination of solutions in his presentation. https://t.co/7pd90wvhAh
When determining where to implement these solutions it was found that low-income areas would gain the most.
Dr. Sharma concludes saying "it is urgent to take action in a rapidly changing climate." https://t.co/YwMuV3062n
Elena Grossman from Illinois at UIC School of Public Health is now speaking on UHI effect and human health.
Grossman is talking about the 1995 Chicago heat wave. Says this heat wave is the most fatal heatwave in US history.
Says there are a number of nature-based solutions to address health effects of urban heat islands (UHI).
Grossman says that parks and greenspace not only helps with UHI, but has shown other positive health impacts: "One strategy can impact so many health impacts. "
Says, "Chicago can, and should be, a leader in health equity." This concludes her testimony.
Committee member @AldermanLaSpata is asking Dr. Sharma what can we attribute to the difference in nighttime warming increases to daytime.
Dr. Sharma says there's a combination of reasons: building usage starts putting off more heat and cloud cover in the nighttime that doesn't allow heat to pass through which traps the heat.
Dr. Sharma says there are other examples of cities, such as LA, using rebates to encourage people to implement green roofs.
Dr. Sharma says that taking local actions will reduce UHI effects. Agrees that this is important, but also need to take into account global scales that effect local climate change effects.
Vice Chair Ald. Samantha Nugent is now asking about smaller changes we can do to retrofit older buildings and what should we be asking our federal partners for to implement these changes.
Dr. Sharma says we can look at Europe in relation to older buildings. They often have better ventilation which doesn't trap the heat in the buildings.
Nugent is asking what field should our Chicago high school students or what the city should offer to have a career in climate change mitigation.
Dr. Sharma says we need more people to understand the policy side. We need people to act as a bridge between the economist, planning and health sides.
@AldMattMartin says he agree completely about electric vehicles and transitioning to that with city. He is asking what are some things that we can adopt locally right away, within the next year.
Dr. Sharma says the best thing is to plant more trees, "If we can have patches of urban forest, it will help with emissions."
@AldMattMartin is asking Deputy Commissioner Malcolm Whiteside what the city can do right away to help with getting trees planted.
Whiteside says one of the most important thing is education. Says that most residents don't know how to get trees planted and some are fearful that larger trees could fall on their houses.
Says that the new forestry advisory board will be a tremendous help, especially with funding that the Forestry Bureau does not have.
Dr. Sharma says that he and Elena Grossman worked on a literature review on the planning for tree planting in other cities and has offered to share that information with the committee.
Grossman says there was a city in Columbia where they linked 30 green corridors that addressed UHI and also provided jobs for people to take care of these corridors.
@rodriguezfor22 is now asking about the emissions of diesel trucks. Asks if there are any thoughts on incentives or subsidizing private industry to help with setting up infrastructure for electric vehicles.
@AldermanSmith43 says she does know that part of Pres. Biden's infrastructure plan includes plans for electric vehicles. Does believe we're in a transition period from diesel to electric, but what does that rollout look like.
Is now asking Commissioner Whiteside if it's still the case that removing healthy trees needs alderman approval and it's difficult to have done. Also says we need a citywide compost program to address tree waste.
Ald Smith is also asking if we have more open space, how much will that help the city?
Dr. Sharma says that any increase in open space will help with UHI. It will also help with community and it has been shown green spaces decreases crime rates.
Ald Smith is now asking if there's a way to calculate how much green space you'd need to mitigate UHI effect on new large buildings and concrete around there.
Dr. Sharma says yes there is a way. Says they can work with urban planners to determine how best to design these spaces.
@SigchoFor25 is now asking about industrial corridors near schools. He asks if Dr. Sharma has looked at industrial corridors in relation to UHI.
Dr. Sharma says no, they haven't looked specifically, but have looked at them in a broader sense in their studies. Says they can do these sensitivity studies though.
@SigchoFor25 is now asking what recommendations does Dr. Sharma have for scale or investments that Chicago needs to do for climate change mitigation.
Dr. Sharma says this is an open science question. Needs more investment to do research to help cities answer these questions. Doesn't have a direct answer, but says they know how to solve this.
Ald Sicho-Lopez is now asking if Chicago is prepared for extreme weather events in respect to infrastructure and what are some recommendations.
Dr Sharma says based on what he's seen we are not prepared. Says we have 1000-year flood events and need to prepare for that and that tree planting will even help with that.
Says we need investments and we are not ready to meet extreme weather challenges.
Dr. Sharma says we need to do a SWOT analysis to determine what is best for the city. We need more research and partnerships to answer these questions.
Lubka Benak from @ChicagoDOT is now speaking. Says the public right of way is important to improve environment.
Says increased green infrastructure will help mitigate UHI, stormwater management, increase natural habitats, and help public health.
Benak specifically says the department's Green Alleys has been one way green infrastructure has been introduced. chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…
The committee has moved on from alders asking questions into department reports.
A study done in the past from Department of Planning and Development shows tree canopy cover next to a map of elevated surface temperatures. https://t.co/aaap3lVEAc
Robeck is speaking on the Sustainable Development Policy, which you can read more about here: chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…
This policy began as a green roof requirement and has been expanded to include other sustainable development plans, such as stormwater management and workforce development.
The Sustainable Development Policy will be updated in 2021 and include language for bird friendly design and electric vehicle readiness.
John Lough from the Bureau of Forestry is now speaking. Says that they are receiving increased $2m and will help replace trees that the city loses.
Says once this capital funding period ends, they will seek new funding to continue tree replacement program.
Vice Chair Nugent is now taking over as chair of the meeting. Chair @aldcardenas has to leave for another meeting.
Carter O'Brien from The Field Museum is now speaking. He is speaking on Rice Native Gardens case study.
In 2018, the Field Museum announced the Rice Native Gardens on the museum campus. This garden includes native prairie plants, replacing much of the standard turf grass.
This pic below from O'Brien's presentation shows thermal imaging with temperature differences between concrete sidewalk, permeable pavers and the native prairie plantings. https://t.co/WTU46xr3rX
O'Brien points out that there is a 20 degree difference between concrete sidewalk and prairie planting.
O'Brien says that with using iNaturalist they noticed a "huge uptick in biodiversity which is helpful for city overall."
The Field Museum also partnered with @AUAChicago to distribute native plant seeds for increase native planting across the city. https://t.co/jIIAHYLuPs
Vice Chair Nugent is ending the meeting. Says "I hope this hearing raised awareness on the urban heat island effect".
Ald Cardenas asked Vice Chair Nugent to recommend to the committee the documentary Cooked, which details the 1995 heat wave: pbs.org/independentlen…
Meeting adjourned at 12:20 p.m. Thanks for following my live-tweet of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy meeting for #ChiDocumenters @CHIDocumenters. Find out more about this and other public meetings at documenters.org.
Attachments
Agency Information
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago and consists of the Mayor and Aldermen elected from each of the City’s fifty wards. Source
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