Evanston has been in the vanguard of climate action ever since City Council’s 2006 decision to support the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. So it’s no wonder that young people who weren’t even born then have been getting involved in climate action and taking a special interest in Evanston’s municipal elections.
Beginning in February, with the help of Climate Action Evanston (and an assist from the RoundTable), E-Town Sunrise and Fossil-Free Northwestern invited candidates for the City Council to sit down and talk about issues of particular concern to Evanston youth. Fourteen of the 21 candidates were able to schedule time with the group. Most met up in the main library, while two talked via Zoom.
The wide-ranging conversations touched on bicycle safety and rooftop solar, transit-oriented development and the Healthy Buildings Ordinance, the possibility of bolstering public transit through an updated wheel tax, and how to keep housing affordable while transitioning to renewable energy. The young people wanted to know how candidates will help to elevate youth voices, considering that policies and plans like the Climate Action and Resilience Plan and Envision Evanston will continue to affect their lives well into the future.
ETHS sophomore Olin Wilson-Thomas”I think it’s been clear what young people want,” Olin Wilson-Thomas said later. “I think young people want to be able to move back to Evanston when they’re older. I think young people want action on the climate crisis that will affect them the most. And I think that young people want their ideas to be taken seriously.” The ETHS sophomore has been a frequent commenter at City Council meetings in recent months and operated the video camera for most of the interviews.
Joining him were Izzy Franconeri, ETHS junior and E-Town Sunrise liaison to Climate Action Evanston’s board, and ETHS freshman Ellie Hersher-Dale. Anusha Kumar and Gracey Ninmer of Fossil-Free Northwestern and Melanie Tapia of Sustainable NU also participated.
Candidates expressed appreciation for the chance to talk with young people. Jacqueline Mendoza (2nd Ward candidate) and Gennifer Geer (3rd Ward candidate) even proposed lowering the voting age to 16. Matt Rodgers (8th Ward candidate ) said that if he’s elected and they think he’s not listening, they should “smack me upside the head and tell me to pay attention.”
“We’ll see next cycle, when the new people get in office, where they land on this,” Wilson-Thomas said.
Already, though, he said, “We’ve made some big steps recently.” Three young people — two from ETHS (Wilson-Thomas and Jexa Edinberg) and one from Northwestern (Anusha Kumar) — are on the Environment Board, for example, and E-Town Sunrise has been successful in getting young people out to speak at Land Use Commission and City Council meetings. “The earlier that kids learn to stick up for themselves and advocate for their interests without relying on their elected officials to do so, I think they’re gonna see the impacts of what they want become a lot more tangible,” Wilson-Thomas said.
Speaking in support of the Healthy Buildings Ordinance at the March 10 City Council meeting, retiring Councilmember Eleanor Revelle (7th Ward) asked the rhetorical question, who will benefit? “The answer is the students that we have at many of our council meetings speaking eloquently about the need for our HBO and the children growing up in our community today who deserve a future with cleaner air and most of all a livable climate,” she said. The measure passed on a 7-1 vote with Kelly voting no and Geracaris absent at the time of the vote.
These candidate interviews are one of the first initiatives of the Climate Action Evanston Youth Committee. The group, facilitated by CAE director Jack Jordan, includes what he describes as “youth around town who are anxious or want to do something about climate action.” E-Town Sunrise is part of a global youth movement fighting for “government action that actually meets the scale, scope and urgency of the climate crisis.” In addition to speaking out at City Council meetings and demonstrations and writing letters to the editor, last year they succeeded in persuading ETHS to adopt a “green new deal.” Fossil-Free NU, a student organization pushing for climate and environmental justice, has also shown up at City Council meetings to advocate for adoption of the Healthy Buildings Ordinance.
Videos of the interviews can be viewed through at the Climate Action Evanston website. E-Town Sunrise and Fossil-Free Northwestern also share updates on Instagram.
“Transit-oriented development yields economic development for the downtown area, but also . . . serves climate action.” — Steve Hackney, 1st Ward candidate
“I’m a big advocate of adaptive reuse [and] a big supporter of our one-stop shop Green Homes Program.” — Clare Kelly, 1st Ward candidate
“Why is there a waste transfer station in the middle of a neighborhood? . . . I don’t think that anybody should have to live and not be able to get fresh air.” — Darlene Cannon, 2nd Ward Candidate
“We all right now are struggling with what to do to deal with this national crisis. . . Everybody should come together to [make] sure that we’re protecting our residents.” — Krissie Harris, 2nd Ward candidate
“One of the biggest things is, trying to rely on cars as little as possible, but we can’t do that if we don’t have that infrastructure there first.”— Jacqueline Mendoza, 2nd Ward candidate
“Everyone who has re-outfitted their homes to be more energy efficient, I think that’s great, but I want to have a policy conversation around how can we get more people to do that.” — Gennifer Geer, 3rd Ward candidate
“Transit-adjacent development . . . is the thing that I’ve hung my hat on. That’s the biggest reason that I decided to run for office.” — Shawn Iles, 3rd Ward candidate
“I was a strong advocate of geothermal, for the Civic Center, the Noyes Center . . I decided that instead of trying to throw stones from outside the castle, get inside the castle.” — John Kennedy, 3rd Ward candidate
“I’ve been part of the climate action movement in Evanston since 2008. . . I want to be able to hand it over to folks in your age group feeling good about what we’ve accomplished.” — Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th Ward candidate
“We’re all very concerned about climate change. So does that mean that every climate change ordinance must be be approved? No, I disagree.” — Meg Welch, 4th Ward write-in candidate
“Climate migration — that and the shorefront, the lakefront — it’s probably gonna be the biggest issues we’re gonna have to deal with as a community in the long term.” — Candance Chow, 6th Ward candidate
“A lot of the things that we need in order to improve climate change require behavioral changes and the easiest and most efficient way to change behavior is . . . in our educational system.” — Parielle Davis, 7th Ward candidate
“I know I’m not doing as much as I probably could be doing, But, you know, I’m also of a generation where we didn’t talk about these things, it wasn’t something that we really were concerned about.” — Matt Rodgers, Ward 8 candidate
“Climate action— there are a lot of big kind of mountainous problems we have to deal with — and it’s pretty easy to get frustrated, but you have to remain steadfast and keep on.” — Juan Geracaris, 9th Ward candidate
“Transit-oriented development yields economic development for the downtown area, but also . . . serves climate action.” — Steve Hackney, 1st Ward candidate“I’m a big advocate of adaptive reuse [and] a big supporter of our one-stop shop Green Homes Program.” — Clare Kelly, 1st Ward candidate“Why is there a waste transfer station in the middle of a neighborhood? . . . I don’t think that anybody should have to live and not be able to get fresh air.” — Darlene Cannon, 2nd Ward Candidate“Working in higher education, we all right now are struggling with what to do to deal with this national crisis. . . Everybody should come together to [make] sure that we’re protecting our residents.” — Krissie Harris, 2nd Ward candidate“We need to build up our biking infrastructure because one of the biggest things is, trying to rely on cars as little as possible, but we can’t do that if we don’t have that infrastructure there first.”— Jacqueline Mendoza, 2nd Ward candidate“Everyone who has re-outfitted their homes to be more energy efficient, I think that’s great, but I want to have a policy conversation around how can we get more people to do that.” — Gennifer Geer, 3rd Ward candidate“Transit-adjacent development . . . is the thing that I’ve hung my hat on. That’s the biggest reason that I decided to run for office.” — Shawn Iles, 3rd Ward candidate“I was a strong advocate of geothermal, for the Civic Center, the Noyes Center, for Evanston Township High School. . . I decided that instead of trying to throw stones from outside the castle, get inside the castle.” — John Kennedy, 3rd Ward candidate“I’ve been part of the climate action movement in Evanston since 2008. . . I want to be able to hand it over to you and folks in your age group feeling good about what we’ve accomplished.” — Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th Ward candidate“You know, we’re all very concerned about climate change. So does that mean that every climate change ordinance must be be approved? No, I disagree.” — Meg Welch, 4th Ward write-in candidate
“I think climate migration — that and the shorefront, the lakefront — it’s probably gonna be the biggest issues that we’re gonna have to deal with as a community in the long term.” — Candance Chow, 6th Ward candidate
“A lot of the things that we need in order to improve climate change require behavioral changes and the easiest and most efficient way to change behavior is . . . in our educational system.” — Parielle Davis, 7th Ward candidate“I know I’m not doing as much as I probably could be doing, But, you know, I’m also of a generation where we didn’t talk about these things, it wasn’t something that we really were concerned about.” — Matt Rodgers, Ward 8 candidate“Climate action— there are a lot of big kind of mountainous problems we have to deal with — and it’s easy to get frustrated, but you have to remain steadfast and keep on.” — Juan Geracaris, 9th Ward candidate
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