This May, we concluded our climate clinic for teachers with a terrific group of educators who shared the successes, joys and challenges of teaching about climate change in their classrooms.  We got to know this group of teachers during a series of climate clinics in Fall 2020. (Originally planned for Spring 2020, we moved this series online in Fall 2020.)   Over the course of five weeks, we developed a nice community in our weekly sessions, which included presentations and small group discussions.  We gathered everyone together again in May to share stories from a pandemic year of teaching about climate change.  We heard that students were inspired to help solve problems—and that they were particularly motivated to act on food issues that connect to climate change.  Yes, food is the way to anyone’s heart, as one teacher said.  Another teacher said that the clinics and the camaraderie of other teachers gave her confidence; she had been worried about incorporating climate change into her teaching.  She came into the clinic thinking  “I feel [the climate crisis] in my heart and head, but I’m hiding the closet about this topic” but that now she feels that adding climate change to her curriculum has “improved my teaching because this is what I want to be teaching.”  It was helpful to all of us to build a network of people teaching about climate change—and we’ll gather again regularly to share ideas, resources and encouragement. 

Our collaborative, generous and expert CW partners included animalia project, Openlands and The Field Museum, with guest speakers from SkyDay, Chicago Public Schools and Sunrise Movement.

The CW climate engagement and training team will meet  this summer to discuss goals for the coming year and new developments in climate action.   If you’d like to get involved in this collaborative community of people sharing resources and ideas about climate communication, please email Susan Ask 

The Goal 4 team has been moving full steam ahead.  Last month, the first complete draft of the 2021 update map of what we’re calling “classically conserved lands” was completed.  This includes all the counties within the 4 states that make up the 7.7M acre CW area.  This exciting dynamic map was shared with the Goal 4 leadership group, and we’re excited to share it with the larger Goal 4 committee on Thursday, June 17 from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm via Zoom.  We have 3 topics planned for this one-hour meeting, along with the presentation of the geospatial data we will review some potential precision spatial tweaks to the larger CW boundary, discuss CW’s role on influencing conservation protections across the region moving forward and may have a local case study on a Whole Community approach to conservation.

We invite you to join a meeting to learn about Chicago Wilderness's Goal #5: Access to Nature and Benefits! On Friday, July 9, at 9:30 am - 1:00 am CST we will meet on Zoom to review the goal, meet each other, and identify a few next steps to begin to realize the stated objectives. We expect a follow-up meeting on Wednesday, August 18 from 9:00 –1 0:30 am CST. 

Goal #5

Background: Nature is for everyone. The plants, animals, and habitats in the Chicago Wilderness region provide tangible economic, social, cultural, and health benefits to the 11.5M residents who live here and the 60M who work, convene, and visit every year. Combined with the diverse human communities of the region, they constitute the shared natural and cultural heritage inherited by each generation. Yet currently, these benefits are not equitably distributed, and the natural assets that sustain them are not equally accessible to all, damaging quality of life and opportunity in many neighborhoods and jurisdictions. 
 
The Goal: By 2025, a Chicago Wilderness alliance representing the full diversity of the region will have identified and implemented the best approaches to (1) increase access to natural areas and green spaces of all types that are welcoming to all; (2) expand nature-based programming across the region, particularly in places with the least area of healthy green space in 2020; and (3) foster a regional partnership that addresses the region’s legacy of environmental injustice and as part of its internal operations and external relationships. At least 3M more people will reap nature’s benefits from this activation of local green spaces, with an emphasis on those who have historically been excluded.

See the full goal, with indicators.

Together, we can make this vision a reality -- expanding and improving access to nature and its benefits and achieving a fuller expression of Chicago Wilderness with folks from many different types of organizations and walks of life.