“Clean” Air and Water Show This Weekend in Chicago

On Saturday there is going to be another Air and Water Show in Chicago, this one will not shock and awe its viewers with displays of military equipment that are paid for by your tax money. Instead, it will bring the question of how clean the air we breathe is, and why there is still a coal-fired power plant within the city boundaries.

Members of  the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization believe that access to resources like water and education are human rights. For people in the Little Village neighborhood, critical public resources are being sold to corporations who make profits as they damage the air and water in their community.

Local environmental and labor reporter, Kari Lydersen, reported recently:

For the past decade, public health and environmental advocates have been trying to force Midwest Generation L.L.C. to reduce emissions from its aging Fisk and Crawford coal-burning power plants in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, abutting Cermak and Pulaski Roads near the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Yet Mr. Daley has fought City Council efforts to clean up emissions from the plants and has not said whether he will support a new proposal by Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward) to force the plants to reduce emissions.

Grab your bike and join the ride, and rally to tip the balance of action in favor of health and humanity — and away from corporate profits.

Schedule of Events:

12 p.m. to 1 p.m. — Learn Power Rally at the Crawford Coal-fired Power Plant in Little Village, 34th St. and Pulaski

1 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Bike Ride from the Crawford Coal Plant to the Lakefront Along the Proposed 31st St Bus Route

3 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Clean Air and Water Show at Burnham Park/31st Street Beach

For more info, call 773.762.6991 or email “water” at lvejo.org.

The Clean Air and Water Show at 31st Street Beach will showcase community-based solutions for more just and sustainable ways of living. Activities will include theatre, games, speakers, music and food. Free and open to the public!

Co-sponsors include: LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization) – Southeast Environmental Task Force – STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power) – Jobs with Justice – Universidad Popular – Teachers for Social Justice – ATU (Amalgamated Transit Union) Local 241 – PERRO (Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization) – EcoJustice Collaborative – Voices for Creative Nonviolence – Rainforest Action Network Chicago – Nuclear Energy Information Service – Q4 Gallery – CAPOW! (Citizens Act to Protect Our Water) – Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice – Radios Populares – Blacks in Green – 8th Day Center for Justice, Corporate Accountability International, Topless America

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