Local Community Protests Toxic Coal Power Plant

The piece about which I am writing was written by eNews Park Forest, which reports on news that concerns the environment, and is run by journalists with a passion for nature. Most of the site's readers share this passion, and the piece is trying to communicate that there are grassroots organization in Chicago that share that passion.

Local Chicagoans stood on the grounds of the toxic coal-burning Crawford power plant yesterday to protest the plant and try to get it shut down. The Crawford plant, along with the Fisk plant, account for around 45,000 tons of pollutants floating in the air around Chicago. These citizens have taken to protesting as a means of effecting change in their local communities, and trying to communicate to the people involved in the upcoming Clean Power Ordinance hearing, which could force the plant to shut down and change its methods.

If they are successful, the protestor’s will not lead to spreading the environmental burdens the plant brings, but actually lessening the burden, which everyone benefits from, though the protestors are likely less affected than most by these burdens. “The most defensible accounts of fairness and climate change suggest that the rich countries should bear the brunt, and perhaps even the entirety, of the costs. What, then, has the world done?” (Gardiner Ethics 590) The Crawford plant’s protestors seem to have an answer to the question of whose responsibility it is to bear the costs (spending the time and money) of fixing environmentally unfriendly practices: themselves.

 This kind of action shows that some of the people of Chicago’s south side truly care about the quality of their local environment and want to see things change for the better. I think this kind of protesting is a great way to raise awareness and show people that there are groups that want the plant shut down or reformed, but one must follow up these actions by appearing at the hearing and making your voice heard by the people who actually write the laws that make the changes you want.