The Oak Park Board of Trustees and village staff should be commended for securing and approving a very advantageous electricity rate for the residents of Oak Park. They have shown patience in waiting for the electric power market to move toward lower rates, and perhaps even more importantly, they have shown foresight in establishing a renewable energy fund, all under the Community Choice Aggregation program.
The Interfaith Green Network of Oak Park/River Forest (IGN) has been concerned about our electric power for over four years, ever since our local PlanItGreen Sustainability Plan called for increased energy efficiency and a transition to clean, renewable energy sources.
For the last several months we have been communicating with individual trustees and village staff about the benefits of direct investment in clean energy. At an energy forum we sponsored last month at the Oak Park Public Library, and in conversations with creative and knowledgeable local residents, we have been informed that there are many possible scenarios for how the village can participate in an on-the-ground renewable energy installation.
Why has IGN been having this extended conversation about our electricity? Simply put, it is because we are in the midst of a global climate emergency, and eliminating the use of fossil fuels to make our electricity is a primary strategy for mitigating global warming. It may not feel like an emergency on a nice day in Oak Park, but when we consider the wider world—what Pope Francis has called “our common home”—this is what we see:
Thousands of wildfires and water shortages, due to an extended drought throughout the western U.S.
Worldwide temperatures setting an all-time record high last year.
In July, a heat index of 165 degrees in Iraq!
In Ethiopia, at least 4.5 million people expected to require food assistance due to drought.
It’s generally recognized that the negative effects of climate change are imposed primarily on the people in poor countries as well as the poor in this country and other rich countries. We in the faith community feel that Oak Park, as a relatively affluent, high-consuming town, must take responsibility for the consequential climate-polluting emissions that we have emitted over the decades. Hence our interest in helping to transition our energy system from dirty coal, oil and natural gas fuels to clean, renewable energy sources.
As deliberations proceed regarding how best to use the village’s energy fund, we hope that all participants will, as Pope Francis implores: “Hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
Jim Babcock is a resident of Oak Park and a member of the Interfaith Green Network and the Environmental Stewardship Team at First United Church of Oak Park.
