Protect our Over Polluted Communities

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Protect Chicago Communities from Toxic Pollution

The Issue:

Everybody deserves to breathe clean air and live in clean, healthy neighborhoods. However, decades of zoning and land use policies have concentrated toxic pollution in Chicago’s communities, especially low-income, Black, and brown neighborhoods.

The Background:

What happens to the land around us impacts our health and the health of our ecosystems, both positively and negatively. Trees lined streets filter our air and keep us cool, open parks improve physical health, and native plants along waterways filter our water. When our land and wildlife can be healthy, so can we. However, in Chicago, some neighborhoods have too many heavy polluting industries and brownfields and lack the necessary investments that keep the health of land in balance.

The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, named after the mother of the environmental justice movement Hazel M. Johnson, is a proposed new city law. This law is designed to protect communities from unfair pollution burdens by considering the combined effects of multiple pollution sources—such as traffic, brownfields, and other environmental stressors—on public health. The transparent approach to permitting for potentially heavy polluters outlined in the law would bring community members to the table for a rational process that helps ensure green and creative solutions so every Chicagoan lives in an environment that safeguards their health.

What you can do:

Tell your alderperson to co-sponsor and vote “yes” on the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance to protect all Chicagoans and our environment.

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Protect Chicago Communities from Toxic Pollution

Chicago Alderpersons

Subject: Support the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697)

Message:

In 2023, a civil rights lawsuit was settled against the City of Chicago, and brought national attention to how Chicago's current zoning policies threaten the health of already disadvantaged communities. Now with an ordinance for zoning reform on the table, I am asking for your support in voting to protect communities from unfair pollution burdens.

The Data:
As outlined in City of Chicago’s Cumulative Impact Assessment, cumulative pollution is correlated with high asthma rates, cancer clusters, and other illnesses related to overexposure to industrial toxins. Chicago residents live in these sacrifice zones, especially low-income, Black and brown communities.

The Ordinance:
The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697), is a citywide policy designed to protect all communities from unfair pollution burdens by considering the combined effects of multiple pollution sources—such as traffic, industrial plants, and other environmental stressors—on public health.

This ordinance strengthens the zoning process for industries and facilities with the highest potential for pollution, ensuring a more transparent review before approval and promoting a fairer, healthier, and safer Chicago. It encourages innovation and cleaner practices from industry, while ensuring Chicago remains to be a desirable place to live, work and thrive.

The Urgency:
Chicago can address cumulative pollution as the public health crisis it is by reforming its zoning laws.

I urge you to co-sponsor and vote yes on the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697).

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Alders co-sponsoring the ordinance

Subject: Thank you for Co-Sponsering the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697)

Message:

In 2023, a civil rights lawsuit was settled against the City of Chicago, and brought national attention to how Chicago's current zoning policies threaten the health of already disadvantaged communities. Now with an ordinance for zoning reform on the table, I am thanking for your support in protect communities from unfair pollution burdens.

The Data:
As outlined in City of Chicago’s Cumulative Impact Assessment, cumulative pollution is correlated with high asthma rates, cancer clusters, and other illnesses related to overexposure to industrial toxins. Chicago residents live in these sacrifice zones, especially low-income, Black and brown communities.

The Ordinance:
The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697), is a citywide policy designed to protect all communities from unfair pollution burdens by considering the combined effects of multiple pollution sources—such as traffic, industrial plants, and other environmental stressors—on public health.

This ordinance strengthens the zoning process for industries and facilities with the highest potential for pollution, ensuring a more transparent review before approval and promoting a fairer, healthier, and safer Chicago. It encourages innovation and cleaner practices from industry, while ensuring Chicago remains to be a desirable place to live, work and thrive.

The Urgency:
Chicago can address cumulative pollution as the public health crisis it is by reforming its zoning laws.

I thank you for your support on the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697).

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Protect Chicago Communities from Toxic Pollution

The Issue:

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What you can do:

Protect Chicago Communities from Toxic Pollution

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