Loading…
← Back to schedule
A Community-Driven Strategy for Community Resiliency
Saturday April 5, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Ecotone North, 2nd Floor
Environmental injustice can be extremely localized in the urban landscape. Within a single Chicago ward, the health risks associated with climate change are greater in under-resourced areas than they are in more prosperous areas a few blocks away.
Network49’s Environmental Justice Committee's Vine Trellis Project is designed to benefit residents of blocks with high heat disparities and deficit tree canopy. These blocks generally have lower-rent apartments, and the residents of these apartments are relatively less able to afford AC as a way to reduce their heat vulnerability.
Attendees will:
-operate thermal recorders to investigate how much cooler building surfaces become when shaded by vine trellises.
-use maps to correlate heat disparity, tree cover, and demographics.
-discuss and interpret 2023 and 2024 temperature data from the Network49 Vine Trellis Project.
-receive references and links to tree canopy maps, Heat Vulnerability Index findings, related projects in Chicago, and studies showing physical and mental health benefits of increased greenspace.
Topics:
Fostering student/resident stewards and climate activists
Strategies to raise public awareness of and support for improved climate resiliency
Generating specific, measurable environmental justice demands
Building a database building engineers and architects can use to reduce heat vulnerability
Collaborating with schools, parks, and non-profits
Speakers
avatar for James Kern

James Kern

Chair of Environmental Justice Committee, Network49
James Kern (he/him) chairs Network49’s Environmental Justice Committee. He has designed and implemented climate-resiliency projects in Chicago. One, in the Back of the Yards, demonstrated the strength of community-driven projects for addressing climate change. Volunteer work at... Read More →
avatar for Carrie Breitbach

Carrie Breitbach

LSC Member, Jordan Community Elementary School
Carrie Breitbach (she/her) is an LSC member of the Jordan Community Elementary School. She has been instrumental in establishing the environmental justice project at Jordan.Breitbach received her doctorate in cultural geography from Syracuse University.She taught at Chicago State... Read More →
Saturday April 5, 2025 1:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Ecotone North, 2nd Floor Academy for Global Citizenship, 4942 W 44th St, Chicago, IL 60638
  Environmental Stewardship + Climate Change, All levels: for everyone

Sign up or log in to save this to your schedule, view media, leave feedback and see who's attending!

Tweet Share
Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link