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Articles by Karen Weigert
Opinion: Chicago companies offer a playbook for implementing place-based investments
As Crain’s as reported, about 3,000 jobs are slated to come to Chicago thanks to Mars Snacking’s new regional office downtown and Hyundai Translead’s plans to revitalize factories in the Joliet area. These are laudable announcements, and they should call attention to what is being done on Chicago’s South and West sides, where the city’s next economic playbook is taking shape in long-disinvested neighborhoods.
▶️ Listen Now: Youth climate activists scored a major win in Montana. Could Illinois be next?
URL Copied! A Montana judge ruled in favor of young people’s constitutional right to a ‘healthful environment.’ Students cheer during a protest organized by the U.S. Youth Climate Strike outside of Miami Beach City Hall, as part of a global day of climate action, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) By Lynnea Domienik, Karen Weigert Aug 17, 2023, 1:27pm CT Held v. Montana is the first lawsuit of its kind to go to trial, with plaintiffs ranging from age 5 to age 22.
Looking for your dream job? You might already be building it | Greenbiz
[ The Hire Learning column highlights knowledge from those inside the sustainability office to make sense of the career in this decisive decade. Have an idea you want to write? Email . ] "Was this your dream job when you were in school?" As the first chief sustainability officer for the city of Chicago, I was asked some version of this question many times. And the simple answer was actually "no." Not because it wasn’t an absolutely amazing job. It was.
Paving the way to zero-carbon cities through building codes
Monday, November 12, 2018 - 1:30am On Nov. 14, Chicago will welcome nearly 20,000 Greenbuild attendees from the architecture, commercial development, academia and advocacy communities. The ideas elevated and generated during this conference have the potential to deliver greater health and wellbeing around the globe at a time when we stand at a critical crossroads in our efforts to combat climate change.
Protecting the grid from cyberattack: Cities on the front lines
An invisible force draws people to cities — an idea, the idea of a better life — and an invisible power illuminates our ideas. But an invisible attack, a cyberattack, might take it all away. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the energy domain has suffered more malicious invasions of information technology than any other part of critical infrastructure in the U.S. The electric grid is increasingly part of our national security, and cities are on the front lines.
The invisible power of cities
Editor's Note: The following is a guest post from Ken Boyce, Principal Engineer Director Energy & Power Technologies at UL, and Karen Weigert, a senior fellow on global cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. An invisible force draws people to cities — an idea, the idea of a better life — and an invisible power illuminates our ideas. But an invisible attack, a cyberattack, might take it all away.
Illinois government and private sector fight global warming
Standing on the sidelines, watching as a catastrophe rolls toward the United States, is deeply un-American. Yet that is exactly what the Trump administration has pledged to do. Faced with projections by its own scientists that the globe will warm by a horrific 7 degrees by the end of the century, the administration chooses to do nothing. Why try when the future of the world is, as it were, baked?
Why McDonalds and United Airlines are moving to the city
Corporate America is on a cities kick. In Chicago, where I live, more than 50 companies have announced relocations from the suburbs to downtown since 2010 — including Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Motorola Solutions, Mead Johnson and United Airlines.While Chicago has been leading this effort, it is hardly alone. Companies around the country are focused on talent and talent increasingly wants to live in cities. The hidden win is that cities are critical in the fight against climate change.
China Is Ready to Leapfrog U.S. in Carbon Markets | RealClearWorld
The Obama Administration’s stalled effort to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, the Clean Power Plan, was back before the courts on Tuesday. Even if it survives the process, the Clean Power Plan and the United States may miss a chance to catch up with China, which is building a transformative platform set to dominate global carbon markets. In 2014 the United States and China made a bilateral announcement on their commitments to carbon reduction, paving the way for the Paris Agreement.
13 Years After Northeast Blackout, U.S. Power Grid Remains Vulnerable
Karen Weigert is a senior fellow on global cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She was Chicago’s first chief sustainability officer, from 2011 to 2016. She is on Twitter: @KarenRWeigert. The vulnerability of the U.S. electrical grid was illustrated for 48 hours in August 2003, when the largest blackout in U.S. history left 50 million people in darkness in the Northeast U.S. and parts of Canada. The shutdown contributed to 11 deaths and cost the U.S. economy $10 billion.
More urban, less carbon
Last month 175 countries signed the Paris climate agreement. In April, cities around the globe added almost 5 million people, and a report released by U.N.-Habitat shows this rise in urbanization continuing.Cities are not often viewed as environmentally friendly places. Buildings and concrete are much of the landscape, not the typical backdrop in photos from nature lovers. And a quick look at the data presents a stark picture.
Are cities doing enough on climate change? Residents say no
"So, climate change is happening and that is the city’s official position?"The question came at the end of an interview I did in 2011 on Chicago’s premier evening news program shortly after I had been appointed the city’s first chief sustainability officer. Much of the conversation had focused on what the city was doing to enhance sustainability and what residents themselves could do.
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