New Energy Future In The News

EDWARDSVILLE -- The U.S. is as a "crossroads of history" environmentally and economically, experts say, and the two will be tied together in the future.

Gail Philbin of the Illinois Environmental Council said the economic and environmental issues facing the U.S. have put Illinois at a high profile, considering it is President Obama's home state and the seventh largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S.

"The way to solve environmental problems is often good for business," Philbin said.

That was a theme echoed among several speakers at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Earth Day seminar. In the past, business and industrial interests often butted heads with environmental leadership, but now the gulf between them is narrowing over mutual interests.

That's according to Brian Granahan, staff attorney for Environment Illinois. The divide is still there, he said, and business and industrial interests have much more entrenched lobbying influence than the environmental groups.

"It makes it a bit of a struggle," he said.

But with energy efficiency, green construction and other growing industries relating to environmentalism, business and the environment are starting to get along, he said.

Granahan said if Illinois were a country by itself, it would rank 24th in the world for emissions. As a central Midwestern state, Illinois' laws have a national and international significance. "What we do here ... makes a difference," he said.

A top priority for the legislature in coming months will be the Clean Cars Act, he said. That means adopting California's stricter standards for Illinois, reducing carbon emissions over the next 10 years. About 14 states have adopted the standards, which are tougher than the federal standard, but most have been coastal states.

In addition, the energy-efficient building codes have been proposed for residential housing. Another proposal calls for polluters to be fined for the carbon they emit, and the money used for energy-efficient technology.

Speaking on climate change was Zak Krug, a student intern with the Sierra Club. He lauded Edwardsville and Alton for joining the "Cool Cities" environmental movement to make city government energy-efficient.

"We cannot sit by while our planet crumbles around us," Krug said. "We must take action now."

Closer to home, SIUE student Nathalie Woloszyn leads the Student Organization for Sustainability. Their group proposes a bike-share program for students; a student-grown garden for vegetables and herbs; and a $10-15 required "green fee" that would go toward energy efficiency on campus. The latter will go before the student Senate in the fall, she said.

Now in their second year, Woloszyn said they have begun construction on a Japanese garden as part of the Gardens at SIUE, a satellite garden for the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

"It's a very peaceful area," she said.

The Illinois Environmental Council also scheduled a public forum on pending legislation Wednesday evening as part of the university's Earth Day observance.

Contact reporter Elizabeth Donald at edonald@bnd.com.