FILE - A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo, File)

Debate over vinyl chloride has simmered for years, but gained a new urgency after the Feb. 3 derailment of a 50-car Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine. Three days later, emergency crews released toxic vinyl chloride from five tank cars and burned it to keep them from exploding.

(WTTW News)
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“The goal here is for us to think about how the cumulative impact data can help change policy and operations across city departments,” said Angela Tovar, Chicago’s chief sustainability officer.

Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses the news media on Monday, July 3, 2023. (Mayor's Office)

The last time Chicago saw nearly 9 inches of rain was Aug. 13-14, 1987, according to the National Weather Service. On average, the city gets 3.7 inches of rain during all of July, according to the National Weather Service.

FILE - A person walks along the shore of Lake Michigan as the downtown skyline is blanketed in haze from Canadian wildfires, June 27, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Kiichiro Sato, File)

Already wildfires are consuming three times more of the United States and Canada each year than in the 1980s, and studies predict fire and smoke to worsen.

(Pexels / 현덕 김)

Thousands of bees settled in Daley Plaza this week, but the prize for craziest infestation goes to tiny Elko, Nev., which has been overrun by millions of crickets.

(WTTW News)

The impact of climate change is being felt across the planet in ways large and small. But it is increasingly clear that the impact of climate change is not felt equally.

(WTTW News)

It starts with an assembly line of sorts: washing and drying detergent bottles that have been collected from different laundromats. The plastic is then shredded into small granules, heated and made into a solid beam to create benches.

Activists protest plans for a metal scrapper on Chicago's Southeast Side at City Hall on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Heather Cherone/WTTW News)
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Leaders of Chicago's environmental justice movement are confident Mayor Brandon Johnson has their backs – and they won’t have to fight City Hall as well as the businesses that they blame causing high rates of cancer, heart disease, respiratory ailments and asthma by polluting the air they breathe.

Openlands is hosting guided paddling trips through the African American Heritage Water Trail on the Far South Side. (Courtesy of Openlands)

Openlands is hosting guided paddling trips through the African American Heritage Water Trail on the Far South Side. It’s a way to experience how Black history and nature intersect.

An aerial view of the Chicago Area Confined Disposal Facility, a 45-acre site on Chicago’s Southeast Side that has been in operation since 1984. Inset: The CDF is outlined in red. (Credit: Army Corps of Engineers)

The Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to build a 25-foot-tall “toxic tower” on Lake Michigan has hit a speed bump.

(David Mark / Pixabay)
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A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrows the Clean Water Act’s authority to regulate certain wetlands has met with disappointment, frustration and head-scratching among Great Lakes environmentalists.

(WTTW News)
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Legislators and environmental activists alike say they were caught off guard by fast-tracked proposals that would pave the way for a private entity to own a piece of an expanded I-55. 

The Wild Mile floating wetland in the Chicago River, October 2022. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Researchers from Shedd Aquarium and Chicago-based Urban Rivers teamed with counterparts in Boston and Baltimore and confirmed that floating wetlands can improve water quality and provide vital habitat.

(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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The only violence people wanted to hear about was the harm being done to their health due to decades of pollution from surrounding industries.

Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas made their case to voters at a packed forum held in Pilsen, and the words “crime” and “police” didn't come up once.

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas. (Provided)
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Much of the focus has been on the mayoral candidates’ public safety plans, but whoever emerges victorious on April 4 will also inherit environmental and climate-related challenges.

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The Illinois House of Representatives passed legislation that would phase out single-use polystyrene foam foodware beginning in January 2024.