Our environment – and why we should be taking care of it. That was the focus at the Environmental Town Hall Meeting at North Central College.
The meeting had a panel of experts, in addition to State Representative Grant Wehrli and State Senator Laura Ellman. They discussed Illinois’ environmental issues, and what we can do to improve our carbon footprint.
Wehrli believes this is a human issue, not a political one.
“We are all on this planet together. It is good business to be environmentally friendly. As you see more and more business adopt environmental policies and goals as they move forward in their business,” said Wehrli. “So it’s breaking down that barrier of thought that this is a single party issue, it’s not.”
Some topics that were discussed include: ways to make houses and buildings more energy efficient and reducing waste. One goal is to get ride-sharing companies like Uber to use electric cars instead.
Senator Ellman recognized that some people aren’t sure if any improvements will take place.
“It will take a lot of oversight, scrutiny, keeping people’s toes to the fire. There are a lot of moving parts,” said Ellman.
And according to the panelists and some attendees, education will propel those changes.
“So education I think to me is at the fundamental core of making sure that in the future all of these things talked about today actually happen,” said attendee Tom Cowan.
The meeting ended with a Q&A session, where attendees had the chance to voice their concerns and get some answers.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.