CHICAGO--Over 450 people braved rain and unusually cold weather to attend Chicago's largest International Day of Climate Action event -- a mass rally, protest march and blockade of the controversial Fisk coal-fired power station in the Pilsen community in Chicago.

Chicago activists were determined to send a strong climate message to President Obama from his hometown as he and the US government prepares for the December Climate talks in Copenhagen:  End Coal!  Clean Energy NOW!  350 (ppm) at Copenhagen!

“It’s time for President Obama to lead,” said Nicole Granacki, Chicago Greenpeace Organizer, and CCA co-coordinator in a previous statement.  "Global warming is our generation's greatest challenge, and we're not going to let our future be decided by the same old politics."

The event was organized by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO); Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO); Greenpeace; and Rainforest Action Network Chicago Chapter.  By the day of the rally and march, 28 organizations had become Partners or Endorsers of the action, including local organizations Eco-Justice Collaborative, Nuclear Energy Information Service, and larger more diverse organizations such as MoveOn.org, Blacks in Green (BIG) and the Chicago Chapter of Sierra Club. (see: www.howgreenischicago.org)

From the mainstage, local community members and activists told the story of day-to-day pollution and health effects, which they attribute to the operation of the Fisk plant in Pilsen, and the Crawford plant in Little Village.  Both plants are operated by Midwest Generation, LLC, a subsidiary of Edison Mission Group.  Both plants and several other in Illinois were the targets of a recent lawsuit brought by the US EPA, the Illinois Attorney General's Office, and several Illinois environmental and community organizations for numerous pollution violations.

"The reason that we picked this location is to talk about the fact that these coal power plants in Chicago and cities and nations across the world are dealing with dirty, dirty coal power plants," said Kim Wasserman, coordinator of LVEJO, a Chicago community which is the site of the Crawford coal plant.  "And we want to send a message to Obama when he goes to Copenhagen in December, to make sure that he gets to 350, to make sure that he moves legislation forward that is going to improve the quality of air, clean up our communities, and get us the jobs that we need, and save us and save our planet," Wasserman noted.

"The longer I have lived in Pilsen near the Fisk plant, the more health problems I have had - and I think the plant is responsible,” said Leila Mendez, Pilsen resident and member of PERRO.  “I have survived a rare tumor and now I have soreness in my throat making it increasingly difficult to sing and talk - both things I do for a living. This pollution is deadly, and Midwest Generation needs to clean up or close down their coal-fired power plants.”

Ald. Joe Moore (D.-49th ward, Chicago) pledged from the stage to introduce a City ordinance limiting the emissions from Fisk and Crawford, both of which reside within the City limits, the effect of which would be to effectively close the plants permanently.  He expected stiff opposition in the Council, and actively sought the support of those attending the rally.

“If we are truly to be the ‘Green City’ that we claim ourselves to be, we simply cannot allow these power plants to continue to operate any longer.  They must be shut down, and they must be shut down as soon as possible,”  Moore said.

During the event, organizers conducted an "energy election" for those attending, asking them whether they want the Fisk and Crawford coal stations to shut down.  The results of these unofficial ballots will be passed along to the Chicago City Council and Department of the Environment.

8 Arrested in Blockade of Fisk Plant

Eight people were arrested for a sit-in blockade of the entrance to the Fisk coal plant.  As the march through the Pilsen community passed the plant entrance, eight people left the march, sat down in front of the entrance, and locked arms.

With crowd chants of  "Shut it down!" loudly in the background, Debra Michaud, one of those arrested calmly and firmly announced to the arresting officers, "We want to make the strongest statement possible that we are resisting dirty coal plants in our city, and that we are willing to risk arrest for that."

The eight were then taken into custody by Chicago Police, and released after processing later in the afternoon.

YouTube video of the arrest of 8 people outside the Fisk Coal Plant in Chicago (10:30 min.)

Not the End of the Story

While event organizers considered the event successful, some were quick to point out that this event was merely the beginning of activities leading up to and beyond the December climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen.  Already, further events are being scheduled nationally and worldwide.  The Mobilization for Climate Justice has announced plans for a major national climate action on November 30th, the 10th anniversary of the Seattle protests (www.actforclimatejustice.org)

The general and informal consensus is that the time for ineffective talk is long past; and the expectation moving forward is for the world, and the US in particular, to commit to a strong, binding and universal treaty and actions that achieve the target of no more than 350 ppm of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere.

“On the largest global day of action ever on any issue, people from every corner of the planet are uniting to demand a climate treaty that reduces atmospheric CO2 levels to 350 parts per million,” said Debra Michaud of Rainforest Action Network Chicago (RAN Chicago), one of the CCA organizing groups.  “False solutions like carbon trading and so-called “clean coal” are not going to solve our climate crisis.  To achieve 350 ppm we must phase out of dirty coal, invest in clean, renewable energy, and adopt agriculture and forestry practices that sequester CO2,” concluded Michaud.

Seems like climate "business as usual" is -- over.

Video from protest:

CAN-TV segment:

Pictures from the Protest:

Video from protest: