Citizens for a Greener Evanston
Citizens for a Greener Evanston is a grassroots environmental organization in Evanston, Illinois. Its origins were in a predecessor group, Network for Evanston's Future, that began c. 2000 as an umbrella group for a half-dozen organizations in Evanston working on various aspects of sustainability in the municipality, to wit, Evanston's Affordable Housing Future; The Citizens' Lighthouse Community Land Trust; Evanston's Transportation Future; Evanston Interreligious Sustainability Circle; Evanston's Energy Future; Evanston Food Policy Council; and The Talking Farm. Subsequently, in October 2006, the City voted to sign the United States Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The next year, a number of citizen taskforces organized by Network leaders after public meetings in the fall of 2007 convened to develop A Plan to reduce the city's carbon footprint. The result was the Evanston Climate Action Plan, passed in November 2008, which proposed over 100 different tactics to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Evanston with respect to transportation, buildings, energy sources, waste, and food production. The Evanston effort was singled out by the State of Illinois as a "best practices" model for developing such a plan.
Citizens for a Greener Evanston, often referred to as CGE, then was formed as an outgrowth of the hundreds of citizens who helped develop the Climate Action Plan.
Since formation, the group has expanded its reach to partner with the City, local school districts, institutions such as Northwestern University, businesses, and resident groups in an effort to reduce the City's carbon-based emissions by 13% by the year 2012. CGE set in motion City discussion of a wind turbine farm based offshore of Evanston in Lake Michigan; the effort resulted in formal City request for information in 2010, garnering widespread attention.
The group partnered with the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, ComEd and the City in sponsoring a free breakfast presentation on energy efficiency, targeted at local businesses, in September, 2009. CGE and others successfully advocated for passage of a green building ordinance in Evanston. In the 2009 municipal elections, the group sponsored a candidates' forum, and in the 2010 primary election, the group issued questionnaires to state legislative candidates and published the results online. Citizens for a Greener Evanston frequently presents public informational sessions, such as a lecture and book-signing by author Christopher Steiner.