Coal, Oil, and Gas brought us the Industrial Revolution.  They brought us mass production, factories, automobiles, air flight,  warmth in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, and the amazing array of consumer goods that fill our homes and make us comfortable, or at least  keep us occupied.  It has been the foundation of our economy and our way of life.

But we are now paying a terrible price for all that abundance.  The burning of fossil fuels is destroying the biosphere upon which we all depend.  It is causing wildfires, not just on our West Coast, but all across the world, even inside the Arctic Circle.  Paradoxically, it is bringing  us both floods and droughts, both  heat domes and the polar vortex.   read more

                  FOX VALLEY CITIZENS FOR PEACE & JUSTICE SCHOLARSHIP

 To be considered for this $750 scholarship, you must meet the following criteria.

• Be a senior in a District U-46 high school
• Be enrolled in or have an application pending at an accredited college

The following items must be mailed no later than April 9, 2021, to Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice, PO #3, Geneva, IL 60134.                             

• A recommendation from a teacher and/or supervisor
• An essay of no more than 1,000 words, typed
• The application form below, completed and stapled to the essay

The essay:  Many of the issues that Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice addresses are on the back of this page. After reviewing them, select one or an aspect of one and explain in your own words why you believe it to be important. Include any volunteer work or social action you have participated in to advance this and/or any other of these issues. read more

Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice opposes any new fossil fuel infrastructure or fossil fuel expansion.  We especially oppose new  oil pipelines or the expansion of the volume of oil transported through existing oil pipelines.  In particular, we oppose  Enbridge’s Line 3 in Minnesota,   which already brings tar sands oil down from Canada, through Wisconsin and Illinois  to refineries in Patoka, Illinois, and ultimately to the Gulf Coast.  

Enbridge wants to replace  it’s existing Line 3 in Minnesota.  If they succeed in getting the permits to do that, they will certainly expand the operation of their Line 66 in Wisconsin. And then they will almost certainly want to expand their existing Line 61 in Illinois, by building a “twin” to Line 61 or by simply increasing the volume of oil they transport through  Line 61.    Every step along the way, these changes would increase the risk of leaks and spills of tar sands oil, the dirtiest, most polluting form of petroleum on the planet.  And every step along the way, they would  make the climate crisis more catastrophic than it already is.  read more

Hundreds of cars whizzed past us every moment while the wind blew, but spirits were high.  We were joining the Women’s March, urging people to vote, and supporting the Illinois Fair Tax proposition.  

Mary S.