Environment and Sustainability

The Town of Normal should revisit the recycling program for apartment complexes and multi-unit developments, according to Mayor Chris Koos.

Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe is pleased with the diversity of stakeholders represented on the city's gun violence commission. In a WGLT interview, he said he wants a lot of views represented.

The Ecology Action Center in Normal will get nearly $500,000 in federal grant money to grow more trees and study climate change vulnerabilities in the Bloomington-Normal community.

There are several reasons why the Town of Normal will pay for a study of how sturdy its three parking decks are. One of them is to see whether solar arrays can go on the roofs to see if the decks will bear the weight.

For more than a year, the City of Bloomington has been looking into a new streetscape plan. It's a potential $30 million "generational" project that would replace aging under-and-above-ground infrastructure. Staff have said the effort is about far more than beautification.

So-called "carbon sequestration" takes carbon dioxide produced by industrial processes like ethanol plants, compresses it to a liquid form, pipes it across the Midwest, and injects it deep under bedrock layers in places like Decatur, and potentially McLean County.

Last month was the planet’s warmest August in the 174-year record of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Like other communities, Bloomington-Normal really noticed the impact of that heat. The August heat wave didn't just cause people to droop. City Manager Pam Reece said the town's shade cover wilted too.

Efforts are ramping up at the state and federal levels to create more green energy infrastructure. There’s a lot in the federal Inflation Reduction Act and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in Illinois to stimulate creation of infrastructure, and advocates are increasingly trying to get public buy-in of what will change the landscape — sometimes literally.

The Green Screen Film Series continues at the Normal Theater on Tuesday with "The Human Scale," a documentary about how developing mega-cities change human behavior.

The McLean County Board's Land Use and Development Committee has approved a zoning ordinance amendment that would regulate the placement of CO2 sequestration wells 1,500 feet away from occupied homes, livestock shelters, school or community buildings and commercial/manufacturing buildings.