As Earth day arrives, residents may be curious what the top environmental concerns are facing the city of Chicago, and what they can do to help.
A new report recently released shows what it calls the top four environmental and energy issues facing Chicago in 2026. According to the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), are air quality, beach closures, data centers and protecting wetlands.
“We ought to think about environmental issues all the time in the Midwest, but Earth Day is a nice opportunity for everybody to come together and say, ‘what are the big opportunities we have? What are the challenges? Where are we making progress?'” said Howard Learner, the CEO of the ELPC.
Learner hosted an online briefing ahead of Earth Day to highlight the pressing issues in Chicago and the Midwest, as well as some of the solutions.
“We’ve had recurring problems with air quality,” said Learner. “What we need to do is focus on the things we can control, reduce the amount of pollution in our air so that when we get some wildfire smoke and so forth, the air quality isn’t as bad as if both of those were in effect.”
“The Trump administration is not helping. It’s rolling back core air quality protections,” added Learner. “That’s why the Environmental Law and Policy Centers and several federal court cases defending our clean air standards against the Trump administration’s illegal rollbacks.”
Learner also points to beach closings due to contamination and sewage overflows, as well as shoreline erosion in the wake of frequent, intense storms.
“Eternal vigilance,” said Learner. “We need make sure that our Great Lakes and Lake Michigan in particular are protected, are clean, are restored. We have to deal with the storm sewage system in the Chicago area, so that when we have intense rain storms, and we all know there are going to be more of them, we don’t have sewage and other gunk flowing into Lake Michigan. That makes water quality worse.”
Wetlands also play a role in filtering and flood control, according to Learner.
“[The Trump administration] has cut protections for about half the wetlands, if not more, in our country. Illinois has a very few amount of our remaining wetlands,” he said. “The Illinois legislature is ready to step up where the federal government is stepping back. The Illinois Wetlands Protection Act is really important. Over the next five weeks, the legislature will decide whether to pass it or not, put it on the governor’s desk. Weigh in with your state legislature.”
Energy affordability is also top of mind, and Learner says data centers are putting a lot of pressure on the system.
He says residents living near proposed sites should ask these questions and attend meetings.
“Is the data center going to bring its own clean energy supply, so they don’t add pollution to the environment, the air we breathe? Secondly, is the data center going to take care of meeting its own power needs or try to force everybody else to subsidize their power costs? Third, what’s their water supply? How are they using it? And fourth, what is the location?,” he said.
Learner also advises those who want to make a difference to take action in small ways, encouraging residents to use public transit or walking or biking when it’s nice out instead of driving. And, clean up trash after picnics and at the beach.
