The Illinois Green staff has revived our “book club” to stay connected and share reflections on climate issues. Check out our list – we hope you find something inspiring!
September 2020:

- Climate Action is Heating Up in Illinois: Here’s the Missing Piece (Rocky Mountain Institute)
- Dealing With Climate Change Will Take Gray And Green Infrastructure (BISNOW)
- Sustainable Buy-ins (Electrical Contractor Magazine)
August 2020:
- Development Without Gentrification: Garfield Green Housing Plan Aims To Spur Growth, Maintain Affordability On West Side (BlockClubChicago)
- What does real action look like? Meet NOMA’s First Class of Foundation Fellows (Architect Magazine)
- Architecture vs. Waste (Stitcher)
- Chicago’s Bid to Reinvent the Corner Store (Bloomberg CityLab)
- $10M Chicago Prize Awarded to Auburn Gresham Team to Build Health Hub, Urban Farm (WTTW)
July 2020:
- Delivering Climate Solutions from Existing Buildings: No Time to Waste (New Buildings Institute)
- The Problem in High-Performance Buildings is the People (gb&d magazine)
- ‘Climate Pledge Arena’ Will Be The Name Of Amazon’s New Seattle Sports Center (Forbes)
- Efficient housing project moves forward in Chicago despite loss of key architect (Energy News Network)
- Empire State of Green (The Washington Post)
June 2020:
- Design Hacks Will Dominate the Coronavirus Recovery Landscape (Bloomberg CityLab)
- OP-ED: Why “green buildings” are a civil rights issue (blackpressUSA)
- I’m a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet. (The Washington Post)
- Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism (The New York Times)
- How sustainability professionals can uplift the black community (GreenBiz)
May 2020:
- The Prophecies of Jane Jacobs (The Atlantic)
- Architects Forecast Change For Design In Wake Of COVID-19 (Forbes)
- Buildings that blend nature and city – Jeanne Gang (TEDWomen 2016)
- Compost for Climate Change (TEDxUManitoba)
- Why we should build wooden skyscrapers (TED2013)
April 2020:
- The Pandemic Has Led to a Huge, Global Drop in Air Pollution (Wired)
- Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down for Coronavirus (New York Times)
- In the supertall era, is the sustainable skyscraper a myth? (Curbed)
- Should Massachusetts require all new residential and commercial buildings to be carbon net zero? (Boston Globe)
March 2020:
- How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change (New York Times)
- How to Turn Climate Anxiety Into Action (TEDWomen 2019)
- A World Worth Fighting For (Sierra Club Earth Day Perspectives)
- Let’s Return Earth Day to its Revolutionary Past (Sierra Club Earth Day Perspectives)
- From the Pond to the Streets (Sierra Club Earth Day Perspectives)
Articles we’ve shared on social media:
- Empire State of Green (The Washington Post)
- The AIA 2030 Commitment: The Chicago Campaign to Combat the Climate Emergency (Chicago Architect Magazine)
- Global climate coalition selects Loop site for ambitious carbon-neutral redevelopment (Curbed)
- Q&A: Illinois architect on the growing challenges of maximizing efficiency (Energy News Network)
- Video: Scientists share their grief, anger, and hope over climate change (Yale Climate Connections)
- These are the 76 climate solutions we need to scale up right now to have a chance (Fast Company)
- 25 badass women shaking up the climate movement in 2020 (GreenBiz)
- Do LEED, WELL and Fitwell play nicely together? (Treehugger)
- Editorial: Amid coronavirus, another worry looming for Illinois (Chicago Sun Times)
- Four ways to specify for a positive impact (Interface Blog)
- If You Are Serious About Sustainability, Social Equity Can’t Be Just Another Add-On (Metropolis)