Residents in Lisle Township, which includes a portion of Naperville, want Illinois to take steps to reduce its carbon footprint within the coming decade.
Sixty percent of township voters approved a nonbinding referendum Tuesday that asked the state to set Jan. 1, 2030, as the priority date for zero-to-negative carbon emissions for the state and commercial regulation, according to unofficial election results that will be certified later this month.
The advisory question, raised by township resident and Illinois Green Party co-chair Anna Schiefelbein, was placed on the ballot by Lisle Township after the initiative garnered support at the annual town meeting in April.
“I’m not terribly surprised (by the results),” Schiefelbein said.
In her experience, the mother of two said, Lisle Township residents are concerned about environmental causes.
Once the final election votes are tallied from mail-in and provisional ballots, the next step will be to reach out to legislators, especially those who represent Lisle Township, “and let them know this is what the people want,” she said.
Beyond that, the push would be a grassroots effort to spread the word that people want the state to take meaningful steps toward stemming climate change, she said.
Protecting the environment is not a partisan issue, something Schiefelbein said she saw firsthand when canvassing door-to-door.
Republicans she spoke with were concerned about the environment even though they’re not hearing that from their party, she said.
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“I view the different political ideologies as like a Venn diagram. … We agree on some things,” Schiefelbein said. “People are concerned about (the environment), and they’re concerned about it for their children and their grandchildren, because the future is not crystal clear.”
She’s noticed a great deal of support from younger adults in their 20s and 30s.
“They don’t want to be waiting around until 2050 to find out what’s going to happen. I don’t blame them,” she said. “Unfortunately sooner than later things are going to get real.”
As an example, she cited states in the West that get their water from the Colorado River, which has dropped to record low levels.
“It’s going to be real personal for people real soon, and there’s no real solution for it,” Schiefelbein said.
Lisle Township has an opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint, township Supervisor Diane Hewitt said.
When the township is able to move forward with plans to construct a new building, it will be near net zero through the use of green initiatives, such as solar and geothermal energy to power and heat the structure, Hewitt said.