This coverage has become possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, a public radio station that serves the Chicago Metropolitan.
Reverend Brian Sadr had good news in January, compared to 58 religious organizations across the Middle West. It has the non -profit environmental Chicago, faith in the place. Each of them will give a grant to finance tree cultivation in low -income societies and create urban forest functions to preserve them. These additional trees will help reduce the effects of climate change and air pollution.
But the good news did not last long.
On his first day in his post, President Donald Trump signed his executive order “the unleashing American energy”, which suddenly froze the distribution of funds from the comprehensive climate law for the Biden Administration, and the law to reduce inflation. This step has left critical initiatives to fold the forgetfulness, including forest programs in urban and societal areas such as Iman SAUDER in place.
“Forced to summon these grants and tell them:” Hey, you need to stop working on this. We cannot compensate you. There is a lot of uncertainty at the present time. “It was completely destructive,” said Soder, whose organization had already had to lay off five employees as a result of the Federal Freezing.
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The secret component of the Climate Law in Biden? City trees.
The Act of Inflation has pledged $ 1.5 billion to plant more trees in cities and ensure their survival as well. Funding, which is approximately 40 times the federal government usually spent on urban forests, promised to convert the urban environment throughout the country. Non -profit organizations and local governments have worked to manage the historical level of financing and have made great promises to low -income communities and minorities to help “green” their neighborhoods. Now, organizations such as Faith in Place, which are still unable to reach federal funds, are facing financial repercussions.
“We are a mini model of what is happening throughout the country with uncertainty, and the government does not maintain its commitment to these contracts,” Soder said.
In response, faith has occurred in a lawsuit led by the Earthjustice, a non -profit institution that charges national environmental issues. The lawsuit seeks to compel the US Department of Agriculture, which distributes money, to honor its financial obligations.
“The president cannot come and say:“ We do not do that, we do not follow the law that Congress legislates. ”Said Jill Top, Vice President of Law on Climate and Energy at Earthjustus, said this is a violation of the separation of powers.
The legal challenge comes as the federal judges ordered the government to issue the funds of the law to reduce inflation that have already been allocated by Congress, but the US Department of Agriculture has not yet done so. Until now, The Freeze has stopped to hundreds of urban forest projects throughout the country, including one to improve the umbrella of trees in Portland, an initiative to restore more than 200,000 lost trees in New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and plans to correct the long distance in covering trees through the black courage of Chicago and the plan in the southern city.
In a statement, the US Department of Agriculture said that it was in the process of reviewing all grants, and while it had allowed some “critical task” services to resume it, it was unable to provide information about individual grants.
20 minutes' drive to the west of the city center, the historic Churchi of the temporary Churchi, who was once a local contact point for the civil rights movement, is hosting marches and speakers like the priest. Martin Luther King Junior .. Federal funds were supposed to cover the cost of cultivating fruit trees in its societal garden, providing the majority of the majority of the majority seasonal access to pears, peaches, apples and peaches.
“The goal was to get trees on the ground this spring,” said Soder. But this does not happen amid uncertainty in financing.
While cities such as Chicago wrestlers with high global temperatures, improving the urban umbrella – the group cover layer in the city – is not only related to beautifying the neighborhood. Trees help reduce air pollution and are increasingly among the most cost -effective ways to mitigate the effects of climate change, according to Vivic Chandas, who is looking for climate change at Portland State University and a member of the National Consultative Council to attend in urban and societal areas.
Read after that
Another victim to freeze Trump's financing: New Orleans' umbrella
“The trees there quietly, as it provides the basic ecosystem services,” said Chanda. “Every day, they clean the air, cool the neighborhoods, absorb rain water, and they do all these things completely free.”
Problem: The urban umbrella of Chicago is distributed unevenly throughout the city – often preferred the neighborhoods of white and weather – as it shrinks due to disease and urban development. The umbrella cover in the city decreased from 19 to 16 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to a report issued by Morton nursery, a public park and a trees research center in the outskirts of Chicago.
The freezing of financing has stopped plans to grow trees at the state level.
The Trump administration has stopped approximately $ 14 million in financing the law -reducing inflation law for the Illinois State Projects that included tree removal and trim, trees farms, tree stocks, and other works related to the management of the umbrella of trees in Illinois.
“It is really annoying that the government will not maintain the end of the deal,” said Soder. “We have maintained our commitment, and they do not maintain their commitment to us.”
Editor Note: Earthjustice is announced with Grist. The advertisers have no role in the editing decisions in GRIS.
