Environment Illinois

Celebrate World Ocean Day and earn a "save the whales" DIY patch with our toolkit for young environmentalists.🐋 https://environmentamerica.org/illinois/resources/how-young-environmentalists-can-help-save-the-whales/

We need your voice: Our public lands are a cherished legacy to be passed along to future generations, but the Senate is preparing for a vote that will impact whether or not our public lands can be sold to the highest bidder.

Contact your U.S. Senator today urging them to keep public lands in public hands.

Tell your U.S. senators: Public lands belong in public hands Our public lands are a cherished legacy to be passed along to future generations, not sold off to the highest bidder.

Less than a week into Chicago's 2026 summer beach season, one beach already had a swim advisory due to water quality issues. If you're headed to the beach this weekend, you can equip yourself with information to keep you and your family safe by checking online and heeding posted flag advisories and warnings.

Water quality concerns cause a swim advisory during the first week of Chicago’s summer 2026 beach season Even as Illinoisans are once again enjoying the splash of waves at the beach, pollution is still plaguing too many of the places where we swim.

The Illinois General Assembly just took a first step in addressing pollution from plastic pellets!

From Lake Michigan to the mighty Mississippi, Illinois’ waters support healthy wildlife and communities, but plastic pollution is impairing our waters and harming wildlife. Given the small size and large number of plastic pellets, spilling is inevitable. And when someone dumps these nurdles, cleanups are exceedingly difficult.

We applaud the action of the General Assembly to address this often unseen, but always concerning, source of pollution and look forward to the Governor signing the bill into law.

Illinois took a first step in addressing plastic pollution from pellets Once signed into law, Illinois will be the first Great Lakes state to pass a bill to directly address this source of plastic waste.

BREAKING: New report testing over 30 waterways in Illinois for microplastic. From Lake Michigan to the mighty Mississippi we looked for a nearly invisible, but pervasive pollutant.

Microplastic in Illinois With microplastic becoming a growing area of concern, especially to our health and our environment, we tested water samples from over 30 sites along Illinois waterways to better understand the problem here at home.

May is American Wetlands Month, and with only around 10% of Illinois' historic wetlands remaining, now is the time to establish statewide protections for these important places.

Protecting Illinois wetlands Wetlands play a vital role in a healthy environment, but due to sprawl and other human activity only around 10% of Illinois’ historic wetlands remain. We’re supporting a state wetland protection program to safeguard what we have left.

In 2025, Illinois produced the equivalent of 25% of the electricity it consumes from solar, wind and geothermal power, compared with just 8% in 2016, part of a larger transition toward clean energy technologies, according to our updated online dashboard: The State of Renewable Energy.

“Illinois has made real progress in growing renewable energy over the past decade, but to usher in a greener, healthier future, we need to pick up the pace,” said Emily Kowalski, associate director of Environment Illinois Research & Education Center.

The State of Renewable Energy Dashboard Renewables are on the rise across America. America produces more than three times as much power from solar, wind and geothermal sources as we did 10 years ago – enough to power more than 80 million homes. Key technologies such as electric vehicles and battery storage are also growing.

This Earth Day, your gift can have twice the impact for wild forests like the Shawnee National Forest. Donate before midnight to get your gift matched, up to $50,000 nationwide.

Double your impact for forests this Earth Day Make an Earth Day donation before midnight on April 22 and your gift will be matched, up to $50,000 nationwide.

Tell the Forest Service to keep our national forests wild. Adding your name will help save our wild forests like the Shawnee National Forest.

Tell the Forest Service: Keep our national forests wild You can help save towering trees. Be a guardian for our national forests: Add your name now.