GCM_Growing Green _2023

Growing Green 2023

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Amanda Daly Owner | The Daly Bagel

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Becoming Illinois’ rst ‘green dining hub’

A collaboration of three organizations, including Oak Park’s Takeout25

By STACEY SHERIDAN Senior Reporter

Local restaurants across the Greater West Side – city and near west suburbs -- have risen to the voluntary challenge of becoming Illinois’ first “green dining hub.” The program is supposed to roll out in earnest this summer, but so far, 12 restaurants and counting have committed to altering operations to become part of an environmentally sustainable restaurant eco-system.

One of those restaurants, the Daly Bagel, signed on to the initiative last October after hearing about it at a meeting of Takeout 25, an Oak Park-based nonprofit that supports local restaurants and other food establishments started by the sustainability-minded Oak Park village trustee, Ravi Parakkat.

Since then, Daly Bagel co-owners Adrienne Guldin and Amanda Daly attest the greening process has been smooth, interesting and relatively easy at the bakery, 130 Chicago Ave. This was a pleasant surprise for the two, who initially felt a little overwhelmed at the prospect of what going green could entail.

“We’re already so strapped for time,” said Daly. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we getting ourselves into?’ but I have to say it has been so painless.”

This, according to Daly and Guldin, is in large part because of Cassie Carroll, founder of the Illinoi Green Business Association and program director of the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The two organizations teamed up to create the Illinois Green Business Program, which provides technical assistance and cost-saving energy efficiency opportunities to businesses

Carroll connected with Parakkat and Takeout 25 through staff at the Village of Oak Park Village staffers had reached out to Carroll initially as part of it Climate Ready Oak Park climate change plan to explore what a green business program might look like for the village From there, her collaboration with Parakkat was born, according to Carroll.

“We thought it would be a great opportunity to help restaurants, especially because they were some of

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GREEN DINING

A dozen sign up from page B3

the hardest hit during the pandemic, really connect to the energy and cost saving opportunities,” said Carroll. “But then bring sustainability practices to the broader community and ultimately provide greener dining experiences for those in the region.”

To do this, Carroll and her team assess the participating food businesses based on a set of standards, gauging their ener tion and waste and cycling methods, among other areas. Based on how the businesses measure up against the standards, Carroll dev plans for improvement, tailored to each businesses’ needs and limitations Essentially, Carroll the heavy lifting.

For the Daly Bagel, tha meant such suggestions as switching refrigerator to reduce yearly ener costs. Carroll, accordin to Guldin and Daly, provided a list of ommended refrigerator models at different price points and where to buy them.

“She’s doing the consumer reporting and the stuff that we would really like to be able to have the time to do,” said Guldin Carroll and her team understand the individual limitations of businesses and help to find workarounds to offset the environmental and financial impacts associated with certain fixed variables. This includes the massive oven used at the Daly Bagel, which was built in the 1930s for baking bagels

“Because of the nature of what we do, we

can’t change this oven,” said Daly. “This is an oven that is specifically built for what we do, and they haven’t changed the design in nearly 100 years.”

The experience has been so positive for Daly Bagel, the co-owners have been encouraging their peers to sign on to the initiative, which was changed from being a green dining district to a hub, representative of the several municipalities Takeout 25 works within. Food businesses generally want to employ more sustainable practices, according to Daly, but owners often don’t have the know-how or the resources to implement them.

“Our time and our mental energy are already spread so thin, the thought of taking on something, that on the surface appears to be a lot of work, can be a deterrent,” said Daly.

Carroll is something of a green fairy godmother, stepping in and solving problems for food businesses, then returning annually to make sure things still run smoothly. And to help assist the businesses in making these investments, Takeout 25 is putting $25,000 toward the effort if 25 businesses commit.

“It’s not just talk; we are putting our money where our mouth is,” said Parakkat, who is in the process of mobilizing financial sponsors.

And it’s not too late to get involved. Beyond taking active steps to address climate change, the intent is to get as many food businesses on board as possible to make the Greater West Side a dining destination, attracting customers throughout the greater metropolitan area. Carroll and Parakkat are excited to help make that a reality

“We look forward to helping more restaurants within the community really go green,” said Carroll.

JAVIER GOVEA

Amanda Daly show ing the oven used for baking bagels.

A snapshot of environmental burdens in Austin, West Side

Austin residents are dispropor tionately exposed to environmental pollution

By FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Staff Reporter

In the city of Chicago, historic redlining, disinvestment and the effects of past and current zoning laws, have disproportionately exposed South and West Side residents to pollution. On the West Side, Austin residents live close to sources of pollution that may increase their risk of chronic disease. In 2020, the city’s department of public health found that air pollution disproportionately affects Austin, among other south and west side communities. Due to its proximity to major high-

ways and industrial corridors, there are higher levels of pollutants like particulate matter and ozone in the air.

As a result, Austin residents are at higher risk of health issues like lung irritation, respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer, and early death. The city estimates 5% of premature deaths in Chicago each year can be attributed to exposure to particulate matter

“The Austin area is an overburdened community,” said Michael Cailas, associate professor of environmental and occupation health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Cailas is part of a group of researchers from the university who study disparities in environmental pollution in Chicago. As part of the research titled “Proximity to environmental health hazards in Chicago,” in 2022 they published an interactive map where residents can easily visualize hazardous sources close to a specific location. Considering that children are a vulnerable population, Chicago Public Schools are identified on the map so residents can see what hazardous sources are near a school and how close they are.

MICHAEL C AILAS

Associate professor of environmental and occupation health sciences at

University of Illinois Chicago.

Lavergne Avenue, there are five industrial facilities that release toxic chemicals, including lead and lead compounds, and four brownfields. Lead is known to be a carcinogen, however more research is required to determine if the quantity released is sufficient to pose a health threat to students near facilities that release it Yet, it is known that industrial facilities often increase heavy traffic in the area, worsening air quality due to vehicle emissions. According to the city of Chicago’s 2020 report, diesel particulate matter is more prevalent

For example, in a mile radius of Spencer Technology Academy, located at 214 N.

See WEST SIDE on pa ge B8

North Austin Communit y Center was built on site of an abandoned paint factory.

“The Austin area is an overburdened community.”

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WEST SIDE Burden of pollution

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in areas with significant traffic and industry. Railyards also increase the presence of particulate matter in the air.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires certain industrial facilities that generate toxic chemicals to report how much of each chemical they manage or release to the air, water or land. According to the federal environmental agency, toxic chemicals are those that cause cancer, chronic health effects, severe immediate health effects and adverse damage to the environment. The information is compiled in the Toxic Release Inventory, which was used to include industrial facilities that release toxic chemicals in the interactive map.

Brownfields are commercial, industrial or abandoned properties with actual or perceived contamination that have potential to be redeveloped. However, the potential presence of one or several contaminants on these properties usually means brownfields remain abandoned as cleanup

tends to be expensive and complex.

The recently inaugurated North Austin Community Center is located on the site of the for mer Glidden paint factory,

a brownfield. The presence of xylene and other toxic substances almost doubled the cleanup costs and delayed the construction process of the new education and sports

facility, said Andraya Yousfi. Yousfi is the manager of partnerships and development at By The Hand Club, one of the organizations which purchased and redeveloped the site that had been abandoned for 40 years. The benefits to the community outweigh the lengthy and costly cleanup, she said. In years past, residents and environmental justice organizers in areas like Little Village and McKinley Park have opposed known polluting companies like metal shredders and asphalt mixing plants from operating in their neighborhoods for environmental and health concerns.

Austin residents can utilize data to urge local government and policymakers to evaluate environmental and health data when making development decisions. Last year, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development ruled the city violated residents’ civil rights by deliberately placing heavy industry facilities in industrial corridors largely concentrated in the city’s predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. The ruling came after a two-year long investigation started after three environmental groups on the Southeast side of Chicago filed a complaint to prevent a metal-scrapping facility from opening in the area.

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Parks like LaFollette Park, 1333 N. Laramie Ave., are in proximity to indust rial facilities that release regulated chemicals.

From soap bottles to plastic benches, Austin artists grow jobs

Project employs locals, teaches skills that can translate into jobs

By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

It all started with a chance meeting.

The Happy Returns art studio and Alt_Chicago (pronounced “Alt Space Chicago), a nonprofit that seeks to improve communities like Austin through art, both operate out of the basement of an Austin loft studio building at 5339 W. Lake St. One day, around two years ago, Happy Returns co-directors Tom Burtonwood and Cody Norman ran into alt_chicago co-founder Jon Veal in a hallway. They talked about their mutual interest in creating something that supports the community around them, combats harmful narratives and improves environmental sustainability.

That conversation led to the creation of Redemptive Plastics. The project hired a mix of West Side residents and people from elsewhere in the city to melt down used laundry detergent containers, forge them into plastic “beams” and use those beams to make benches. Their goal is relatively modest to build three benches in public locations around the Central/Lake Line el station – with the benches scheduled to be installed and un in early June. But in the long run, the project hopes to continue making more benches, training more local residents as they go.

Norman and Burtonwood decided to launch Happy Returns in 2020, and they decided to mo to that building because Burtonwood was alread familiar with it – he had a studio there in 20162017. By that point, Norman and his wife moved

to Oak Park, near Austin Boulevard, and he appreciated having a studio he could easily bike to.

Veal was an Austin native, and fellow Alt_Chicago cofounder Jordan Campbell worked as a substitute teacher at Austin College and Career Academy high school, 231 N. Pine Ave. Veal previously told this newspaper that they wanted to “reframe the narrative, the narrative of disinvestment, the narrave of negativity” on the est and South sides, as ell as to inspire people to take control of their destiny by “taking ownership our community.”

Norman recalled that one of the things they talkabout in the hallway was the lingering impact plastic waste, which oesn’t break down easily. hey kept talking about it “since probably 2021” and developed the idea by early 2022. A $65,000 grant from the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation’s E(art)H Chicago program helped

to kickstart the project in July of that year.

Alt_Chicago CEO Curry Greene said their goal was threefold – to reduce plastic waste, provide employment opportunities for local residents and address a major symptom of disinvestment in communities like Austin.

“One of the signs of disinvestment in the community is trash [on the ground],” she said, adding that “it isn’t that the community itself is dirty” – it’s that there are fewer garbage cans on the streets people can throw trash into Greene said they originally thought they would have to pick up laundry containers of f the street – but it turned out that laundromats welcomed someone taking the used containers off their hands. After all, she said, hauling waste costs them money

“Now, we’re inundated with plastics every week,” she said. Workers cut them apart and thoroughly clean them of any detergent residue. The large pieces are then sliced into tiny pieces, and those pieces are mixed together, melted down and poured into a mold that creates board-like plastic beams. They then use those beams to make benches. Happy Retur ns and Alt_Chicago spaces are close to each other, and work is spread across both.

“It’s a true collaboration,” Norman said. “The only thing that’s separating us is a hallway.”

For the first cohort, they hired 10 people. About two-thirds of them came from either Austin or another West Side neighborhood. Greene said they used their networks to try to get the word out.

Alt_Chicago CEO Curry Greene (le ) and Cody Norman.

IGOR STUDENKOV

Cody Norman shows a beam being made out of melted-down laundry detergent containers.

See BENCHES on pa ge B11

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BENCHES

Recycled plastic

from page B9

“It was really important to Jon that we offer jobs to people who live in the community,” she said. “We really need jobs here, so it was really important to him and for all of us to offer jobs. We [recruited] heavily in the Austin community, we had a workshop back in October, just inviting people to see the process and sign up as part of the cohort.”

Norman said they train the members of the group. While the first cohort will only work through the end of spring, the hope is that the skills and experience will help them find jobs elsewhere, or work on their own art projects.

Greene said they wouldn’t start the search for a new cohort until later this summer, but anyone interested can apply by filling out the volunteer interest form on the project website and noting they want to be hired in the message field

The benches will be installed at the Aus-

tin branch library, 5615 W. Race Ave., Harambee Community Garden, 5701 W. Midway Park, and a privately owned vacant lot at 327 N. Waller Ave. Redemptive Plastics will hold a grand opening event.

From there, Redemptive Plastics plans to continue making benches, and they are considering other uses for the beams, such as fences and even school rulers. They have even been toying with the idea of making a whole playground out of recycled plastic.

As the interview concluded, Green and Norman made a point to mention someone who wouldn’t be there for the festivities. Veal passed away suddenly on Dec. 21, 2022.

“He was a huge part in the [project’s conception], coming up with the name, Redemptive Plastics, and the vision of the project,” Greene said. “It was a huge loss for us, and we’re committed to continue this vision and staying true to his values.”

Those values, Norman said, are “thinking about the community, and sustainability in the community” and making sure that the community has meaningful input on anything they do.

“We just want to make sure that the West Side gets the oppor tunities,” he added.

IGOR STUDENKOV

Alt_Chicago Joseph Campbell, Tom Burtonwood and Cody Norman

“We just want to make sure that the West Side gets the opportunities.”

CO DY NORMAN Austin artist

How Manolo Avalos’ trip to Egypt brought climate change home

OPRF student joined UN climate conference and keeps focus on local level

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

While getting to travel halfway across the world to attend one of the largest conferences on climate change, a local student says it is the changes that we make on a local level that can make a difference.

Manolo Avalos, 17, attended the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 held in November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. He made that trip along with other students from the Chicagoland area who participated in the Seven Generations Ahead youth-driven project, It’s Our Future.

The junior at Oak Park and River Forest High School said he was dedicated to addressing issues surrounding climate change that his generation has inherited, saying that the consequences of passiveness will be grave.

“We are going to be dealing with it,” Avalos said. “Sorry to be blunt towards the old generations but they have frankly done nothing or a poor job. We will see cities, villages, wiped out because of sea levels rising, flooding, and that is just one of the reasons why we should care and act and educate ourselves. That is a barrier with some people, especially with topics such as recycling and composting, education is key.”

For Avalos the interest in environmental issues began in his seventh-grade science class at Roosevelt Middle School, 7560 Oak Ave., River Forest, where his science teacher raised trout in class to release into the wild.

“That really got me interested,” Avalos said. “Just watching it during class, when we weren’ t taking care of it, he had us put in a lot of work but it was for a good purpose, releasing it afterwards.”

At OPRF, Avalos got involved in the OPRF Sustainability Committee, which helped create the high school’s ambitious sustainability plan, which is currently being implemented. Avalos also got involved in the environmental club at OPRF

Cindy Wong, OPRF Environmental Club

Sponsor, said Avalos, is the president of the environmental club.

“He is the type of kid that just goes for it, he is not afraid of the red tape or people possibly saying no, if there is something on his mind that he feels is an issue, he goes for it,” Wong said. “Rarely do I see

kids who have that sort of initiative.”

That initiative to be active in finding solutions to the climate crisis has long been with Avalos, who not only participated in clean ups but also joined It’s Our Future when he was in the eighth grade. The program was developed by Seven Generations Ahead with the help of local community partners as well as Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, Chicago Climate Youth Coalition, Sunrise Chicago, and The River Forest Sustainability Commission among others.

It was through It’s Out Future that Avalos attended the biggest climate change conference, COP 27.

Gary Cuneen, founder of Seven Generations Ahead, said the program received support from the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation along with the Lumpkin Foundation to help send participating students to the conference after receiving approval from the United Nations to be an official observer of the conference.

Cuneen said a major goal of the program is to send Chicagoland youth who might not otherwise have exposure to the conversations surrounding climate change.

“Now we are expanding to new communities, to make sure that youth of color and some low to moderate income youth have the opportunity to participate in the COP experience as well as other students,” Cuneen said. “This project gives us the opportunity to expose high school students to the largest conference in the world that is attempting to deal with the climate crisis.

It is a life changing experience; all the students say it.”

With over 200 countries participating in the conference, students were able to hear important dialogue and learn more on how certain actions from more affluent countries are impacting others across the globe.

“A big part [of this year] was loss and damage, where they talked about how a lot of rich countries, like the United States, are causing the damage but we are not paying it forward to more lower-income countries that don’t have the resources to combat that issue,” Avalos said.

Being able to go to Egypt was a phenomenal experience, said Avalos, adding every

DAVID SAT TLER

Manolo Avalos

day they were exposed to different panels as well as sessions by key leaders in the world of climate change advocacy, including John Kerry, U.S Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, who gave the closing statement at COP27.

Avalos said a highlight of the conference was speaking with Dr. Katharine Hayhoy, a climate scientist and professor at Texas Tech University, who said something that will stick with him forever.

“She said we have to connect our hearts to our hands,” Avalos said. “I think a lot of people in Oak Park and River Forest, and I would argue across the country, we know what is happening, we are feeling the impacts, or hearing it on the news…the hands part, that comes in by educating and taking small steps to make a difference.”

While learning and coming face-to-face with issues surrounding climate change can be overwhelming for many, including himself, Avalos said the best way to combat the information anxiety is to take action.

“I need to get my hands dirty and start acting,” Avalos said.

These opportunities give students a chance to see issues from outside the perspective of Oak Park, said Wong.

“The number one thing is perspective. We, here in Oak Park and River Forest, I

Growing Green 2023

think that we are a little bit cuddled. We have leaders here, at the school level, at the village level that are very environmentally focused,” Wong said. “But when you look outside globally, that level of support is not there…so for them to go to a conference with such a global perspective, they get to see [that].”

Being able to expose students to the conversations happening around the world re garding the climate crisis opens up their minds to how they can help on a local level, said Cuneen.

“It gives them an opportunity to see what other people are doing, to learn from other leaders and hopefully [it] gives them a leg up moving forward on developing their interest, and potentially professional interest, in relationship to sustainability and climate and equity,” Cuneen said. “As you know, climate and equity go hand-inhand.”

Avalos said he has walked away with a stronger passion for change at a local level, saying it is often more doable and reachable, and important.

“Local actions are easier to convince mayors, like in Oak Park and River Forest, and others, than working on the federal level,” Avalos said. “While there are big federal groups that are lobbying, that is really hard.”

DAVID SAT TLER

OPRF student Manolo Avalos (center) talking to Al Gore while attending the COP27 event.

“I need to get my hands dir ty and start acting.”

M ANOLO AVALOS OPRF student

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Talking trash: composting in Proviso

Grant funds food waste alternatives in three school districts

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

Looking to create a more sustainable and climate conscious community, three Proviso communities, Bellwood, Maywood, and the Lindop school district, are working alongside Seven Generations Ahead, to make composting a part of daily life.

Seven Generations Ahead SGA, dedicated to building healthy and sustainable communities, co-developed The Cross Community Climate Collaborative C4 with the Urban Efficiency Group and the mayors of River Forest, Oak Park, and Broadview to help bring together minority and non-minority communities to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other equity and sustainability goals. Currently, C4 helps support 14 disinvested and under resourced communities in the state of Illinois.

ready implemented composting to see what they would be able to make work at D92.

Additionally, D92 would like to figure out a plan to be able to redirect food that is still able to be consumed and give back to community members who might be experiencing food insecurity.

“It was very enlightening to hear that some schools were already doing this and they have ways to make the food available to people who might not have it,” Jackson said.

In response to the element of composing, Jackson said it will be a learning tool for the community, so its inception beginning in schools where students will be able to directly learn about the benefits makes sense

JANIECE JACKSON

As part of their work, the collaborative submitted a project for a USDA grant via their composting and waste reduction grant program, which provides funding for municipal programs serving residents as well as programs serving K-12 schools. Fo the grant, SGA will be workin with Broadview, Bellwood, and Maywood to help implement food scrap collection residential program as well as provide community education on recyclin and composting, which will be showcased through their SGA’ Zero Waste Schools program.

The two-year $300,000 grant was awarded in February 2023.

“I think Proviso Township is really taking the lead on that and to partner with the school districts is the way to go,” Jackson said. “We are educating our students and we need to be on the forefront of that but also making sure their health is good and the environment is good and how important it is for us to stay on top of that.”

GARY CUNEEN

According to Gary Cuneen, SGA’s director, the program will help organize zero waste teams in schools for Bellwood School District 88, Maywood District 89, and Lindop School District 92. They will be working with faculty, school administrators, custodial and food service staf f along with students to eliminate waste sources, increase recycling, and divert food scraps from the landfill by collecting them and taking them to a composting site.

Dr. Janiece Jackson, superintendent of Lindop School District 92, said the district was looking into different ways to be able to address different food issues they have seen, including food waste. Jackson said the district is currently focusing on touring other school districts which have al-

“We will be working with their municipal governments to analyze their hauling contracts to support provisions that build in food scrap diversion and collection and to design educational components to the programs so that residents are educated on

See COMPOSTING on pa ge B17

Over

Ruby Blair

Martha Murphy Sharon Unick Isaac Jordan Shalena Thomas

Denise Espinosa

Denise Sacks Michele Strimaitis

Cynthia Howe Gajewski

Karen Baldwin Debra Rachal

Phil Joseph Erica Cuneen

COMPOSTING Proviso project

from page B15

what can be composed and what can’t be,” said Cuneen.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said targeting composting “just made sense” when talking about environmental issues

“We wanted to make sure that we can have residential value of organic waste that is captured,” Thompson said, adding that composting falls under their resource and regeneration goals to achieve sustainability. “When you talk about partnerships and collaborations it makes sense for our municipalities to partner with our school districts and the nonprofit sector to roll out these initiatives so that we can become wholesome in the types of works we participate in.”

The importance of these partnerships is crucial, especially fo r Black and Brown communities which have historically seen a disparity in the resources allocated to them.

munities, especially in the Black and Brown communities, then we have to take an active role in the change and in the process,” said Jackson.

The program is still in the very early stages of implementation, as Cuneen said they are currently looking at hauling contacts before they begin the second step, which would be setting up a collection bin system within the schools

Cuneen said participants are also working towards building a regular meeting schedule with those who will be involved in the implementation of the programs at the schools.

“We are also in a data gathering phase right now,” said Cuneen. “We want to know what they are currently doing with recycling and eventually we will be doing waste audits that will look at what the waste sources are and how they can be eliminated.”

Bringing these programs to the Proviso Township community is seeing a larger worldwide issue and breaking it down to work that can be addressed at a community level. By working to remove food scraps from entering landfills, Cuneen said it lowers the production of methane gasses which contributes to green-

Oak Park Regional Housing Center supports sustainable living!

Whether you are a homeowner or a renter, you can take steps for a more sustainable, energy efficient, and cost effective home!

Composting: Compost your food scraps! Oak Parkers can sign up for curbside composting if they live in a single-family home or up to a five-flat building. Renters can also bring scraps to one of four locations. Visit bit.ly/VOPCompost to learn more.

Weatherization: Homeowners and renters can reduce energy waste and costs by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes. Proper insulation, LED lights, and weatherproofing are simple ways to improve energy efficiency. For home efficiency resources, visit Oak Park Climate Action Network's resource guide at bit.ly/electrify-your-oak-park-home.

Solar Energy: Homeowners and renters can switch to clean energy. Illinois Solar for All and Community Solar programs offer options to fit a variety of housing situations. Visit Citizens Utility Board's community solar resource guide at https://bit.ly/cub-community-solar. Learn about Illinois Solar for All at www.illinoissfa.com.

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“It impacts the Black and Brown

In tackling climate change, investors also have a voice

Financial experts explain how sustainable investing works

By FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Staff Reporter

With the urgent need to tackle climate change, more attention is paid to the impacts of companies on the environment and the communities they operate. A 2023 report published by the Intergove mental Panel on Climate Change -- the United Nations scientific arm on climate change -- notes that greenhouse gas emissions need to be cu by almost half by 2030. This reduction needs to happen in all sectors so global temperatures in crease no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius w compared to pre-industrial levels, a goal that quires private and public entities to make chang es in their operations and investments

For everyday people, ESG investing, also referred to as sustainable or socially responsible investing, provides an avenue to invest their money in companies that make better environmental and social decisions. This often includes taking steps to reduce their carbon emis-

sions. In the last decade, and particularly, in the past four years, more people have become interested in these investments

“When I started working with sustainable in ing in the 1990s, the way that people did sociall responsible investing was using gative screens to avoid owning the types of companies that they didn’t want to own in their inv ment portfolio,” said William M. illy, senior vice president and senior financial advisor at Mer rill Lynch Wealth Management.

“Now through technologica vancements and better re ing, what’s more common is onsidered ESG investing, that not only avoids the types of companies that people don’t want to own, but actually identifies companies that are making good decisions in those areas.”

While the terms sustainable investing and ESG investing are often used interchangeably, investment firm Edward

Jones differentiates between the two. Sustainable investing is an all-encompassing term for financial investments that take into consideration people’s values. Within this umbrella are investors who exclude specific types ompanies they consider “negative actors” from their investment portfolios, for example, ossil fuel companies or gun manufacturing ompanies, commonly referred to as valuesased investing.

ESG investing, as its acronym denotes, coniders a company’s environmental, social and r nance performance. This information is monitored and self-reported by companies.

“What ESG investing typically does is incenompanies to make good decisions,” Reilly added that because companies have to repo rmation like their environmental risks, carbon footprint, the way they treat their employees and the diversity of their board, they tend to make more responsible decisions

This information is paired with traditional financial measures so investment managers can evaluate the company’s

WILLIAM M. REILLY

risks and opportunities and align them to their clients’ financial goals

“We rely on them to provide data through their annual reports, but a good active manager in that space is going to do their own research and assign their own risk factors to certain companies,” said Joe

O’Krepky, financial advisor at Edward Jones

This additional layer of active management is important as the demand for ESG investing has increased and continues to increase. Bloomberg projects that by 2025, global ESG assets will exceed $53 trillion. Knowledgeable financial advisors are key, as companies can provide misleading information suggesting they are more environmentally responsible than they really are, a ter m known as greenwashing

Financial research shows that ESG investments offer benefits to investors, such as diversifying their portfolio and reducing risks. “If you invest in companies who have good scores in environmental, social and corporate gover nance metrics, those compa-

nies tend to have higher earnings, they tend to have higher dividend yields, their stock tends to perform better on a 12-month basis [and] they’re less likely to go bankrupt,” Reilly said.

ESG investing also provides a mechanism for people to encourage comanies to have a better performance.

“To me, ESG is always about being an active investor and having a voice in that boardroom,”

O’Krepky said, adding qualified and committed financial advisors are key to help investors have a voice in the companies they own.

“And if the company that you’re investing with isn’t carrying your voice to them, then they’re not the right manager for you.”

“Shareholder activism is when owners of companies, owners of stocks, owners of mutual funds take action to address the company and make them act better,” Reilly said. “So, we help our client be good shareholders and help the companies that they invest in make better decisions and become better.”

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