350Kishwaukee rallies against fossil fuels, calls for more sustainable future in DeKalb

DeKALB – 350Kishwaukee, a group charged with promoting a more sustainable future without fossil fuels, took to Peace Corner in downtown DeKalb on Saturday hoping to bring some awareness to the rally’s cause.

The demonstration, “Stand Against Fossil Fuels”, continues at 2 p.m. Sunday at the corner of First Street and Lincoln Highway and is intended to coincide with an annual campaign, internationally dubbed The Great Global Cleanup, aimed at tackling the waste crisis and to help create a new, more sustainable world.

Co-chair of 350Kishwaukee and DeKalb County Board member Meryl Domina Greer, a Democrat from District 6, said she felt compelled to organize the rally. She said that while she wasn’t always sold on staging the event in DeKalb, she’s glad she did, because every action taken against climate change matters.

“There’s more impact if a few of us do it here than going into Chicago,” Domina Greer said. “Certainly, you know, if nine people or fewer went to Chicago and we didn’t have one here, it’s not such a big deal. But if nine people here, nine people there and nine people over there, it adds up and it does make a difference. If we all just nagged our legislators more, and we’re so tired of doing it, but that’s what we have to do.”

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Alfred Mueller, from Sycamore, gives a thumbs up to a passing motorist who honked their horn during a rally Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, at Memorial Park in downtown DeKalb. The demonstration was held to push legislators to promote alternative forms of energy and lessen the use of fossil fuels. (Mark Busch)

About a dozen people turned out hoisting signs at the demonstration. The group was met by the sound of vehicles honking from a number of supporters.

But at least one passerby took time to make his views known. The opponent shouted from his vehicle, saying “I disagree.”

Gilberts resident Gregg Wurster stood along Lincoln Highway hoisting a sign that read, “Climate change is burning the future.” Wurster said he was motivated to participate in the rally.

“I am a firm believer in solar and the future of solar,” Wurster said.

Sycamore resident Carissa Boss, 20, said she believes the average citizen isn’t always supportive of the idea that climate change exists and the harm that fossil fuels may create, which adds to the conundrum.

“I do think there’s a lot of pushback against what should be just kind of general knowledge and that people want to keep living the way that they do, so they deny any sort of science that comes out saying, ‘It is fossil fuels that are changing our environment, it’s not just the way the Earth is,’” Boss said. “I think we get so used to living a certain way, especially for policymakers. They want to keep us happy, so they try not to upset any people.”

Rockford resident Darby McGowan said she doesn’t think climate change should be viewed as a partisan issue.

“I think a lot of people see it as an issue of left or right and don’t see it as an actual issue that’s not necessarily driven if you’re liberal or you’re conservative,” McGowan said. “I think it definitely is something that people assume is super political when it could just be an issue that’s impacting everyone but in different disproportionate ways based on your socioeconomic status.”

Wurster said that for so long, climate change has been a partisan issue, which has left federal lawmakers unable to get a handle on it.

“I think it’s over politicized,” Wurster said. “They need to get bipartisan on all of this stuff.”

Boss said she doesn’t feel like her efforts at Saturday’s demonstration made for a one-off that she can etch off a checklist. Boss, who is a student at Northern Illinois University, said she believes in practicing what she preaches day in and day out.

“I will say I drive my car to campus,” she said. “But when I’m on campus, [I’m] walking anywhere I got to get around for the whole day.”

Domina Greer said she doesn’t believe federal lawmakers are taking climate change seriously enough.

“I think they all have one or two issues they’re really concerned about,” Domina Greer said. “Like for [U.S. Rep.] Lauren Underwood, it’s health and mothers’ health in particular and their babies and veterans. And that’s really important. But I don’t think she’s saying, ‘Oh my gosh, if we don’t improve the climate, it’s going to be worse.’ And it will be. … [U.S. Rep. Bill Foster is] a scientist, and he should know and understand all the things that we’re saying. But I don’t even know what he’s most concerned about.”

Domina Greer, who is serving her first term on the County Board, said she, for one, is looking for ways to make an impact locally.

“I’m not sure that we’re going to make a lot of climate action, but I certainly hope to do what I can, and I keep that in the forefront. I’m concerned about many issues – human rights, justice. So, hopefully altogether I will feel I was a good person to be on it and I did make a difference.”