State Reps. Guzzardi, Cassidy got it right by calling for a cease-fire in Gaza

As a Jewish Chicagoan and a constituent of state Rep. Will Guzzardi, I thank him and state Rep. Kelly Cassidy for their brave and thoughtful explanation of why they signed a letter to President Joe Biden calling for a cease-fire in Gaza (“We’re Jewish legislators, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza” — Jan. 11).

By acknowledging both their personal concern for Jewish friends and relatives in Israel and their horror at the nearly 25,000 Palestinian people killed in recent Israeli military action in Gaza, Cassidy and Guzzardi help us to see that concern for the safety of Jewish people cannot be meaningfully expressed as a singular focus on the welfare of Jews.

They note the Netanyahu government’s aggressive military policy has endangered Israeli hostages. It also has maimed, widowed, displaced and destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of human beings who were living in Gaza. How can any of us be well amid such violence?

I thank them for reminding us the most immediate need for everyone living in Israel and Palestinian territory is to stop the brutality, demand a cease-fire in which both parties put down weapons, distribute humanitarian aid, and return home every hostage and political prisoner.

I hope President Biden heeds the letter. To do this with any credibility, he also must cease the U.S. financing of the Israeli military.

Shari Stone-Mediatore, Logan Square

Consumers, ditch natural gas and help the planet

In “Illinois Commerce Commission steps up for natural gas customers” last month, the Sun-Times Editorial Board rightly celebrated the Illinois Commerce Commission for denying local gas utilities a requested rate hike that would have disproportionately hurt lower-income residents and recommitted everyone to a costly long-term investment in yesterday’s energy source.

The atmospheric emissions of methane from the production, storage, transportation and combustion of natural gas fuels global climate change even more powerfully than carbon dioxide.

The gas industry would have us believe its product is part of the “solution” to climate change, but it’s only fueling it. And we can’t wait for a gradual transition: 2023 was the hottest year on record, and extreme weather events have become commonplace. As recently reported in the Sun-Times, Lake Michigan was almost ice-free — in early January. Climate change is not a future problem.

Consumers can do their part to ditch gas and its toxic methane emissions. If you have a clothes dryer, hot water heater, stove or furnace due for replacement, switch to an electric appliance, such as an induction stove or a heat pump dryer, water heater or HVAC system. Your home’s indoor air will be more healthful, and these more-efficient appliances cost less to run.

More benefits? Heat pump HVAC systems heat and cool more evenly for greater comfort. Restaurant chefs are sharing their love for induction cooking because it’s ultra-fast, allows precision control and keeps commercial kitchens cooler. And while the upfront costs of electric appliances may be somewhat higher (for now), rebates and federal tax credits will help: Check them out at energystar.gov/rebate-finder. The benefits to the environment? Priceless.

Wendy Greenhouse, Oak Park

Transfer Joliet Training Area to Midewin

Thirty-one years ago, I served on the 24-member Joliet Arsenal Citizens Planning Committee formed by then-U.S. Rep. George Sangmeister to determine the future uses of the 23,000-acre former Army munitions plant.

Out of this planning process came the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, two industrial zones, a county landfill and the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

During the planning process, the committee foresaw the adjacent Joliet Army Training Area would itself someday be declared surplus due to development pressures all around it. The Joliet Training Area was part of the arsenal’s original footprint, as was the 170-acre Cantigny Woods, previously owned by the Forest Preserve of Will County, and they share a two-mile boundary. The connection was clear.

To ensure the approximate 3,000-acre area be kept as open space, and not wanting to go through another protracted planning process, the committee unanimously approved the plan with the Joliet Army Training Area as a future addition to Midewin.

Shepherded through Congress by then-U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, the plan was codified into law by the Illinois Land Conservation Act of 1995. The committee’s foresight has proven to be spot-on because 29 years later, the area is now flanked by over 11,000 acres of intermodal facilities and over 1,000 new homes.dic

It’s important to transfer the Joliet Training Area to Midewin because the land is home to globally rare examples of dolomite prairie, rare species, sedge meadows, the Millsdale Seeps, Jackson Creek, Jackson Creek Woods, Cantigny Woods and access to over a mile of the Des Plaines River shoreline. Moreover, it represents the work of dedicated citizens, bipartisan agreement among elected officials and the statewide support of conservation and veteran’s organizations that worked to pass the Midewin legislation.

With increasing development pressure reducing the buffer around the Joliet Training Area, the Army may see it as more valuable as a real estate asset than a training area. Without congressional intervention, the Army may make incremental and irrevocable decisions that will jeopardize the commitment of the Forest Service to accept the land and thus diminish its future use.

The current Illinois delegation and Gov. J.B. Pritzker should fulfill the vision that created America’s first National Tallgrass Prairie.

Francis M. Harty, Monticello
Former Department of Conservation representative, Sangmeister/Weller Joliet Arsenal Citizens Committee