Environment Archives – Borderless Magazine NFP

Meet the Woman Leading Efforts in the Muslim Community Making Chicago Greener

From composting during Ramadan to planting hundreds of trees, Caroline Williams uses faith to rally her community to care for the environment.

Aydali CampaJuly 29, 2025

Max Herman/Borderless Magazine

Environment Investigation Organizing

Investigation: MAT Asphalt Complaints Continue Even After Mitigation Technology Installed Last April

After hundreds of complaints, citations, and a class-action settlement, city inspectors’ notes show instances where MAT Asphalt continued to generate and emit "strong noxious asphalt odor.”

Aydali CampaJune 16, 2025

Oscar Gomez/Borderless Magazine

Environment

Chicago Officials Gather Input For Southeast Side Industrial Corridors

Southeast Side residents gathered at an open house to offer input as the city looks to revitalize the industrial corridors along the Calumet River.

Aydali CampaJanuary 31, 2025

Saleha Soadat for Borderless Magazine

Arts & Culture Broken-Winged Birds: Afghans in Exile Environment Español Health Immigration Policy Investigation Labor Staff pick Visuals

Borderless Magazine’s Favorite Stories of 2024

An Afghan refugee seeking his pilot license, backlog and attorney shortages in immigration court, Latino residents pushing for more green space on the Southwest Side and more stories Borderless reported on Chicago’s immigrant communities.

Mauricio PeñaDecember 23, 2024

Efrain Soriano for Borderless Magazine

Environment Health Investigation Labor Visuals

City Contractor ‘Failed’ Clients as Migrant Shelter Complaints Mounted, Staffers Say

Chicago is phasing out Favorite Healthcare Staffing after paying the agency $342 million to oversee its shelter system. Records show that Favorite had a poor track record of resolving complaints.

Emeline PosnerNovember 19, 2024

Oscar Gomez/Borderless Magazine

Environment Organizing

EPA Officials, Southeast Side Residents Workshop Ideas for Former Acme Coke Plant

Southeast Side residents hope the toxic site will be transformed into a multi-use space that meets community needs, but remediation could take years.

Aydali CampaNovember 12, 2024

Oscar Gomez/Borderless Magazine

Environment Health

Pilsen Residents Call on Chicago Mayor to Deny Scrap Metal Recycling Plant Permit

Sims Metal Management and the EPA say that the recycler is not producing dangerous pollution. But residents say their health is on the line.

Aydali CampaOctober 30, 2024

Photo illustration by Max Herman/Borderless Magazine. Source photos by: Guille Briceno/imageSPACE/MediaPunch/Alamy, Bonnie Cash/Pool via CNP/MediaPunch/Alamy, and Todd Bannor/Alamy Stock Photo

Environment

What a Trump Vs. Harris Win Could Mean for Environmental Justice in Chicago?

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris differ on many policy points, but environmental justice and climate change are among the most stark.

Aydali CampaOctober 28, 2024

Oscar Gomez/Borderless Magazine

Environment Health Immigration Policy

Chicago’s Largest Migrant Shelter Shutters After Troubling Year

City officials' decision to consolidate city-run migrant shelters comes as the number of residents has dwindled and fewer asylum seekers are arriving in Chicago.

Fatema Hosseini and Aydali CampaOctober 1, 2024

Caroline Gutman/Inside Climate News

Environment

How a Children’s Playground Is Helping With Flood Mitigation in a Small, Historic New Jersey City

Flood prone Hoboken, New Jersey, has opened a play area for its youngest residents that also doubles as storage for stormwater runoff.

Victoria St. Martin, Inside Climate NewsSeptember 27, 2024

Veronica Martinez/Cicero Independiente

Environment

Rooting out Risk: Cicero’s Challenge to Build a Safe Inclusive Park

As Cicero pushes forward with plans for a $2.7 million inclusive park, concerns are growing over toxic soil removal and environmental risks at the former industrial site, raising questions about the safety of the community’s newest green space.

Leslie HurtadoSeptember 26, 2024

Aydali Campa/Borderless Magazine

Environment

Chicago’s Latino Neighborhoods Have Less Access to Parks, But Residents Are Working to Change That

In majority Latino neighborhoods like Brighton Park on the southwest side, residents have come together to push the city to invest more in parks and neighborhood green spaces in the face of climate change.

Aydali CampaSeptember 25, 2024

Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Environment Health

How Chicago’s Environmental Committee Chair Works Toward a ‘Sustainable’ City

Since being appointed to chair the city’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) has been working to educate lawmakers on a stalled decarbonization bill and bolster the reinstated Department of the Environment.

Aydali CampaSeptember 9, 2024

Jesus J. Montero of the Cicero Independiente

Environment Health

What Cicero and Stickney Residents Need to Know About the Koppers Coal Tar Plant

Over the past decade, the Koppers coal tar plant, situated on the border of the town of Cicero and the village of Stickney, has been flagged for more than 50 violations of state environmental laws.

Dillon Bergin, Jorge Martinez, Glenda Valdes and Derek KravitzFebruary 13, 2024

Jesus J. Montero of the Cicero Independiente

Environment Health Investigation

Koppers disputes most recent environmental violations but plant records reveal two decades of run-ins with Illinois EPA

After the Illinois EPA sent them a lengthy violations notice last fall, Koppers executives began selling stock at an unprecedented rate. After MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente reported on those violations, the publicly-traded company hired a crisis communications firm to meet with elected officials and manage the community fallout.

Dillon Bergin, Jorge Martinez, Glenda Valdes and Derek KravitzFebruary 13, 2024

Michelle Kanaar/Borderless Magazine

Environment

State Board Halts Plan For Second Waste Station In West Chicago

The Illinois Pollution Control Board denied Lakeshore Recycling Systems' application to open a controversial waste station after failing to properly notify a nearby property owner.

Liuan HuskaFebruary 8, 2024

Oscar Gomez for Borderless Magazine

Environment Immigration Policy

Heat Study: Chicago Temperatures Vary as Much as 22 Degrees Between Neighborhoods

The heat mapping study, dubbed Heat Watch Chicago, showed that neighborhoods on the city's South Side were the hottest and residents there were the most vulnerable to extreme weather.

Liuan HuskaJanuary 29, 2024

Jonathan Aguilar/Borderless Magazine

Environment Immigration Policy

We’re Growing! Borderless Wins Report For America Support To Expand Team

The Report for America corps member will cover the intersection of immigration and the environment.

Mauricio PeñaJanuary 11, 2024

Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Environment Immigration Policy

Hundreds Of Migrants Sleeping In CTA Buses As City Braces For Winter Storm

More than 10 times the number of migrants were temporarily staying overnight at the city’s landing zone Monday compared to a week ago.

Madison Savedra and Colin BoyleJanuary 9, 2024

Efrain Soriano for Borderless Magazine

Environment Health

Cicero Residents Reeling From Summer Floods Blame City’s Poor Communication

As Cicero recovers from historic summer floods, some residents believe the city fell short in communicating support and resources for the town’s majority immigrant population.

Maia McDonaldJanuary 8, 2024

Sebastián Hidalgo for Borderless Magazine

Education Environment

What Borderless Is Watching on the Immigration Beat in 2024

Chicago struggles with housing for migrants, environmental racism and more stories we will be following in the new year.

Mauricio PeñaJanuary 2, 2024

Mauricio Peña/Borderless Magazine

Environment Health Immigration Policy

5-Year-Old Boy Dies After Falling Ill At Chicago’s Largest Migrant Shelter

The death of the boy comes just days after a Borderless investigation found inhumane living conditions at the shelter in Pilsen.

Mauricio PeñaDecember 18, 2023

Mauricio Peña/Borderless Magazine

Environment Health Immigration Policy Investigation

Investigation: Migrants Describe Inhumane Conditions at Chicago’s Largest Shelter

Just days after Illinois Gov. Pritzker shut down a proposed shelter due to health concerns, Venezuelan migrants living in the Pilsen shelter say they are being treated “like dogs.’’

Mauricio Peña, Katrina Pham and Nissa RheeDecember 14, 2023

Efrain Soriano for Borderless Magazine

Environment

After decades of waiting, West Chicago’s Final Radiation Cleanup Begins

While newer residents unearth decades of contamination, some neighbors look forward to a planned public park at the former thorium factory.

Liuan HuskaNovember 27, 2023

Photo courtesy of Center for Neighborhood Technology, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Environment Health

Inundation and Injustice: Flooding presents a formidable threat to the Great Lakes region

Throughout the Great Lakes region, archaic wastewater systems, crumbling infrastructure and segregated housing create a perfect storm of flooding vulnerability.

Kari LydersenAugust 3, 2023

a woman with a bucket while water and objects (teddy bear, photos, lamp, pciture frame, blanket, chair) swirl around her

Illustration by Jennifer Chavez for Borderless Magazine

Environment Health

As Flooding Increases, Chicago Looks to Make Basement Housing Safer

Chicago has experienced more frequent and severe storms in recent decades, putting immigrants and low income Chicagoans living in basement units at increased risk of flooding.

Siri ChilukuriDecember 20, 2022