Kyra Woods takes a break from hiking the Art Loeb Trail in North Carolina.

By Susan Messer

While on staff with the Illinois Sierra Club, Kyra Woods established and facilitated The Ready for 100 Collective, a coalition of local environmental and community organizations working to ensure Chicago’s equitable transition to renewable energy. She is now a member of the Policy Team in the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor.

Q: Tell me about your background. I read that your early connection with natural spaces led you to the work you are doing now.

A: I grew up in Beverley, on the southwest side of Chicago. It’s a neighborhood known for its beautiful trees and home gardens, and my street had a lot of both. We had a neighbor who wanted to cut down a tree that was between his house and ours—I think it was a Japanese maple. I didn’t want him to do it, and my mother didn’t want him to do it either, but he cut it down anyway. I realize now that he probably had his reasons, but back then, I was so hurt by this, and I remember saying to one of my friends that we should have a funeral for this tree.

My family impressed upon me the importance of natural spaces. I played soccer in the forest preserves. I loved biology class. These were some formative experiences that allowed me to slow down and connect, see the relationship between myself and all the living things around me.

Here’s another memory. I always went to school outside our neighborhood, and my extracurriculars were also outside our neighborhood, so we did a lot of driving around the city. And there was a spot, near the Jane Byrne interchange, where I could see tall smokestacks and their smoke. I know now that it was coming from the city’s two coal factories on the south side. And I asked the adults in the car, “Is that the smoke they talk about with acid rain?” The adults didn’t have a clear answer. Maybe they didn’t even know. But I could see, in those drives across the city, that some neighborhoods were more affected by those kinds of things than others.

Q: Describe your position with the city. A typical day.

A: I am a policy advisor with the city of Chicago, on the policy team in the mayor’s office. I joined in April 2021, and my focus is climate and energy policy. We have so many pieces of work in motion. From modernizing the electricity franchise to updating climate goals, the workload is diverse yet impactful. Although coworkers are in the office, most teams are working from home, so we have plenty of hours of Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls.

Q: What’s on the top of your mind these days?

A: A serious matter. I’m reflecting on the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The issues it highlights are not new, but it underscores the need for ambitious and coordinated action. I’m grateful to have a team to work with, committed members across this department, with partners at the county level and—so essential—also at the community level. Together, we’re focused on addressing a range of environmental issues such as waste management, carbon reduction, and air and water quality.

As we update our climate goals this year, we must reevaluate our practices in these areas to ensure that we are putting forward intentional and ambitious targets to reduce climate impacts and to strengthen and protect communities. We want to build on the depth of experience and expertise from local leaders, researchers, volunteers, advocates. All of whom have been saying this is a serious matter for many years.

Q: What’s at the top of your environmental activism agenda these days?

A: My role, helping to plan climate action, involves lots of coordination across many streams, including authentic, meaningful stakeholder engagement. Turning these wheels takes a lot of discussion and negotiation, so at the top of my activism agenda is to make sure I’m a good facilitator, which involves being patient and ensuring that we uplift the efforts of Chicagoans who have been working on these issues for a long time. Working for a city that’s committed to racial equity, I have to look at how policy has created some of these environmental harms. Humility has to be part of my environmental agenda.

Q: Tell me about a Chicagoan who has been working on these issues for a long time.

A: Hazel Johnson, known in many quarters as the mother of the environmental justice movement, started organizing her neighbors in Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project on Chicago’s far south side, in the late 70s. Her initial efforts to find out why so many family members and neighbors were affected by skin and respiratory conditions led her to learn about the toxic materials used in construction and maintenance of their homes, and the extent to which she and her neighbors were exposed to other toxins because of their location in such a highly industrialized area. She came up with the term “toxic donut” to describe their neighborhood because they were surrounded by landfills, smokestacks, warehouses, diesel truck traffic. So the housing rights issues she at first envisioned became public health issues. Hazel Johnson’s daughter, Cheryl Johnson, continues the work today—organizing, advocating, educating to improve the quality of life for people living in communities affected by environmental pollution. The organization she leads is People for Community Recovery.

Q: How does your work fit with their work?

A: Many organizations, like People for Community Recovery, have long been advocating for resolution of legacy pollution issues, zoning and land-use concerns, and the compounding of socioeconomic, health, and environmental burdens. Our team seeks to work collaboratively with frontline organizations and communities to ensure that the policies we develop provide specific and, ideally, holistic solutions. While generating renewable energy within city limits may seem like a simple development, the city’s commitment to racial and economic equity can lead to more complex solutions that support local green careers and make renewable energy more accessible to communities that are most affected by high utility costs.

Q: How do you stay focused with so many competing concerns?

A: I’m grateful that our team has grown and that we can all support one another across various workstreams. My particular focus lies on updating Chicago’s Climate Action Plan and supporting community engagement for the city’s electricity franchise agreement. We want feedback about what residents and community groups envision for the city’s energy future, especially communities that have felt the squeeze far longer than others in terms of pollution and poor service and equity issues.

Q: What are the two or three things you would most like to see people do in terms of environmental activism?

A: Donate, vote, and participate in climate action. Community-based environmental organizations are doing so much of the work in data collection on environmental issues, advocacy, culture retention, changing hearts and minds. Consider offering financial support to advance their missions. And voting is critical. It does make a difference in terms of how aggressive municipalities are in pursuing initiatives. Both of those are important ways to participate in climate action. And of course, roll up your sleeves and get involved!

Q: There’s so much to learn.

A: Yes. But show yourself grace as you continue to learn. Once we know better, we can do better.