Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: City

Chicago emits as many greenhouse gases as the entire country of Greece, and the organizers of Evanston's second annual Green Living Festival want to change that.

More than 1,200 people attended the event Saturday at the Evanston Ecology Center, where they bought green products, listened to speakers and connected with other environmentally conscious people.

While last year's festival introduced general environmental issues, this year's focused specifically on reducing the city's carbon footprint, promoting Evanston's Climate Action Plan and increasing environmental education.

"This year, it's more about walking the walk and actually implementing sustainable behaviors," said Fred Schneider, the festival's chairman and vice president of the Evanston Environmental Association.

The Climate Action Plan is a proposal to reduce Evanston's greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent, the same level the Kyoto Protocol mandates, by 2012, said Celia Michener, a member of the steering committee for Citizens for a Greener Evanston.

"It's more pressing now, because we can see the changes that are happening in Antarctica and in the Arctic," Michener said.

The festival featured five speakers who discussed green living and climate change.

Bill Sweitzer, an environmental activist trained by former Vice President Al Gore, put a local spin on his presentation's main points during his keynote address.

Chicago will experience 30 days a year of temperatures that exceed 100 degrees by 2030, Sweitzer said. Today, four days a year experience this kind of heat.

"Climate change and global warming are real," he said during the presentation. "So putting off doing something until tomorrow is not an option anymore."

Several student groups represented Northwestern, one of the festival's sponsors.

A solar-powered car built by NU students was on display. In July, the car took 13th place in the North American Solar Challenge.

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