Keeping Cool at Oakton College
- Kate Capilitan
- May 8
- 5 min read
Spring into summer, and the winter is gone!
As we celebrate winter’s departure, we are not just welcoming the return of greener grass, blossoming trees, and longer days. We are also experiencing a new reality for our climate. Although we may beg to differ after the harsh couple of months of shoveling driveways, layering Heat Techs, and trekking through Parking Lot D to get to class, our Chicago winters are actually warming. From changing weather patterns to rising temperatures, the conversations around climate change have warned us about this warming for decades. Usually, we would probably just move on along with the seasons and take what we are dealt. But before this summer comes, let’s take a look at what this heat truly means for our region, and what we can do to beat it.
The Warming Trend in the Greater Chicago Area
According to Climate Central, since 1970, the average winter temperatures have risen by 3.2℉ and the city is projected to have 22 fewer days per year of below-freezing temperatures by mid-century. Between 1959 and 1980, Chicago experienced more than 45 days in the year when the temperature stayed below 32℉. It then dropped to about 39 days annually from 1981 to 2002, and then to fewer than 37 days between 2003 and 2024 (MWRD 2025). While the snowfall sums have remained quite stable, there are risks that come with warmer temperatures. I would not so much say that I enjoyed scraping snow off my car, but as it melts faster, the risk of wintertime flooding and storms increase as well. This exemplifies the rapidity of the planet’s reforming, and it is clear how the trend has been growing for the past decade in a lot of cities apart from Chicago.
Aside from winter warming, we have also seen severe summer climate-change dangers like heat waves. The National Weather Service had just recorded the past year as the warmest year for the city, with an average temperature of 55℉. Extreme temperatures are deadly and it’s one of the issues agencies are on the lookout for the coming summer of 2025. Extreme heat is also found to kill more than other environmental disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and cold weather on average. Like the tragic Chicago heat wave of 1995 that took the lives of an estimated 740 Chicagoans (most of whom were poor, elderly, and Black) throughout its 4-day stint, researchers and scientists warn that we could only be seeing similar threats in the future.
Heat Inequity, Redlining, and Racist Urban Planning
Of course, this heat is experienced disproportionately throughout the Greater Chicago Area. A heat watch report conducted by the Chicago Tribune in collaboration with the Boston University School of Public Health mapped higher temperatures and risks in areas with dense concrete infrastructure paired with the lack of greenery. In the same day, areas face up to 22℉ differences in temperature, with the South and West side particularly suffering worse heat. This is largely due to the urban heat island effect we witness in many major metropolitan cities wherein
highly urbanized places produce pollution and heat, largely affecting their lower-income neighbors.
However, this is not an accidental phenomenon. This is an unnatural environmental disaster caused by human behavior. Much like Olufemi Taiwo’s concept of the Global Racial and Economic Empire developed in Reconsidering Reparations, these centuries-long practices of racism and profit-driven ventures seep into modern-day policies that make marginalized groups more vulnerable. For Taiwo, "Global Racial Empire" is ultimately a distribution system that results in accumulating patterns of advantage (increased capability) and disadvantage (reduced capability) in populations around the world largely informed by the historical implications of global systems of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism. Historically, poorer Chicago residents have faced the consequences of redlining restrictions on access to mortgages to purchase homes and racist urban planning (including the locations of the construction of expressways) which, up to this day, are the main causes for the city-wide differences in heat risks and environmental justice. With the way heat maps today imitate the redlining maps from decades ago, communities of color carry the burden of the lack of green spaces and tree canopy—this means that children in poorer communities are growing up far from recreational parks, arguably not only affecting their physical health, but also their emotional development.
There is a clear disregard for the well-being of these neighborhoods when it comes to regulations that protect their communities from hazardous pollutants despite their proximity to toxic chemical plants and waste dumps. Little Village and Southeast Chicago face air pollution levels in the 90th percentile nationally due to proximity to factories and waste sites. Furthermore, it was found that the life expectancy gap between Black and White Chicagoans is 10 years, partly because of environmental stressors. However, it is not just extreme heat (Interactive Heath Watch Map), poor air and water quality, but also the lack of health resources to address the illnesses they bring. It is the lack of community spaces and greenery that can also serve as habitats for diverse animal and plant species. This racialized and economic barrier to healthcare is also a product of "empire".
These bigoted urban design and development policies actually affect non-human species and ecosystems on larger scales too. In Hillary Rosner’s New York Times article “Why Warblers Flock to Wealthier Neighborhoods,” she explains how the lack of biodiversity in specific areas can be directly attributed to the urban composition of that city. Whether it be the number of train lines passing through a neighborhood or the lack of street trees, the risks of climate inequalities are not limited to just people.
How You Can Fight This Heat
As we understand Taiwo’s vision of reparations to not simply be about settling and making up for past harms, but about building a just and sustainable future, we can see the necessity of a forward-looking approach that redistributes resources and power to those most harmed through not just a one-time cash payout, but also by investing in community resilience, green infrastructure, and community-science.
Chicagoans are doing this by volunteering and participating in citywide heat mapping and data collection to identify the hottest neighborhoods. Then, the data is used to develop a Heat Vulnerability Index for the city. This can also serve as a guide for Chicago public health and environmental departments to know where to plant more trees and distribute resources like air conditioners.
As a community, Oakton College is pioneering a genuine and comprehensive approach combining sustainable campus operations, environmental education, and hands-on student involvement. Oakton has restored 50 acres of woodland and reconstructed seven acres of grassland (Interactive Habitat Map), planted thousands of trees, and established an arboretum, which all help lower campus temperatures and combat the heat. Oakton also has community gardens and a sugar maple grove classroom that allow students to directly take part in the flourishing of the campus environment while carefully ensuring the flourishing of native species. These projects not only give students and community members beautiful sights on-campus, but have also helped maintain the biodiversity of the land.
As our winters grow milder and our summers hotter, the city’s heat crisis has become more than a matter of weather—it is a reflection of our history, our values, and the decisions we make for the future. Through our collective initiatives, we know we are not powerless. By greening our campuses and engaging in Indigenous-culture-informed environmental pedagogy relying on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), we can truly look forward to seasons falling back into a more predictable and less-extreme pattern that supports the flourishing of life - humans and non-humans alike.
This summer, let’s turn up the heat on justice, ensuring that everyone, no matter their neighborhood, has the resources to weather whatever comes next.
-- Kate Capilitan
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