We’re so excited to have you. You’re about to have the chance to enter into a community in a city known for bringing people together in diverse neighborhoods and iconic landscapes.
When you’re getting here, you might fly over the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, whose waves shift from shimmering turquoise to turbulent gray depending on the weather. (Spring will be a toss-up!) You might see the foliage of the 606 trail starting to bud. But most importantly, you’ll get to share the beaches, the streets, the public transit and the iconic buildings and landmarks with the locals as you enter into the heart of our city.
From taking the Red Line to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play to arguing over which pizza is the best, community is what holds this city together. We bond over the mountains of lake-effect snow each winter, lazy days at Lake Michigan each summer and the changing leaves along Lake Shore Drive in the fall. The people here are the beating heart of this city and the stewards of the outdoors we hold dear.
As Chicagoans, we encourage you to explore the multicultural, diverse and vibrant neighborhoods of Chicago. You’ll find local bookstores, vegan restaurants and comedy clubs. You’ll also find community gardens supporting sustainable food, arborists planting trees on the South Side to rebuild the tree population and water lovers diving into the lake for group swims.
We know that reality is far from perfect in this city. Violent immigration raids have brought Chicago into the national attention. Blue skies and lakefront summers for the last two years have been peppered with clouds of Canadian wildfire smoke. Alternating bouts of extreme heat, winters missing signature snow and polar anomalies have left us sometimes sweating, sometimes shivering, knowing these are very real signs of climate change’s steady beat.
In times of isolation and threats to our health, well-being and shared connection to the natural world, we want SEJ to be a space of shared humanity and care for climate and the environment. We can’t think of a better place to do that than Chicago, a city that does that every day. It’s woven into the very thread that holds this city together.
We also believe that sustainability is about more than the environment. It means sustaining ourselves, our health, and the relationships we build at SEJ and beyond for the long term.
Are you ready to build friendships as deep as our pizza?
With love from The Windy City,
Lucia Priselac & Melina Walling
SEJ2026 Co-chairs
