Pam Richart

SPEAKER | LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ILLINOIS, ISSUES BRIEFING 2023

Pam Richart is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Eco-Justice Collaborative, now based in Champaign, Illinois. While raising her family, she received her BA in Human Ecology in 1978 and her MA in Human Environment Planning in 1983 from Governors State University. 

Pam served on the leadership team of the Downstate Caucus of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC), where she helped pass Illinois’ groundbreaking legislation, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.

In January 2021, Pam organized the Natural Climate Solutions Working Group of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition The focus of the work is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating or restoring carbon sinks through health soils and land conservation, and to improve community resilience through access to land, local food production and markets

Pam is currently the organizer and leader of the Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines. The focus of this campaign is to stop CO2 pipelines that are planned in Illinois to capture, transport, and bury CO2 in Illinois. If they rupture, they can release CO2, an asphyxiant, for miles, killing humans and animals in minutes, depending on the concentration and length of exposure.