Reset
This is the time of year we are excited to see the results of our products and designs reemerging from winter through beautiful colors, shapes, textures, and sounds.
But we can’t lose track of the larger picture. While the positive impact of biophilic design may be the easiest for us to recognize, our strategies and designs must consider everything at stake. And there’s a lot at stake.
Omni’s headquarters is set amidst the historic richness of Bronzeville. It is designed to build local community wealth and help reverse the historic levels of disinvestment and decades of neglect the greater Bronzeville community has experienced. Atop the building is flexible gathering space and a green roof designed and supplied by the Omni team. This biophilic platform hosted WBEZ’s Reset on the Road where Sasha-Ann Simons gathered a team of hyper-local experts to discuss how the demand for healthy public spaces is an act of resistance to inequity in the built environment.
Karen Weigert, WBEZ’s Sustainability Contributor, and Director of Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility, helped moderate this group that examined themes of environmental justice, climate action, and community development.
Naomi Davis, Founder and President, Blacks In Green
Gina Ramirez, Midwest Outreach Manager for Natural Resources Defense Council
Mohammad Shahidehpour, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois Tech, Director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation
Paula Robinson, Managing Member at Bronzeville Partners LLC
Billy Davis, General Manager, JitneyEV
Molly Meyer, CEO and Founder, Omni Ecosystems
Mike Repkin, Director, Product Development & Bioresource Management, Omni Ecosystems
Sacrifice Zones - Seeking environmental justice on Chicago’s South Side
Naomi Davis, founder and president of Blacks In Green, speaks with Gina Ramirez, Midwest Outreach Manager for Natural Resources Defense Council, on the toxic legacy in the South Side. Decision makers have historically chosen to locate heavy industry and highways in Black and brown neighborhoods, which has created oppressive narratives of environmental racism.
South Side residents have been consistently burdened with an undue portion of the cost of infrastructure without experiencing their share of its benefits. Those costs come in the form of land, water, and air pollution, that cause a disproportionate amount of chronic health conditions.
Davis and Ramirez point out that neighborhoods on the South Side experience 40 times the air particulates of white, north side neighborhoods. This disparity is reflected in the incidents of cancer, brain damage, respiratory issues, and in overall life expectancy.
Climate change amplifies these effects through antiquated infrastructure and tree inequity. Using real life anecdotes and data, Davis and Ramirez make a compelling call for environmental justice.
Micro-Grids
Dr. Mohammad Shahidehpour, University Distinguished Professor, Bodine Chair Professor, Director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation, and Associate Director of the Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) at Illinois Tech, delivers a highly accessible and deeply detailed understanding of IIT’s self-sufficient energy grid, located in Bronzeville.
Dr. Shahidehpour covers every aspect of the microgrid’s functionality including how power is acquired, scheduled, distributed, and maintained. He reveals how one of the nation’s first self-sufficient grids can support distant communities in events of emergency such as severe weather or a cyber-attack.
Professor Shahidehpour combines his technical explanations with relevant financial insight positioned with and against a list of benefits the microgrid has already provided.
The Urban Homestead Reinvented
Naomi Davis of Blacks In Green (BIG) returns to address independence and sovereignty on the South Side through the lens of green development. Davis begins by describing the area as it once was and what it has become. She continues by posing the question, how do you reinvent a now extinct, walkable neighborhood in the age of climate crisis?
Her answer shows how affordable housing is key to health and wealth. However, her definition of housing is further developed than traditional models. She refers to BIG’s award winning work to develop and provide a sustainable community in West Woodlawn based on the eight principles of their “Sustainable Square Mile.” She exposes the underlying potential to build economies and recreate the great migration.
Davis addresses the historical and continuing challenges facing development in Black neighborhoods and how there is a responsibility to return equity to harmed communities. These challenges are offset by her belief that self-sustaining Black communities are obtainable in part from a heritage journey of environmentalism that understands the conservation lifestyle.
Black Metropolis – The Next Century
Paula Robinson and Billy Davis give a descriptive account of Bronzeville as a historical center of innovation and resilience. The two seek to recapture its halcyon days, following subsequent gaps in development. This, they argue, requires repositioning on the forefront of technology and trends.
The two define Bronzeville’s unique historic identity as an asset to the area’s potential for development and explain how its geographic features work to the advantage of the neighborhood’s resurgence.
JitneyEV serves as their case study to demonstrate the latent potential of technology-driven projects. Deftly moving from micro to macro, they draw out the internodal relationships of supporting industries. They expand upon relationships by showing how diversity and the cohesive sustainability efforts taking place have brought the panelists and other neighborhood businesses together.
Together, Robinson and Davis provide important context of Bronzeville’s past and an exciting vision of its future.
Mitigating Climate Change and Environmental Inequity
Molly Meyer, CEO and Founder, Omni Ecosystems, introduces Omni through the site’s history and ongoing relationship with its neighborhood, giving light to the richness of Bronzeville and the robustness of its community. She identifies the logic and advantages of locating a business on the South Side and echoes other guests by using Omni as an illustration of backyard workforce development.
Meyer is joined by Michael Repkin, Director, Product Development & Bioresource Management at Omni, who presents a “box of goodies” to demonstrate how Omni Infinity Media is being used to mitigate climate change and environmental inequity.
The two describe an equitable, nature-positive future that reacts to the immediate need for biodiverse revegetation in the built environment. Their deep dive into soil science and government policy informs how green infrastructure projects benefit a community, why equitable access to green space is important, and how you can get started at home.
Omni was proud to participate in this event as a community member. We recommend that you take the time to listen to each of these important discussions and explore the guests and their projects.
