Elgin environmentalist wants to bring changes to the community
Sigi Psimenos spent much of her life donating to environmental groups and other philanthropic causes. For a long time, writing a check was enough for her.
But when she saw Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006, that was no longer true.
“Like Gandhi said, ‘be the change you wish to see in the world,' ” Psimenos quoted.
Being the change meant teaming up with Sandy Kaptain and founding Stop Global Warming, now known as Elgin Climate Change Organization. The group's motto says that “only through sustainable living is it possible to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations.”
The organization has grown to 500 members over the last five years with a focus on education and awareness to achieve its goals. A core group of 40 to 60 people meets once a month and the group plans quarterly events, according to Psimenos.
For its most recent event, ECCO will team up with The Living Wage Jobs for All Illinois Coalition for a discussion from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, at Schweitzer House, 16N690 Sleepy Hollow Road, in West Dundee.
Psimenos will speak alongside John Laesch, a union carpenter and former congressional candidate to discuss with attendees how organized labor and environmentalists can work together politically.
With unemployment so high and manufacturing jobs overseas, Psimenos thinks the only way to fix the economy is to implement an entirely new vision.
“I'm hoping that the (meeting on the) 20th is going to take us in a new direction and open up the dialogue for further discussion and then to actually do something,” Psimenos said. “To discuss is futile. You have to be able to do something at the end.”
The Nov. 20 event will also bring Susan Hurley, a member of Jobs with Justice, to talk about organizing the unemployed. And Bill Barclay, an economist, former stock trader and former economics professor will speak about a federal jobs creation bill to be introduced by John Conyers, a Democratic representative from Michigan. The bill would place a tax on financial transactions like stock exchanges and generate billions of dollars a year to pay for job creation.
Psimenos said this is the first time she's gotten involved with organized labor but thinks the collaboration is long overdue.
“Being a sustainable community isn't just environmental, it's also economic,” Psimenos said. “Unless there's money in a community, nothing is going to happen. They all have to intertwine.”
Psimenos was born in Germany and spent most of her life in Chicago. She has only lived in Elgin for about eight years but has spent them actively involved in the community. She is a member of the Elgin area League of Women Voters, the Community Gardening Network, Elgin Community Network and a working group for Elgin's Sustainable City Master Plan, among other activities. She sees her role being to connect people from different organizations so everyone can get more done.
Psimenos moved to Elgin after hearing from a doctor that heart disease had put her close to death and she needed a transplant and a quadruple bypass. Since both of her parents died during open heart surgery she passed on that option, looking toward alternative healing methods instead.
Just like they worked to cure her breast cancer when she was 29, alternative remedies worked again when she was 50. Psimenos continues the therapy now, 10 years later, and she is alive without a single scar from surgery.
Psimenos moved to Elgin thinking she didn't have much time left, but over the last eight years, she has been able to intensify her work as an environmental activist, connecting people across the community to make sustainable change.
I want to hear from you
<p>I'm always looking for more people to talk to. If you live in Dundee or Hampshire townships and would like to share your story, or you would like to recommend someone else's, contact me at (847) 608-2722 or tgarciamathewson@dailyherald.com.</p>
<p>If you live outside of the Dundee area, e-mail foxvalley@dailyherald.com or call (847) 608-2731.</p>