The second in a series of statewide town-hall meetings about how global warming affects local areas is scheduled to take place in Alton on Aug. 12.

The Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) plans to bring together Alton-area residents, elected officials and community groups to discuss how soaring asthma rates, high gasoline prices and the historic shift in gardening zones are related to climate change and explore how to address such diverse problems.

The public forum, "Climate Change: How does it affect Alton?" will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, at the National Great Rivers Museum, 2 Lock and Dam Way in Alton.

The event, co-hosted by the Piasa Palisades Sierra Club and the Alton cluster of the United Congregations of Metro East, is free of charge and open to the public.

A report released this month by the federal government details a future rising death toll from global warming. The town hall series, kicked off June 24 in Decatur, is an effort to educate residents of Illinois about the direct and indirect impact of climate change on the environment, economy and health of the people in the communities.

IEC Executive Director Jonathan Goldman said, " We face a host of problems related to global warming, but most people haven't made the connection. These public forums will help everyone better understand that link and how we can begin to change things with good legislation."

Discussion will emphasize legislative solutions to climate change that are featured in the Global Warming Response Act, a bill promoted by the Illinois Climate Action Network, a coalition of environmental, health and faith groups formed in 2007.

The legislation (SB 2220 and HB 5254) contains initiatives that build on the recommendations of Illinois' Climate Change Advisory Group formed in 2006. These include requiring industrial and power facilities to pollute less through a cap-and-trade program, making cars more fuel-efficient and buildings and furnaces more energy-efficient. Such measures would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and smog-forming pollution generated and would lower the frequency of respiratory illnesses in Illinois, which has one of the highest asthma death rates in the nation.

And more fuel-efficient cars would add up to substantial consumer savings at the gas pump. A study recently completed by Environment Illinois indicates the Illinois Clean Cars Act, a component of the Global Warming Response Act, would result in a saving of more than $400 a year for Illinois drivers.

Ninety percent of Illinois residents polled by InTouch said they want cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars even if they have to pay more up front for the cars.

"The time is right for legislation that will enable Illinois citizens to help the environment while improving the economy and our health at the same time," Goldman said. "The people's will is there now we have to build the political will, which is what these forums are all about."

State Sen. Bill Haine and State Reps. Daniel Beiser and Jay Hoffman have been invited to participate. A climate change expert will open the forum with a presentation about the issue and then take questions from the audience.

"We hope to bring our elected officials and people in our community together to spark a discussion about what Illinois can do about this very real environmental threat," said Wayne Politsch, chairman of the Piasa Palisades Sierra Club. "Our state is the seventh largest contributor of global warming pollution in the country, so we have a responsibility to do something about it."

The kickoff of the global warming town-hall series in Decatur drew about 80 local residents to hear University of Illinois climate change expert Don Wuebbles and state Reps. Bob Flider and Bill Mitchell.

Other public forums about global warming are being planned in Belleville, Carbondale and Peoria.

For more information, call the IEC at 217-544-5954.