Climate Change & Environment


Where Have all the Monarchs Gone?

I just enjoy sitting on my patio, surrounded by the beautiful native plants that grow all along the patio.  It is a wonder to me to watch the bees, moths and butterflies along with the birds that visit the plants.  If I am quiet enough and don’t move, it is very common to have a goldfinch or other birds that are hungry and want to eat, fly and land on a stalk from the flower that is no more than 6 feet away from me.  The birds will stay there as long as I don’t make any quick motions, or my dog doesn’t disturb them.  There is nothing better than to see all this ...

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS FAMILY FARMS

Monsoon like rainfall flooding fields delaying planting.  Or summer drought causing crop failure. Or extended periods of extreme heat.  Or winters without sufficient snow cover to protect your alfalfa crop. More farms needing to switch from a dairy economy to “who knows what”, we may soon no longer be the “Dairy State”. Yes. Climate change/global warming is real, and it will greatly impact our agricultural community. While Republicans sit with their heads in the sand hoping it will all just go away. And it won’t! Who is trying to ameliorate that ...

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Vote for the Climate and Against Ignorance

This month, the Southeast has faced two devastating hurricanes. Not only are families forced into shelters, but entire communities have been wiped from the map. And the road to recovery will be long, arduous, and uncertain. Our hearts should go out to all the victims. Yet the science is clear, that human-caused climate change is making these storms more severe. We experience stronger, longer, and deadlier weather phenomena than ever before, even here in Wisconsin with more extreme flooding, drought, wildfire smoke, and inconsistent snowfall. This has a bona fide ...

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When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them (and Vote Accordingly)

Are we suffering from amnesia? Our climate is rapidly getting more perilous. Just look at last winter, when local economies had to grapple with lower-than-ever snowfall and higher-than-ever temperatures. And yet, Wisconsin is a dead heat in this year’s presidential election. We need to remember. During his first year in office, then-President Trump withdrew America from the Paris Climate Agreement, joining Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries to not ratify it. Two years later, Trump approved the Keystone XL Pipeline and approved rollbacks of offshore drilling ...

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Solar Share

*Used with permission SolarShare Wins Phase Two “Energizing Rural Communities” Funding Late last week we were informed that SolarShare Wisconsin Cooperative won $200k in the “Energizing Rural Communities” prize competition. SolarShare Wisconsin Cooperative was one of 33 organizations nationally that won $200,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energizing Rural Communities Prize. The cooperative plans to use these funds to continue providing opportunities for Wisconsinites to invest in local community scale solar projects. In 2023,SolarShare ...

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WALLS

Robert Frost said it first and clear enough: “Something there is that doesn't love a wall.”    His walls were stony ones, upended and broken by frosty, heaving ground.  The walls I do not love are stony too, built not on pastureland, though, but in the hearts of men and women.  These heart-stone walls, held fast by a mortar mix of fear and a very human bent for being right and those different, dead wrong.  We, thus, protect our neat and tidy interior lawns from the invasive and rambunctiously threatening swamps and woods beyond our perimeters.  This tangled, ...

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Climate Change is Here, Wisconsin

For decades, enthusiasts have flocked to the Northwoods of Wisconsin during the winter to take advantage of everything Wisconsin has to offer. Our state relies on plentiful snowfall and frigid temperatures. The issue of climate change and how it affects our economy, must play a central role in this year’s election.   On one side of our political debate, politicians are still claiming that climate change is caused only by the cyclical nature of the environment; while on the other side, they admit that humans have a large role in creating this upward spiral of ...

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VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS FOR CLIMATE ACTION

In August 2022, Biden and the Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) despite unanimous Republican opposition in both the House and Senate where, as president of the Senate, VP Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act#Legislative_history) We who are climate-concerned should be grateful because Wisconsin has already gained nearly $1 billion of IRA climate benefits alone. (https://www.wmtv15news.com/2024/08/15/wisconsinites-celebrate-clean-energy-inflation-reduction-act-anniversary) Moreover, the IRA has ...

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Vote Blue to Protect Mother Earth

North Carolina picking up the pieces after disaster. Downed trees, power lines across 4 states 680,000 without power in Georgia Nearly 1 million South Carolina homes and businesses in the dark as of early Sunday   Headlines for many months/years to come? What will it take?   In Washington, D.C., Republicans fight tooth and nail against anything that will ward off the impacts of climate change, including voting AGAINST the Inflation Reduction Act.   In Madison, Wisconsin they make sure it’s more difficult than ever to discuss the ...

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New ERA Award for Dairyland Power Cooperative Will Bring Cheaper Bills, Better Health, and Renewable Energy to Rural Wisconsin

For Immediate Release Sepember 5, 2024 Laurie Lane: 608.215.0112 laura@healthyclimatewi.org   New ERA Award for Dairyland Power Cooperative Will Bring Cheaper Bills, Better Health, and Renewable Energy to Rural Wisconsin   La Crosse, Wisconsin – President Biden announced today that Dairyland Power Cooperative will receive nearly $573 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. This funding will support Dairyland's procurement of 1,080 megawatts of clean energy through power purchase ...

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