Climate Change & Environment


Reimagine waste: Capturing and reusing carbon to build a better world

If something is not bigger, more expensive, shinier, full of greater functionality and more expensive, it is just not new enough, not good enough. This is a flawed perspective. 

Read More


Take time to shape the future of conservation in Wisconsin tonight

The annual Conservation Congress spring public hearing starts tonight at 7 p.m. Traditionally, each county holds a hearing at the same time in a designated location. Last year, the hearing went virtual, and once again, this year, people are welcome to vote and submit resolutions online beginning at 7 p.m. Visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website to take part.

Read More


Contaminated brownfields: how did it come to this in America?

The business is long gone, the buildings removed but the aftermath is not.  Left behind is a “brownfield,” a nice word for a site contaminated with deadly poisons, and no one left to pay for clean-up if that’s even possible. And what to do with it once it is cleaned up? Another industrial site, another fence line community in the poorer part of town where the people of color live. There are thousands of brownfields all over America. How did it come to this? No one intended to damage the Earth and make humans sick. We blundered into it.

Read More


LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I had a good talk with a friend recently. I told him that I was really concerned about climate change, and why. In response, he said that the facts I shared were new to him. I suspect that more people need to know the facts and why appropriate action is required.   Here is a brief summary: A certain amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide or CO2) has been necessary to keep our world from freezing. For many centuries the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere was roughly 280 parts per million ppm) and was maintained at this level by ...

Read More


LISTEN TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE

Today, we are out on the streets again, in huge numbers, in 128 countries, at over 1700 events, demanding that governments immediately provide a safe pathway to stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. We spent weeks and months preparing this day. We spent uncountable hours organizing and mobilizing when we could have just hung out with our friends or studied for school. We, children and students, don’t feel like we have a choice: it’s been years of talking, countless negotiations, empty deals on climate change, fossil fuel companies being given free rides to drill ...

Read More


Climate Change is Real

LETTER TO THE EDITOR By James A. Lewis I recently reached the age of ninety. I have lots of hope that people coming after me will be able to live happy and healthy lives. But my hopes are under threat. I pray that Americans will soon realize that climate change is real, that it will persist and will intensify unless we act quickly. Climate change is the result of our worldwide use of coal, oil and gas. Our government must--without delay – adopt the standards set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. We must again assume leadership in the worldwide effort to ...

Read More


MAKING THE WORLD WORK FOR EVERYONE – A PALE BLUE DOT PART V

  Planet Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles. Photo by Voyager I. Source: NASA/JPL Feb. 1990 (Just below middle of page in orange/brown color band on right) Imagine we had a magic wand we could simply wave to solve humanity’s problems and make the world work for everyone. We could assess all of the human activities occurring around the Earth, decide if they were beneficial or harmful to the health of people and the planet, and use the wand to end bad activities and initiate good ones. Simple. So, what might we do if we had such a wand: The use of ...

Read More


GREEN NEW DEAL RESOLUTION

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex and Senator Ed Markey released a non-binding resolution that would “recognize the duty of the federal government to create a Green New Deal.” The phrase “Green New Deal” quickly trended on social media, and the resolution garnered support from dozens of Democratic members of Congress, including Democratic presidential candidates. Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is encouraged that Green New Deal supporters have raised the urgency of climate change in the media and within the halls of Congress. “The Green New Deal has clearly ...

Read More


OUR CHERISHED FISH

Despite the fact that scientists from around the world warn us, almost daily now, that we are witnessing the unraveling of the climate we depend on, their message hasn't turned our heads in sharp alarm. If you're thirty or less you might have an excuse because it's been that long since we've had a year with normal temperatures. The earth is heating up. But for the rest of us, well, we just ought to know better. We sure didn't grow up in Wisconsin with regular winter rains, or growing seasons that went past Labor Day weekend. Now we're eating fresh tomatoes from our ...

Read More


A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

A fifteen-year-old girl from Sweden is showing leadership to the rest of the world. When school began in the fall, Greta Thunberg did not go. She sat down on the steps of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm every morning. She stayed there the entire day. Her reason? If her country’s politicians couldn’t be bothered to fix the climate change, there was no good reason for her to study, because the world would not be livable. Her father is a well-known actor and her mother a famous opera singer. Greta spoke to the Climate Rally in Helsinki, Finland and then to ...

Read More