Climate Change & Environment
SPIRITUALITY, POLITICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The ways our spirituality and our politics interact can be profoundly significant. Recently, during a very pleasant conversation I was told that God gave us dominion over the earth. That comment startled me then and has bothered me ever since, germinating a few thoughts along the way.
It seems wholly outrageous that our Creator would put us in charge of something as complex as this planet - at least as outrageous as the idea of us accepting the offer. How could we even consider dominating the earth when just by tweaking the carbon dioxide settings in our atmosphere ...
ON THE BOOKSHELF
(This article looks at World without Us by Alan Weisman)
“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”
E.O. Wilson, biologist and author
“You share 25% of your genes with a banana. Get over yourself.” Bumper sticker
Supposedly when asked what the study of nature told him about God, the biologist J. B. S. Haldane said, "The Creator must have an inordinate fondness for beetles. He made so many ...
CLEAN GREEN 2017 PROJECTS
Clean Green Action (CGA). a local grassroots environmental group, is beginning its tenth year of working on projects which focus on sustainability and reducing impact on the environment. In 2016 we continued to build on successes in previous years, and in 2017 we will maintain some past projects while adding some new projects.
Continuing projects include the following:
Choose to Reuse – This event, which is organized by different area townships (e.g. Rome, Grant, Grand Rapids, Seneca), allows people to drop off useful items for others to have for free. Check with ...
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE, OUR DEMOCRACY, AND OUR PLANET
It was bad enough when we recently discovered our state DNR had stripped the words “climate change” from its website and added wording that led readers to believe there is controversy in the climate research world about its cause - the only real controversy is political, not scientific. A little later we learned that our Public Service Commission had done the same. Now, we find the new Trump administration erased climate change from the Environmental Protection Agency's website and has silenced EPA staff. Perhaps Orwell should have titled his book “2016” instead of ...
LEAVE RIB MOUNTAIN ALONE
We, the people of Wisconsin, love our Rib Mountain State Park. We have listened to the proposal for the expansion of Granite Peak Ski Hill and have some major concerns. Let’s think about snow run-off and how this impacts the load to our sanitation system and local homes. Let’s think about the increased traffic and impact to our roads and quiet neighborhoods. Let’s think about the ground water impact as more and more water is taken from the Rib River.
We would like proof that expansion will not produce “glade skiing” where the hill removes undergrowth and coats ...
Looking Forward to 2017
The turn of the calendar to 2017 brings us hope for better prospects in our public affairs. I am particularly inspired this season for the many who wrote with solutions to problems facing our state.
The many letters from readers gives me optimism for a coming bloom of civic mindedness. Certainly your notes and letters bring a fresh approach to lingering problems.
I do see signs on the horizon that our state may be stumbling.
Deep budget cuts have affected the forward progress of our University of Wisconsin System. Faculty have left UW and taken their research ...
80 FEET IS ENOUGH SAY NO TO ENBRIDGE PIPELINE
Thanks to all who gave, there will be two billboards to show Wisconsinites that a foreign pipeline company changed the law… to take our land for their private gain.
But we must reach millions of Wisconsin citizens, which means three more billboards are needed in major metropolitan markets.
$4,000 matching gift available for one week, starting Friday, December 16 and
Ending Friday, December 23.
Generous donors will match up to $4,000 in new donations, a great opportunity, but for only one week.
What does this mean?
When you give $20, $40 will be donated ...
LOGGING THE BRULE RIVER
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
-- Aldo Leopold
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”
-- Dr. Seuss in “The Lorax”
The Brule River State Forest is going through a 15-year Master Plan review. It is also dealing with a state mandate to increase the available acreage for logging. Is this the best use of our public forests? Is it good for the health of the forest? ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XX: SOLUTION
“There was a house made of dawn. It was made of pollen and of rain, and the land was very old and everlasting. There were many colors on the hills, and the plain was bright with different-colored clays and sands. Red and blue and spotted horses grazed in the plain, and there was a dark wilderness on the mountains beyond. The land was still and strong. It was beautiful all around.” - - N. Scott Momaday
The picture painted by Momaday is of grace and dignity and beauty. It is a picture of what was and what might be. It is a picture of us and our planet Earth, our ...
Another War With The Indians
What about the current stand-off in North Dakota over an oil pipeline? According to an Associated Press report, "the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile project would carry nearly a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota's oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.
Announced in 2014, supporters said the pipeline would create more markets and reduce truck and oil train traffic — the latter of which has been a growing concern after a spate of fiery derailments of ...
