Climate Change & Environment
The Joys of Conscious Consumption
It probably started with gardening, this evolution from mindless consumption to making shopping choices with an eye towards who and what we are supporting when we open our wallet at the cash register. Admittedly, I'm not very good at it yet, but I have discovered a few things about conscious consumption worth passing along.
This spring's Sierra Club Magazine highlighted the crash and burn impact of large-scale farming. The focus was on Iowa in general, and the enormous challenge of providing safe water to families in Des Moines in particular. Between nitrates in ...
A Race to the Top
We all know the importance of green energy. We cannot continue to rely on fossil fuels, and it only makes sense to use the sun and the wind. Have we looked at the transition? How will it work if big money controls fossil fuels? The United States is one of the top three oil countries. While natural gas costs surge in our country, we know we could get more money exporting it. What will we do to obtain minerals we need to build a green economy?
We talk about supply chain issues and National Defense being in the forefront for our problems. I often contemplate the race to ...
COPPER vs. LEAD
The bullet on the right is a 165 grain copper jacketed lead bullet. The one on the left is a 165 grain all copper bullet. Both are made by Federal Cartridge. The copper ammunition costs me about $1.50 more per box of twenty rounds compared to the premium lead ammo I used to use. (If you use cheap lead ammo, the difference in price will be greater.)
Both are deadly on deer. The lead round, a boat-tailed soft point, kept us in venison for three decades. The copper round has done the same for the last five years.
As I hunted deer today, I sat within sight of the gut ...
Electing The Future
It is easy to think elections and politics don't matter. But politics is how we make decisions and run our society. Who we elect makes a difference in many everyday practical ways. Do the potholes get filled? Is the water safe to drink? Do your kids have a good school? Do they have health care? Can they afford to go to college or tech school? Do your taxes go to help your community and build a better country? Or are they wasted on corporate subsidies, tax breaks for the wealthy or some war on the other side of the world?
Our future will be shaped by the choices we make ...
Letter to the Editor
Is anyone aware that there is a Notice of Intent to Drill, a prelude to mining, by Green Light Metals in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest at the Medford-Bend Deposit in Taylor County and the Reef Deposit in Marathon County, just below the Dells of Eau Claire? This is a Canadian Company that has appeared to have spun the company name serval times from Badger Minerals, Aquila, Green Light Metals, and GORO.
A week ago, our group chose a supervisor to bring forth our resolution for clean water. We had resolutions from three Wisconsin Tribes as well, including the Ho ...
Wisconsin’s Fish Are in Hot Water
Wisconsin's Fish are in HOT WATER!
Frank Pratt spent 20 years as a Wisconsin DNR Senior Fisheries Biologist doing research that connected changes in our fish populations to our warming waters. Hear what he found and what we can and must do to maintain our great Wisconsin fishery.
October 18 at 6PM, The Landing, in the Woodson YMCA. 707 N 3rd Street, Wausau
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Drilling in the Chequamegon Forest
Drilling plans underway for gold deposits near Wausau and in Chequamegon National Forest
(Wausau, WI) If Toronto-Ontario, Canada based GreenLight Metals has its way, the winter of 2022-2023 will be a busy time for metallic sulfide mine development in Wisconsin. GreenLight has submitted plans to start exploration drilling at many of Wisconsin’s most loved natural features – The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, The Ice Age National Scenic Trail, and The Dells of the Eau Claire State Natural Area, are all being targeted.
Project documents here: https://dnr.wi...
Access to Clean Drinking Water Shouldn’t be Controversial
Ensuring access to clean drinking water shouldn’t be a point of contention. Water is essential to life, and there should be bipartisan consensus that we must protect this vital resource.
Yet, in the Northwoods, our water and our environment have been repeatedly sabotaged by our representative – first when he was in the State Legislature, and again once he joined Congress. Toxic Tom Tiffany has been a disaster for Wisconsin’s environment for over a decade, siding with mining and chemical companies over the health and well-being of his own district.
It’s ...
Michigan Board votes to add ancient Menominee site to National Register of Historic Places; pro-mining Michigan legislators oppose vote
On June 29, 2022, preceding the Fourth Annual Menominee Canoe Trip held June 30-July 3 by Native and non-Native water protectors, students learn about ancient garden beds, cache pits and burial mounds during a tour of ancient Menominee cultural sites led by Dawn Wilber, who teaches Menominee culture and language at Menominee High School in Keshena, Wis. Ann Wilber, far right, tells students an ancient story. The sites are part of an area recently nominated by both Wisconsin and Michigan Historical Preservation Review Boards for inclusion in the National Register of ...
Wisconsin’s Fish Are in Hot Water
According to the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts our state has warmed by three degrees Fahrenheit since 1950, and as a result our waters are warming up too. From our ponds and lakes to our winding rivers and cold, clear, trout streams these warmer temperatures spell trouble for some of our favorite fish. To learn more about these impacts our local Citizen's Climate Lobby brings retired Senior Fisheries Biologist, Frank Pratt, to town for a discussion of his 45 years worth of research in Northern Wisconsin.
If you love fishing you will want to hear ...