Environment
Kohler’s disrespect of indigenous people is par for the course
Ancestral remains were found in seven locations, and we won’t know if additional remains will be disturbed until the bulldozers begin razing the old-growth forest. The property has at least four burial mounds and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
Reimagine waste: Creative perspectives
Following Earth Week, the 51st Earth Day, and my 45th birthday, I had an idea for a series of articles that we are launching this week, called “reimagine waste.”
Early spring gardening
The freezer is emptying out and the jars of fruits and vegetables, jams and sauces are looking mighty thin in the pantry. Luckily, it’s time to gear up for another garden season and start the process of planting, tending, harvesting and preserving all over again.
Earth Day has its roots in Wisconsin
Wisconsin and Earth Day go back a long way together. Truth be told, without Wisconsin, Earth Day might not even exist. Dismayed by a disastrous oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, our own Senator Gaylord Nelson conceived and set in motion the gears that made Earth Day 1970 a phenomenon to be reckoned with.
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.
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.
America the Beautiful
The same short-sighted, profit-centered thinking that opposed creating the National Parks hinders creating the “good change” we need today.
Video: Norfleet and Kilian Discuss Environmental Justice in Wausau
A video discussion on the "Brother2Brotha Who's Talking" podcast with guests Chris Norfleet and Tom Kilian. Recorded November 7, 2020, it touches on local topics such as the East Riverfront, the Wausau Mall Redevelopment, Thomas Street, and the overall need for local frameworks that foster an inclusive democracy and equity for all.
Note: Tom Kilian has served as a volunteer on Middle Wisconsin's digital efforts since 2013
FIFTY EARTH DAYS LATER
Photo by Dan Barth
Wisconsin and Earth Day go back a long way together. Truth be told, without Wisconsin, Earth Day might not even exist. Horrified by a disastrous oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, our own Senator Gaylord Nelson conceived and set in motion the gears that made Earth Day 1970 a phenomenon to be reckoned with.
Twenty million Americans marched proudly in their streets and parks that first year to protest the piecemeal destruction of the beautiful, life-nurturing planet we had so recently seen from space for the very first ...