Climate Change & Environment
What the U.S. Navy Can Teach Us About Fighting Climate Change
(This article was previously published in the Stevens Point Journal & Wausau Daily Herald)
The U.S. military has its problems. It’s overfunded, wasteful and unnecessarily deployed in many cases. But I’m surprised, even shocked, with its contributions for solving climate change.
You won’t find many climate change deniers in the military, especially in the U.S. Navy. They know climate change is occurring and they know what causes it — humans burning fossil fuels.
Remember, the military developed steel, radar, GPS and microchips last century and these ...
PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND WISCONSIN HUNTING & FISHING
An excellent panel discussion on how climate change impacts Wisconsin fish and wildlife was held on April 1st. The free event was attended by 114 people who came to Ben Franklin Junior High in Stevens Point to listen and participate in the discussion.
Panelists included George Meyer, former Secretary of the WDNR and Executive Director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Wisconsin’s largest sporting organization; Dr. Mike Notaro, Associate Director of the Center for Climatic Research at the UW-Madison; Dr. Matt Mitro, a cold-water fisheries scientist with the WDNR; ...
Wisconsin Rapids Citizens for a Clean Green & Welcoming Community
Citizens for a Clean, Green & Welcoming Community (aka the Clean-Green group) is beginning its 7th year of working on projects that focus on sustainability and reducing our impact on the environment. 2013 was a very successful year, and we will continue our efforts in 2014 with some on-going and some new projects.
Among our success stories in 2013 was earning the Bird City designation for Wisconsin Rapids with this award being presented to the city at the Grand Affair on September 8. We also adopted a stretch of highway for clean-up so our group can walk the ...
Climate Change Action: What the DOD and AAAS have in common
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are both taking action on climate change.
The DOD just issued their 64-page 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, in which they clearly describe steps they’re taking to respond to global climate change. In the introduction, they say, “Climate change poses [a] significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accele...
Limiting Local Control to Our Detriment
Senator Tom Tiffany has introduced yet another bill, Senate Bill (SB) 632, to limit local government control over nonmetallic mining.
In a press release dated 2/26/14, Senator Tiffany included a quote from the Wisconsin Towns Association (WTA) Executive Director stating that the WTA did not oppose SB 632 and its Assembly companion bill, AB 816. This was a critical statement for Senator Tiffany because the WTA had strongly opposed his earlier version of the bill, SB 349, introduced in Fall 2013. In typical fashion, Senator Tiffany scheduled an immediate public hearing ...
Remembering Global Warming Lessons
“Why don’t people remember?” my old friend asked. We talked of how we learned about global warming through our grade school Weekly Reader in the 1950’s. We remembered global warming being discussed in our Sunday school classes because we all wanted to help God save his living creations on earth.
Over 55 years ago global warming was taught in our schools. Real data was used, with the application of scientific methods, to predict what could happen. We looked at different scenarios if actions weren’t taken, like heating or cooling from the “greenhouse effect....