So far, more than 115 mayors, including La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat, have endorsed the goal of #ReadyFor100, a movement of people working to inspire our leaders to embrace a vision of healthier communities powered by 100% clean energy. The overall goal is to achieve 100% clean, renewable energy across the United States by the year 2050.
Mayor Kabat has also joined more than 340 mayors from around the United States who have vowed to reduce their cities’ greenhouse gas emissions and to support efforts for binding federal and global-level policymaking. The group’s website, climatemayors.org, includes a Climate Action Compendium, a detailed inventory of municipal actions on climate change and other sustainability issues. Concerned citizens can encourage their own municipal leaders to join the effort and sign up at the website for updates on future actions.
And the #WeAreStillIn campaign is a group of more than 1,000 mayors, governors, college and university leaders, businesses, and investors who are joining forces for the first time to declare that they will continue to support climate action to meet the Paris Agreement.
This week the US Conference of Mayors passed the “100% Renewable Energy in American Cities” resolution which could pave the way for cities across the country to adopt 100 percent renewable energy targets within their communities.
These positive actions by elected officials are heartening. We can work to increase the number of civic and business leaders working toward these goals. If your mayor has signed on already, the next step is to organize to help implement them. It’s one thing to sign a document, but it’s another to budget for more mass transit (transportation is now the leading sector for greenhouse gas emissions) or install solar panels on public buildings or support solar roof or net zero retrofit programs in the community. This is where Sierra Club members can make a difference.
A new report by six global experts on climate change warns , “... should emissions continue to rise beyond 2020, or even remain level, the temperature goals set in Paris become almost unattainable. The UN Sustainable Development Goals that were agreed in 2015 would also be at grave risk.”
Learn more from these websites. Ask what your own local government is doing and can do. Push for changes, upgrades, retrofits, programs and policies that will support a swift move to 100% renewable energy. Research what others are doing (inhabitat.com is a great site for this and here’s an article about how a township of about 2,000 people is planning their own 100% renewable future.) We have role models in our own region, too, and we will highlight them next month. If you know of an individual, business, or government project or installation we can include,
please email crsierraclub-at-gmail.com.
Seeking BRF area members to help host Sierra Club display at the September 9 Green Life Xpo in
Black River Falls. Email crsierraclub-at-gmail.com!
Highway Cleanup July 18 The summer highway cleanup on the Coulee Group’s adopted highway
– River Valley Drive in the La Crosse River marsh – will be on Tuesday, July 18 starting at 6:00 p.m. (Contact Pat to confirm if weather conditions are iffy). Meet at the city water well building at the intersection of County Highway B (Gillette Street) and River Valley Drive. Wear old clothes and bring work gloves. Safety vests and bags are provided. We’ll visit Rudy’s Drive-In after the event!
For more info, contact Pat or Bobbie at 608 788-8831 or pbwilson-at-centurytel.net.
Family Friendly Black River Canoe Camping Trip July 15-16 This favorite kid friendly paddling
trip is being resurrected to encourage young families, families with kids and the young-at-heart to join us on the water. We’ll take it slow, stop to play/explore as frequently as desired, cook-out and sleep in tents on a sandbar and engage in creative outdoor play. We’ll paddle from Irving to North Bend. The river is sand bottom with many sandbars for stopping. Contact: Pat or Bobbie Wilson at 608-788-8831 or pbwilson-at-centurytel.net.
Mississippi Valley Conservancy The Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC) is seeking donations
in order to save the Kickapoo Indian Caverns, a unique 83-acre property located west of Wauzeka and one of Wisconsin’s longest natural cavern systems. The property hosts a large and diverse hibernating bat population as well as native remnant prairie, oak woodland, rock outcrops, sinkholes and part of the Lower Kickapoo River Important Bird Area. The MVC plans to allow limited guided
cavern tours and open the rest of the property for hiking, cross-country skiing, bird-watching, and hunting plus educational events and research opportunities. To learn more and donate, visit tinyurl.com/mvcsavebats. MVC is also promoting health through their Hike to Wellness program and they are hosting Linked to the Land opportunities around the region through the summer and fall
Be a Citizen Scientist The Crawford Stewardship Project is looking for people to do water quality monitoring around the Wauzeka CAFO, sand mining operations, as well as other threatened waters
in Crawford County. Monitor training is free and provided by Valley Stewardship Network. For more info visit: valleystewardshipnetwork.org/solutions/water-research/
Crowdsource Open Street Map Make sure others know about your community’s special bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure by using Open Street Map. A recent article by People for Bikes, an industry coalition, highlighted the tool to help communities measure the quality of their “people power” networks. Anyone may edit the map. Free online training is also provided.
Connect with us online at tinyurl.com/crsierra, cr-sierra.blogspot.com, or crsierraclub-at-gmail.com.
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