September Newsletter

 

Clean Energy Benefits and YOU with Quinn Rowe, Federal Clean Energy Campaign Manager, Wisconsin Conservation Voters. September 24 at 7 p.m. Register for this ONLINE program at tinyurl.com/CRSC-WCV-IRA-092424     Interested in protecting our environment while saving money on home improvements? Join Wisconsin Conservation Voters for a presentation that details the significant cost-saving benefits available through the Inflation Reduction Act. We will hear about tax credits and rebates available to homeowners and renters for clean energy and energy-efficient home upgrades. Reduce carbon emissions and save money! Register for the link. Call 608-315-2693 or visit https://tinyurl.com/CRSC-WCV-IRA-092424

SIERRA CLUB BOOK CLUB - SEPTEMBER 3     Join Sierra Club friends from around the state at 7 p.m. on September 2 as we discuss the book, Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup by David Allen and Susan Campbell. This true story of struggle, perseverance, and success inspires hope for environmentalists and  offers practical knowledge and solutions for those fighting opponents of environmental cleanup and restoration. Register at https://tinyurl.com/wiscbooks0924

CROWN JEWELS - SEPTEMBER 11     Join the Wisconsin Chapter for a virtual screening of the new documentary Crown Jewels: How Humanity Could Save 100 Million Trees. 
After the documentary, participants will have time to write and submit comments on the National Old Growth Amendment that could help protect mature and old growth trees.
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/WISC-Jewels  

WEEK WITHOUT DRIVING - SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 6     If you can drive or afford a car, you may not understand what it’s like to rely on walking, rolling, transit and asking for rides. But, this is everyday life for nearly a third of people living in the U.S. and Wisconsin. Week Without Driving (WWD) is an opportunity to imagine how we can do better for access, equity, safety, and the environment. Join this national event by taking the WWD Challenge (www.weekwithoutdriving.org/join). If you are in the La Crosse area, join us for a week of WWD events and activities. CRSC will host a Transit 2 Trails event as part of WWD on Saturday, October 5 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. More details about this and other WWD events will be posted in the October newsletter and at the La Crosse WWD web page: https://tinyurl.com/LaXWWD24 

On September 30 at 7 p.m. the La Crosse Public Library will host a book chat with Anna Zivarts, author of When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency. The online program starts at 6:30 p.m. and is open to anyone wherever they live. Register at tinyurl.com/093024-LPLBookChat or by calling 608-789-7122 or emailing libraryhelpdesk@lacrosselibrary.org.

CLEAN ENERGY REVOLUTION TOUR     by Emily Grandy          On August 2, the Climate Action Campaign’s Clean Energy REVolution tour stopped in La Crosse as part of a six state, six week initiative to highlight and celebrate key investments delivered by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). CRSC chair Kathy Allen spoke at the press event, along with elected leaders and solar energy company representatives. She noted that the Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter has long advocated to accelerate the transition to 100% clean, renewable energy which lowers Wisconsinite’s energy bills, keeps more money in our local economies, and promotes a cleaner, healthier future. Already the BIL and IRA are benefiting rural areas, like those in the Driftless Region that have been hit hard by extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis. The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) is investing over $27 million in Wisconsin, to support 15 rural businesses in adopting or expanding clean energy. One of the recipients is Linda’s Bakery of West Salem, which will use a $161,000 REAP grant to install a solar energy system expected to save them over $34,000 annually in electrical costs. Five school districts in western Wisconsin have already received $3.8 million in rebates for electric buses, with many more, including La Crosse, planning to apply. A video recording of the La Crosse press event is available at https://www.facebook.com/actonclimateus/videos/994351438845867. Visit the REVolution Tour website at: actonclimate.com/climate-wins-in-wi-2

CRSC HIGH SCHOOL STEWARDSHIP AWARD     The Coulee Region Sierra Club presented its 2024 High School Environmental Stewardship Award to Logan High School's Rachel Greany at The Nature Place in La Crosse on August 8. This award recognizes the achievements of a high school junior or senior who demonstrates leadership, action, and environmental stewardship, and who understands the importance of civic engagement in protecting our environment. Rachel served as president of her school's Ecology Club and led efforts to raise awareness about recycling and food waste. She has also helped in the school's greenhouse, with trash cleanups, and with invasive buckthorn removal. In her application, Rachel wrote, "Environmental stewardship evokes a sense of responsibility and empowerment in me and I look forward to investigating and implementing additional environmentally supportive actions in my lifestyle and in the local community.” Congratulations, Rachel!

ORDER 2025 CALENDARS SOON     Please call or text Maureen Kinney at 608-797-8442 no later than September 15 to reserve your 2025 Sierra Club wall ($19) or engagement ($20) calendars.  The money we raise from calendar sales helps fund our local initiatives, including events and environmental education grants and awards.

YOUTH CLIMATE ACTION GRANTS     In April 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Youth Climate Action Fund to provide technical assistance and funding for 100 mayors to activate young people ages 15 to 24 to design, produce, and govern urgent climate solutions in their cities. Each mayor received $50,000 to distribute as microgrants for youth-led climate initiatives with the possibility of an additional $100,000 over the next year for more similar projects. The City of La Crosse received one of the Bloom-berg grants and is now allocating funds for the first round of projects. They are expecting to receive additional grant funds next year. CRSC would like to sponsor a youth climate action for the second round of microgrants. If you  are interested in learning more, joining a Sierra Club Youth Climate Action initiative, or getting help with a microgrant application, please text or call us at 608-315-2693 or email CRSierraClub@gmail.com.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION GRANT REPORTS

Longfellow Middle School, La Crosse     by Clint Grabhorn        In late June, Longfellow Middle School's Outdoor Adventure Club was able to host a week-long Backpacking 101 summer school enrichment course for students in 6th through 8th grades. Students spent two days learning about camping gear and the skills required to safely participate in a back country camping trip! These skills include setting up our new backpacking tents, filtering and boiling water, organizing essential gear, and preparing for our rainy day hikes. During the remaining three days of the summer camp, students applied their new skills during a multi-night backpack camping experience at Yellow River State Forest near Harpers Ferry, Iowa. This trip challenged students, but offered many fun and meaningful memories. We hiked, fished, swam, played yard games, built campfires, tended to our camps, and finished the final leg of our trip hiking back to our bus through a gentle stormfront. Students rose to every challenge and felt great reward in their accomplishments in the outdoors. This experience was made possible through the contributions of organizations like yours. 

Westview Elementary School, Platteville     I am writing to thank you for your award of grant money. My name is Brooke Brockman and I teach first grade in Platteville. Thanks to you, my team received money to purchase grow lights and cups with domed lids to start our milkweed plants. A few years ago, I read an article about communities planting milkweed to help monarch butterflies. While I didn’t act on it right away, I kept the idea nearby. When I became aware of your grant opportunity, I went back to the milkweed for monarchs idea. One of our reading units is Plants, in which we learn about different kinds of plants, their habitats, how they protect themselves, and their life cycles. I remembered the milkweed article and discussed it with my team. I had access to milkweed seeds and thought we could plant the milkweed plants along the Rountree Branch Trail, which is in Platteville. My team was on board, so I was partnered with a member of the Platteville Community Arboretum (PCA). The PCA’s mission is to connect the Platteville community to the Rountree Branch corridor, through recreation, conservation, and environmental education. This project was a win for all of us! In March, after spring break, we planted seeds, and students began to observe their plants daily. Every morning, they went right to the cups to see how much they had grown. The students regularly told me which plants they thought needed to have their lids removed because they were growing so well. We were out of school earlier than usual this past school year, so we planted our milkweed in early May. The first graders were both excited and proud to plant their milkweed seedling and water it. This project helped our students learn about the importance of milkweed and about its life cycle. Without your grant, the first graders would not have been able to have had this wonderful experience. Thank you, again, for making this possible.

CRSC BOARD ELECTIONS     We are seeking candidates for the Coulee Region Sierra Club board. Elections will be in December. New terms begin in 2025. The board meets monthly and plans club activities and events. If you are interested in serving your club, please email CRSierraClub@gmail.com OR call or text 608-315-2693 with your name and a statement about why you are interested in being on the board and your pertinent experience. If you might like to run but need more information, please email, call or text us. We encourage club members living outside the La Crosse area to self-nominate, but everyone is welcome to run. We will publish candidates’ statements in our November newsletter along with information about voting by mail and online in December.

PEOPLE POWER - MICROGRIDS     In 1995, a little village in Germany started an energy revolution. Since the first student visionary planted four wind generators on farmer co-op land, Feldheim has become a self-sufficient “energy village” and a model for other rural towns in Germany and around the world. Four generators grew into a renewable microgrid, a small network of electricity users who generate and share electricity, with more wind generators, solar arrays, a biomass plant. and a community battery bank providing heat and electricity for residents’ homes, businesses, and transportation needs. Excess electricity is sold to the national grid. Residents’ energy costs are substantially lower and the system is resilient and reliable. This short 2017 CBC video (https://youtu.be/uK-L6vsAMcU) and this 2022 Deutsche Welle report (https://youtu.be/tE0-ki-CBfs) describe how it works.

In the United States, many clean energy advocates who are members of Rural Energy Cooperatives (RECs) are struggling with backward co-op policies, lack of democratic control, rising costs, and unreasonable fees as described in this February 2024 article in AGATE magazine (http://www.agatemag.com/2024/02/small-co-ops-lag-in-clean-energy-production). “Pat Schmieder joined the Two Harbors co-op board in 2020 with ambitious ideas about moving to cleaner sources of electricity, but she soon found herself bogged down in fights over restricting member-owner input at monthly board meetings and the unequal size of the districts that each member of the board served. The co-op covers a large area …  and the five districts were wildly imbalanced in terms of population … Schmeider and others realized this was making it difficult to elect board members interested in change.”

A January 2024 Rocky Mountain Institute article (rmi.org/clean-energy-investments-for-rural-america-are-booming) discusses the challenges RECs have had accessing support for transitioning to renewables and the benefits and promise of the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program which was established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), “the federal government’s largest investment in rural electric systems since the New Deal.” Will these new supports and incentives be enough to turn co-ops away from more fossil gas plants and new nuclear installations?

In the meantime, in mid-June, the Vernon County Energy District held a public information session to explore the feasibility of a microgrid in La Farge. The feasibility study is part of a grant program by Vernon County Energy District, imagining a more resilient future where community residents own their own power through solar plus battery storage.
An article in the Wisconsin Independent  describes how the state’s Thrive Rural program is supporting the study, along with economic development projects in nine other communities. (wisconsinindependent.com/infrastructure/wisconsin-rural-communities-will-get-boost-under-new-state-program)

Could La Farge become a Feldheim-like model for other rural midwest communities and forge a new path for energy self-reliance and freedom from fossil fuels?

MORE SEPTEMBER EVENTS

• 9/ 4: Leaf It! at The Nature Place, Myrick Park, La Crosse. 7 p.m. https://natureplacelacrosse.org/calendar/enviro-wednesdays-3-2024-09-04/
• 9/ 7: Mushroom foray in Readstown 10 a.m. https://www.mississippivalleyconservancy.org/events/2024-mushroom-foray-readstown
• 9/ 8: Norskedalen Twilight Tour at 5 p.m. Reservations required: https://www.norskedalen.org/events/twilight-tour-farmto-table-dinner/
• 9/11, 18, 25: Hiking for Fitness in BRF at 5:15. Register: https://www.jacksoninaction.org/hikerfitness
• 9/14: Friends of the Black River Paddle at noon Hatfield Whitewater Release. RSVP required: https://www.blackrivercountry.net/event/friends-of-the-black-river-2024-paddle-events/2024-09-14/
• 9/21: Fall Foraging at 11 a.m. at Wright Memorial Library, Trempealeau. https://swmlibrary.org/events/foraging-in-the-fall
• 9/27: Wazee Lake Hike in Black River Falls. Details at https://www.jacksoninaction.org/fallhike
• 9/28: Explore the night sky at Perrot State Park from 6 to 8 p.m. https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/events/97461 

WORLD MIGRATORY BIRD DAY PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST     The World Migratory Bird Day Photography Contest, presented by Environment for the Americas will focus on the vital role insects play in sustaining migrating birds. Learn more about the program and the contest, including how to enter and prizes at www.tinyurl.com/wmbdpics24  Deadline for submissions is September 30.