October 1 Wisconsin Solar Tour

Saturday - all over Wisconsin, tours of solar installations will be highlighted by Midwest Renewable Energy Association. More info/sign up here: https://www.midwestsolartraining.org/wisconsin-solar-tour

Closest to La Crosse: Pheasant Walk Permaculture, "A 13.5-acre site. Earth-bermed, single story "geriatric-anticipatory" house; passive solar plus combined solar sub-floor and water heating. Roof rainwater supplies a 700 square-foot pond and chicken coop. Net-metered and fully powered by grid-tied 2.5 Kw wind generator and 5 Kw photovoltaic. Permaculture fruit trees and nuts planted along swales; perennial berries, herbs and vegetables planted on terraces. All-season earth-bermed greenhouse/chicken housing." Contact Kelvin Rodolfo, 608 637-6159.
 

Transportation events in the news

The Coulee Region Sierra Club has a post up about some important transportation events coming up.

On THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, the Wisconsin Counties Association is hosting Transportation Town Halls in each Wisconsin County at 7 p.m. Lack of publicity about these events and, in our case, transit inaccessible venue might give you the idea that no one is supposed to attend. But it's a great opportunity to advocate for NON PRIVATE VEHICLE (greenhouse gas emitting) transportation options not just in cities but in rural areas - regional transit. So, please attend! Find your county's location t the link. The La Crosse forum will be at 7 p.m. at the County Highway Garage, 301 Carlson Road, West Salem.

On WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, the Sierra Club will host a La Crosse Area Transportation Forum which will include information about current transportation options, information about local and state budget issues, and suggestions for getting more involved in advocating for equitable and sustainable transportation options in the future. The info fair starts at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Southside Neighborhood Center, 1300 S. 6th Street. You can get there on the #1 MTU.

Unfortunately, you can NOT get to the September 29 event from La Crosse by public transportation, according to the Trip Planner at the MTU site. However, I believe that you CAN get there by public transportation (though returning will definitely be a problem). Here's how:

1. Some time before 6 pm, contact the Onalaska/Holmen/West Salem shared ride service at (608) 784-0000 and tell them you will need to go to the event address from the Valley View Mall MTU stop at 6:33 pm.

2. Take the #5 bus that leaves at 6:12 p.m. from the La Crosse Transit Center to Valley View Mall. The fare will be $1.50 for an adult < age 65 and $0.75 for elders (65+)  and those with disabilities. College students with IDs and those who have passes = no fare required. GET A TRANSFER which you can use for your OHWS fare.

Thankfully, college is in session so the Valley View Mall bus goes every 1/2 hour in the evenings. If there were no college classes in session, you would need to leave 1/2 hour earlier.

The real problem comes in the return trip because the OHWS Shared Ride Service ends at 7 p.m. So, you will need to find some way to get from the county garage to Valley View Mall.

If you are a bicyclist, you could take your bike on the bus to Valley View and hope that there's space to throw it in the back of the OHWS Shared Ride van (there are no bike racks on those vehicles), then ride your bike back to Valley View either taking your life into your own hands along Highway 16 (5.3 miles according to Google Maps) OR using the La Crosse River State Trail (about 8 miles) which might be a nice jaunt for a sunny afternoon, but maybe not so feasible for a night time ride in possible rainy weather on a trail that has been known to have some washouts from heavy rains.

Here is why we need to make sure that transportation planners get the message that NOT EVERYONE HAS OR CAN OR WANTS TO DRIVE A CAR. Then what? You must either pay a high cost in time, often, taking public transportation, or in money if you can find a cab in a rural community at night. Or, probably, you will just not attend, shop, visit, or otherwise engage in the world.

This doesn't even touch on the environmental problems caused by relying on private vehicles for transportation or on the costs to communities, especially hub communities like La Crosse, to pay for infrastructure needed to service all these private vehicles.

So, please attend if you can the September 29 meeting AND the Wednesday, October 5 Transportation Forum sponsored by the Sierra Club, 10,000 Friends of Wisconsin, WISPRG, and other environmental groups. And please contact your local and state legislators and urge them to start considering other methods of local and regional transportation besides private vehicles.

Who will heed these warnings?

Years of citizen action, testimony, scientists' warnings, facts, studies, papers and other blatant warnings have not been enough to stop the transportation of hazardous substances, especially dangerous Bakken crude oil, by rail along our sensitive environmental centers, through our cities, and next to our precious clean water resources. Our so-called liberal president does nothing to stop it and the railroads' robotic response whenever a disaster occurs, "Safety is our highest priority."

Yet another warning has come in the form of a BNSF derailment near Ferryville. Tell me if any of the highlighted phrases below sound familiar, like you've heard them before from citizens telling governments and railroads that we need to stop these dangerous shipments.

"A BNSF freight train derailed Thursday morning on a washed-out bridge ...}

"One of the locomotives spilled about 2,500 gallons of fuel, with some making its way into the Mississippi River ..."

" ... access to the site is difficult because of damage from two days of heavy rains."

"... high water levels in the Mississippi are preventing crews from deploying booms ..."

What if these trains had been loaded with millions of gallons of even more toxic Bakken crude oil? What if those trains had leaked into the river with access blocked by flood waters?

This may not be our final warning, but it's surely one we must heed.

 

From La Crosse Citizens' Climate Lobby

 

 The Pentagon ordered its officials in January to start incorporating climate change into every major

 consideration, from weapons testing to preparing troops for war. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP

September La Crosse CCL Meeting

Tuesday, September 20th, 6:30 p.m.
Basement Meeting Room
UU Fellowship of La Crosse
401 West Ave S, La Crosse, WI
Parking behind the UU Fellowship building

Listen to the September International CCL Call:

• Playback options for the September call: Listen to or download the call from CCL's podcasting channel or iTunes.

In the News

Military experts say climate change poses 'significant risk' to security
The Guardian

"A coalition of 25 military and national security experts, including former advisers to Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, has warned that climate change poses a “significant risk to US national security and international security” that requires more attention from the US federal government.

The prominent members of the US national security community warned that warming temperatures and rising seas will increasingly inundate military bases and fuel international conflict and mass migration, leading to “significant and direct risks to US military readiness, operations and strategy". READ MORE

IF THIS TIMELINE DOESN'T CONVINCE YOU CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, NOTHING WILL
Popular Science

"In this xkcd comic, Randall Munroe tackled human-caused climate change, illustrating how Earth's average temperature has changed in the last 22,000 years, since the last glaciation — when glaciers were as far south as New York.

Munroe's comic beautifully illustrates the idea that while climate has changed before, it hasn't changed so suddenly. Four degrees Celsius warming over 22,000 years due to natural variations like changes in the Earth's orbit, or changes in the circulation of the oceans is one thing. Warming by two degrees Celsius over 100 years because of excessive greenhouse gas emissions is quite another."... READ MORE

CCL'S CLIMATE GUEST FOR SEPTEMBER
Former Congressman Bob Inglis

As we gear up to introduce and pass legislation, this is good time to look at the nuts and bolts of the legislative process, and who better to guide us than former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis. Inglis, who introduced his own carbon tax bill in 2009, left Congress in 2011 and founded RepublicEn, which is working to build support among conservatives for a market-based solution to climate change.

We look forward to seeing you at the September 20th meeting. Email lacrosseccl@gmail.com with any questions.

All the best,
Larry Sleznikow
La Crosse CCL Co-leader
lacrosseccl@gmail.com

The Neverending Story

Good news. Bad news.

This is good news: http://www.wpr.org/enbridge-drops-sandpiper-pipeline-project

This is the bad news:

You may have seen the story that leading insurance companies are demanding of the G20 nations that they stop funding fossil fuel development. We need to make this a US policy as well - no offshore fracking, no oiling in the Arctic, no oil/gas exports. None. Period.