Many small things

Here are some updates about local/regional/national issues.

At the November 2, Community Resiliency Conference, Mayor Roy Buol talked about their sustainability initiatives. One included doing a survey of their entire community's greenhouse gas emissions and then pledging to cut them by 50% by the year 2030. A member of the Compact of Mayors, Buol and his team are using a standard reliable measuring protocol. Other iniatives have included rebuilding their waste water treatment plant to employ anaerobic digesters which produce methane that helps generate electricity for the facility. Read more about it here.

On Friday, November 4, the National Sierra Club will host a NO DAPL webinar including reports from club members who have been standing with water protectors at Standing Rock in North Dakota. The webinar will begin at 4 p.m. Central time and continue until 5:30. Get the RSVP link and much more from the Coulee Region Sierra Club's November newsletter.

The State Sierra Club will host a Transportation summit in Milwaukee on Saturday, December 3 with low cost registration ($10, but rduced fee available), free meals, the chance to network with others around the state, and even a free bus from Madison. Register by November 21 and the club will help you find a ride/car pool to Madison (where you can grab the free bus). This summit is a chance for people concerned about the economic and environmental implications of state transportation budgets that continue to favor private vehicle use and road building and ignore transit riders and those who don't or can't drive cars. More details at the registration page.

Before the Flood is a new documentary from National Geographic. Narrated by Leonardo di Caprio, the film looks at what's at stake if we don't take immediate action to halt climate change. You can watch it free online until November 6. We may try to do a community screening before the end of the year if there's enough interest.

What action can we take? If you are reading this you know that reducing or stopping your consumption of meat - especially far-away produced meat - will help. Reduce your energy use. Quit driving your car to every little thing. Turn off the lights and, if you have to, fight with your Trumpkin co-workers who don't believe in climate change. Demand real action from our leaders, not the tepid, useless, "Maybe we can reroute the pipeline," silliness that passes for woke behavior these days.

Don't let others get away with bad actions, either. We are in prime LEAF BLOWER season. As I bike past people blowing a single leaf down a 30 foot driveway, it's very hard not to stop and yank the blower cord from the socket . We will soon be coming into prime idle-your-car-for-half-an-hour-outside-the-school/Y/martial-arts-studio-while-waiting-for-your-child-who-is-perfectly-capable-of-taking-the bus-home season. Be prepared to tap on a few windows and remind people that our planet is going to burn up if they don't wake up. And don't get me started on rotary Blights! grrr.