Earth Week Events

Green Bay-area Earth Week 2007!

Monday, April 16th
6:00-7:30pm--Durga Kar of ADIRE on renewable energy and sustainable living in rural India
UWGB, Mary Ann Cofrin Hall (MAC Hall), Room 206
Free to attend.

Tuesday, April 17th
6:00-7:30pm--Fred Schnook, former Mayor of Ashland, on bringing together business, government, & environmental interests
UWGB, MAC Hall, Room 210
Free to attend.

Wednesday, April 18th
6:00-7:30pm--Laura Manthe on sustainable living on the Oneida Reservation
UWGB, MAC Hall, Room 223
Free to attend.

Thursday, April 19th (kid-friendly, student volunteer hours)
All Day--Leave Your Car at Home Day challenge!!!
City-wide! Bus, bike, walk, or carpool to work or school!
Click here for participation guidelines, and here for the Mileage-Saved recording chart.

6:00-10:00pm--Green Drinks at Kavarna
112 S. Broadway, Green Bay
Free to attend.

7:00-8:00pm--Storytime and Live Frogs at Barnes & Noble
2498 S. Oneida St, Ashwaubenon
Free to attend.

Friday, April 20th
4:30pm--School Recycling Weigh-Off! (All schools encouraged to participate!)
Port & Solid Waste Department, 2561 S. Broadway, Green Bay
Click here for participation guidelines.

6:30-9:00pm--Free showing of An Inconvenient Truth, discussion to follow
Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay
Saturday, April 21st (kid-friendly, student volunteer hours)

9:00-Noon--Baird Creek Clean-Up!!!
Preble Park, near Sunrise Ct and Skyline Blvd off Finger Rd, Green Bay
Light breakfast provided. Free.

9:00-Noon--Riverside Clean-Up for Paddlers--bring your own canoe!
Optimist boat landing, end of Lazarre St. where Monroe/57 intersects
Snacks and water provided. Free.

8:00-Noon--East High School hosts Joannes Park Clean-Up
Meet at front of East High School on E. Walnut & S. Jackson, Green Bay
Free to attend. Plastic bags provided, but bring your own gloves!

Noon-4:00pm--EcoBingo on Broadway, plus kids crafts, petting zoo, fishing games and more!
Pick up your Bingo card at the AmerIndian Center, 407 Dousman St, Green Bay
Free.

Noon-3:00pm--Bay View Middle and Bay Port High Schools host Pamperin Park Clean-Up!
Meet at Pamperin Park, 2477 Shawano Ave, Green Bay
Free.

5:00-Midnight--EcoJam Concert, featuring Augie & the Sandwich Factory, Copper Box, and Burnt Toast & Jam! Plus, presentation of Environmental Hero Award and Leave Your Car At Home Day trophy!
Holiday Inn City Centre, 200 Main St, Green Bay
Cost is $3 for students, $5 for adults, and free with a UWGB or WPS ID.

Sunday, April 22nd (kid-friendly, student volunteer hours)
Noon-4:00pm--Izaak Walton League's 'Bear Hunt in Bellevue!'
Osprey Point, on Hwy GV, about 1 mile south of 172
A family 'hunting license' costs $10.

Sustainable Green Bay

Mayor Schmitt's Sustainable Green Bay Task Force recently completed their initial report. A press conference will be held in the near future. If you want a paper copy of the report let me know! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated by the group. In the meantime, the Sustainable Green Bay website is now online.

urban sprawl

In yesterday’s Press-Gazette, there was an article about urban sprawl called “Urban growth a threat to state agribusiness”. It offers some interesting statistics about the loss of Wisconsin farmland during the last ten years. What struck me was the apparent inevitability of it all. The article was peppered with these phrases: “you can’t stop progress”, “you really couldn’t stop it, it was going to happen”, and it “can snowball in a hurry”.

I have also heard local environmental leaders comment that this problem really can’t be solved, that it is something that is just going to happen. I disagree. I think that urban sprawl and the loss of forests and farmland are very solvable problems. Some cities around the country, such as Missoula, MT, have begun to deal with it by enforcing some very strict planning and zoning laws that protect a green ring of countryside around their cities.

Chuck Lamine, Brown County’s planning director, hints at solutions when he discusses the Smart Growth plan. In the article, he talks about how we need to encourage higher-density developments in order to protect agricultural land. Unfortunately, our Smart Growth Plan is not due until 2010. After that, leaders have to decide to follow the plan and give it some teeth.

Urban sprawl needs to be dealt with now. Green Bay does need to encourage high-density community style developments as opposed to McMansions on the hill with huge lots and big boxes. We need to permanently set aside large areas of farmland that are still within our city’s boundaries on the east side. (We’re going to need it!)

-and while I’m at it: We should not build a new suburban “Taj Mahal High School”. The proposed new high school would be sure to trigger a lot of new development and draw people away from the inner city. If a new facility really is necessary, it should be built in town and should be used as part of a plan to draw people to and keep people in the city.

It takes a lot political courage for our leaders to stand up to the powerful development interests in this area and deal with this issue. They need to know that many people see this as a problem. As the article makes clear, sprawl is not progress.

eddy out,
rich

Eric Hansen Sierra Club Presentation - Feb 8

Eric Hansen is a writer and traveler with a lengthy resume of exploring the inspiring landscapes of the American West and Upper Great Lakes. His writing credits include extensive work for Backpacker magazine, as well as other journals.

He is a veteran of 22 treks to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and successful ascents of most of the high peaks of Glacier National Park. Eric walked a memorable 1,700 miles while researching his northern Michigan and Wisconsin guidebooks. Eric Hansen website

Join him for an evening slide show with Award-Winning Author and Noted Hiker Eric Hansen on February 8, 2007 at 7:00 PM at Bubolz Nature Preserve in apleton. Click [HERE] for directions.

Eric will present a slide tour of the Northcountry’s best hikes and offer his thoughts on the land, its compelling themes and its almost mythic place in the imagination of people throughout the Midwest. The author of Hiking
Wisconsin and Hiking Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – A Guide to the Greatest Hiking Adventures in the U.P., Eric walked 1,700 miles while researching these guidebook projects.

He found miles of quiet Lake Superior shoreline,
thumping waterfalls and sparkling cascades, and rock balconies with knock-your-socks off views that stretch 50 miles and more. Eric will cover hidden gems like Shining Cloud Falls, Lost Creek Falls and the fabled Falls of the Yellow Dog as well as scenic viewpoints like the Trap Hill’s Norwich Bluff and the Tip of the Keweenaw’s Bare Bluff.

He has highlighted the Northcountry’s natural heritage in adventure features in Backpacker Magazine, the op-ed pages of the Chicago Tribune, and in interviews on Wisconsin Public Radio.

His Northland hiking slide shows are popular—twice drawing
overflow crowds of more than 300 people. Widely traveled, Eric is a veteran of 22 treks to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The Outdoor Writer’s Association of America recently awarded him first prize for 2005 conservation and environment newspaper writing in its annual Excellence in Craft Awards. A widely-acclaimed op-ed essay in the Chicago Tribune highlighting the U.P.’s iconic Coaster Brook Trout, and the threat of sulfide mining, lead to that award. That essay is available at www.eric-hansen.com.

Join Us For "Green Drinks" - Jan 18

Green Bay, WI Green Drinks

Green Bay Green Drinks is a monthly 'social space' born about one year ago. Our next meeting is Thursday Nov 16, 2006 at Kavarna, in Green Bay's near westside downtown. [FYI-- We meet there on the third Thursday of every month.]

SPECIAL EVENT: Update on environmental issues before the new Wisconsin legislature! Jessica Garrels of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters will brief you on the key environmental issues and proposals. She'll also invite you to visit Madison in February for "Conservation Lobby Day" to meet more than 200 like-minded citizens.

If some people suggest that "green" is your middle name, you'll probably find value in Green Drinks Green Bay. At this monthly event, people who have a passion for anything "environmental" meet for friendly conversation. Since we started in April 2005, we've been visited by folks with a wide variety of interests: science, art, politics, music, film, health, psychology, nutrition to name a few. Many work in an environmental field as professionals, educators, entrepreneurs or neighborhood activists.

If you look elsewhere on the website www.greendrinks.org , you'll see that "Green Drinks" is an international movement. We start to gather shortly after 6pm, but don't worry if you can't show up until much later. Peak attendance has been 7:30-8:30pm so far. The hours you attend will influence who you may meet, however. People come and go all evening until Kavarna closes at 10pm. Kavarna is a smokefree vegetarian coffeehouse/restaurant that sells bottled beers and wine. All ages welcome. Feel free to bring your kids.

See www.kavarna.com for directions to 112 S. Broadway, located on downtown Green Bay's near west side. Soups, salads, chai and juices are among the many offerings.

Hosting committee includes Paul Wozniak, Crystal Osman, Gus Glaser, Kelley O'Connor, Jennifer Hill-Kelley and Jessica Garrels

DO SOMETHING: attend Fox River meeting

DO SOMETHING!

Please stand up one more time for the future of the Fox River and our communites and attend the upcoming EPA hearing about the Fox River cleanup.

The EPA is holding a public meeting about its proposed changes to the Fox River Cleanup plan. Please plan to attend this meeting and let them know there is no excuse to back down from the original, well-researched clean-up plan. We need to:

· Uphold the original “Record Of Decision”!
· Oppose capping of the river sediments.
· Clean-up; don’t cover up the PCBs in the Fox River. We need a permanent solution, so that our children will not have to deal with this polluted mess.
· Make sure the liable polluters take full responsibility and pay for the clean-up.


Meeting details:
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
7 – 9 p.m. at the Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.


Background:

The Fox River is polluted with more than 700,000 pounds of PCBs – cancer-causing chemicals highly toxic to both people and wildlife. PCBs were dumped by the paper mills and have accumulated at the bottom of the river. The toxins are taken up by smaller organisms and accumulate as they are eaten by fish and move up the food chain; exposing animals like the bald eagle and humans if they consume the fish. PCBs have also been linked to immune deficiencies, IQ loss, and learning difficulties.

Fox Valley environmentalists fought for a clean up plan that protects human health and the environment. After years of research, public hearings and extensive evaluations, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, determined the best remedy was to remove the PCBs by dredging. Science shows the way to return the Fox River to a system that fully protects human health and the environment is to REMOVE the toxic PCBs from the river. A Record of Decision (ROD) and plan to carry out the clean up was agreed to and signed.

BACKPEDALING-Clean Up is Re-Opened for Debate: Despite the evidence and agreement; DNR is reopening the ROD solely for financial reasons. Clean up costs exceeded estimates by 50% allowing the responsible parties to reopen the agreement. Now polluters want to backpedal and are proposing a cheaper dangerous alternative. In stead of removing the PCBs they intend to cover them up by capping. Capping means leaving toxins at the bottom of a dynamic river system for future generations to deal with; covering-up rather than cleaning up the mess they made. To learn more visit http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/foxriver/index.html

Local Groups Send Candidates One Message: "Our Land, Our Water, Our Future--Be Our Voice"

Green Bay—Today and tomorrow, in 6 locations across the state, representatives of over 50 groups from across the state, ranging from businesses, sporting clubs, and non-profit organizations, will join together to remind candidates running for office not to forget their hometown conservation priorities if they successfully make it to the Capitol after Tuesday’s elections. The groups are united around three pressing conservation issues, but have one single message for candidates to remember in Madison: Be Our Voice.

Over the last two months, groups have been mobilizing their members and supporters around three issues that impact their health, livelihoods, and hobbies, including improving the rules that manage manure on large, factory-style farms; finding solutions to reduce out-of-state waste; and creating protections for the Great Lakes waters.

This undertaking not only aims to educate the public, it also aims to educate candidates running for office. Already, the groups have delivered hundreds of public comments to candidates; today, they want to remind candidates one last time to remember their priorities, and to remind other Wisconsinites to take their conservation values to the voting booth.

“We are here today to ask candidates to Be Our Voice in Madison,” said Larry Freitag of the Sheboygan Area Great Lakes Sports Fishermen. “For so many of us, living in Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties means being able to enjoy the lakes, rivers, and land all around us. We can’t afford to sit by while they are threatened by manure runoff, diversions, and landfill toxins. Our candidates need to be strong advocates for protecting these natural resources so we can continue to enjoy the quality of life they provide.”

Kent Mayfield, a member of Grassroots Wisconsin out of Dodgeville, said, “Too often during elections, candidates tell you what you want to hear but forget what they said when they get into office. Today, our message to them is loud and clear: Protect our land, our water, and our future. Be our voice.”

Hunters and anglers, hikers and bikers, and others who value Wisconsin’s natural resources have seen attacks on natural resource protections in the last several years, like the Dirty Air Bill. The groups are calling on candidates from all political parties to protect natural resources.

According to Marc Schultz, Mississippi River conservationist, “Clean water, clean air, and open spaces are concerns that cross all party lines. All of us drink the water and breathe the air, and we all worry about pollution making our children sick. A well-managed landscape is important, and we need all of our decision-makers to make this a priority.”

“It’s clear to me that spending time enjoying the outdoors is no longer enough,” said Don Camplin, President of the Waukesha County Conservation Alliance. “I need to make sure my legislators take my love of Wisconsin’s natural resources to Madison. I plan to vote my conservation values on Tuesday, and I expect whoever wins to represent those values in the state legislature.”

For More Information: Jessica Garrels, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters Institute, 920-429-9008