From Sustainable Eau Claire’s EcoTeam page:
EcoTeams are designed to help people make voluntary changes in the way they interact with the environment. If you’re like many people, you have a vague idea of what you should be doing to reduce your environmental footprint, but you don’t know where to begin. The EcoTeam resources will assist you in translating your desire to do the right thing into a program of environmental action that will make a difference.
From a story on WQOW-TV, Eau Claire:
Menomonie (WQOW) — Just as Cash for Clunkers comes to an end, we learn about a new government program: Cash for Appliances.
That program will provide customers with rebates to get rid of an old appliance in exchange for buying a newer, more energy-efficient one. The funds will be distributed through Focus on Energy. The owner of Denny’s Appliance in Menomonie says she’s excited about the program.
Deb Rogge says, “What it’s going to do is it’s going to help you reduce your energy bill. When you look at how much electricity something is using and you start updating the appliances and light bulbs and things like that in your home, that’s just that much less energy that you’re going to use, so it’s going to put some money in your pocketbook.”
Focus on energy says Wisconsin will receive more than $5 million for the program. That money will be released after the government reviews the state’s application. Focus on Energy expects the program to begin anytime between October 15th and the end of November. The amount customers can expect per rebate hasn’t been ironed out.
From an article by Giles Morris in The Daily News (Rhinelander):
As Governor Jim Doyle continues his northern tour, he is promoting a policy agenda that will serve as his legacy when he leaves office next year.
One of the most ambitious pieces of legislation Doyle is pushing for is a law that would create a new renewable energy benchmark for the state.
On Monday, Eric Callisto, chairperson of the Public Service Commission (PSC), spoke about how the new goals would change the way the state looks at its energy policy.
“The governor is not running for re-election and as he announced that he talked about some of the priorities for the state going forward,” Callisto said. “Among those are environmental protection and sustainable energy.”
Callisto, who heads the agency charged with overseeing the state’s energy utilities, said the governor’s energy plan involves a three-pronged approach consisting of strengthening the state’s standards for renewable energy consumption, expanding the state’s market share of clean energy production and ramping up clean energy research programs throughout the UW system.
The first piece of legislation that could emerge from the governor’s energy platform could reach the Legislature this fall. The bill — which would likely come through Sen. Mark Miller’s committee on the environment and Rep. Spencer Black’s natural resources committee — would entail a modification of the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS).
The current RPS requires that the state’s utility companies produce 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2015. Under the revamped bill, the deadline for the 10 percent renewable mark would be moved up to 2013 and two new benchmarks would be added to create a “25 by 25” agenda — 25 percent renewable by 2025 with at least 10 percent produced in Wisconsin.
“I think it’s a realistic goal,” Callisto said. “It’s a goal in which Wisconsin utilities, businesses and rate payers are all going to have to play a major role.”
From an article by Heidi Clausen in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram:
TURTLE LAKE – Mike Brenna wants to bring people back to farms.
That’s the main reason he has agreed to host Soupstock III on Saturday, Sept. 19, at his 50-acre Little Footprint Farm.
Brenna hopes at least 500 people will turn out to learn more about sustainable agriculture and ways they can support local growers and artisans.
“We want to get the public coming to farms and getting connected to farmers and making us part of the community again,” he said.
Brenna’s Polk County farm has been a hub of activity in recent weeks. In-between weeding and harvesting, he and his crew rush to finish a new building that will be the heart of the farm’s outreach activities.
Soupstock III will be the first event there, said Brenna, a founding member of the Northwest Wisconsin Food Network.
The first two Soupstocks, hosted by Hunt Hill Audubon Sanctuary and Nature Center near Sarona, each drew 250 to 300 people.
“We really wanted to get it back on a farm,” Brenna said.
Soupstock is a collaboration of the Northwest Wisconsin Regional Food Network, the Farm to Community Alliance and Hunt Hill.
The fall festival’s purpose is to educate people about local food, art and music and foster an interest in sustainability.
From an article on Wisconsin Ag Connection:
Several groups are joining forces to hold a homegrown renewable energy bus tour around Northern Wisconsin next month. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Office of Energy Independence, Wisconsin Farmers Union, [RENEW Wisconsin], and other partners are sponsoring the daylong tour on September 8.
Organizers say stops will be made at four locations where exciting developments in renewable energy production are being made.
The tour includes visits at Cadott School District, where the district uses buses that run on natural gas and and has examples of electric and alternative fuel vehicles; Five Star Dairy near Elk Mound, uses a manure to energy digester system to generate electricity; Barron High School, which produced wood chips, instead of fossil fuels, to provide heat for the school; and Bioenergy Crop Research Site, where attendees can meet the people behind the cutting edge research into bioenergy crops.
The stops on the tour coincide with each policy item of the Homegrown Renewable Energy Campaign. All four policies will come before the state legislature this fall.
Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Cadott Junior/Senior High School. The tour will conclude at approximately 5 p.m. Lunch and snacks will be provided and the cost of the tour is $10.
For more information or to sign-up, call 715-723-5561.