The Defender

If you are feeling afraid to click on news stories every time a decision gets handed down by the US Supreme Court, you're not alone. But some recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions are bringing much-needed good news in the fight to protect our environment.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Evan Feinauer, Clean Wisconsin attorney

Resources for You:

Episode 29: Trump's threat to safe water (and how WI can fight back)

Episode 24: What Trump 2.0 means for our environment

Episode 20: Supreme Court power grab

Northern Wisconsin is home to Lake Superior, to beautiful streams and wetlands, to thousands of acres of mesic forests--and to a 72-year-old oil pipeline called Line 5. Now the foreign oil company, Enbridge, that owns and operates the line is pushing to blast and trench its way across northern Wisconsin to build a reroute. Amy gets the latest on legal action to stop it.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests: Clean Wisconsin attorneys Brett Korte and Evan Feinauer

Resources for You:

Information on Line 5

What Line 5 means for me (video)

Clean Wisconsin News: Sign up for Line 5 updates and more

Milwaukee is at the center of what the federal government calls an "Area of Concern." A place where so much toxic water pollution and environmental degradation have happened over the course of more than a century, that it needs special attention and funding to get cleaned up.

But how do you confront and begin to heal the collective harms of legacy pollution? Of decades of injustice that is still happening? Amy talks with Shalina S. Ali about how that process can start with art, with creativity, with channeling the mixture of emotions—the joy and pain—that comes with working toward change.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Shalina S. Ali, Co-Executive Director, TRUE Skool

Resources for You:

Area of Concern Community Advisory Commiteee

TRUE Skool Summer Park Jam

Peace Park & Garden Mural Unveiling

The Big Beautiful Budget will have some ugly consequences. In this episode, why the fallout from Trump's budget will include bigger bills, toxic emissions, and yep - more risk of blackouts.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Ciaran Gallagher, PhD, Energy & Air Manager, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Join Clean Wiscosin's Action Network

Have you ever wondered what it's like to stand next to a wind turbine? You're about to find out. In this epsiode, Amy meets 2nd generation Wisconsin farmer Jerry Cigelske at his Columbia County farm to talk about about why cows, grass and windmills have been the key to keeping his family on the land.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Jerry Cigelske, Columbia County farmer

Resources for You:

Wisconsin-grown clean energy

Showing up for Wind in Wisconsin

Cows in the Woods: What it takes to create a silvopasture

If you are a regular listener, you have heard of neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins used on food crops all over the state and country. And it turns out, neonics are hurting a lot more than pollinators - like fish, birds, small mammals and potentially people.

On this episode, what we know about the impacts of neonic pesticides on our bodies and how to limit exposure.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Kayla Rinderknecht, Population Health Fellow, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Episode 43: The hidden pesticides that could be lurking in your pollinator garden

Episode 33: Wisconsin's bees are acting weird. Here's why.

Neonicotinoids and their Impact

Episode 23 Neurotixins on Our Plates

Neonicotinoids and Human Health

You never know when a life-changing moment is going to come. For Sarah Savage, owner of Tend Native Plants, it came when she picked up a book about pollinators. Amy meets Sarah at her small plant nursery in Blue Mounds, Wis., to talk about the hidden pesticides that could be lurking in our gardens and how to make sure the flowers we buy are truly pollinator-friendly.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Sarah Savage, Tend Native Plants

Resources for You:

Tend Native Plants

Episode 33: Wisconsin's bees are acting weird. Here's why.

Neonicotinoids and their Impact

Episode 23 Neurotixins on Our Plates

Neonicotinoids and Human Health

Expert Speakers Series: Wisconsin Neonic Forum

What's it going to take to make clean energy Wisconsin's new normal? It helps to have a bunch of fresh-faced new college graduates ready to take on the world. UW Platteville has a 100% placement rate for graduates in Sustainability and Renewable Energy Systems. Hear from Renee Stram who just got her diploma--and a job--about her optimistic take on fighting climate change.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Renne Stram, UW Platteville graduate

Resources for You:

UW Platteville Sustainability & Clean Energy Systems program

Supporting Solar in Wisconsin

Stop Wasting our Wind

Local environmental impacts of solar in Wisconsin

Defender Episode 4: Solar vs Corn for Ethanol--which land use produces the most energy?

It's not easy to locate and document Wisconsin's endangered species, but luckily Ernie and Betty White are on the case! They are two of Wisconsin's specially-trained conservation dogs, and they could be the secret to finding some of our state's most threated species.

Amy Barrilleaux

Laura Holder, Owner, Conservation Dogs Collective

Betty White, Ernie, and Boxie

Conservation Dogs Collective

Episode 33: Wisconsin's bees are acting weird. Here's why.

Episode 11: Wisconsin's Vanishing Bee

Many farmers are choosing to integrate solar panels into their fields. Now a new analysis shows that decision can impact a lot more than energy costs and the climate. Putting solar panels on conventional farmland can actually change the environment where those panels are located--for the better.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Dr. Paul Mathewson, Clean WIsconsin

Resouces for You:

Integrating solar into conventional farmland can restore soil health, provide habitat for native pollinators and improve water quality by reducing sediment and fertilizer runoff into nearby waterways.

According to Clean Wisconsin's Solar Farm Impact Analysis:

• Solar farms that replace conventional row crops like corn and soybeans reduce sediment and phosphorus pollution runoff into nearby lakes, rivers and streams by 75-95%.
• When deep-rooted, perennial vegetation is planted among the panels, solar farms can increase soil carbon sequestration by 65%, and improve overall soil health.
• Planting perennial vegetation among the panels also improves wildlife habitat compared to existing cropland, including a 300% improvement in habitat quality for pollinators, which are in steep decline.
• Solar farms produce 100 times more net energy per acre than corn grown for ethanol and are a far more efficient use of land. To meet net-zero carbon emissions, Wisconsin only needs about 200,000 acres of land for solar, or about 15% of the 1.5 million acres of land currently devoted to ethanol production in our state.

More to Explore:

Analysis: Solar farms produce 100 times more energy than corn grown for ethanol