The Defender

Beach closures, fish kills, green lakes. They are unfortunate signs of summer in Wisconsin. A big reason: untreated animal waste. Large dairies can produce as much waste as a small city. It's not only hard to deal with, it's dangerous if it gets into our water. Animal manure is one of the biggest sources of water pollution in Wisconsin.

Now, some of Wisconsin's largest dairies are suing the state, trying to limit oversight of the way they handle animal waste. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce quietly filed the lawsuit just before Memorial Day weekend on behalf of the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance, a lobbying group representing a number of large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

In this episode, Amy talks with Clean Wisconsin water and agriculture program director Sara Walling and attorney Evan Feinauer to find out what the lawsuit means for Wisconsin's water resources and public health.

Amy Barrilleaux

Sara Walling, Clean Wisconsin Water & Agriculture Program Director

Evan Feinauer, Clean Wisconsin Attorney

Dangerous lawsuit puts water protections at risk

Clean Wisconsin wins pair of landmark state Supreme Court cases

It's no secret, Wisconsin has been rapidly losing its small family farms, and with them, a way of life that's defined much of our state for more than a century. But there is a lifeline coming.

About 30 miles outside of Lake Geneva, Amy meets Jay Wendt to take a long walk on a farm that's been in his wife's family for decades. These days, the family is joining farmers across Wisconsin who are choosing to lease some of their land for solar.

Host:

Amy Barrilleaux

Jay Wendt, farmer, Dean Kincaid, Inc.

Analysis reveals solar farms produce 100 times more energy per acre than corn ethanol

Wind and solar emerge as cheapest options for powering Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050

Don't believe everything you read on Facebook. Everybody knows that, but somehow misinformation still spreads like wildfire on social media, especially when it comes to climate change and clean energy like wind and solar. A sea of misinformation is getting in the way of badly-needed clean energy projects.

Where are the false claims coming from, and why do people believe them? In this episode, what you can do to battle back – and recognize when disinformation is working on you.

Host:

Amy Barrilleaux

Guest:

Dr. Sedona Chinn, assistant professor of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Background Reading:

Politicization and Polarization in Climate Change News Content, 1985-2017

Wind and solar emerge as cheapest options for powering Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050

Some rural communities in Wisconsin are pushing back against wind & solar, but it doesn't have to be that way. Find out how you can help stop a clean energy backlash.

To reach our climate goals, Wisconsin needs to build one major wind project and three to four large solar farms every year for the next few decades. But a wave of pushback could be coming. Some Wisconsin communities are working to pass ordinances making it harder to build those clean energy projects. It's something happening across our region.

In this episode we talk with Dr. Sarah Mills from the University of Michigan who's been working in rural communities as they respond to the clean energy projects that are cropping up in their backyards.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Dr. Sarah Mills, University of Michigan senior project manager and lecturer

Wisconsin's Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050

Analysis reveals solar farms produce 100 times more energy than ethanol

Modeling shows Koshkonong solar farm will improve the health for nearby waterways

On a hilltop in southern Wisconsin, a small brewery, long famous for its beer, is making headlines for a very different reason. Since last fall, New Glarus Brewing has been capturing more than 330 pounds of carbon dioxide (a bi-product of beer making) every hour of operation and reusing it. Join co-founder and master brewer Dan Carey for a tour.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Dan Carey, co-founder and master brewer, New Glarus Brewing

New Glarus Brewing: Our Story

Supporting Climate-Smart Agriculture

Wisconsin's Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050

We're hearing it more and more: Solar farms in Wisconsin are taking away prime farmland used for food. But it turns out, a million acres of farmland in Wisconsin are already being used energy production by growing corn for ethanol. A quarter of all the corn grown in our state is processed into ethanol. Nationwide, it's 45%.

But which land use produces the most energy per acre, corn or solar? And how much land do we really need for solar in Wisconsin to end our reliance on coal and gas? Hear from Clean Wisconsin Science Program Director Paul Mathewson, Ph.D., about his latest analysis that's been getting a lot of attention.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Dr. Paul Mathewson, Science Program Director, Clean Wisconsin

• Corn Ethanol vs. Solar: A Land Use Comparison
• Wisconsin's Roadmap to Net Zero report
• Modeling shows Koshkonong Solar Energy Center will improve the health of nearby waterways
• Clean Wisconsin Science Program page

Subscribe to State of Change on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to rate our show and give us a review. It helps other people find us.

Help support our podcast and our work to protect Wisconsin's environment at www.cleanwisconsin.org/donate

Six years ago, families in Marinette and Peshtigo, Wis., got the news that would change everything, for them, and eventually the whole state. PFAS from firefighting foam produced for years at nearby Tyco Fire Products had infiltrated groundwater, creeks, streams and drinking water wells across the area. Now University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers say they've linked contamination in Lake Michigan's Green Bay to Tyco.

But it's an issue that goes far beyond Green Bay. PFAS have been found in water bodies and drinking water sources across the state, including Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison, Rhinelander, Marshfield, Manitowoc and Wausau, often near airports and airbases where training with firefighting foam has gone on for decades. While two types of PFAS chemicals called PFOA and PFOS have been phased out in the U.S. and will soon be regulated in drinking water by the EPA, there are thousands more, many of which are still widely used in all kinds of consumer products.

Hear what needs to happen next to get a handle on growing PFAS contamination across Wisconsin and the world.

Guests:

Dr. Christy Remucal, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW-Madison.

Dr. Paul Mathewson, Science Program Director, Clean Wisconsin

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Background Reading

Find out more about PFAS contamination in Wisconsin

Read the latest PFAS Fish Consumption Advisories for Wisconsin

View an interactive map of PFAS contamination sites in Wisconsin

Subscribe to State of Change on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to rate our show and give us a review. It helps other people find us.

Like State of Change? Help support our podcast and our work to protect Wisconsin's environment at www.cleanwisconsin.org/donate

What does the We Energies rate case tell us about how Wisconsin energy companies make money?

Spoiler Alert: It's not by promoting energy efficiency.

We Energies customers across Wisconsin are bracing for higher bills. The company is asking the Public Service Commission to approve a large rate hike, insisting its investment in new solar and wind infrastructure is driving the increase. But We Energies customers are still paying off a $2 billion construction price tag for the company's Oak Creek coal plant completed in 2011, and they'll keep paying long after it's shut down in two years.

The Oak Creek coal plant may be a burden for customers, but it was a windfall for We Energies' shareholders. Experts say that points to a big problem with the way energy utilities in Wisconsin make money.

Hear from Clean Wisconsin attorney Katie Nekola about what has to change – and find out and what other states are doing to bring power to the people in the face of rising bills.

Find out more about Clean Wisconsin's legal work at the Public Service Commission here: https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/our-work/legal-action/

Episode Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Katie Nekola, General Counsel, Clean Wisconsin

How often do we think about the food we eat and its impact on climate?

A new food product called Kernza® perennial grain is part of a major effort to fight climate change by changing what we plant and eat. But can Kernza really find a place on dinner tables – and in cereal bowls –across Wisconsin? In this episode, we sit down to taste a few samples and learn why changing farming systems is key to helping our climate.

Kernza® is the perennial grain crop from an improved intermediate wheatgrass developed by The Land Institute in Kansas. Research partners in the US, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, and abroad continue to improve the grain.

Thank you to our guests: Nicole Tautges, agro-ecologist with the Michael Field Institute; Valentin Picasso, associate professor of agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Scott Laeser, Clean Wisconsin Water Program Director

Host: Amy Barrilleaux, Clean Wisconsin

Background Reading:

Agriculture is responsible for 15% of Wisconsin's total greenhouse gas emissions, and that contribution is growing. Find out how natural climate solutions like perennial agriculture can help – and why they're urgently needed in Wisconsin: cleanwisconsin.org/natural-climate-solutions

Subscribe to State of Change on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to rate our show and give us a review. It helps other people find us.

You can learn more about Clean Wisconsin and our work at www.cleanwisconsin.org.

We first sit down with Ph.D. student Mikhaila Calice from the Department of Life Sciences Communication at UW-Madison who is researching why some people react differently to the phrase climate change, how our political climate has influenced the way we think about it and what we all can do to bring more people into the fight to protect our future. Later in the episode, we hear from Dr. Andrew Lewandowski, a pediatrician in Madison, who has started communicating climate change to his patients and measuring its effectiveness.

• Learn more about climate change and the work Clean Wisconsin is doing to fight it.
• Read Dr. Andrew Lewandowski's study "Patients value climate change counseling provided by their pediatrician: The experience in one Wisconsin pediatric clinic"
• Clean Wisconsin's Climate Change Mini-Report includes different recommendations that can help move Wisconsin forward on addressing climate change while building healthy communities and a healthy economy for all.