State of Change Clean Wisconsin: your environmental voice since 1970

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
Guest: Dr. Sarah Mills, University of Michigan senior project manager and lecturer
Background Reading:  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
Background Reading:  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
Guest: Dr. Paul Mathewson, Science Program Director, Clean Wisconsin
Background Reading:



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