Group Wants Solar Panels on the White House

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, and a group of students in a biodiesel powered van are hoping to convince President Obama to have solar panels installed once again on the White House. President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed in 1979, but they were later removed by President Reagan. McKibben and his crew also have one of the original solar panels once on the roof of the White House and want it to be placed on display on the grounds.

Read the entire article here.

UW-L Kayakers Featured in La Crosse Tribune Article

Jessie Conaway, outdoor programs manager at Three Rivers and a recreational management instructor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and student Elena Bantle were featured in a recent La Crosse Tribune article about La Crosse’s first paddle to work day, an event organized by Three Rivers Outdoors.

Read the entire article

La Crosse Tribune photograph

Will Allen Plans Five-Story Farm in Milwaukee

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online:

The proposed five-story vertical farm - dramatic in shape and with an expansive, sloped glass front to absorb natural light - would be built at Growing Power's existing 2-acre farm at 5500 W. Silver Spring Drive through local and federal donations and grants. A half-dozen existing greenhouses would be preserved as historic structures. The estimated cost is $7 million to $10 million dollars.

It would have 23,000 square feet for classrooms, a demonstration kitchen, offices, staff locker room, retail store, food processing, loading dock and freezers. An additional 15,000 square feet of sloped area, facing Silver Spring Drive, would be devoted to growing vegetables and fish. Fish tanks for perch and tilapia would be trenched into the ground. The building would have a rooftop solar panel, would capture rainwater to be recycled for watering plants, and would transfer heat from the building top to a thermal mass underneath to store for future use.

Read the entire article

Will Allen Picked for TIME Magazine 100

Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was named one of the 100 people who most affect our world in the 2010 TIME Magazine 100: The World's Most Influential People . Read the article in TIME magazine.

David Helbach, Secretary of the State Building Commission and administrator for the Division of State Facilities speaks at UW-L

On Friday, April 24, David Helbach, Secretary of the State Building Commission and administrator for the Division of State Facilities spoke in UW-L's Cartwright Center about state run coal-fired heating plants and other issues relating to WI state owned and operated facilities. You can hear a podcast of his presentation and question and answer period.

Earth Week Events at UW-La Crosse and in La Crosse

Monday, April 19
Composting Teach-in
6:30pm
339 Cartwright
Learn all the dirt about composting!

UW-L Parking Ramp Open Forum
12:00 pm
Port O' Call, Cartwright Center

Segregated University Fee Allocation Committee (SUFAC)
Discussing Green Fund proposals
5:30
326 Cartwright Center

Tuesday, April 20
Dumpster Dive
11-3:00 Hoeschler Clock Tower
People will be dumpster diving for recyclables.

Wednesday, April 21
Neighborhood Clean Up
4:15 p.m.
Meet at the Hoeschler Clock Tower

Bus Route Vote and Green Fund Discussions at Student Senate
Port O' Call, Cartwright Center
TBD

Meteor Shower Night Hike
10:00pm
Meet in Hixon Forest main parking lot at the base of the bluffs

Thursday, April 22
Literacy and Lyrics
Noon-4:00pm
Gazebo by Whitney
Donate books and listen to free local music

Friday, April 23
David Helbach, Secretary of the State Building Commission and administrator for the Division of State Facilities
9:30 a.m.
Port O' Call in Cartwright.
Discussion will include the state heating plant and the costs and benefits of moving off of coal.

Green Rock Fest
7:30pm (show starts) Concordia ballroom
Free music and food! Ages 18+
Featuring: Furlow Riders, Fayme Rochelle & the Waxwings, Hyphon

Saturday, April 23
Earth Fair
11am-5:00pm
Three Rivers Waldorf School

Green Expo
11am-4:00pm in Western Technical College Lunda Center

**Shuttle bus available between these to events

To view community earth month events use the following link:
http://www.greenlacrosse.com/earth-month-2010.asp

Coal Mine Disaster Vigil at UW-La Crosse

Students involved with efforts against the burning of coal at the UW-La Crosse coal-fired heating plant are holding a candle-lit vigil Tuesday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m. in the clearing to the west of the campus heating plant to acknowledge the loss of life at a coal mine explosion Monday afternoon in West Virginia. Massey Energy Corporation owns the Upper Big Branch coal mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston, and is one of two energy companies in a contract to supply coal to a dozen State of Wisconsin coal plants, including the facility at UW-La Crosse.

The UW-La Crosse “No Coal Coalition”, whose members include UW-L Progressives and Environmental Council, is sponsoring the vigil and inviting students, faculty, staff, and community members to attend and support the families of the twelve dead and ten missing coal miners in West Virginia as of early Tuesday morning. The No Coal Coalition demonstrated against Massey Energy Corporation’s destructive mountain-top removal coal mining practice in the Appalachian Mountains at an event on campus February 18, and have called for Governor Jim Doyle to end contracts with the company and Alpha Natural Resources.

Contacts:
Elizabeth Ward, UW-L Student, No Coal Coalition leader
Mobile: (608) 445-4489
Email: ward.eliz@students.uwlax.edu

Jeremy Gragert, UW-L Graduate Student, No Coal Coalition member
Mobile: (612) 220-1970
Email: gragert.jere@students.uwlax.edu