BSU Reflections of Ebony Feb. 27

We're glad to see Reflections of Ebony is on and online this year! 

​​Reflections of Ebony 

Guest Speakers:

Jason Sole and André Wright of 

Humanize My Hoodie

Saturday, February 27 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Free Virtural Event

Register:  

https://forms.gle/pb5NFDtfETHNHUn39 

Black Youth Leaders Feb. 23

 

Virtual panel discussion with La Crosse's

Black Student Leaders

February 23 at 7 p.m.

A panel discussion with some of the youth who were interviewed for the film "Amplifying The Voices of Black Youth and Their Parents in the La Crosse Area" will participate in a virtual panel discussion hosted by Bridges Church   

You are invited to attend.

You can link to this virtual event by going to Bridges Church  webpage  and clicking  "online activities" at the top of the page. 

Help, Share, Connect!

Tonight at 6 p.m. ONLINE Join Citizen Action of Wisconsin to learn how you can work toward cancelling student debt.

Saturday, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. join OWR at the La Crosse Public Library, share basic supplies with those in need.

Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m., view the film and share the discussion: Amplifying the Voices of Black Youth and their Families in La Crosse

Tournament in La Crosse = Bad

The LaX Tribune selectively prints (or doesn't) letters to the editor on its website. This letter was in the Saturday, Feb. 13 Tribune but isn't showing up in the open online version. It was written in response to the Tribune editorial applauding the La Crosse Center decision to host hundreds of people from around the state for a basketball tournament. How much did that decision prioritize bringing in money for the La Crosse Center over the safety of La Crosse residents' health and lives?

Tournament is BAD Idea

Recent news stories and experts' warnings indicate that inviting hundreds of people from across the state to La Crosse at this time is a very bad idea.

We're in the middle of a deadly pandemic with a highly contagious, mutating virus. The virus thrives by community spread, allowing more opportunities for more, and possibly more contagious or deadly, variants to develop. The vaccine rollout is spotty and relatively slow, and current vaccines may not work well against new variants.

About half a million people in the United States have died from COVID-19. "Super spreader" events, from big motorcycle rallies to smaller gatherings of people from different households, can have grave health and economic outcomes. To stop the spread and mutation of the virus, people should not be traveling, mingling, shopping, eating in restaurants, and staying in hotels.

Even if the La Crosse Center is 100% safe,
HUNDREDS of visitors will be in contact with and potentially spread the virus to people and places where vulnerable local populations must work and buy essential goods. Nodes of potential transmission will increase. Many Wisconsin residents don't take mask-wearing or even the virus seriously. Even in La Crosse, some businesses don't follow mask rules and official enforcement is weak at best.

I'm surprised and disappointed that city political and health leaders have apparently signed off on this. Inviting people here knowing they'll probably help spread a deadly virus is the opposite of good leadership and public health policy, I think.

Cathy Van Maren

Complete the ENERGY SURVEY!

As the city prepares to put together a climate action plan, they are seeking your input.

Complete La Crosse’s Energy Survey

This survey will help planners understand how our community thinks about and uses energy. Please complete the survey before March 5. This survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete.

UPDATE: If you are interested in attending any of the three upcoming 90-minute virtual workshops on energy action planning, please contact Lewis Kuhlman at kuhlmanl@cityoflacrosse.org.

We may be nearing some kind of peace with the coronavirus, but the climate crisis will require much more effort, determination, and change.

A new study on 2015 Paris climate goals concludes that, "the probabilities of meeting their nationally determined contributions for the largest emitters are low, e.g. 2% for the USA and 16% for China. On current trends, the probability of staying below 2°C of warming is only 5%, but if all countries meet their nationally determined contributions and continue to reduce emissions at the same rate after 2030, it rises to 26%. If the USA alone does not meet its nationally determined contribution, it declines to 18%. To have an even chance of staying below 2 °C, the average rate of decline in emissions would need to increase from the 1% per year needed to meet the nationally determined contributions, to 1.8% per year." Or, in short, our targets are waaay too low and we're not even close to meeting them. and even if we do, 2% is too much.

This is a crisis for all of us exacerbated by the worship of money and the power of the wealthy to spread the other big lie, that human-cased global heating is a myth (and that includes the La Crosse Tribune through its favorite climate-denier editorialists).

Completing this survey is one small step you can take to tell local leaders that this is important. There are others. 

• Do your own personal energy use/carbon assessment and make changes as you can. 
• Be a climate hawk at your school or place of work--not just about changing light bulbs, but about changing priorities. For example, tell your employer to quit subsidizing single-occupant commuters with free parking and, instead, provide and reward public transport/carpool/bike-ped options ("parking cash out," which has other community benefits).
• Join or start a divest from fossil fuels effort at your school or church and in our community. 
• Tell Dairyland power we do NOT want a polluting, GHG-emitting fracked-gas-fueled power plant in northern Wisconsin. 
• Tell stores you refuse to buy products swaddled in fossil fuel plastics. 
• Tell the county to not renew its agreement with the  the Xcel Energy trash-burner. 
• Engage in budget advocacy that prioritizes clean and green in ag, transportation, and economic development.
• Make a pledge to pay attention to climate news and strongly support climate solutions in 2021.