Democracy tour in La Crosse Saturday

 

For nearly eight weeks now, the Wisconsin Tour for Justice and Democracy has been traveling the state. 

We are finding our people and helping to build the unity that we need to build a statewide movement that embraces world peace, social justice, environmental sustainability, and a real democracy. 

We recognize that our next most important step is to make sure that we turn out the vote on April 4th and that we elect a State Supreme Court justice who will fight for justice and democracy. 

We had hoped that our tour would spotlight the candidates and that at each of our eight regional tour stops, they would join us - either in person or electronically - with answers to our questions about justice. Unfortunately, Daniel Kelly did not even respond to our requests for his participation. We couldn't have candidate forums of any kind without at least two candidates.

Therefore, we have proceeded to hold community forums in each of the communities that we are stopping in. 

Join us this week as we talk about many of the aspects of justice with a panel of La Crosse Area activists. This will be a great opportunity to meet others who are committed to a more just and sustainable world and to begin to explore our next steps in building a movement for all of us.

Please share this event on Facebook and also the poster pasted below. 

If you or our group would like to help to make this event even better, please call me at 608-630-3633. Timothy Cordon

Climate Action NOW

"For many years climate communicators were told not to scare people... [but] fear is the energy... & outrage is the machine that metabolises that energy & propels people into action." - Dr. Genevieve Guenther, "The Language of Climate Politics"

[UPDATE: The letter to the editor was published in Wednesday's La Crosse Tribune.] Last week, I submitted a letter to the editor of the La Crosse Tribune about the March 20 release by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of its final 6th conference "synthesis" report. 

It's copied below. We have to pay attention. We have such a short time to change--in our own lives and in our communities. The fun police must step in soon, I think,  since few fellow humans seem to think "root-and-branch transformation" applies to them.

While many are facing fines and prison to protest about rising emissions and lack of urgency in the UK, most of us in the U S  are still dancing and flying around like there's no tomorrow. With all respect to the many dedicated organizers, this year the Earth Fair must be much more about the precarious future we've guaranteed for all creatures on EARTH and much less about having fun at the FAIR. 

When are we going to reduce all emissions and how? Isn't that the most important question right now? Yet, what media program, local news story, or Tribune article is giving this message? What emergency departments or  actions have our city, state, or country set up to deal with this existential threat? What fest or event is willing to change its programming to reduce transportation and energy-generation emissions?  

This has to be a real life thing, not a paper calculation of hypothetical emissions saved by using a bike share to get to the baconfest. Root-and-branch. 

If those who understand the deep and immediate crisis we are facing now don't wake up each day and think, "What can I do today to talk deeply about the crisis and to enable the necessary transformation?" who is going to? 

Climate emergency demands immediate action

On March 20, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the final part of its sixth assessment report. The conclusion? Act now or we lose it all. As Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environmental Program, said last year, “We had our chance to make incremental changes. That time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation … can save us.”

After decades of warnings, we're still not in emergency mode. Our best hope politicians are still permitting more fossil fuel production. The global rich continue jetting around the world. Plastic production and animal agriculture continue to grow.

The media barely mentions the crisis. Non-stop coverage of sports, gossip, and entertainment diverts attention from floods, droughts, collapsing food systems, vanishing sea and land ice, and mass extinctions. Occasional stories about climate refugees are followed by ads for exotic vacations and baconburgers. Let's play! Let's party!

Individual actions seem inadequate, but they add up. Today, we, personally and institutionally, can switch as much travel as possible to walking, biking, and taking the bus; switch to plant-based diets; use less electricity; and support installing solar on every available space. We can push governments to take immediate climate action, as La Crosse is poised to do, and reject climate misinformation. We can vote for candidates who will make those “root-and-branch” transformations.

In an emergency, you don't ask how you can keep doing everything the same, you ask how you can drastically change what you are doing to fix things. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/guardian-ipcc6th

"If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security--food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature, and ocean food chains. And, if the natural world can no longer support the most basic of our needs, then much of the rest of civilization will quickly break down. Please, make no mistake. Climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced."

What's at Stake? March 22

Join Fair Wisconsin and our friends at the 7 Rivers LGBTQ+ Center in La Crosse on March 22nd at 5:00pm for a roundtable discussion on what's at stake in this year's spring election! 

From conversion therapy and reproductive freedom to nondiscrimination protections and fair maps, there's a lot on the ballot this April 4th. 

Drop in for a powerful conversation and meet some incredible advocates and allies in the process! Questions? Reach out to nick@fairwisconsin.com.
 

April 22 Neighbors Day

From Habitat for Humanity:

This FAMILY FRIENDLY volunteer event is a great way to get outside, help others, and make your community a better place. With your help, we will get the homes and yards of hundreds of neighbors ready for the spring! Sign up NOW! Volunteer as an individual, team, or family What: Neighbors Day 2023 When: Saturday, April 22nd from 8 am to 3 pm Where: Check-in at the Myrick Park Center (789 Myrick Park Drive, La Crosse) Additional note: A light breakfast and lunch will be served. All tools will be provided. This year, we will be focusing on the following four main goals: Equity. Neighbors Day 2023 will aid those who are marginalized within society and need your help. Quality of Life. Improving the lives of those who are closest to us. Collaboration. Unifying the La Crosse community to connect with one another and make a difference. Sustainability. All of our efforts go towards the clearing of landfills, betterment of our rivers, and establishing an environmentally friendly path for the future. Through these four objectives and your help, the entire La Crosse community can depend on their neighbors once again. For additional information on how to register, please follow the provided link above. Attach within this email are instructions for registering as an individual or group. Please contact Habitat with any questions. Download Neighbors Day poster here. We look forward to seeing you!

Sign up NOW!

Grassroots Fest

 

March 23 Holocaust Remembrance

 

Holocaust survivor Peter Feigl will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23 in the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Main Theatre as part of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership’s spring lecture series. The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/viterboethics.

Born in Berlin, Germany, Feigl and his parents eventually fled to Vichy France to escape the Nazis. In summer 1942, the Vichy government, in collaboration with the Nazis, began rounding up Jews and deporting them to German concentration camps in Poland. On Aug. 26, 1942, unbeknownst to Feigl, who was in a Quaker summer camp, his parents were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where they were killed within a month of their arrival.

With the help of the Quakers, Feigl was sent to the predominantly Protestant village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Sheltered in the surrounding area were nearly 5,000 people, among whom were 3,500 Jews, including many children. In the village, Feigl was given false identity papers and sent as a boarding student to a high school in Figeac, France. From there, after escaping arrest during a German raid in May 1944, Feigl escaped to neutral Switzerland over barbed wire fences with the help of the Jewish underground.

Feigl immigrated to the U.S. in July 1946, where he served three years in the U.S. Air Force. For 35 years, Feigl pursued a career in international sales of aircraft and related services in the private sector and spent more than five years as a senior negotiator in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Since retiring, Feigl has traveled around the world speaking about his experiences and two diaries he wrote detailing his experiences during the Holocaust. In 1954, Feigl married Leonie Warschauer, and they have two daughters. He is now a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the author of the book, One Man, Two Voices: Peter Feigl’s Diary and Testimony.

More details about Feigl’s story are available at https://www.viterbo.edu/db-reinhart-institute-ethics-leadership/lecture-series.

This presentation is free and open to the public. No tickets are necessary, but seating is limited. This event is being held in conjunction with Viterbo’s annual Teaching the Holocaust Workshop for educators.

Today! What is Ramadan?

 

Looking forward. Sign up to help!

 

Juneteenth will be here sooner than we think. La Crosse has been celebrating Juneteenth for the last several years, and every year, the event gets bigger, broader, and better. Last year, the Juneteenth committee, in addition to setting up great programming and a very smooth-running event, also tackled the issue of plastic and environmental racism. 

They included education about the issue by scheduling  worked with food vendors to find more environmentally friendly foodware. They purchased and used non-plastic utensils. They drastically cut back on sales of plastic bottled beverages, encouraging the use of reusable water bottles and non-plastic drinkware. They worked with many departments and groups to accomplish this admirable feat, including the Park Department, the city's waste management company, and several others. It was not easy, but they did it.

This year, we all have the opportunity to support and participate in this important event which will be held on Sunday, June 18 from noon to 7 p.m. at Riverside Park. If you can volunteer or donate, or if your organization would like to table, please sign up now at the form.

Virtual School Board Candidate Forum

From Weigent-Hogan Neighborhoods Assn:

Join us on Monday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. for a virtual candidate forum with the people running for the La Crosse School Board. Sponsored by the Grandview-Emerson and Weigent-Hogan Neighborhood Associations, this forum will help you learn about the candidates and where they stand on the important issues facing the district.  

Join here.

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If you missed it, the first candidate forum, presented by LIT, Cia Siab, and LWV on March 8, can be viewed here.

Women's Day, Women's Month, Women's Rights

 

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From PPWI: 

Join us this Thursday for the La Crosse stop on the NextGen America & Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI Spring Campus Tour!

Learn what’s at stake and the implications of the April 4th election for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Date and time: Thursday, March 9 at 12 noon

Location: UW-La Crosse Student Union - Room 3310

Looking for other ways to get involved? Join our peer-to-peer postcard program! For the next few weeks, we’re writing postcards to voters across the state. We’ll emphasize the importance of this election and motivate voters who are less likely to vote in spring elections.

Our goal is to send 900 postcards from Western Wisconsin! If you're interested in writing some postcards independently or hosting some friends for a postcard writing party, please complete this form and you'll get info about how to do it!!

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MARCH 21 THROUGH MARCH 31

VOTE ABSENTEE-IN-PERSON

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APRIL 4

Deadline Extended

 

City of La Crosse Equity & Diversity Survey

Your opinion matters!

Survey Deadline Extended to April 1!

You are invited to participate in the City of La Crosse's Equity & Diversity Survey.

Our goal is to learn how we can assist anyone in our city who feels they have been discriminated against for any reason and to build better relationships throughout our community. -The Racial Equity Team, City of La Crosse

SURVEY (English)

SURVEY (HMONG)

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to receive a paper copy or a translated version of this survey, please contact Communications Coordinator Kristen Lueth at 608-789-8696 or luethk@cityoflacrosse.org. Survey closes April 1, 2023.