It is getting later than you think

 

"Unless global emissions in 2030 are brought  below levels resulting from current policies and from the full implementation of the current NDCs, it will become impossible to get to a pathway that limits global warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot (>50 per cent chance), and strongly increase the challenge of limiting warming to 2°C."

"An AMOC collapse would lead to major cooling and extreme weather in Nordic countries, according to the letter. ...  Collapsing ocean currents are also likely to precipitate climate impacts across the Northern Hemisphere, threatening agriculture in Northwestern Europe, according to the letter."

"But the new research, which is being peer-reviewed and hasn’t yet been published in a journal, uses a state-of-the-art model to estimate when it could collapse, suggesting a shutdown could happen between 2037 and 2064. This research suggests it’s more likely than not to collapse by 2050."

"The effects include a cooling of the northern hemisphere, particularly northwestern Europe. There would also be a shift of the tropical rainfall belt to the south, which is bad because the rains will move away from the rainforests to regions that are not used to so much rainfall. So this will mean droughts in some regions and floods in others.

"Amoc collapse would also have a major impact on the northern Atlantic sea level, which would rise by half a metre or so, in addition to the rise caused by global heating. It would also reduce the CO2 uptake of the ocean because Amoc sinking in the northern Atlantic takes a lot of CO2 down into the deep oceans where it is safely locked away from the atmosphere."

"In their model of the AMOC, London cools by an average of 18°F and Bergen, Norway by 27°F. Sea levels along North America’s east coast would rise significantly, with negative consequences for cities and seaside communities located in that area.'

Hurricane relief & public input

 

From November 1 through 3, The La Crosse County Sheriff's Office is coordinating a hurricane relief donation drive at the Onalaska Omni Center. Drop off donations on Friday, Nov. 1, from 4-9 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 10-6 p.m., or on Sunday, Nov. 3, from 12-6 p.m. Suggestions for donations include non-perishable food items, baby formula, diapers, batteries and flashlights. Share the FB link.

Nominations open

From La Crosse Waking up White:

Nominations Sought for the 2025

Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award 

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award was established in 2009. The purpose of this award is to recognize leadership in and commitment to building community, enhancing diversity, and working for justice. The nomination application and materials should address the following qualities in detail.This award recognizes community members whose leadership include the following:

• Efforts are directed toward creating tangible, permanent and/or systemic positive change in the Greater La Crosse Area
• Efforts are focused on issues of social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, unearned privilege (may include other justice issues that mirror Dr. King’s work, e.g., race-equity, anti-poverty, peace, nonviolence)
• Efforts work to empower and impact next generation
• Efforts include devoting personal energies beyond one’s “paid position”
• Efforts to create positive change in areas outside of the Greater La Crosse area
• Any additional considerations or contributions

The award will be presented at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration on January 20th, 2025.  The featured speaker for the event is Dr. Lerone A. Martin, the faculty director for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, where he is also an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies. His books and scholarship provide critical context for the forces of religion, politics, and race that have shaped the contemporary American political and social landscape.  Martin’s lectures on the intersection of religion and politics in American life have been featured at national conferences, faith communities, as well as leading universities including Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Georgetown. His commentary and writing have been featured on The Today Show, The History Channel, PBS, and CSPAN, as well as in The New York Times, Boston Globe, CNN.com, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently serves as Senior Editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. Martin’s nonfiction book and adapted graphic novel about the adolescence and calling of Martin Luther King, Jr., are both forthcoming from HarperCollins.  For more information about Dr. Lerone A. Martin, visit https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/people/lerone-martin. 

Nominations can be submitted via the Google form below or the attached QR code. To request a paper nomination form or an alternative form of submission, email the selection committee at mlkdaylaxaward@gmail.com. The nomination deadline is Friday, November 8th at 11:59pm. 

Google Form: https://forms.gle/dhoNmHQtADSSRAD8A or scan the QR code below.

Paper nominations can be returned the following ways:

Email: mlkdaylaxaward@gmail.com

Mail: MLK Jr. Selection Committee c/o Margaret's Urban Wear & Cindy B's Beauty Supplies, 1134 Gillette Street, La Crosse, WI 54603 

Fax: MLK Jr. Selection Committee at 608-615-1060

The primary contact for questions and more information is Carolyn Colleen Bostrack at 608-792-2283 or the Adult Award Selection Committee at mlkdaylaxaward@gmail.com. 

For more information about the event, contact Richard L. Kyte at rlkyte@viterbo.edu or Jill Miller at jmmiller@viterbo.edu.

This event will also be livestreamed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/viterboethics.

 Scan to nominate!

Past Awardees: 

Roberta Stevens (2009) 

Thomas Harris (2010)

Andrea Hansen (2011)

Maureen Freedland (2012)

James Parker (2013)

William Coleman & Dempsey Miller III (2014) 

Barbara Stewart (2015)

Nahoua “Tony” Yang (2016) 

John Medinger (2017)

Nathaniel “Nate” Coleman, Jr. (2018) 

Shaundel Spivey (2019)

Tracy Littlejohn (2020)

Amanda Goodenough (2021)

Antoiwana Williams (2022) 

Bridget Todd Robbins  (2023)
Will Van Roosenbeek  (2024)

Halloween Bash Saturday

As if this terrible awful election, genocidal march to firever war, and rolling dire climate predictions aren't enough to scare you out of your skin, there's a Halloween Party this weekend. At least this will benefit a worthy cause.

Rapid Response Election Training

From Leader Ethics:

The November 5th presidential election in Wisconsin is projected to be very close. During politically divided times, there is an increased risk that some may react to the outcome with political violence. 

Join a special two-hour Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust (WisAct) training on October 30 from noon to 2 p.m. that will explore best practices for rapid response and communication. The Carter Center’s Nathan Stock will lay out research on what political violence is and its impact, and talk through several hypothetical scenarios on how we might respond to them if they were to occur in our state.

Register HERE to attend this virtual training.

Vote

Absentee-in-person (AIP) voting begins on Tuesday. 

Many people prefer AIP voting. You can vote when it works best with your schedule. You don't have to worry about possible election day problems like poor health, bad weather, transportation issues, or family emergencies. You can keep your election day free to volunteer at the polls or with last minute Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts. You can help campaigns focus their GOTV time and energy on others (individual's voting activity - not who they vote for - is a public record).

If you are not yet registered or need to change your registration, per the Wisconsin Elections Commission, "You can register to vote online or by mail up to 20 days before the election. If you have a valid State of Wisconsin Driver License or State of Wisconsin ID card issued by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) you can register to vote online at https://MyVote.wi.gov. If you prefer to register in-person you can register in-person in your municipal clerk’s office up until the Friday before the election or at your polling place on Election Day. You must always provide a Proof of Residence document when registering to vote."

When you register, you need to prove you live where you say you live by bringing or showing  a current and valid Wisconsin driver's license, lease, utility bill, or other document as described here: https://elections.wi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/POR%20List%20and%20Info.pdf

When you vote, you need to provide a photo ID, like a driver's license, official state ID, or other approved document as described here: https://bringit.wi.gov/

In the City of La Crosse, there are several absentee-in-person voting location options. The chart below is from the City Clerk's office. Get more details at https://www.cityoflacrosse.org/your-government/departments/city-clerk/elections-and-voting/vote-absentee

La Crosse County voters outside of the City can find more information about their municipality's AIP voting process here: https://lacrossecounty.org/countyclerk/elections/voter-information and all Wisconsin voters can get detailed voting information at https://myvote.wi.gov.

If you have an absentee ballot, be sure to follow instructions about signing and getting a witness' signature and full address on your absentee ballot envelope before returning it. If you need help finding a witness for your ballot, contact the League of Women Voters or Coulee Progressive.

To return your absentee ballot, you can mail it, take it to the Clerk's office, turn it in at an AIP voting location during voting hours, use the ballot drop box outside of city hall before election day, or bring it with you to your polling place on election day. In most cases, you must return your own ballot. Read details of returning an absentee ballot here: https://www.cityoflacrosse.org/your-government/departments/city-clerk/elections-and-voting/vote-absentee

You can take the city bus to City Hall and AIP locations and the MTU is free on November 5, Election Day. If you would like help taking the bus to vote, contact La Crosse Area Transit Advocates.

Vigilantes Inc.

From Our Wisconsin Revolution

Our Wisconsin Revolution will  host a watch party for the "Save Your Vote! Stop MAGA Vigilante Election Fraud Broadcast", on October 23, 2024. Join Greg Palast, Martin Sheen, and Thom Hartmann as featured speakers during this important event!

On October 22nd, we'll pre-tape segments, and on October 23rd, we’ll gather for a powerful live screening of Greg Palast's new documentary, Vigilante’s Inc., which exposes the far-right's attempts to undermine our elections.

If you cannot attend, you can watch Vigilantes, Inc. for free at this link.

This is a critical opportunity to engage with your community and raise awareness about the ongoing fight against voter suppression. Let’s come together to amplify our voices and make a significant impact!

Right-wing groups like True the Vote are recruiting 40,000 “voter fraud hunters” to systematically challenge the eligibility of over 1 million voters across 43 states. These attacks are part of a larger coordinated effort to suppress votes and disenfranchise marginalized communities ahead of the 2024 election. This is a direct thlinkreat to our democracy, and we need to unite and act quickly.

State of the Climate

 

"We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis."

Yet another dire prediction of imminent, existential, unrecoverable disaster has been published by experts. 

As the monster hurricane targets Florida and another unprecedented storm aims for France, as farm fields are alternately burned to a crisp, sucked dry, or flooded, as the U.S. southwest continues it's record-breaking heat cycles, we wander on, business as usual.

We HAVE to stop burning fossil fuels yesterday, yet no one seems to think that imperative applies to them. My well-off old people friends and acquaintances continue jetting or driving around the world for vacations, our supposedly "climate woke" non-profits, from public TV to the Sierra Club, continue to invite global flying, few people take the plea to use less carbon-intense means of local transportation seriously, few incentives or upgrades are being undertaken to help people change their transportation habits.

Kudos to Habitat for Humanity for their efforts to demonstrate that homes can be sealed and insulated rather than torn down. Kudos to Wisconsin Conservation Voters for helping people understand how to take advantage of Biden administration financial incentives to switch from polluting cars and appliances to clean ones.

But also, what is going on with Frack, baby, frack Kamala Harris? Why is Dairyland Power, recipient of a huge grant to "greenify" it's power production, still pushing for a new fossil methane plant in northern Wisconsin? [UPDATE - Dairyland Power has withdrawn its air permit! We may be winning this one.] Why does the school district want us to vote on a huge building plan before their climate action plan is finalized?

We are well beyond the stage where two steps forward, one step back is going to work. We need all steps forward now.

"As pressures increase and the risk of Earth's climate system switching to a catastrophic state rises, more and more scientists have begun to research the possibility of societal collapse."

All steps forward means personal action, including reducing our own carbon emissions AND relentlessly lobbying, at all levels of government and in our community, for quicker, more impactful change. It means voting for  whoever might be convinced you can't have meaningful climate action while you are overseeing record fossil fuel production. It means talking about it relentlessly with friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors, employers, and our community.

We may be cooked, but maybe our children can survive. But not unless we change things. Starting today. Starting right now.

Because

Still here

 

Celebrate Democracy

 

Join Wisconsin Grassroots Network and many others in celebrating our democracy.

Hear dynamic speakers and lively entertainment. 

Be part of a community that believes in democracy and freedom.

Unite with others. It takes a village!

Let's fill Capitol Square with pro-democracy noise!

Indigenous Peoples Day

Connect with friends and neighbors, learn our history, celebrate our present, imagine our future at La Crosse Indigenous Peoples Day, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown La Crosse.

Then, join Zimmerman cousins Sam & Travis as they share how they created their book How the Birds Got Their Songs, a traditional Ojibwe story passed down through the Zimmerman family.

Sam and Travis Zimmerman are descendents of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe. Sam is a Duluth-based artist who explores his heritage through art. His work can be found in the books How the Birds Got Their Songs and Following My Spirit Home: A Collection of Paintings and Stories, and on social media @CraneSuperior. His cousin Travis is the site manager at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post. Together, Sam and Travis are continuing the Anishinaabe tradition of storytelling, sharing stories that were passed to them from their great-grandmother through Travis’s father.

Pearl Street Books will be selling copies of the book after the program.

Poll Workers Needed

Additional poll workers are still needed in the City of La Crosse. Poll workers help make sure people are at the right place to vote, register new voters, ensure voters have appropriate ID and know how the voting process works, and more. Training is provided.  

If you would like to serve as a poll worker, please email the La Crosse City Clerk immediately: elections@cityoflacrosse.org.  

Provide your full legal name, voting address, email, and phone number. You must be a resident of La Crosse county.

Great GROW get-together

Great GROW Get-Together

The Great GROW Get-Together is a family friendly celebration of garden-based learning. 

The event will highlight winning Kids Cooking Challenge and Garden recipes recreated by local chefs for your enjoyment. 

The Mr. Blink Trio will entertain with live music. There will be face painting and carnival style games with prizes. Local author, Nick Nichols will debut his new book the Pollinator Parade. 

The Nature Place staff will have a live Critter Visit. 

You can also help raise funds to support GROW programming by taking part in amazing silent auction and raffles.

Ticket purchases are non-refundable. Purchase your tickets in advance to be entered into a special raffle.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE.