Progressivize the 5th!

 

Taking a break

 Vote on August 9.

Plastic & Elections

Sign up now to screen the award-winning film, The Story of Plastic, any time on Vimeo between now and July 19. Then, join the Coulee Region Sierra Club on Tuesday, July 19 at 7 p.m. on Zoom for a discussion about what we can do to reduce single-use plastic in our community. Annika Mersmann, a founder of Viroqua Plastic Free, will join us and we'll also hear from Brett Nadrich, U.S. Communications Officer for Break Free From Plastic. 

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/CRSCPlasticFilm

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August primaries are notorious for low turnout, but this year's primaries for U.S. Senate (who will run against Ron Johnson this fall?) and Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District - the seat being vacated by Ron Kind, are very important.

Several events are happening to introduce candidates to voters. Please attend. Ask them about climate action, adding justices to the Supreme Court, rights of citizens to bodily autonomy, universal single payer health care, GLBTQ+ rights, and more. Make them give a real answer.

On Monday, July 18, the four candidates for 3rd CD, Rebecca Cooke, Deb McGrath, Dr. Mark Neumann, and Brad Pfaff, will speak at the regular monthly meeting of the La Crosse County Democratic Part starting at 6:30 p.m. For access info, visit https://laxdems.com/

On Tuesday, July 26, you can hear from eight candidates vying for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Ron Johnson. Join at https://bit.ly/senatecandidatetownhall

Honor the Earth tickets on sale

 

Tickets are now on sale for the Honor the Earth Festival which will be in Duluth on Sunday, September 4. 

Honor the Earth is one of the many groups and initiatives (co-)founded by Ojibwe activist and economist, Winona La Duke. 

"Our mission is to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities. Honor the Earth develops these resources by using music, the arts, the media, and Indigenous wisdom to ask people to recognize our joint dependency on the Earth and be a voice for those not heard.

"As a unique national Native initiative, Honor the Earth works to a) raise public awareness and b) raise and direct funds to grassroots Native environmental groups. We are the only Native organization that provides both financial support and organizing support to Native environmental initiatives. This model is based on strategic analysis of what is needed to forge change in Indian country, and it is based deep in our communities, histories, and long-term struggles to protect the earth."

Over the past 29 years, HtE has re-granted more than $2,000,000 to more than 200 Native communities. The annual Honor the Earth festival serves to celebrate accomplishments, plan for coming actions, network, motivate, and raise energy, funds, and resources.

The event will be held at Duluth's Bayfront Festival Park. It will be general admission standing room only. The park is ADA compliant/wheelchair accessible.

Get ready: Plastic Free July

 

Plastic Free July is a global education, awareness, and action initiative to help wake us up to the extraordinary amount of plastic in our lives and environment. 

From plastic single-use water bottles to plastic utensils, shopping bags, food wrappers, and more, it's hard to go a day without using or having to deal with plastic.

But, we are burying the planet in plastic and it is having health, safety, financial, conservation, environmental, and climate consequences. Plastic is toxic across its lifecycle.

Only a small amount of plastic has ever been recycled. Even the recycling process has problems. The small pellets, nurdles, shipped for making recycled goods can  escape into the environment or the oceans. Most plastic  ends up in landfills or incinerators, or loose in the environment, with much, eventually, finding its way to our oceans. Plastic in oceans kills millions of marine animals annually, pollutes habitats, and disrupts food systems. Plastic never goes away, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces of (micro)plastic which are eaten and breathed in by everything. Plastic particles have been found in human blood and placentas of newborn babies.

We can push back. Kudos to the community leaders who produced this year's Juneteenth celebration. They noted the connection between plastic use and the environmental racism that is part of every aspect of the plastics industry, as outlined in this Surfrider article and ongoing plastic problems and effects on the future health and happiness of Black children. The Juneteenth committee worked to reduce or eliminate single use plastic bottles, foodware, and utensils and provided educational materials about it; they worked with the city, food vendors, and the waste management company to explain why and find other solutions; andthey included a speaker specifically focused on environmental racism. 

We all can work toward plastic free in our everyday lives and our community events. It starts with awareness and works through a commitment to change and help others understand what's happening.

We have to pay attention and push back. The plastics industry is part of the petroleum industry. The climate crisis need to stop burning fossil fuels for transportation and heating means the industry must find or create new markets; predictions are that plastic production will ramp up exponentially over the next several decades.

During the month of July we will highlight ways you can change your and our communities' plastic habits. The first step is awareness. Read and share some of these articles. Document how often you encounter or are forced to use single-use plastic and what alternatives you have. Think about the restaurants and events you visit and how you can encourage changes. Gather your resources and prepare to take action. 

Acting on plastic is part of the effort to make a more just, more compassionate and cooperative, more sustainable, and more healthy world. And reducing plastic use is key to the fight to lower carbon emissions and rein in global heating.