This last Saturday more than 120 high school students, college students, and even a few eighth graders gathered to talk about the climate crisis.
The Office of Energy & Climate Change had the opportunity to join some of our friends and allies to celebrate the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act.
There’s nothing more exhilarating than being in a room where you can feel change happening. I had that experience on May 3 when our office partnered with HVAC industry partners to host almost 100 HVAC contractors for a conversation about air source heat pumps in Dane County.
If you have spoken with me lately, it is likely that I mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) at least four (or seven) times in our conversation. If that was annoying, buckle up because you can expect that I will be talking about the IRA a lot more going forward.
“This is our time. This is our space,” asserted Stephanie Janeth Salgado Altamirano during the opening plenary at the 2022 high school climate conference which was titled Gen Z: Meeting the Challenge of Our Changing Environment.
Anyone who knows me will attest that I am not likely to be sitting quietly in the corner, especially when people are talking about energy and climate issues.
It was an incredible experience to meet with our current and past Climate Champions and celebrate everything they’ve done to make Dane County more sustainable.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then surely it also takes a community to accelerate sustainability and climate action. I saw that in action at the “Sustainability Community Dialogue” in Stoughton.
At a climate protest last week, I saw a sign that said, “Only everyone can save us now.” It’s a powerful reminder that climate action isn’t individual, but instead requires all of us to work together.
On June 22 Dane County Executive Joe Parisi stood with partners from Alliant Energy and SunVest to announce Yahara Solar, a 17 MW solar project that will enable Dane County to achieve a big goal, the goal of getting all of the electricity used in Dane County’s facilities from renewable sources.
Adopting new practices—like riding the bus to work instead of driving—can mean replacing familiar habits with less familiar ones.
Last week I had the privilege of attending the 2021 Sustain Dane Summit. This annual gathering, hosted by Sustain Dane and co-sponsored by the Office of Energy and Climate Change, was a clear call to climate action, providing me and the rest of the attendees with an actionable framework to reduce my carbon footprint and inspiring me to make changes to my everyday life.
The “Glasgow to Dane County: A Youth Climate Summit,” a local climate event in Oregon, Wisconsin was held in parallel to the COP26 proceedings last weekend. This one-day climate summit for local high school students at the Oregon High School showcased more than 50 local high school students, a handful of school green team advisors, and about a dozen volunteers.
