The Badger Herald: News: WISPIRG, state colleges lobby for lower emissions

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WISPIRG, state colleges lobby for lower emissions

Seven schools work to lower greenhouse gases in Wisconsin

ANWAR RAGEP/Herald photo

The Madison chapter of WISPIRG held a brainstorming session in preparation for lobbying efforts to take place in conjunction with six other schools in Wisconsin.

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Also by Matt Weingarten:

UW eases up on parking tickets (March 24, 2009)
Identity scams challenge DoIT (March 12, 2009)
WISPIRG, state colleges lobby for lower emissions (March 8, 2009)
Rising population a big concern (February 25, 2009)
School of Ed begins rebuild (February 20, 2009)

By Matt Weingarten
Sunday, March 8, 2009 10:30 p.m.

3 Vote 0 Votes

Student environmental leaders from campuses around Wisconsin met Saturday at the University of Wisconsin to organize a new student coalition aimed at advocating climate legislation.

Wisconsin Student Climate Coalition, in partnership with Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group’s Big Red Go Green, is forming a coalition of seven schools in an effort to influence the Wisconsin Legislature to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

To generate buzz on campuses statewide, coalition organizers are starting a 10,000 postcard petition in support of their climate change legislation campaign.

If successful, the petition would be one of the largest student petitions on climate change in state history.

UW junior Scott Thompson, coordinator of WISPIRG’s Big Red Go Green effort on campus, said one of his main objectives was to organize a statewide network of students to give individuals a voice at the state level.

“Our coalition consists of UW-Stevens Point, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette, UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse, Northland College and Ripon College,” Thompson said. “More than 80 students are already involved, and we are working at the grassroots level.”

Luke Lockhart, a junior at Ripon College, said there are legislators currently working to draft a climate change bill in the Wisconsin Legislature that follows the recommendations put out by Gov. Jim Doyle’s task force on global warming.

“Our efforts are to ensure that the bill is aggressive and has some teeth to it so that Wisconsin can be a leader in climate change legislation into the next generation,” Lockhart said.

Thompson said opponents of renewable energy fear it will cost the state valuable budget space at a time in which the budget is tight, and that it may also result in more layoffs. However, he added green jobs and economic recovery are not mutually exclusive.

“Seventy-five percent of our state’s energy comes from coal, 100 percent of which we have to import because Wisconsin has no coal resources of its own,” Thompson said. “Biomass is a great renewable option for Wisconsin because it would be creating Wisconsin jobs and using Wisconsin resources.”

The coalition will be using a variety of media types to spread their message via Facebook, a text message campaign, a website forum and a newsletter.

UW-Stevens Point student Katie Kloth, an environmental leader and campus activist, said a recent visit to Power Shift in Washington D.C., a national climate change conference held last weekend, inspired her to start a coalition.

“What I realized was that no one individual can do it on their own, but that we need to educate people to let them know that through a collaborative effort they can change things politically,” Kloth said.

Kloth said WSCC will also rate Wisconsin legislators based on the “conservation scorecard” developed by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, to inform students which legislators are backing the issues that coalition members care about.

3 Comments | Leave a comment

Anonymous | March 9, 2009 6:59 PM | Reply

Scott, your beard is getting out of control.

Anonymous | March 9, 2009 7:30 PM | Reply

Since 1979, satellites measure the temperature over 80% of the globe each day to an accuracy of about 0.1 degree C. They represent the most comprehensive and accurate temperature data we have, bar none.

According to the climate models, the real signature of “CO2 driven greenhouse warming” is not surface temperature but rather temperature in the middle of the troposphere, about 3 miles up. The climate modelers agree that CO2 driven global warming should show its signature in a warming middle troposphere. If global warming is occurring from an increasing greenhouse effect due to CO2 additions by humans, the temperature of the middle troposphere should be warming faster than Earth’s surface.

However, the opposite has been happening. The highly accurate and multiply redundent statellites show negligible heating in the troposhere while the ground based hodge podge of temperature sensors show the surface may have warmed slightly. Either the climate models are in error or natural factors, such as changes in solar activity, are responsible for the slight rise in surface temperatures (approximately 0.6° C, globally) that appears to have occurred over the past century.

Interestingly, in the 7 years leading up to 2009, the temperature of the mid troposphere has actually decreased a bit as surface temperatures have ceased warming. During that time, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have continued to increase, with the rapid development of China, India, and other nations. This should not be happening if CO2 increases to the atmosphere are the primary driver of global warming. The surface temperature should have increased and the troposphere heated up even more!

The hypothesis of Man Made CO2 causing Global Warming is not supported by confirmed data from the real ‘climate model’: That big blue and green marble we call Earth!. All of the political activism in the world won’t change that one iota.

Anonymous | March 10, 2009 10:12 AM | Reply

The hypothesis of Man Made CO2 causing Global Warming is not supported by confirmed data from the real ‘climate model’: That big blue and green marble we call Earth! All of the political activism in the world won’t change that one iota. As such, Wisconsin Student Climate Coalition and Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group are wasting their resources on a political canard.