WNPJ's May 6 Assembly & Steering committee met at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in southwestern Wisconsin. We encourage you to explore the video recordings and presentations!
Topic: Focus on the Driftless: Energy issues and statewide ramifications A few highlights: - Samantha Laskowski's will tell you how homeowners and others wishing to install renewable energy systems can benefit right away from the Inflation Reduction Act. - Spark Burmaster warns of a new nuclear power plant at the Genoa site and what it means for the area and the entire state. - Rob Danielson provides a cost/benefit analysis of funds spent on energy efficiency vs. energy expansion. - Forest Jahnke explains the geology of the Driftless region and how it is impacted by agricultural projects. ……..and more!
Check out the video recordings of these presentations at these links: https://www.wnpj.org/post/driftless-energy-2023 and https://www.wnpj.org/post/2023-spring-assembly-more-reports ********************************
32nd Annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair!
Fri. June 23rd – Sun. June 25th MREA (7558 Deer Rd. in Custer)
WNPJ has a table at this event on Friday and Saturday, June 23 – 24 from 9 am to 5 pm. To WNPJ member groups: If you’d like to volunteer to sit at the table – and bring some of your group’s tabling materials – let us know. We have a few admission passes for volunteers. info@wnpj.org.
Each year the Energy Fair brings together over 10,000+ attendees to learn about clean energy, connect with others, and take action toward a just transition and sustainable living for all. Hundreds of workshops and exhibitors in the tents from 9 am until 5 pm Friday and Sat, and 9 – 3 pm on Sunday, clean transportation show, live music, kids activities, and much, much more!
This year’s keynote speakers include:
Fri. 4:00 pm Amy Goodman, award winning investigative journalist and host of Democracy Now!;
Sat. 1:00 pm Erik Conway, historian of science and technology and author of The Big Myth: How Business taught Americans to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market; and ...
Sun. 12:00 Noon Triti Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the former President of the National Iranian American Council. For more info and ticket info, visit: https://www.theenergyfair.org/ .
The Sierra Club is also sponsoring a Badger Bus from Madison to the Fair on Sat. June 24th, leaving at 7:00 am and returning at 10:00 pm – for details visit: https://tinyurl.com/MREAbus2023
WNPJ, Building Unity, the Farley Center and Family Farm Defenders will have tables in the exhibition hall. These halls are open from 9 am until 5 pm each day (close at 3 pm on Sunday).
On Friday at 10 am in the Orange tent, John Peck of Family Farm Defenders will hold a workshop on ‘Climate “Smart” to Climate Just Agriculture’
Then on Sat. at 11 am the Farley Center has a workshop in the Orange Tent on ‘Green Burials’.
On Sunday, June 25th, Dena Eakles of Echo Valley Hope will hold a workshop in the Red Tent: 10 am – “Waking the Cooperative Spirit”. Tim Cordon of Building Unity speaks to ‘Building Unity for a Sustainable Future’ in the Pink Tent at 1 pm that Sunday afternoon.
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We want YOU to be on the WNPJ Board!
No matter where you live in Wisconsin, you can sit at the table of the Board of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice! Our monthly meetings are now via zoom, as well as in person.
Do you have ideas on how to move Wisconsin forward in justice and peace issues? We want YOU to help set the direction for the next years of WNPJ. The only requirement is that you are WNPJ member, or contact of a WNPJ Member Group, at the time of the Fall election.
We have 32 years of statewide organizing - creating and maintaining an umbrella organization covering so many different peace and justice groups - environment, labor, prison justice, agriculture justice, anti-nuke work, immigration, democracy, and more!
We now have 75 member groups under our umbrella, as well as individual members - keeping all informed through social media, a weekly e-bulletin and an active website events calendar - showing the intersectionality of all we do!
Here's what Board members do - per our By-laws - :
· The Board shall meet at least quarterly to oversee the operation of the WNPJ.
· The Board shall develop and adopt a budget to carry out the priorities set at the General Assembly meeting.
· It shall set policy and procedures for the operation of the WNPJ, including the assignment of duties deemed necessary to raise funds.
· It shall review the recommendation of the officers in personnel
· issues, and in the hiring and termination of staff, in accordance with those policies and procedures.
· It may initiate and organize statewide actions.
But more than that - we learn together as a Board when we do get the opportunity to gather together in person throughout the state.... whether it is anti-racism training at the Farley Center, viewing an open-pit mine in the Penokees, watching real original corn growing with the Oneida, or talking renewables together at Echo Valley Hope or the MREA Fair in Custer.
Being on the Board is fun, it's educational, it's rewarding - and it makes a difference! Join us.
If you're interested in being on the 2023-2024 WNPJ Board, to be elected at our Fall Assembly, contact info@wnpj.org - and tell us a little about yourself and why you want to be part of this Board.
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Upcoming Events this week for WNPJ groups:
VIRTUAL Tues Jun 13th, 6:30 pm Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity - Virtual Meeting. Please register here: Our topic will be current proposals for reforming shared revenue -- funding that flows from the state to local governments. It is a complicated issue but one that we all need to understand, because these proposals would have an enormous impact on our communities and our efforts to advance racial equity. We will be joined by Philip Rocco, Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, and Dr. Cassandra Bowers, Executive Director of All In Wisconsin. Whatever the status of the legislation is at the time we meet, we'll have suggestions for actions you can take. Sent to WNPJ by Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice - wifaithvoices4justice@gmail.com
VIRTUAL Tues Jun 13th, 7 - 8:15 pm - Native Book Discussion Series: Firekeeper’s Daughter: A Novel - Sinsinawa Mound Center, County Road Z. Throughout 2023, Eric Anglada, Sinsinawa’s Ecological Programming Coordinator, will be leading a Native book discussion via Zoom. This book discussion series is an invitation to deeply engage with wisdom, pain, challenge, tragedy, beauty, history, land and much more through the words of Native women. The fee is $10 for the discussion and registration ends on Monday, June 12. Contact Arrangements at 608-748-4411 or visit our website at https://www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter for more information.
Join Moms Demand Action to celebrate our Wear Orange events, raise awareness, and call for an end to gun violence. Don't forget to wear orange! Wear Orange events around the state:
June 14, 7:00 pm, Statewide Virtual Welcome to Moms Demand Action, details and RSVP here https://act.everytown.org/event/moms-demand-action-event/51017/signup/
July 19, 7:00 pm, Statewide Virtual Bi-Monthly Meeting, details and RSVP here https://act.everytown.org/event/moms-demand-action-event/51179/signup/
SINSINAWA Fri Jun 16th, 9 am - 3 pm No Child Left Inside: Weekly Day camp for kids. Sinsinawa Mound Center, County Road Z. Eric Anglada, Sinsinawa’s Ecological Programming Coordinator, will be leading this weekly day camp. These day-long camps in June and July, open to ages from 7 to 11, will be filled with games, exploration, story-telling, hiking, plant identification and more. Participants should be ready to learn about themselves and nature, get some exercise and have lots of fun. Children should bring their own water bottle, lunch, snack and hat. We will spend the entirety of the day outdoors. Registration ends on the Wednesday prior to each Friday. The fee is $30 per day camp or $120 for all five camp sessions. Contact Arrangements at 608-748-4411 or visit our website at https://www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter for more information. Sinsinawa Mound, the motherhouse for the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, is located in southwest Wisconsin on County Road Z, off Highway 11, about five miles northeast of Dubuque.
EAU CLAIRE Fri Jun 16th, 5 - 6 pm Monthly Peace Stand - Meet at Wisconsin 93 Trunk & Golf Road. The 3rd Friday of each month is Peace Stand time in Eau Claire, going on since 2004. We gather with signs, we visit one another and sometimes we sing. Stand and be counted. Mark Helpsmeet is with Northern Spirit Radio, a member group of WNPJ. Contact for more information: helpsmeet@usa.net
DAY LAKE near COPPER STATE PARK in NORTHERN WI Sat and Sun Jun 17th - 18th. Hike in Northern WI to Protect the Water. Join the Wisconsin Sierra Club June 17-18 in northern Wisconsin to get to know the area that oil pipeline Line 5 threatens to damage. From hiking to sharing meals and talking about what can be done to shut down Line 5, there's much to learn! Several campsites are reserved at Day Lake. Sierra Club is coordinating carpools, where there's enough interest. Sign Up Now!
Spring flooding and erosion has highlighted the risk that Enbridge's Line 5 poses to the Bad River, the watershed, and the region as a whole. A spill would be devastating, and a reroute wouldn't solve any of the issues the pipeline brings with it -- threatening Tribal sovereignty, threatening the climate, and threatening Lake Superior and local waterways. There are lots of activities planned, including: A short training on identifying endangered species put at risk by Line 5; Conversations around how to organize locally against Line 5; a potluck; a pancake breakfast; a hike at Copper Falls State Park. Please RSVP and indicate when you'll be joining the group. Sent to WNPJ by Alex Goetsch. Tar Sands Team Lead. 608-492-1667 | contact@350wisconsin.org
MILWAUKEE Sat Jun 17th, 12 noon to 1 pm Peace Action WI Weekly Stand for Peace. Meet at Fond Du Lac + 35th St - Burleigh. Each week, a different vigil site in Milwaukee. Bring your signs for peace! Questions? Contact Peace Action WI -info@peaceactionwi.org or see https://www.peaceactionwi.org
VIRTUAL Sat Jun 17th 2 pm Mid-June Membership Meeting of the Madison Chapter of DSA - via Zoom. Register here. Contact: Madison Area DSA info@email.actionnetwork.org
MADISON Sat Jun 17th, 1:30 pm 350 WI Screening of "Kiss the Ground" - In Community Room B of the Pinney Branch of the Madison Public Library: 516 Cottage Grove Rd. Hosted by the 350 WI Agriculture Policy and Practices Team. This powerfully hopeful documentary tells the stories of farmers, researchers, and activists who are working tirelessly to show how the ways we grow our food can not only be gentle on the planet, but also repair the harm we have done to it! Regenerative agriculture has the potential to revitalize soil, water, communities, and even the climate.
Come learn what this kind of agriculture looks like, and how YOU can help support the movement, right here in Wisconsin! There will be a Q&A and discussion with members of the Agriculture Policy and Practices Team afterward. (While the event is free, licensing to show the film no longer is. A suggested donation of $10 would be greatly appreciated to help cover the cost.) RSVP to Michael Friend at mjfriend0316@gmail.com to help us anticipate attendance.
WASHINGTON, DC Sun Jun 18th. Poor People's March to Washington and then the Moral Poverty Action Congress - in DC June 19th - 22nd. Join us in our Moral March on Washington DC on the 18th, a once-in-a-generation mass poor people’s and low-wage workers’ assembly. Forward together, not one step back! We are building unity across historic lines of division while fighting the five interlocking injustices of systemic poverty, systemic racism, ecological devastation, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism. Here in Wisconsin, we work with individuals, regional committees, faith communities and other organizations. There is something for everyone who is ready to get involved! Contact us to GET INVOLVED. E-mail wisconsin@poorpeoplescampaign.org To learn more, see the Poor Peoples Campaign website: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/committee/wisconsin/
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If your group would like to get your events posted in the weekly e-bulletin – JOIN US!
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WNPJ member groups can sign up for a Saturday opportunity to TABLE at the Madison Farmers Market – this Spring and summer at the Capitol Square.
The Farmers Market runs through the Fall on Saturdays from 7 am to 1 pm. Sign up for your spot today! Bring your own table and hand-outs to the King Street corner of the Square, next to the VFP #25 table! Questions? Contact info@wnpj.org
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Interested in a yard sign? WNPJ has yard signs available! yardsigns@wnpj.org
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See our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WisNPJ
"Like" us and follow us!
Special thanks to volunteer Kathy Esposito for her volunteer work putting the WNPJ weekly e-bulletin together!
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