University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Action Project Issue, April 2019
Greener Future
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“...the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
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Action Project Issue, April 2019 dailycardinal.com/projects/greener-future
LETTER from the editors Paving the way for future generations By Sammy Gibbons and Samantha Nesovanovic MANAGEMENT TEAM
At UW-Madison — located directly between two lakes — it’s difficult to ignore the close relationship the university, its staff and students have with the environment. Last summer’s catastrophic flooding was a wake-up call for many that Madison’s climate is changing, whether we’re ready for it or not. On one April day people broke out their shorts and sandals when temperatures rose to 70 degrees, only to put on their winter parkas again two days later. Local climate phenomenon like this as well as flooding put the climate at the forefront of Madisonians’ minds. The environment also became prominent in local and national politics — with news popping up daily about the proposed Green New Deal and a newly elected Madison
mayor and Wisconsin governor who both prioritized environmental policies in their campaigns. Awareness is growing and conversations are shifting about climate change and the environment, both in classrooms and courtrooms, so we felt it was time to provide readers with further information about the very air we breathe. Climate change has become a political issue, with some people debunking scientists’ claims and others throwing out facts about the warming earth. The research and knowledge of sources within this issue argue for the latter — climate change is real, and change needs to happen. Esteemed scientists, young children and everyone in between have taken into account the wild forecasts and changing faces of politicians and are pushing for changes in order to leave an improved climate behind. We
hope this issue reaches all types of people and answers lingering questions surrounding a topic turned into a political debate point. This Action Project — Greener Future — aims to inform our student body of sustainability measures happening on campus, what climate change education is being taught in classrooms across Wisconsin and how the environment impacts humans’ physical and mental health as well financial stability. As you read our content, whether in print or online, be sure to think about what you can do to minimize your impact on the environment around you and get others to do the same. We’ve got one Madison — we’ve got one planet. Let’s not wait until it’s too late to do something to make sure they’re here to stay for generations to come.
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Action Project Issue, April 2019
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Madison’s environmental injustice revealed during the Great Depression era. Major cities including Imagine being at risk of a Madison were carved out and chemical explosion next to areas were given grades, deter“Low-income neighborhoods your house or being more likemined by how risky it would be are also more likely to have ly to get cancer because of the for the federal government to contaiminated water in place you live. Your neighboroffer local residents assistance. their homes, particularly on hood is toxic, but it’s all you “The use of a property, the Madison’s east side.” can afford. race of a person and kind of For minorities and lowenvironmental conditions conincome individuals in Madison, tributed to essentially whether this is more than likely a reality. “[Environmental hazards] areas and people living in areas A 2016 report by the Center have significant impacts on real were going to receive a mortfor Effective Government estate values, which in turn gage bailout,” Glotzer said. graded states on how many correlate with rents — which is Residential areas with people of color and residents an important reason that peo- declining houses and hazardwho are low-income that live ple with lower incomes often ous industrial facilities creatwithin one mile of dangerous find themselves forced to live ed from zoning policies were chemical facilities compared to in places where they’re at risk redlined, which was a practice white and highthat segregated income people. neighborhoods Wisconsin —usually along received an “F” lines of race grade — the only and class — and state besides denied services Massachusetts to lower ranking to fail. neighborhoods. Early housThis also ing policies meant that those have had lastwho are minoriing effects ties and economion Madison’s cally disadvanenvironmental taged could not landscape, with receive assistance people who are to move to envilow-income and ronmentally safer communities neighborhoods. of color living “Allocation of closer to harmresources that ful facilities. began at the local Children of level became color were found national policy to be twice as that really diclikely to live near tated growth and a hazardous mobility of peochemical facilple at all levels,” ity than white Glotzer said. children. Many The segregaof the state’s tion of neighhigh-risk faciliborhoods left a ties are located lasting influence, in Madison, yet activists conMilwaukee and tinue to fight for Fox River Valley. more equitable Over half zoning policies. of the popula“There’s no tions in areas reason given in the 80thtechnology today 95th percentile that a lot of for hazardous Madison waste waste proximity disposals all have fall below the to be concenpoverty level, trated in one area according to the along Badger Environmental Road,” Glotzer Protection said. “So why is it Agency’s envithat old patterns GRAPHICS BY MAX HOMSTAD /THE DAILY CARDINAL of ronmental jusenvironmentice screening Madison residents of color and low-income people are more likely to live near hazardous waste facilities, wastewater and high levels of traffic. tal hazards are and mapping still being practool EJSCREEN. borhood. The neighborhood is stock which correlate with things for problematic environmental ticed when technology may have Low-income neighbor- one of the most polluted and like lead paint and other indoor exposures,” Cronon said. moved beyond that?” hoods are also more likely to traffic congested areas in the pollution hazards,” said William The inequality in Madison’s Many environmental justice have contaminated water in city because it is adjacent to Cronon, the director of the housing structure goes back to groups, such as the Midwest their homes, particularly on Highway 151 and Highway 51, UW-Madison Center for Culture, city zoning policies and private E nv i r o n m e nt a l Ju st i c e Madison’s east side. according to Touyeng Xiong, a History, and Environment. developer contracts crafted in Organization, are fighting the board member of the Midwest the early 20th century. Municipal city’s inequalities, but Rep. E nv i r o n m e nt a l Ju st i c e governments used the same rules Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, Organization. as developers to divide up cities believes that minority voices “The contaminated water This neighborhood is just into residential, commercial and need to be at the forefront. disproportionately affects one example of environmental industrial areas. “Little room is left for parlow-income residents with inequalities that parallel the These zoning rules, according ticipation by lower-income “ C h i l d r e n o f c o l o r we r e historically underrepresented demographic outline of the to UW-Madison history assistant individuals and people of color found to be twice as identities in the Truax neighcity. Many areas with the most professor Paige Glotzer, creat- when environmental conversal i ke l y t o l i ve n e a r a borhood.” concentrated minority populaed industrial dumping grounds tions and goals are dominated hazardous chemical tions on the Racial Dot Map for hazardous materials such and determined by the white facility than white chilalso have the highest percenas factories and waste dispos- majority,” Stubbs said. “In the dren.” tiles on the EJSCREEN map. This pattern emerges in als, predominantly in poorer and pursuit of a more just and inclu“The city buys the cheapest many cities because rent is minority neighborhoods. sive environmental movement, land they can get, which is next often cheaper in hazardous These local policies became the voices and concerns of marto areas contaminated with environments and more afford- federal laws to provide lending ginalized social groups must be chemicals or pollution,” Xiong able for people with lower support for people’s mortgages elevated and heard.”
By Benita Mathew STAFF WRITER
Some of the contaminants found in city wells include perand polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS. These man-made chemicals are used in firefighting training, which takes place near Truax Field and Dane County Regional Airport. In a well less than a mile from the Truax Airfield, groundwater was tested to have a PFAS level about 569 times higher than is safe for human health. The contaminated water disproportionately affects low-income residents with historically underrepresented identities in the Truax neigh-
said. “Low-income minorities can’t do anything because they just want affordable housing. They are not responsible for causing these problems but are the people most at risk.” Many areas with a large population of low-income residents also have the highest percentiles in traffic proximity and wastewater indicators. “Some environmental variables generally do correlate — not just in Madison but in many other cities as well — with proximity to traffic corridors, which correlate with things like ozone and vehicular air pollution exposure and with age of housing
incomes, according to Cronon.
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Educating students across Wisconsin to become environmentally conscious K-12 students call for climate action, teachers take lessons outside By Jessica Lipaz STATE NEWS EDITOR
Although students’ local environments are different, being a part of the Earth’s ecological system is something that every student shares. No matter where a student attends school — be it northwest or southeast Wisconsin — all students inevitably interact with their surrounding environment every day. More than a week ago, high school students from Milwaukee affiliated with the Alliance for Climate Education met with their legislators to ask for more sustainable policies during Conservation Lobby Day. More than a month ago, K-12 students from across Madison marched to the Capitol in the national Youth Climate Strike. More than a year ago, the Department of Public Instruction updated the required K-12 environmental literacy public school standards for the first time in 20 years to better integrate sustainability lessons holistically throughout the curriculum. Students across the state are taking action toward creating a more sustainable future. “We will not sit idly by while the environment is destroyed by the inaction of our leaders,” Middleton High School senior Max Prestigiacomo said at the Youth Climate Strike rally. “We have the numbers, we have the courage and we have the science all on our side.” While many agree there is more work to be done, Brad Hoge, director of teacher support at the National Center for Science Education, believes students are fighting for more information about their futures to make change. “There’s this really powerful energy right now in the youth movement around the world in terms of students protesting and asking for action from climate change,” Hoge said. “They’re asking about their futures and it’s kind of the first generation that can see their future — it’s going to be different than their current situation.” The Environmental Literacy and Sustainability standards were revised by the DPI in 2018. The new standards have three broad themes — connect, explore and engage — which intend to give teachers a wider platform to expand environmental literacy lessons out of the typical biology setting into subjects like art, history and social studies according to Victoria Rydberg, an environmental education and service learning consultant for the DPI. “This is for all kids and
all teachers, this is for kids who live on pavement and have no grass around them, and this is for kids who live in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest,” Rydberg said. “Environment isn’t away, environment isn’t something that you have to get on a bus and drive to, environment is where we live and learn every day.” Current initiatives to get students outside In attempt to connect students to their local communities, the DPI bonds classrooms with sustainability outreach programs, like the Wisconsin Green Schools Network, to support stewardship projects.
“Environment isn’t away, environment isn’t something that you have to get on a bus and drive to, environment is where we live and learn every day.”
In one of the program’s current projects, students work with a river near their school to improve the trout population, and another group is constructing storm drains to remind the community that anything that goes down the storm drains comes out in the local waterway. “You can’t often make sense of what is happening globally if you do not understand what is happening locally, so starting with that sense of place is important,” Rydberg said. Experts also point to data that shows a correlation between increased student engagement and time spent outside of the classroom.
Taking students to accessible places like their local forest allows them to connect with their own place rather than something most haven’t experienced but is often taught, like the rainforest, according to Sandy Benton, Director of School Services for the WGSN. “When you start saying ‘Okay, it’s time to wrap up, let’s go back in,’ the slow walk of students to line up and get into the building can be a bit anxiety-producing for the teachers who need to stay to a schedule, but it just brings the stress and anxiety level of the students way down,” Benton said. However, teaching outside — and about environmental literacy — can create complications for teachers who have hesitations about teaching outside of the comfort of their classrooms. Teaching teachers whose ideologies doubt climate change Benton explained WGSN partners with teachers to help co-plan lessons in order to decrease stress that arises if teachers are not used to an outside classroom routine. While this helps reduce complications for teachers who are interested in implementing the new standards, it does not address those who avoid teaching environmental lessons because they have not been educated about climate change themselves or their ideologies do not align with the science. Data collected by George Mason University and Yale University’s Center for Climate Communication found 20 percent of Americans actively deny climate change, with another 20 percent who have doubts about the legitimacy — meanwhile, 97 percent of scientists who believe climate change is real and caused by humans. Hoge pointed out that teachers, just like anyone else, can fall into this 40 percent, creating disconnects in the classroom when incorporating environmental education. However, Hoge is hopeful educating teachers themselves about the evidence behind climate change is the way to remove this classroom barrier, rather than
fighting about opinion through debate. “What we do with teachers is try to get them to look at the best evidence that is pretty, pretty incontrovertible, in terms of the only explanation for the evidence would be the human greenhouse effect,” Hoge explained. “As they work through that evidence, or they have their students work through that evidence, that becomes the only possible explanation and it’s obvious how scientists would have come to that consensus.” This fails, however, to address the relationship between students and their parent’s job security. Hoge said teachers must be considerate of students whose parents jobs may be impacted by climate change regulations — no teacher aims to make a student feel concerned about the economic stability of their parent’s job by teaching about fields like coal production, which release toxic emissions like mercury. Looking into the future of sustainability action, mitigation Many experts find the job market is increasing within sustainable businesses, and Hoge believes educating students would decrease anxieties. “There’s businesses that produce dirty energy that would emit mercury, and there’s businesses that wouldn’t emit that because they’re doing renewable energy,” said Gregory Nemet, a professor at the UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. “Right now, there are a lot more jobs in renewable and clean energy than there are in dirty energy.” Experts believe becoming more conscious about our choices will allow us to move toward a more sustainable future, and education is a first step. “We know that we are impacting climate, we know that this is going on, and it will continue as long as we’re putting carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. So now, what do we do about it?” Hoge said. “And that’s where education comes in … people realize that, yes, this is a real problem, but there are solutions and we can do things about this.”
UW System grants ideological freedom, but offers climate evidence By Elea Levin SENIOR STAFF WRITER
While UW System administration has no policy on teaching climate change, classes throughout the system utilize date and reference politics to encourage students to become environmentally-conscious. Climate change and environmentally-conscious living are just a couple of the topics that are increasingly discussed in a variety of settings, ranging from elementary schools to international political conferences. While most colleges that are part of the UW System offer classes in environmental science, different professors and their expertise cover these topics differently. Since climate change has become a highly politicized issue, students in environmental studies classes are often taught that it is a real and present phenomenon — and are provided scientific data to prove this. “Students are free to have own beliefs, but they are expected to learn material presented to them,” UW-Madison professor Jack Williams, who teaches various courses on climate change and geography, said. “There are present lines of evidence that temperatures are rising and that there’s a human causation, but students are free to come up with their own conclusions about how to interpret that material.” When Williams began teaching a climate change course in 2007, he estimated that about 25 percent of the class was skeptical about the
reality of climate change; he believes that number is now around 1 percent. Similarly, UW-Milwaukee professor Mai Phillips, a coordinator for the conservation and environmental science program, said she finds students don’t question if climate change is real or not, but rather are curious about what solutions are most effective for stopping it. “I do teach that climate change is a real and present issue; it is part of my course syllabus,” she said. “In my course, what we try to instill in the students is that individuals can do a lot — and actually that’s where you’ll be most effective.” Due to the scientific data that climate change presents and the worsening state of the environment, the issue can become politicized in courses because of how relevant it is in diplomacy today. “It’s hard to teach about climate change without encouraging your students to take a stance on it,” said Morgan Robinson, a UW-Madison environmental studies program teaching assistant. Because professors are generally fairly free to decide how to run their course, some choose to make the divided politics of climate change debate a focus of the class. For example, in the UW-Madison Climate Change Governance course, students are required to create an “advocacy project” where they select a specific aspect of climate change and design a proposal to
“There are present lines of evidence that temperatures are rising and that there’s a human causation, but students are free to come up with their own conclusions about how to interpret that material.”
GRAPHIC BY CHANNING SMITH AND ERIN JORDAN
help mitigate this issue. “I know that professors are not supposed to take a politically-biased stance, but it’s hard not to when teaching about climate change — it’s clear that many people on one side of the political spectrum do not believe in the issue and some are actively working against efforts to mitigate or even adapt to climate change,” Robinson said. Other professors, however, try to focus more strictly on the scientific causes and data related to climate change. “People come in with different perspectives; the goal in all courses is to present the facts and credible knowledge and then let students go from there in terms of action,” Williams said. “If resources come up [about the topic], I will share them, but it’s not an emphasis of the course.” In addition to professors taking different approaches to environmental studies classes, the UW System schools also have different requirements for their majors. At UW-Madison, a student must complete another major along with the environmental sciences major so that they are able to apply their environmental knowledge to another, more broader area of focus. UW-Milwaukee does not have this same requirement, however students majoring in environmental studies must choose between the conservation and natural resources or the water resources track. An ecological and environmental biology major at UW-Eau Claire is offered, rather than environmental science, although students can complete a minor in the subject. At UW-La Crosse, environmental studies is only available as a minor. While the administration does not take a System-wide stance on climate change, there are many programs and research being done on various campuses about environmental issues. At UW-Madison, climate change and sustainability efforts are not necessarily coordinated at the administrative level. However, there is lab work alongside many grassroots movements surrounding the topic, including the launch of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Institute, Center for Climatic Research, Center for Sustainability and Global Environment,
Williams said. Despite the ongoing research on campus, there is still room for improvement in terms of how environmentally-conscious UW System is as a whole, especially when it comes to educating students who are not necessarily exposed to environmental studies courses.
“It’s hard to teach about climate change without encouraging your students to take a stance on it.”
“I think that a cool way to educate students about environmental issues would be a small environmental education session during floor meetings freshman year hosted by house fellows,” Sofia Weinstein, a UW-Madison freshman and member of Rethink Wisconsin and Free Salad, said. “They should highlight the small ways each individual can reduce their carbon footprint to make the task less daunting.” Though environmental studies professors in the UW System are given relative freedom in terms of how they approach the topic of climate change and sustainability in the classroom, they tend to agree that the System does a good job of promoting environmental consciousness. “In general, UW-Madison as flagship university has a really important role to play in training the next generation of leaders, finding solutions to climate change and sharing with state at large,” Williams said.
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The city on the isthmus must rapidly solve problems related to a variety of climate issues including flooding, an uptick of extreme weather events and substantial land loss.
Madison faces an uncertain future amidst effects of changing climate By Will Husted ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
“We’re going to need more chairs, lots of people tonight,” a volunteer said. The newly renovated room 260 in the Madison Municipal Building was filled with concerned community members on a cold Wisconsin fall evening. The community worry comes following an August storm that dropped as much as 14.33 inches of rain in the Madison area, according to the National Weather Service. “This is a packed room. This is an amazing turnout,” said Keith Reopelle, director for Dane County’s Office of Energy and Climate Change. Reopelle was one of four speakers at the community forum discussing the impacts of climate change in Madison. “One of the things I’m looking for is for the city and county to look for their different departments to work together more cohesively to solve these issues,” one community member said. Not all of Madison’s climate-related concerns could be addressed in the 90-minute session. A few key trends, however, emerged as responsible for a large number of issues the city and its neighboring municipalities will face as climate change intensifies. Wisconsin has warmed by 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950 and is expected to warm by an additional 5 to 12 degrees by the mid-21st century, according to Dan Vimont, director of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. Temperature rise is not the
only consequence of climate change. South-central Wisconsin has also seen an increase of approximately 7 inches of average annual rain since 1950, according to WICCI.
“What happened on the 20th of August is that storms moved really slowly … all summer these storms moved way more slowly than they used to. I find that really daunting. That’s a little scary.” Ken Potter UW-Madison professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering
Combined, increased precipitation and temperatures can create pervasive issues on campus and around the community. Blue-green algae has thrived under these conditions. The algae is toxic and harmful to humans as well as Madison’s lake ecosystems, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The bacteria cluster often resembles splattered, dark green paint both in color and consistency and can shut down public areas out of concern for public health. In 2017, Lake Monona closed
its public beaches 51 times from concern of blue-green algae exposure. This is an increase from their 2005-’17 median closure rate of 37, according to the Clean Lakes Alliance. Tommy Shannon, a student researcher at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, said increased runoff from farms is partially responsible for the rise in algal growth and has been enhanced from the increase in rain. He remembers phone calls the center received over the summer about the harmful algae. “A lot of people are concerned from a public health perspective about what is going on in the lakes,” Shannon said. Madison has also seen an increase of intense, concentrated storms according to Ken Potter, UW-Madison emeritus professor of civil and environmental engineering. While last summer’s floods may have been extreme, Potter said the storms that produced them are consistent with long-term trends researchers like him have observed. “What happened on the 20th of August is that storms moved really slowly … all summer these storms moved way more slowly than they used to,” Potter said. “I find that really daunting. That’s a little scary.” Researchers and other community members are channeling that anxiety into projects that will, if not mitigate some of the region’s forecasted climate change impacts, at least help adapt to their impacts. Realizing the dangers Madison could face in the event
of an another extreme rain event, Potter set out to visualize the region’s intensifying precipitation patterns by turning his numbers into a model community members could connect with. To do this, Potter transposed a “100-year” rain event on to the Madison area. The model depicts many areas underwater after a severe storm, including some campus landmarks. “Think about campus without Picnic Point. It’s not the same,” said Bryn Scriver, Lakeshore Nature Preserve volunteer and outreach director. Scriver works with a group of volunteers, 70 percent of whom are UW-Madison students, to maintain the health of the campus’s 300-acre Lakeshore Nature Preserve.
“We‘re the City of Madison, we’re Dane County, we can do this.” Jeanne Hoffman City of Madison facilities and sustainability manager
The close proximity to the water creates a relationship with nature for many community and campus members. Madison is situated on an isthmus. This means
the city is flanked by two lakes, Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. Monona resident Randy Faasuamalie is one of the volunteers who, like Scriver, works at the Lakeshore Preserve. He spent a Saturday morning in November removing Asian bush honeysuckle, an invasive species, at a clean up event organized by the Preserve. “I go boating on the lake a lot and so I saw an opportunity to give back to the place that I use and recreate. I live on Lake Monona so anything that contributes to these lakes I like to do,” Faasuamalie said. Madison faces an uncertain future given the expected impacts of climate change. Community safety and health is a top priority for many groups in the area. Jon Meiman, state environmental and occupational disease epidemiologist at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, works to keep community members informed and ready for coming change. “One thing we found is that people can’t find everything in one place when they need it … it’s not just what happens in the environment, it’s what happens to the people,” Meiman said. As community members began to file out of the crowded forum, there was a push toward a quiet yet resolute hopefulness from city officials. Jeanne Hoffman, City of Madison facilities and sustainability manager, addressed the crowd and said, “We‘re the City of Madison, we’re Dane County, we can do this.”
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Action Project Issue, April 2019 7 l
Renewed emphasis on sustainable development will benefit Madison view Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opinion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.
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ith the growing predicament of climate change and its associated impacts, which were felt across Madison last summer with extensive, destructive flooding, it is important that leadership within the City of Madison continues to make sustainable development a priority. However, in order to move forward with proactive urban planning and inevitable expansion, the term ‘sustainable development’ must be clear. Integrating sustainability into new construction and retrofitting development is more than just being ecofriendly in the usage of materials: it means ensuring that the blueprint for a city is feasible, incentivizes efficient growth, and works with the surrounding ecology, energy systems and economic landscape. There are many ways to look at sustainable development, from the inclusion of affordable housing so as to curb suburban sprawl, to adjusting city zoning to ensure an equitable allocation of resources. Thus, we are left to consider what sustainable development should mean in Madison. Prioritizing flooding resiliency, environmental justice, preserving habitats and lowering the city’s carbon footprint are all issues for the city to strive towards, and the list doesn’t end there. Stormwater Management Given these realities, Madison must identify the most pressing concerns and implement policies that can achieve the greatest impact. This article will propose feasible actions that the city and UW-Madison alike can take to ensure tangible results that will promote the sustainability of our beautiful city. A fitting place to start is stormwater management, which has gained substantial newsworthiness since last summer’s flooding. With flood damage worth over $154 million in Dane County alone, and only two percent of residents with insured damages, it isn’t controversial that intervention is needed. How such intervention will take form, however, is hotly debated. For example, there has been
a recurrent argument over whether to lower lake levels to ensure more storage space for water before flash flooding takes place. However, this proposition is not appealing to homeowners on Mendota and Monona, and the media landscape has been filled with arguments for and against such an action. Yet, recently elected Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has committed to managing the lakes at a lower level during her time as mayor, as well as a series of other suggestions to make stormwater management more effective in Madison. Her other suggestions include increasing the tree canopy, adjusting stormwater fees, offering rebates for properties that retain water onsite and evaluating whether a realtime sensor program would be effective. While the impact of said policies remain to be seen (if they are actually enacted) it is encouraging to see the new mayor looking toward resolute environmental initiatives.
T h e s e double-use infrastructure systems are stable enough for driving, parking or walking, as well as their intentional purpose as a retention basin for rainwater. Thus, they are maximizing land use, while also experiencing the positive externalities associated with reduced peak water flow in an area that is prone to flooding (like an isthmus!) Density and Transportation Rooftop gardens, like the one that the organization F.H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture has on the Pyle Center, can offer a source of produce for students. While these are not the intended uses, incentives like these may make students and their departments excited and passionate about such projects, furthering interest and dedication to such installations. For many UW students, the prospect of increasing housing is thought of exclusively as a means to mitigate an affordability issue. This perspective is more than valid; with rent around $800 a month for apartments near campus, lower-income students are often forced further away from downtown. In addition to the affordability concerns, however, housing policy has a large effect on a city’s environmental impact. Increasing housing units built across the city will help to alleviate these two issues. Comparing Madison to Lincoln,
Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, (two relatively similar Midwestern cities in terms of size, density and population growth) reveals Madison has higher average rent and longer average commute times. This demonstrates that people are willing to pay more and travel further to live in Madison — or surrounding areas — which is not a bad thing. This means that Madison is an attractive place for people to work and live, but that comes at a cost. The current housing shortage in Madison results in high rent in the city boundaries, which pushes more and more people into suburbs such as Sun Prairie and Fitchburg. Many of these suburbanites still work in Madison, and subsequently face longer car commutes, burning more fossil fuels as they go. Consequently, it is the city’s obligation to increase housing density (with a set aside for affordable units) to mitigate increasing rent and reduce transportation times. Promoting housing investment in areas that are close to hubs of economic activity will have people living closer to their workplaces. Compounding this policy with environmentallyfriendly building standards will create a blueprint of an eco-conscious urban life. Matthew Mitnick — a UW freshman who founded the International City and County Management Association and also ran for District 8 Alder — emphasizes the essential role that affordable set-asides must play to make this framework successful. Without such mandates in place, Mitnick (who also sits on the Joint Campus Area Committee) effectively
argues that developers do not have an incentive to build lowcost housing, enabling a cycle causing “future housing projects to be expensive as well,” hurting students and long-term residents in the process. However, by implementing a mandate in which developers must include a sizeable percentage of affordable u n i t s ,
Madison can encourage economic prosperity and environmental protection while reducing gentrification. A further complementary policy towards increasing sustainably focused housing lies in improving Madison’s public transportation system. The daily rush hour congestion on University and West Johnson may not impact students directly, but it negatively contributes to both emissions and overall civic enjoyment. Increasing development in areas with high job concentration will assuage this problem, but further incentives to limit private automobile commutes will certainly be needed. Although Madison is the second largest urban center in Wisconsin, its population is likely too small to justify an extensive train or subway system. The current bus system is noble, yet wholly inadequate.
Increasing bus frequency, particularly in places near the capitol and the Greenbush neighborhood, will lessen Madisonians’ reliance on cars. However, the most necessary improvement is the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) measure. According to the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board, the BRT is “a frequent, high-capacity, limited-stop transit service that offers improved rider experience on busy travel corridors.” When implemented, the BRT will “shorten commute times around campus and the greater Madison area,” allowing residents to accept jobs across town from where they live (if necessary) without heightening carbon emissions. The BRT should be one of Madison’s primary sustainable goals going forward. Through policies such as this, Madison can exhibit its dedication towards initiatives that prioritize overall civic health. It is this idea — valuing the city experience for all inhabitants — that is the root of sustainable development. With the state of our environment as a growing concern to people of our generation, it is up to the city’s new leadership to demonstrate what 21st century sustainability on a regional level looks like. As a city known for its history of environmentalism, Madison is in a perfect situation to undertake bold policy initiatives to show its commitment to modern sustainability. In doing so, Madison can demonstrate to the rest of the Midwest how cities can successfully operate given contemporary — and future — circumstances.
KATIE SCHEIDT/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Madison must prioritize sustainable development policies in an emerging era of environmentalism.
arts
8 • Action Project Issue, April 2019
dailycardinal.com/projects/greener-future
Unknown Land: UW Art Series By Jennifer jiang STAFF WRITER
SAM JONES/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Sustainable and upcycled works of arts are sold for an afforable price at the Hatch Art House over on Willy Street in Madison.
Sustainable Hatch Art House By Sam Jones ALMANAC EDITOR
As I walked into Hatch, I was taken aback by the magnitude of work in its space: canvases stretched across the walls, ceramic incense holders and mugs were spread across the tables and larger pieces of work lined the floors. It wasn’t overwhelming, however; it was rather comforting. Tammy Schreiter, the owner of Hatch Art House, has always instilled values of affordability, eco-friendly procedures and creativity in her business. “I strive for Hatch to be a vibrant space, full of fun, beautiful and unique hand-crafted items and fine art.” An artist herself with an MFA in painting and an emphasis on multimedia work, Tammy knows what it is like to be a creator in the oftentimes elitist world of art, with expensive materials, politicized gallery selection processes and a lack of profit for artists early in their career. So, she decided to combat that in the most direct way she knew how: “I opened Hatch to have a space where emerging artists would feel comfortable showing their work, as well as customers that wanted to buy art, but perhaps couldn’t afford typical, art-gallery art,” Schreiter said. “We have a very casual, inviting environment here.” Hatch Art House, which opened its doors on the iconic Willy Street in 2010, exclusively displays work from Wisconsin artists. Its showroom exhibits extensive and varying works from upcycled bundt cake tin dolls to
anti-war multimedia paintings incorporating Scrabble pieces. This hodgepodge of mediums and messages may be in part due to Hatch’s emphasis on sustainability and reuse of everyday objects in art. Schreiter said she has seen artists use various eclectic objects in their work, such as discarded computer parts and bird feathers. “The sky is the limit,” she said.
Sustainable art advocates for the split from materialization and wasteful consumer culture and thus found a stable home in the environmentalism movement of the 1960s and ’70s.
Upcycled and sustainable art more broadly isn’t new by any means, having made a splash in mainstream art at the beginning of the 20th century. On the other hand, upcycled art — art that highlights waste and/or already-used objects — was coined as a form of art and lifestyle in 2002 by William McDonough and Michael Braungart and has altered the creative landscape since due to its ingenuity, affordability and social commentary. As our global climate situation becomes direr and the environmentalism movement becomes more and more mainstream, we can expect that these trends won’t die out any time soon.
Much of Hatch’s work is eco-friendly from the reuse of frames to only accepting local art, which minimizes transportation costs and reduces a piece’s emission trail. However, Schreiter wanted to do more. “I thought it would be fun to have a specific art show, where we would invite artists to enter, and they would have to include something that was upcycled,” she said. “Every piece has to be square, between 4-12 inches squared, and they have to include at least one item that is upcycled,” she said. These open-ended submission requirements result in a fun, diverse mix of work, according to Schreiter, which typically comes from around 15 to 30 artists. She emphasized these shows help display the beauty of upcycled items, which differs from the use of recycled items. For example, recycling a bottle may entail crushing it up and turning it back into a glass bowl or another type of item, whereas upcycling that bottle could mean painting it as a vase or using its shards as the highlight of a ceramic piece. Thus, the difference between them is that recycling is hiding its prior form and use, meanwhile upcycling emphasizes the beauty of an item’s versatility and past, bringing attention to consumer culture and the massive amounts of waste we produce. Ultimately, Hatch is more than just a one-stop-shop for your artistic needs. Sustainability is actively incorporated into the core of their mission, and they actively make social commentary on materialism and elitism in art.
Co-founder Alexandra Lakind named her art series “Terra Incognita” because she wanted something that is both abstract and clear. The phrase means “unknown land” in Latin and connects to the complex histories of colonization and land acquisition that many of the artists in the series are grappling with in their work “that explore the relationships between humans and the world they inhabit.” Terra Incognita Art Series, mainly supported by UW-Madison Center for the Humanities; The Holtz Center for Science & Technology Studies; and The Center for Culture, History, and Environment, has brought artists and communities together since 2016. On Saturday, Terra Incognita brought their last visiting artist — bookmaker and designer Aaron Walker — from South Carolina to Madison to participate in the annual festival Print & Resist at Madison Public Library. This free festival provided a space for regional artists, writers, print-makers and advocates to present their works to the Madison community. The idea is that artists should be proud to celebrate themselves, make profits and express opinions at an event accessible to everyone, according to Carlee Latimer, Madison Public Library Bubbler Program assistant. “We have our organizers, volunteers, folks at the library, artists, friends and families. Events like this [are] hard to happen without a community,” Latimer said. The event intended to bring people together through knowledge exchange. Visitors heard stories behind zine-making processes, learned to make buttons and prints as well as engaged in conversations prompted by artists’ transgressive statements. “Not only do we have them connect with other artists on campus, but we made sure that they were connecting with other people who are thinking about similar things in totally different ways, and using totally different methods,” Lakind said. “We wanted to make sure their time here was really meaningful.”
National Geographic Symphony calls for change through music, visuals By Emma Hellmer THEATER COLUMNIST
Climate change is an enormous and real threat to our world and the wildlife that inhabits it. It is becoming increasingly apparent that human actions have largely affected global health in a negative way. The National Geographic’s “A Symphony for Our World” is not only a work of art, but a wake-up call about this issue. The 90-minute symphony highlights the beauty of our world and, through its gorgeous scenic imagery and musical storytelling, demands immediate action. The Overture Center was filled with a varied audience on March 30 when “A Symphony for Our World” blew through. It drew in a range of personas from music fanatics to nature buffs to families.
The five-part symphony composed by Bleeding Fingers Music was performed by a live orchestra and chorus. Projected above the orchestra, National Geographic video clips of wildlife and natural scenery made the musical story come to life. The show was a journey through five of Earth’s biomes: the first movement started in the sea before the second movement moved onto to the shore. The next movement traversed land, and the following feature focused up to mountains. Finally, the fifth movement took to the sky with some high-altitude views. The video clips were all aweinspiring in their own way, ranging from baby pandas, which literally inspired “awes” from nearly
everyone in the crowd, to majestic whales leaping out of the ocean and soaring eagles descending on unsuspecting prey. Glorious sunset shots and never-ending mountain top views were just some of the tastiest treats in this video medley. It was a feast for the eyes and ears. One of my favorite moments was a whimsical tree frog sequence. High trills in the woodwinds portrayed the frog’s happygo-lucky spirit at first, before the music swelled and intensified as the frog made a risky leap between leaves. The moment felt sweet and real, and it was heightened by the spirited orchestra. The show evoked collective feelings of wonder, amazement and inspiration in the crowd.
Interspersed with messages from professional researchers about the urgency of climate change, the visuals drove home the show’s true intended takeaway: we all need to be mindful about what we do and how it is affecting the health of our planet. The symphony took a brief intermission near the tail end of the show, during which the focus turned to endangered species and National Geographic photographer Joel Satore’s inspiring project, The Photo Ark. A video illuminated this project’s origins, goals and motivations. The Photo Ark is Satore’s ongoing photo series that aims to raise awareness and promote activism to save endangered species, which has been growing for 25 years. His
photos capture one endangered species at a time — animal, plant or insect — and emphasize their majestic beauty and individuality by pairing them with simplistic black or white backgrounds. With the intense need for global action concerning climate change and the thousands of endangered species on our Earth that are slowly dying, it was encouraging to see that the symphony was not only a masterful piece of art, but also a display of activism. The National Geographic’s ode to the Earth, “A Symphony for Our World,” is a much-needed call to action that uses art as persuasion. It portrays the raw beauty of our natural world in such a way that anyone, after listening and watching, would feel impelled to protect it.