WUWM: Environmental Reporting

What Milwaukee needs is a task force. That’s what advocates say who want the city and county to jointly come up with climate change solutions. Solutions that also create jobs for people who need them.

Last week, the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously voted to create a climate task force. Tuesday Milwaukee County supervisors mulled over the possibility of joining in the effort during a meeting of the Parks, Energy and Environment Committee.

Rick Steves is known for his PBS travel show and for booking 30,000 people on his European tours each year. And while he claims to be neither environmentalist nor particularly environmentally savvy, Steves is trying to balance his success by reducing the carbon footprint of all of those travelers he leads on holiday.

A group of Wisconsin legislators spent more than five hours Thursday listening to experts, advocates and residents who gathered in Racine. The topic was water quality and how to improve it.

Updated on July 9, 2019  

It looks like Wisconsin's largest landfill is putting off retirement. The owners of Orchard Ridge are asking the Department of Natural Resources to allow them to dig up some 1.3 million cubic yards of contaminated waste and move it elsewhere on the 725-acre property.

It’s the time of year when many people are spending time outdoors. But some worry about encountering mosquitoes or ticks that might be carrying a disease.

So, just how real is the threat? And what can you do to protect yourself from ticks and mosquitoes?

Picture this. You're in a field in central Wisconsin. You're one of hundreds of people squeezing as close as possible to a 16-by-12 foot elevated track as 12 handcrafted shoebox-sized wooden vehicles prepare to compete.

That's exactly what people were doing recently — including yours truly — at the 6th annual Green Mini Demo Derby. The derby is a highlight of the Energy Fair in Custer, Wis.

The International Joint Commission, or IJC, may not be an organization you’ve heard much about, but it’s got an important job. It keeps track of how well the United States and Canada are doing in protecting the Great Lakes.

The IJC was created over a century ago to avoid conflict over all waters shared by the United States and Canada.

Kewaunee County residents will gather at the county fairgrounds Thursday evening to learn from a scientist why so many of their wells have been contaminated.

Mark Borchardt is a USDA microbiologist who's been studying the problem for years. In 2017, more than 60% of randomly selected Kewaunee County wells contained fecal microbes. They can come from humans – through septic systems – or animals.

You may not be a fan of insects, but they're both important and in decline. Just ask interpretive naturalist Kate Redmond.

"If you like birds, that’s what birds eat. And if you like a lot of other small animals, that’s what they eat. And if you like to eat strawberries, it’s insects that pollinate them. It’s a domino,” Redmond says.

Carolyn Weber has been dreaming of opening a hostel in Milwaukee for six years. Now, Cream City Hostel is coming to life in Riverwest. 

Hostels are historically places where young people can sleep cheap and simple. Over the years, they’ve evolved to attract young and old, individuals or families.

The hostel is on the corner of Center and Holton Streets in Riverwest. It's in what was a grand neighborhood bank that Weber says was built in 1920.

We're not talking about Dorothy's ruby slippers or the Wicked Witch of The West. This is a story that started 10 years ago, when a small group of volunteers devoted to conservation in Ozaukee County designed a day of exploration called the Treasures of Oz.

City leaders want to create a buzz around sustainability initiatives that have blossomed in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights neighborhood. There’s even a map encouraging people to tour its sustainable projects, including rooftop solar and stormwater management installations.

When a child tests high for lead, Milwaukee’s health department mobilizes. A nurse begins conferring with the family while an inspector looks for sources of lead in the home.

Thursday during the Public Safety and Health Committee meeting, Alderman Jose Perez said he wants to make sure that those families living in rental properties can’t be evicted by their landlords.

Perez says he and his colleagues have been hearing from concerned Milwaukee residents.