In this episode, what the rain and snow are telling about PFAS pollution in the Upper Midwest—plus some information about new PFAS laws in Minnesota that could be a blueprint for Wisconsin.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Alexander Frie, Research and Fellowship Coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant

Resources for you:

Amara's Law regulating PFAS in Products (Minnesota)

Episode 62: What to Know about PFAS in Pesticides

PFAS Contamination in Public and Private Wells in Wisconsin (Health Research Brief)

A circuit court judge is deciding whether permits issued by the state allowing Enbridge to build its Line 5 pipeline reroute in Wisconsin's Northwoods are legal. But in the meantime, he is allowing work on the new Line 5 to continue -- except in a few key places.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Evan Feinauer, Clean Wisconsin Attorney

Resources for You:

Wisconsin: One one of the Most Important Places om Earth (Video)

Stop the Line 5 Oil Pipeline

Amy talks with a researcher who took a deep dive into the water impacts of AI data centers. What she found is something you're not hearing many tech companies talking about.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Hannah Richerson, Water Policy Manager, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Wisconsin was one of the first places where the farm-to-table movement really took root. But now that movement is changing, becoming more urgent in the face of the flooding, droughts, and changing weather patterns that are taking a toll on our food systems.

In this episode, Amy welcomes Madison's 2025 Chef of the Year Evan Danells of Cadre to talk about why these days chefs are adding protecting the planet to the menu.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Chef Evan Danells, Cadre

Resources for You:

2026 Epicurean Evening Menu & Tickets

Right now there are three AI data centers under construction in Wisconsin. So how do you minimize the toll they will take on our environment and our energy bills?

On this episode, a deep dive into data center tariffs at the PSC and what they mean for you.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Clean Wisconsin Attorney Brett Korte

Resources for You:

Petition: Stop Unchecked AI Data Center Devlopment

Related Episodes:

Episode 56: Data Center Secrets

Episode 59: Who's Paying for Data Centers?

Episode 60: Hey tech companies, your gas is showing!

Episode 63: How Caledonia, WI Defeated a Date Center

Episode 67: The Nuclear Option

The science supporting climate change has long been settled, but progress remains painfully slow. Especially here in Wisconsin, where we have laws on the books that are actively helping to keep fossil fuels burning here.

But maybe not for long. In this episode meet one of 15 kids who is suing our state over climate change.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests:

Madeleine Bohn, Wisconsin High School Student

Skylar Harris, Attorney, Midwest Environmental Advocates

On this episode, a look at the fallout from a rapid dismantling of environmental protections, and what groups like Clean Wisconsin and so many others are doing to keep people safe.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Katie Nekola, Clean Wisconsin General Counsel

Resources For You:

Clean Wisconsin Sues EPA Over Repeal Of Climate Protections

What makes the food you eat healthy? Turns out it's a pretty complicated question that goes way beyond the four food groups. In this episode, Amy visits Starry Nights Farm in Burlington to learn about some groundbreaking research—involving beef raised right here in Wisconsin—that's changing the way we look at food and nutrition.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests: Paul Maggio and Marisa Wiewall, Starry Nights Farm

Resources for You:

Nutritional Comparisons Between Grass-Fed Beef and Conventional Grain-Fed Beef

Defining Nutrient Density in Beef

Starry Nights Farm

Defender Episode 57: Wisconsin's Forbidden Fruit

Defender Episode 45: Cows, Tall Grass and Wind Turbines

Communities across Wisconsin are starting to push back when energy utilities come to town with big plans for big gas plants. But how do you turn opposition into victory?

In this episode, Amy talks with the mayor of Superior about the city's long journey to defeat the Nemadji Trail Energy Center—the ugly gas plant with the pretty name.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Mayor Jim Paine, Superior, Wis.

Resources for You:

Under the Lens: The Truth About Natural Gas

There is a lot of new excitement around nuclear energy these days, and no coincidence, it comes as we face staggering energy demands from AI data centers. Now, the Trump Administration is relaxing environmental and safety regulations for new nuclear reactors. In this episode, a look at what would happen to our environment - and our energy bills - if utilities race to meet AI demand by building more nuclear reactors.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Katie Nekola, General Counsel, Clean Wisconsin

In the race to transition to clean, safe energy, there are lessons to be learned just about everywhere, including in Texas.

In this episode, what January's major winter storm is teaching us about our power grid—and the painful lesson we are all going to learn this month about natural gas.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Ciaran Gallagher, PhD, Energy and Air Manager, Clean Wisconsin

On this episode, some real hope that a bipartisan solution for state PFAS funding is at hand -- and the industry that is coming in at the last minute to try to kill it.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Erik Kanter, Government Relations Director, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Clean Wisconsin Action Network

In this episode, how new action from the EPA is undermining one of the most successful environmental laws in US history.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Nick Mailloux, PhD Student, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

Resources for You:

Join Clean Wisconsin's Action Network

Pollution and Our Health: The Environmental Health Initiative

In this episode, how a small Wisconsin community stood up to one of the most powerful companies in the world… and won. And what we can all learn from their fight.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Prescott Balch, Village of Caledonia resident

Resources for You:

Stop Unchecked Data Center Development (petition)

AI Data Center Energy Demand Analysis

AI Data Center Offsite Water Withdrawals

On this episode a look what could be sprayed on food and farm fields all around us - plus a bit of Wisconsin history that offers some hope as we confront a new batch of toxic chemicals.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Sara Walling, Clean Wisconsin Water & Agency Program Director

Resources for You:

Under the Lens: What we know about PFAS in Wisconsin's Water

Nitrate pollution's impact on Wisconsn's health and economy

Neonicotinoid pesticides and their impact

Episode 43: The pesticides that could be lurking in your pollinator garden

Episode 33: Wisconsin's bees are acting weird. Here's why.

Episode 29: Trump's Threat to Safe Water (and how WI can fight back!)

Meet the Wisconsin native who is foraging 100% of his food.

What was the last thing you foraged? Maybe some ramps, or morels? But what about your salt, oil, even toothpaste? On this episode, meet the Wisconsin native who is setting out to prove that he can not only survive for an entire year eating only food he has foraged, but he can also help show the true connection to nature most of us have been missing.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Robin Greenfield, Sustainability Advocate, Ashland Wis. native

Resources for You:

robingreenfield.org

Food Freedom: A Year of Growing and Foraging 100% of My Food

Robin Greenfield YouTube Channel

Defender Episode 57: Wisconsin's Forbidden Fruit

Don't look at the gas plant behind the curtain! If you feel like tech companies and energy utilities are gaslighting you with their assurances that AI data centers won't hurt our environment, you're probably right.

In this episode, how AI is causing a fossil fuel boom in Wisconsin and the lawsuit just filed to try and stop it.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests:

Katie Nekola, General Counsel, Clean Wisconsin

Ciaran Gallagher, Climate & Air Manager, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Petition: Take A Stand Against Unchecked Data Center Development

New Analysis: Data Center Water Consumption Will Be Far Higher Than Tech Companies Claim

Analysis: Two approved AI data centers in Wisconsin will use more energy than all homes in state combined

PSC approves plan to power AI data center with gas plants

You may have heard, Wisconsin needs more power and we need it fast. In the next few years, AI data centers will cause an unprecedented surge in energy demand across our state. There are already large expensive new powerplants being built to help meet that demand with more to come. But the big question is, will Wisconsinites be left shouldering the cost?

In this episode, the shocking energy needs of AI, why our power companies are rolling out the red carpet, and the lasting environmental and economic harms that could be left in the wake.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Tom Content, Citizens Utility Board (CUB)

Resources for You:

Citizens Utility Board Data Centers Page

Petition: Take A Stand Against Unchecked Data Center Development

New Analysis: Data Center Water Consumption Will Be Far Higher Than Tech Companies Claim

Analysis: Two approved AI data centers in Wisconsin will use more energy than all homes in state combined

PSC approves plan to power AI data center with gas plants

What if you could make a difference in the fight to protect our environment by doing nothing at all? In this episode, why fall is the perfect time to be lazy - for the planet.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Elizabeth Braat, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Resources for You:

Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade

Episode 43: The hidden pesticides that could be lurking in your pollinator garden

Neonic Pesticides and their Impact

The amazing story of one Wisconsin food that was banned, burned, disappeared from our plates - and the comeback that's being helped along by solar farms.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Lily Hislop, Savanna Institute

Resources for You:

Black Currants: A once-forbidden fruit

Farming for the Future: Charting a course for a new food system

Black Currant: Ribes Nigrum