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

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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

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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

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A Clean Wisconsin analysis shows just two approved data centers in Wisconsin will use more power than all the homes in our state combined. More than the generation capacity of the Point Beach nuclear plant, the single-largest source of power in Wisconsin. And that leaves a lot of people are wondering, where is all this leading us? What will it mean for Wisconsin's precious water resources, our land, our energy bills? And why is it so hard to find out? In this episode, an in-depth conversation on the secrets of data centers.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Michael Greif, Midwest Environmental Advocates

Resources for You:

AI data centers in Wisconsin will use more energy than all homes in state combined

Large Wisconsin data center tax breaks make benefits unclear

MEA Takes Legal Action to Compel City of Racine to Disclose Data Center's Projected Water Use

PSC approves plan to power AI data center with gas plants, bringing 1,200 MW of new, dirty power to southeast Wisconsin

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There is no question we are living through a stressful, often overhwelming time. So if you're feeling hopeless, especially in the face of the climate crisis, no one could blame you. But there is no better place to find hope – than in other people. How you can joing people from all walks of life in Sunday, Sept 28 to take a stand for our climate right here in Wisconsin.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Heather Allen, Policy Director, Elevate

Resources for You:

Wisconsin Climate March Sunday Sept. 28, Madison, Wisconsin

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Yes, there are 150-million reasons to listen to this episode. Because Wisconsin has $150 million dollars in federal funding to help make our homes warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, healthier, more efficient. All the things.

A look at two little-known programs that survived the big Federal cuts and are ready to be used by you.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests: Dylan Crye, Home Energy Rebates Program Manager, Focus on Energy

Joe Pater, Dir. Office of Energy Innovation, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Focus on Energy

Watts Up Wisconsin - Focus on Energy podcast

Home Energy Rebates Help Wisconsinites Save Big

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How much would you pay to swim in a clean lake? How much to take a breath of fresh, clean air? To fish in a pristine stream? You may not ever think about that, but there is somebody who does -- a lot.

On this episode, meet the professor who's working to understand the economic value of a clean environment.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Dan Phaneuf, Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Unversity of Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Clean Wisconsin: Fighting for Clean Water

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The Environmental Protection Agency is quickly getting out of the protection business. And no where is that more clear than its new plan to get rid of the Endangerment Finding, the landmark legal and science determination that climate change hurts people and that the EPA has the responsibility to do something about it.

On this episode a look at why the EPA is now insisting climate pollution won't hurt you, and what walking back the endangerment finding could mean for Wisconsin.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Clean Wisconsin General Counsel Katie Nekola

Resources for You:

Take Action: Tell the EPA not to rescind the Endangerment Finding

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Livestock farmers in Wisconsin are getting excited about solar! MG&E's Tyto solar project is home to about 13,000 solar panels, 30 acres of thriving plants, and a flock of happy sheep.

Amy takes a behind-the-scenes look at the solar energy project where 145 hungry sheep are hard at work this summer.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests: John Armstrong, manager of renewable engineering, Madison Gas and Electric

Beau Stafford, Wiscovery Farms

Resources for You:

Supporting Solar in Wisconsin

Episode 40: Surprising Environmental Impacts of Solar in Wisconsin

Analysis: Solar produces 100 times more energy per acre than corn grown for ethanol

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In the long, never-ending struggle to protect our environment, it can be easy to feel helpless, powerless. Maybe nothing underscores that feeling more than trying to stop a big foreign oil interest from building a pipeline across your state. But there is something you can do to speak out against the Line 5 oil pipeline. And it's fun! Amy looks at the Move People Not Oil campaign.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Jacob Ahrens-Balwit, Strategic Communications Manager, Clean Wisconsin

More Resources for You:

Enbridge Line 5 Blasting Area Photos (Instagram)

Move People Not Oil - Take the pledge and more information

Latest on Line 5

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If you are feeling afraid to click on news stories every time a decision gets handed down by the US Supreme Court, you're not alone. But some recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions are bringing much-needed good news in the fight to protect our environment.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Evan Feinauer, Clean Wisconsin attorney

Resources for You:

Episode 29: Trump's threat to safe water (and how WI can fight back)

Episode 24: What Trump 2.0 means for our environment

Episode 20: Supreme Court power grab

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Northern Wisconsin is home to Lake Superior, to beautiful streams and wetlands, to thousands of acres of mesic forests--and to a 72-year-old oil pipeline called Line 5. Now the foreign oil company, Enbridge, that owns and operates the line is pushing to blast and trench its way across northern Wisconsin to build a reroute. Amy gets the latest on legal action to stop it.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guests: Clean Wisconsin attorneys Brett Korte and Evan Feinauer

Resources for You:

Information on Line 5

What Line 5 means for me (video)

Clean Wisconsin News: Sign up for Line 5 updates and more

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Milwaukee is at the center of what the federal government calls an "Area of Concern." A place where so much toxic water pollution and environmental degradation have happened over the course of more than a century, that it needs special attention and funding to get cleaned up.

But how do you confront and begin to heal the collective harms of legacy pollution? Of decades of injustice that is still happening? Amy talks with Shalina S. Ali about how that process can start with art, with creativity, with channeling the mixture of emotions—the joy and pain—that comes with working toward change.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Shalina S. Ali, Co-Executive Director, TRUE Skool

Resources for You:

Area of Concern Community Advisory Commiteee

TRUE Skool Summer Park Jam

Peace Park & Garden Mural Unveiling

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The Big Beautiful Budget will have some ugly consequences. In this episode, why the fallout from Trump's budget will include bigger bills, toxic emissions, and yep - more risk of blackouts.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

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

Resources for You:

Join Clean Wiscosin's Action Network

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Have you ever wondered what it's like to stand next to a wind turbine? You're about to find out. In this epsiode, Amy meets 2nd generation Wisconsin farmer Jerry Cigelske at his Columbia County farm to talk about about why cows, grass and windmills have been the key to keeping his family on the land.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Jerry Cigelske, Columbia County farmer

Resources for You:

Wisconsin-grown clean energy

Showing up for Wind in Wisconsin

Cows in the Woods: What it takes to create a silvopasture

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If you are a regular listener, you have heard of neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins used on food crops all over the state and country. And it turns out, neonics are hurting a lot more than pollinators - like fish, birds, small mammals and potentially people.

On this episode, what we know about the impacts of neonic pesticides on our bodies and how to limit exposure.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Kayla Rinderknecht, Population Health Fellow, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

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

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

Neonicotinoids and their Impact

Episode 23 Neurotixins on Our Plates

Neonicotinoids and Human Health

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You never know when a life-changing moment is going to come. For Sarah Savage, owner of Tend Native Plants, it came when she picked up a book about pollinators. Amy meets Sarah at her small plant nursery in Blue Mounds, Wis., to talk about the hidden pesticides that could be lurking in our gardens and how to make sure the flowers we buy are truly pollinator-friendly.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Sarah Savage, Tend Native Plants

Resources for You:

Tend Native Plants

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

Neonicotinoids and their Impact

Episode 23 Neurotixins on Our Plates

Neonicotinoids and Human Health

Expert Speakers Series: Wisconsin Neonic Forum

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What's it going to take to make clean energy Wisconsin's new normal? It helps to have a bunch of fresh-faced new college graduates ready to take on the world. UW Platteville has a 100% placement rate for graduates in Sustainability and Renewable Energy Systems. Hear from Renee Stram who just got her diploma--and a job--about her optimistic take on fighting climate change.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Renne Stram, UW Platteville graduate

Resources for You:

UW Platteville Sustainability & Clean Energy Systems program

Supporting Solar in Wisconsin

Stop Wasting our Wind

Local environmental impacts of solar in Wisconsin

Defender Episode 4: Solar vs Corn for Ethanol--which land use produces the most energy?

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Where to Listen:

It's not easy to locate and document Wisconsin's endangered species, but luckily Ernie and Betty White are on the case! They are two of Wisconsin's specially-trained conservation dogs, and they could be the secret to finding some of our state's most threated species.

Host:

Amy Barrilleaux

Guests:

Laura Holder, Owner, Conservation Dogs Collective

Betty White, Ernie, and Boxie

Resources for You:

Conservation Dogs Collective

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

Episode 11: Wisconsin's Vanishing Bee

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Many farmers are choosing to integrate solar panels into their fields. Now a new analysis shows that decision can impact a lot more than energy costs and the climate. Putting solar panels on conventional farmland can actually change the environment where those panels are located--for the better.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Dr. Paul Mathewson, Clean WIsconsin

Resouces for You:

Integrating solar into conventional farmland can restore soil health, provide habitat for native pollinators and improve water quality by reducing sediment and fertilizer runoff into nearby waterways.

According to Clean Wisconsin's Solar Farm Impact Analysis:

• Solar farms that replace conventional row crops like corn and soybeans reduce sediment and phosphorus pollution runoff into nearby lakes, rivers and streams by 75-95%.
• When deep-rooted, perennial vegetation is planted among the panels, solar farms can increase soil carbon sequestration by 65%, and improve overall soil health.
• Planting perennial vegetation among the panels also improves wildlife habitat compared to existing cropland, including a 300% improvement in habitat quality for pollinators, which are in steep decline.
• Solar farms produce 100 times more net energy per acre than corn grown for ethanol and are a far more efficient use of land. To meet net-zero carbon emissions, Wisconsin only needs about 200,000 acres of land for solar, or about 15% of the 1.5 million acres of land currently devoted to ethanol production in our state.

More to Explore:

Analysis: Solar farms produce 100 times more energy than corn grown for ethanol

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