This is so cool!

Four UW-Madison students have developed an interactive, online map to help promote and locate Wisconsin farms and restaurants that serve locally-gown food.

The average American meal travels 1,500 miles to reach your plate for consumption.

Get Uppity! Buy local! 

Update: The map is in beta stage and will get more usable in the coming weeks.

The state wants to spend more than $20 million on an bells-and-whistles interstate interchange in rural western Waukesha County - - as access to an upscale mega-shopping mall that might not be built.

 Details here.

The State of Michigan's pioneering regulations to keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes has been ruled legal.

Now is the time for Wisconsin to do the same.

Details here.

Milwaukee Folks -

And this probably means you since the bulk of the Uppity Wisconsin readers are in Milwaukee -

If you want a better, cleaner, happier Milwaukee, please go read this article about Milwaukee Green Print  in One Wisconsin Now, and find out what you can do to help with the vote. 

A special state legislative study committee that is supposed to write a Wisconsin bill to adopt a Great Lakes management and conservation agreement hasn't met since December.

Though its work has been stalled by business interests in fast-sprawling Waukesha County, where developers want easy access to Lake Michigan water, the committee chair sought another six months from Legislative leaders to draft the Wisconsin bill.

He got three months, and the odds are slim that he can pull it off.

Details, background and consequences for the state here.

               Boosting The Milwaukee Central Park

I think it's a solid idea, and used my monthly shot in the Capital Times to advance it.

Kudos to Ald. Mike D'Amato, the Milwaukee County Conservation Coalition, and others I am sure I'm missing, for making this a priority for the city and the region.

Some years ago, then State Sen. Margaret Farrow, later to become acting Lt. Gov. under Acting Gov. Scott McCallum, suggested collecting tolls to finance the rebuilding of the region's freeways.

Now that people out in her county want a new, $20 million interchange for the proposed upscale Pabst Farms shopping mall, this could be the right time for Farrow & Co. to bring back their tolling idea.

That would make the interchange user-funded, and off the taxpayers back.

Details here.

Want to help stop the diversion of Great Lakes water? Want to make sure communities improve their water conservation?

An International agreement with Canada is undergoing review and the public comment period ends June 8th.

I had posted the other day about the urgency surrounding public comment on the Great Lakes Compact's conservation standard-setting.

     Here is a nice, direct link to join the debate.

     Or go here for an email address - - comments [at] cglg [dot] org

     Just do it before June 8th.

Join us for the 18th annual Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair June 15-17, 2007. The Fair will be held at the ReNew the Earth Institute. The ReNew the Earth Institute is located at 7558 Deer Road in Custer, WI. See the Travel and Accommodations page for mapquest details and other information.

Location(s)

What Causes Job Creation Far From Where Job-Seekers Live

A little while ago, I suggested that people check in with bloggers Rick Esenberg and Paul Soglin as they debate urban issues.

Rick, my colleague and the durable, conservative punching bag on Eric Von's "Backstory" Thursday afternoon drive-time roundtable on AM 1290 in Milwaukee, blogs here.

The liberal Paul, for whom I worked in his first incarnation as Madison Mayor, blogs here.

I tend to stay out of much of the bloggers' back-and-forth: a great deal of it is goofy-talk among journalist wannabees, but the Soglin-Esenberg discussion is worth reading because they both have something to say.