Since early 2019, the Fitchburg CWG has urged our Common Council to achieve the goals stated in Fitchburg’s 2019 Clean Energy Resolution. Over the past five years, we have commented at relevant Common Council and commission meetings and testified in support of actions such as fleet upgrades to electric vehicles and the 20MW O’Brien Solar Farm, which provides electricity to the city and various Fitchburg businesses. In December 2023, the city embarked on a process of creating a formal Sustainability Action Plan (SAP), with PaleBlueDot consultants.  Two of our CWG members serve on the SAP team.  Over the next six months, we will develop recommendations about buildings and energy, transportation, agriculture and food, water systems, waste and waste treatment, the workforce, and the clean energy economy.  A proposal will be presented to the Common Council for consideration, amendment, and approval in the summer of 2024.

To join the Fitchburg Community Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST” form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST,  contact Judy Stadler.

The City of Madison published its Sustainability Plan in 2011 and its 100% Renewable Energy report in 2018. It will release its Sustainability Plan Update early in 2024. While the city has moved the needle on many of the goals stated in these plans, much remains to be done, and city leaders have made clear that they need to hear citizens’ voices. Our CWG is interacting with our alders and key city staff, conducting relevant research, and otherwise helping our community reduce GHG emissions and achieve other critical climate goals. Our CWG is also working to help the Madison Metropolitan School District and UW–Madison reduce energy emissions. If you live in Madison, we need your voice. 

To join the Madison Community Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST” form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST, contact Susan Millar.

Our CWG strives to help the city and the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD) follow their existing climate resolutions/policies and meet their specific climate objectives concerning renewable energy and elimination of greenhouse gas emissions. To do this we:

• Recruit climate champions for elected city positions and the MCPASD school board;
• Participate in some city/MCPASD community committees;
• Educate/meet with city and school officials/employees;
• Monitor city and MCPASD board meeting agendas for acquisition items and issues of climate significance and synergy, providing written or verbal input when appropriate;
• Look for successful climate policies/initiatives in other municipalities that might have an application in Middleton; and
• Praise city and MCPASD officials when positive or self-initiated actions are taken and objectives are met.

If you live in Middleton, we need your voice. 

To join the Middleton Community Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST“ form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST, contact Kevin Spitler.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) Community Working Group (CWG) has engaged in ongoing discussions about whether or how to reorganize and expand the group into a statewide “educators’ and students’ working group.” In addition, we help recruit UW and other students to join the other CCST Community Working Groups and 350 teams around related climate issues.

Members of the UW CWG have also focused over the last year on engaging with new sustainability staff in the UW System, especially with the monthly “academics and sustainability working group.” A third monthly group is also being created, as the UW System sustainability “student collaborative working group” (SCWG) to encourage recent graduates and current students throughout UW System to share ideas for sustainability education and climate action.

To join the UW Community Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST” form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST, contact Mark Johnson.

The Wisconsin Climate Action Mapping Project (WI CAMP) is a project aiming to foster state-wide synergy across organizations focused broadly on climate action by providing a website that allows organizations and citizens to easily connect, coordinate, collaborate, and join existing climate-related initiatives in their area. WI CAMP has a directory of 440 climate-aligned organizations in the state, and we’ve identified 11 key focus areas in the state of Wisconsin. We have a digital meeting space for our website, and we are finalizing our communication portal and calendar of statewide events. 

The CAMP project aims for an ambitious, grassroots mobilization of organizations and resources, with the directory serving as a resource for users to connect and strengthen their climate action goals. How organizations, users, and the public modify and interact with the website will be diverse, and we anticipate participation across many different focus areas. We’ve identified Wisconsin’s main focus areas for tackling climate change to be: Green Transportation; Building Decarbonization; Renewable Energy; Agriculture and Food Systems; Land Use and Biodiversity; Resilience and mitigation; Water Conservation; GHG Reduction; Advocacy/Policy/Research/Education; Environmental Justice/Just Transition; and Sustainable Healthcare. 

To join the CAMP Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST” form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST, contact Elise Couillard.

The Energy Equity Working Group explores the intersections of climate and economic justice, working to ensure that economically vulnerable communities are not only included but prioritized in the clean energy transition. We do this by:

• Producing data-driven information on low-income energy burden and energy in locales across Wisconsin, including recommended actions, and disseminating it to relevant stakeholders;
• Advocating for policies and programs that advance energy equity and energy democracy; and
• Connecting with frontline, impacted communities to learn about their perspectives and needs and ways we can support their goals.

We are currently investigating the problems of high energy burden and energy insecurity in low-income communities in the region and advocating for climate-just solutions that will help ensure the health and resilience of people and the planet. 

Whatever your talents — research, writing, advocacy, community organizing — we invite you to join us in this crucial work.  

To join the Energy Equity Working Group, fill out the “Join CCST” form and we will contact you. If you are already a member of CCST, contact Liz Hachten.