The Defender Podcast

Yes, there are 150-million reasons to listen to the 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 P...

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...

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...

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 an...

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 B...

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...

Northern Wisconsin is home to Lake Superior, to beautiful streams and wetlands, to thousands of acres os 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...

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 th...

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  

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: Wisc...

June is Pollinator Month, and it’s hard to talk about protecting pollinators without talking about a class of chemicals widely blamed for their decline. 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 an...

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: S...

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 Barri...

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, a...

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 sol...

No Mow May is here, but is it the best way to protect pollinators in our yards? Amy walks through a typical Wisconsin yard with pollinator expert Elizabeth Braatz to learn if No Mow May really works. Host: Amy Barrilleaux Guest: Elizabeth Braatz, Bumble Bee Brigade Coordinator and Terrestrial Insect Ecologist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Resources for You:  Wisconsin Bumble Bee Briga...

if you look around at houses, schools, churches–you’re probably seeing more and more solar panels on their rooftops. A lot of that is thanks to federal incentives through the Inflation Reduction Act that make solar more affordable. But those programs are now at risk of being cut, and tariffs could be pushing the low solar costs we’ve been seeing much higher. Fortunately, solar has a pretty d...

Clean Wisconsin has been keeping track of the many attacks on bedrock environmental safeguards being carried out by the Trump Administration. Dozens of rules and regulations that protect our air, water, land, endangered species and more are being targeted. With so much happening in such a short time, how do you know what’s important, what’s just a lot of bluster, and what’s even legal?  Host: Amy...

There is no question the winters of our childhood are disappearing. In 2024, a rainy January gave way to tornadoes in February, flooding in June and drought in July and August. So what is next for Wisconsin and how can we prepare? In this episode, Amy talks with Wisconsin’s state climatologist about what could be the new normal for our state. Host: Amy Barrilleaux Guest: Steve Vavrus, Wiscon...

We are breathing in and ingesting tiny plastic particles called microplastics and nanoplastics all the time. According to a recent study, tissues in a typical adult brain contains the equivalent of a plastic spoon’s worth of plastic particles. In this episode, find out what all that plastic accumulating in our brains, arteries and reproductive systems could mean for our health–and what we ca...

It’s no secret, Wisconsin has been rapidly losing its family farms, and with them, a way of life that’s defined much of our state for more than a century. But there’s a lifeline. In this episode, a southeastern Wisconsin farmer explains why he’s trading in some of his ethanol corn — for a chance to farm the sun. Host: Amy Barrilleaux Guest: Jay Wednt, farmer, Dean Kincaid, Inc.  Resour...

Imagine feeling not quite yourself. You don’t feel like taking care of your kids. You can’t find your way to work anymore, don’t want to hang out with anybody. It would be awful. But it’s happening to bees all around us. Turns out a pesticide used on virtually all of our corn and soybeans, is harming our pollinators at very low levels of exposure in ways that are rarely studied. On this episode, h...

What if I told you there was a grain that doesn’t have to be replanted every spring, that has roots growing 10-feet deep, taking in carbon and holding it deep in the soil, that helps prevent soil erosion and excess fertilizer from washing into our lakes–AND it makes a tasty beer. In this episode, a look at the work behind an experimental batch of Kernza® beer at Karben4 Brewing in Madison th...

“Action is the antidote to despair.” On this episode we look at how to move forward on climate when it feels like our federal government is determined to push us backward. Learn about actions you can take right now, right here in Wisconsin to defend progress. And hear from climate advocate and Wisconsin farmer Chelsea Chandler on climate strategy in the age of “drill baby drill.” Host:...

In the wintertime, Wisconsin is one salty place. It’s all over our cars – in our cars – tracked into buildings, all over our shoes and boots. It’s a mess. Thankfully salt season is almost over, but it’s never over for our lakes or even our drinking water wells. Find out what happens to all that salt when winter is over, and hear from an advocate who’s working to teach all of us out to be sal...