June 2019 Newsletter

RE-AMP Members at the 2019 Annual Meeting in front of a 30th Street Industrial Corridor stormwater basin in Milwaukee, WI

Greetings RE-AMPers!

It was great to see so many of you at the Annual Meeting! We’ve got a short recap for you in Connections as well as Midwest Energy News’ nomination instructions for its 40 under 40 program. In Collective Strategy you can find the results of the Steering Committee elections, join a Task Force on Equitably Decarbonizing Utilities or an Action Team on fracked gas infrastructure and find information about the Rapid Response Fund. There’s two great upcoming training opportunities under the Capacity Building where you’ll also find a list of upcoming Network events.

Have a story to share? Connect with Community Manager, Sarah Ann Shanahan today at sarah@reamp.org

Connections

RE-AMP’s 2019 Annual Meeting kicks off at Discovery World with special guest speaker, WI Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes

2019 Annual Meeting: Rooted and Connected for Climate Action in the Heartland

RE-AMP’s Annual Meeting, hosted on the shores of Lake Michigan June 3-5 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a complete success! One hundred and thirty people gathered in Milwaukee for this year’s Annual Meeting, and collectively, we dug into vexing issues that included climate and plastics and developing sustainable development goals for the region. We spent half a day getting a tour of Milwaukee including a green infrastructure tour and boat ride through the harbor while learning from local leaders about their efforts. It’s no surprise that the evaluations cited this as the favorite part of the meeting – not just for the connection to place but for the opportunity to network with each other. We also had time for open space conversations, to dig into RE-AMP’s role in elections, and to explore the social systems map we’re building of the Network. A few members are exploring the creation of Action Teams as a result of their open space conversations. For more detailed reports on the three days check out these posts from Marie Donahue, Kathy Kuntz, and Huda Alkaff.

Touring the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic Rivers by boat during the RE-AMP 2019 Annual Meeting

Last year, Michigan won the campaign to host the 2020 Annual Meeting and this year there was a tie between Duluth, MN and Iowa. Attendees agreed to host the 2021 Annual Meeting in Duluth and the 2022 Annual Meeting in Iowa. Notes and materials from this and past year’s Annual Meetings can be found on the Commons.

Thank you again to all of our attendees and our fabulous Host and Planning Committee members!

Alice’s Garden, Milwaukee, WI

Seth Nowak-Individual Member (Host)
Jeremy Gragert- Wisconsin Climate Table (Host)
Robin Lisowski- Slipstream (Host)
Pam Ritger, Clean Wisconsin (Host)
Kirsten Shead, Milwaukee Water Commons (Host)
Rachel Myslivy, Climate + Energy Project (Planning)
Peter Skopec, WISPIRG (Planning)
Mysti Babineau, MN350 (Planning)
Huda Alkaff, Wisconsin Green Muslims (Planning)
Gail Francis, RE-AMP Network (Planning)
Matt Gaboury, Argosy Foundation (Planning)

Seeking Emerging Leaders at the Leading Edge of the Clean Energy Economy

RE-AMP is a proud partner of the 5th annual Midwest Energy News ‘40 Under 40’ awards program that seeks to highlight emerging leaders throughout the region who work to accelerate America’s transition to a clean energy economy. The program is open to all who are under 40 at the time of their nomination. We are looking to showcase leaders from all sectors—including industry, government, regulatory, business, academia, non-profit and advocacy—and nominations will be accepted until 5:00 pm CT on August 2. Do you know a strong emerging leader who fits these criteria? Nominate your leader(s) today.

Collective Strategy

Steering Committee Elections by Melissa Gavin, Chief Network Officer

We are pleased to announce the following RE-AMP members were elected to the RE-AMP Steering Committee for a two-year term:

Jessica Collingsworth, Union of Concerned Scientists
Nicole Donaghy, Dakota Resource Council
Cecilia Martinez, Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy
Gregory Norris, ACES 4 Youth
Jessica Tritsch, Sierra Club

We are grateful to all who ran, or considered running, for the RE-AMP Steering Committee and to all who voted in this year’s elections. Your participation is what makes our Network work. Thank you!

Call for Collaborators for Anti Fracked Gas Action Team

The Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) is working on a few novel approaches to attacking new fracked gas infrastructure, both in the power sector and at the city distribution level. John Farrell of ILSR is working on several ideas and is already shopping them with policy makers at state and local levels, but would love to collaborate across the Midwest, learn what you’ve already got cooking, and start an Anti Fracked Gas Action Team!

Do you think fracked gas is the enemy of a cool climate? Do you like novel approaches and leveraging local power? Do you like limited, well-organized, action-oriented phone calls? Hoping to launch the Action Team this summer against a proposed fracked gas pipeline or power plant near you. If you’re interested, let John Farrell know by contacting him at jfarrell@islr.org.

Task Force to Equitably Decarbonize Utilities by Gail Francis

We are excited to launch recruitment for a task force on equitably decarbonizing utilities in the Midwest. Please see below for more information. You can also preview the interest form and get a more nicely formatted version of this information. You can express your interest in joining the task force by filling out this form.

Our RE-AMP Network has set an audacious North Star goal: to equitably eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the Midwest by 2050. We are now creating a task force to focus on the implications of this goal on the utility sector. We are seeking three initial RE-AMP members willing to take a deep dive into regulated and non-regulated utilities, their fuel sources, their efficiency measures, their impacts on people and communities, as well as examine alternative models for getting electricity to people. They will also recommend additional people to recruit to the task force. The work will begin in June and will culminate in an in-person summit this summer, likely in late August. From there, other members will take up planning for a network-wide summit on equitably decarbonizing utilities. That summit will take place November 14 & 15 in Chaska, Minnesota.

For more information check out the full post.

Funding Opportunity: Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Rapid Response Fund

We are interested in supporting non-profit organizations that encounter unexpected needs or changed circumstances in the course of ongoing campaigns or multi-state initiatives. Grants from the fund will be prioritized for needs that require rapid turnaround. The fund is not intended to cover core operating budgets or to address shortfalls in annual fundraising efforts. The fund may only be used for non-lobbying expenses of 501(c)(3) organizations.

Key Areas of Interest

Defend against emerging attempts to weaken or eliminate existing Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS), Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) or other utility sector clean energy policies.
Take advantage of unexpected opportunities to expand or strengthen those policies.
Intervene in rate cases that present new opportunities to incentivize energy efficiency or renewable energy including vigorously opposing increases in fixed charges.

For more information go to the Commons —-> Activity ——> Funding—–> Rapid Response

Capacity Building

Join Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project by Megan Severson, Wisconsin Environment

From August 2-4, The Climate Reality Project and former Vice President Al Gore will host the 42nd Climate Reality Leadership Corps training for climate activists in Minneapolis – St. Paul, Minnesota.

The training will feature key local, national and international speakers from business, communications and scientific realms who will train the next crop of Climate Reality Leaders. Participants will emerge from the training with the practical tools to communicate about the climate crisis and its solutions and take action to help build a diverse, equitable and inclusive climate movement. Participants will also learn how to give a version of the presentation made famous by the Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth and seen in the 2017 follow-up film An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. For more information check out the full post.

Translating Across Boundaries: A Convening of Academics and Advocates on Climate Change

August 1-2, 2019

Minneapolis, MN

This convening will be a first-of-its-kind convening to address a critical need to solving the climate change crisis: how do we engage the public and do what the science tells us is needed? The RE-AMP Network and The Energy Transition Lab (ETL), two experts in collaboration, will bring together 50 leaders from their respective networks of climate change nonprofits and academic researchers in the Upper Midwest for a day-and-a-half of deep partnership-building. Using a systems-thinking approach to connect the facts to the needs of local communities, leaders will be equipped to think bigger and bolder. Contact Sean Carroll (sean@reamp.org) to attend.