Great Waters Group

of the Sierra Club John Muir Chapter

Great Waters is organized by and for Sierra Club members in

Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties

 Monthly Programs

Overview

Great Waters Group provides public programs that meet on the third Monday each month at 7pm.  There is no obligation, reservation or fee required to attend.

Speakers share their experiences and methods of preserving and enjoying our natural world which can give you a chance to get questions answered, visit far away places and visit with others who have an interest in the outdoors and our environment.

Where to find Program Topics? 

Home Page contains the topic for the next program.

Events Calendar contains all programs.  Topics are posted once available.

Directions:

Location: Mayfair Mall - Community Room

• Park near the center of Mayfair Mall on east side near the General Cinema.
• Walk into the mall through the entrance on the ground level next to the covered parking area. There you will see the Fox World Travel office.
• As you head into the mall you will see glass doors on the right.  This is where you enter the Garden Suites East Offices. A Sierra Club sign is typically posted.
• Go through the glass doors and either use the stairs or the elevator to proceed to the lower level.
• Follow the hallway to your left and shortly after the hall changes direction to the left you will see the Community Room where the hall makes a 90° turn to the right.

Map to Mayfair Mall on Google

Printable Agenda and Directions

 On-Site Presentations

Overview

Local speakers provide groups with facts about a topic of interest.  There is no cost or obligation for these presentations and they can be scheduled at convienent locations such as: someone's home, church, school, place of business, etc.

How to Register

Please contact Rosemary at the Milwaukee Sierra Club office at 414-453-3127 or rosemary.wehnes@sierraclub.org for reservations.

Topics

Introduction to Renewable Energy: Most of our electrical energy comes from burning coal in Wisconsin. Fossil fuels have played a big part of fueling our economy and they have various costs and benefits. Renewable energy sources can lead to a more sustainable future. Learn what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.

Global Warming and the Great Lakes: The effects of global warming have been most apparent in the melting of the glaciers and polar ice. The Great Lakes ecosystem will also be impacted. Diminishing ice cover on the Great Lakes is just one of the clues that scientists are looking at.

Cool Cities: Solving Global Warming One City at a Time: All over America, cities, counties and states are launching an exciting grassroots movement to help solve one of our county's most pressing problems: global warming. The strategies that cool cities are pursuing fall under three categories: cleaner vehicles, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Benefits of Green Building: Energy consumption from buildings currently accounts for more than 50% of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions. "Green Building" is a trend toward high-performance and sustainable construction. In this presentation, you'll learn more about the effects of buildings on the world around us, and how greening our new construction and existing buildings can have tremendous benefits to the climate, our energy future, and the health of our population.

Global Warming Challenges and Solutions: Melting arctic ice, droughts in the desert southwest, unusual floods in Europe and Asia. These are some of the headlines we read about each day. But what do they mean? Are we witnessing natural fluctuations in our earth's climate or a human-induced tragedy in the making? 

Learn about the science behind global warming, and how our earth systems respond to atmospheric changes. You'll get real evidence that global warming is occurring and is being caused by human activity. See what the future holds if climate change is not addressed, and most importantly, learn about real solutions that are possible today.

Speaker Biographies

Sue Loomans: Sue is a Climatologist and Environmental Scientist who spent many years working the US Air Force, studying climate change in places ranging from the Midwest to as far away as Antarctica. In 2007 Sue was trained by former Vice-President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore as a presenter for “The Climate Project,”a slide presentation based on the material from the award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Sue delivers presentations on global warming to a variety of audiences, highlighting the global challenges of this alarming phenomena, and strategies we can implement to meet them. Sue also is employed for The Wisconsin Green Building Alliance, a Milwaukee-based non profit organization that promotes sustainable building practices across the state.  Additional information about "The Climate Project" can be found at: www.theclimateproject.org

Peter Lee: Peter has recently retired from UW-Milwaukee after 27 years as an instructor in Linguistics and English as a Second Language. In the course of his career he has taught in Thailand, Taiwan and China. His interests in renewable energy center on energy conservation and efficiency issues. He has been working with RENEW Wisconsin and its Community Education Group for several years now.

Youth Activities - Ages: 6-12