Let Them Eat Seaweed! The Promise of Innovation

by Judy Nagel, Envision board

What if an issue endemic to northeast Wisconsin turned out to be a substantial contributor to global warming – and then someone turned it on its head and converted the problem into a whole new industry? Our area has done it before – all it needs is an altruistic entrepreneur.

The issue is about cows and burping. Yes, 30% of global warming is due to methane release, and one-third of that methane comes from livestock. In a single year one cow emits as much methane as a small car, and the reason is simple: Cows are gassy due to the roughage they eat, which results in lots of burping. The burping emits methane.  Worldwide, 1.5 billion cows are eating, burping and creating methane – and a good portion of cows live in our area.

Researchers have found, however, that asparagopsis, a type of seaweed, can allow those cows to chow down without burping, nearly eliminating livestock methane emissions. Even better, if a mere two-tenths of one percent of a cow’s daily ration included such seaweed, maximum benefit could be achieved! Read interesting details from Salon: Can we grow enough seaweed to help cows fight climate change?

Using the environmental research resources of the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, access to the bay, carbon tax credits, and investment capital from Titletown Tech, could we develop a local suitable seaweed to harvest? We might create, at the same time, a new sustainable industry for the agricultural base of our economy!

 

Some Asylum Seekers Distinctly Middle-Class: a signal to follow

Tom Schumacher, Envision Board Member

Historically, asylum seekers were made up of those seeking safety from criminal or political violence or to escape from abject poverty in their home countries.

COVID disruptions and military conflicts are creating new waves of refugees from the middle class. They arrive with education, skills and funds to navigate the logistics of seeking asylum as they flee unstable conditions at home.

(more…)

Census 2020 by the Numbers

by Dr. Jamie Lynch, Associate Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Strategic Research Institute St. Norbert College and Envision board member

The 2020 census brings new data to old stories of diversity and growth in Brown County. It’s still early, and more information will continue to become available, but here are four data points likely to shape the future of greater Green Bay.

(more…)