Environmental Speakers Program

It was the 1970s and rivers were catching on fire. Wisconsin’s own Fox River was practically dead. In response, the first Earth Day was established on April 22, 1970, thanks to the activism of environmental leaders like Gaylord Nelson. Within the same year, Peter Anderson and Doug La Follette founded Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, now called Clean Wisconsin, in an effort to protect Wisconsin’s cherished yet vulnerable environment.
The history of environmental activism in Wisconsin is full of incredible people and empowering stories. Join us for this Doug La Follette Environmental Speakers Series program and hear from some of the activists who paved the way and those who are continuing the work to protect our future. We look forward to hosting you at this free event featuring the musical stylings of Ken Lonnquist, an early member of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade who spent years educating Wisconsin communities about the environment through his music.

Please RSVP below.

Doug La Follette

Doug La Follette was an organizer for Earth Day 1970 and a founder of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, later renamed Clean Wisconsin. In addition to serving as Wisconsin’s Secretary of State for 40 years, La Follette has been involved in multiple initiatives and organizations related to the environment and renewable energy, including being appointed by President Jimmy Carter as an assistant director to the Mid-American Solar Energy Complex.

Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson was a founder of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade alongside Doug La Follette. In his almost 20 years with the organization, he served as both co-director and director of WED, working tirelessly to lobby for the most pressing and important environmental issues of the day. In 1989, he moved on towards other environmental endeavors—fighting leaking landfills, working to combat climate change, and protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline—but continues to be an advocate for all things Clean Wisconsin.

Bryan Rogers

Bryan Rogers is the environmental justice director at Walnut Way Conservation Corp and heads their Environmental Justice & Infrastructure Initiative. A former Witness for Peace Honduras Program Director, Bryan has facilitated dozens of delegations across Latin America and the Caribbean, building cross-border solidarity with social movements in US. His work as an educator, organizer, writer, and musician has taken him into the heart of a grassroots student movement in Chile; into black liberation struggles in Salvador, Brazil; land reclamation and reparations projects led by indigenous Lenca and black indigenous Garifuna in Honduras; anti-drug war and anti-militarization caravans through Central America; and managing a sheriff’s campaign for a queer black feminist running on an anti-racist platform.