Great Lake Michigan & Friends Islands of Coherence Dec 4th

Thank you for reading this last post of 2025 as I joyfully harvest stories of coherence, bioregionalism, permaculture, and degrowth in and around Milwaukee and the Lake Michigan/western Great Lakes context.  

I live in Milwaukee, which is in the Great Lakes Basin, on Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes hold 21 percent of the world's fresh water.  

In March of this year the Design School for Regenerating Earth hosted a learning journey of six months titled "How to Organize your Bioregion" which connected me to people all over the world who recognize that our watersheds organize us as our "life places"--the places which create the conditions for life of humans and the more-than-human world.  Several of us are committing to not only ecosystem restoration of our watersheds but healing the social ruptures within our communities as well.  Below is an image of a map of the western Great Lakes with blue dots representing design school members throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Map of Participants in the 2025 Design School for Regenerating Earth, How to Organize your BioRegion Learning Journey

When I look at this map, I think of the many stories I've learned over this year from my new friends doing similar work.  I've had the chance to meet a few of these new friends in person too, and I look forward to creating new connections and sharing our successes and challenges as we all navigate the changing conditions and collapses of systems.  

I continue to use this blog to share stories of what I've learned and to share online and in-person event opportunities.  The Design School for Regenerating Earth hosts a space for "Great Lake Michigan" where I enter calendar events and share articles.  There is a monthly fee of $5/month for access to the full design school (and scholarships!), but the place-based hubs for Lake Michigan and for the Great Lakes Basin are free to join--create a profile with your email address at this link.  If you don't have the capacity to join one more thing, feel free to email info about events you'd like me to promote, and I will add them for you.  My email is regenerateMKE@gmail.com.  

I also host a monthly zoom on the first Tuesday of the month.  Here is the recording of the Dec 2nd monthly Lake Michigan and friends Bioregional zoom, and the next one will be Jan 6th 2pm central.  Email me for the zoom invitation.

Dec 7th we will play the MetaCrisis-MetaChrysalis role-playing game in Chicago, free registration here.  This game also has a free hub in the Design School if you are interested in playing with us online.  Stay tuned for more game play offerings in Milwaukee in 2026, and please reach out if your group would like to host a game play event.  

The first step of the game, much like Dungeons and Dragons, is to create your character, exploring your motivations, strengths and goals.  My character sheet has turned into a backstory about the Bog Witch, a person who shares stories about the waters and living in right relationship with the environment.  She can see things others cannot, like the river buried under the concrete which still remains a river and reminds us of her Riverness when it floods as it did here in Milwaukee in August.  Bog Witch is whispering to me that I should offer some Bog walk and talks in the new year, and to work with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Climate Action Museum in Chicago, and with other groups to share these stories more broadly.

Bog Witch as rendered by/with Daniel Lindenberger

One of the themes which emerged from our December 2 zoom was about data centers' energy and water use.  This WUWM article describes a bit about what's happening in Wisconsin:
https://www.wuwm.com/are-there-rules-governing-data-center-water-usage

I continue to meet with a group which formed at the 2025 Midwest Climate Summit which focuses on financial incentives promoting Badgerland Biodiversity Corridors.

I'm guest co-hosting a weekly radio program on local radio station Riverwest Radio Jan-May--more information on that next time.

My new role with the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County as the liaison with other Lake Michigan leagues means I am challenging myself to learn as much as I can about our region while fostering more formalized connections with others.  If you are inclined to join your local LWV (men join too!), we can work together!

Lastly, in the spirit of not buying things during a time of year with intense pressure to do so, I'm reminded of the many cool things besides books available for checkout from the Milwaukee Public Library.  The Milwaukee Public Library "Library of Things" checks out musical instruments, kitchen gadgets, and all sorts of things you might want to try before/instead of buying.  See some of their a/v tech to check out, for example: https://milwaukee.countycat.mcfls.org/Union/Search?view=list&showCovers=on&lookfor=Library+of+Things+--+Portable+Technology&searchIndex=Keyword&searchSource=local

 Have a restful December/winter, and I look forward to connecting in 2026!