The Defender Podcast

In the long, never-ending struggle to protect our environment, it can be easy to feel helpless, powerless. Maybe nothing underscores that feeling more than trying to stop a big foreign oil interest from building a pipeline across your state. But there…

Mon Aug 4, 2025

12:52

If you are feeling afraid to click on news stories every time a decision gets handed down by the US Supreme Court, you’re not alone. But some recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions are bringing much-needed good news in the fight to protect our…

Mon Jul 28, 2025

30:07

Northern Wisconsin is home to Lake Superior, to beautiful streams and wetlands, to thousands of acres os mesic forests–and to a 72-year-old oil pipeline called Line 5. Now the foreign oil company, Enbridge, that owns and operates the line is…

Mon Jul 21, 2025

28:57

Milwaukee is at the center of what the federal government calls an “Area of Concern.” A place where so much toxic water pollution and environmental degradation have happened over the course of more than a century, that it needs special attention and…

Mon Jul 14, 2025

25:23

The Big Beautiful Budget will have some ugly consequences. In this episode, why the fallout from Trump’s budget will include bigger bills, toxic emissions, and yep – more risk of blackouts. Host: Amy Barrilleaux Guest: Ciaran Gallagher, PhD,…

Mon Jul 7, 2025

24:18

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to stand next to a wind turbine? You’re about to find out. In this epsiode, Amy meets 2nd generation Wisconsin farmer Jerry Cigelske at his Columbia County farm to talk about about why cows, grass and windmills…

Mon Jun 30, 2025

24:51

June is Pollinator Month, and it’s hard to talk about protecting pollinators without talking about a class of chemicals widely blamed for their decline. If you are a regular listener, you have heard of neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins used on…

Mon Jun 16, 2025

26:40

You never know when a life-changing moment is going to come. For Sarah Savage, owner of Tend Native Plants, it came when she picked up a book about pollinators. Amy meets Sarah at her small plant nursery in Blue Mounds, Wis., to talk about the hidden…

Mon Jun 9, 2025

18:54

What’s it going to take to make clean energy Wisconsin’s new normal? It helps to have a bunch of fresh-faced new college graduates ready to take on the world. UW Platteville has a 100% placement rate for graduates in Sustainability and Renewable…

Sun Jun 1, 2025

15:44

Where to Listen: It’s not easy to locate and document Wisconsin’s endangered species, but luckily Ernie and Betty White are on the case! They are two of Wisconsin’s specially-trained conservation dogs, and they could be the secret to finding some of…

Mon May 19, 2025

19:33