Home is a simple word, but the experience of finding home is personal, complex, and always evolving.
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters invites people across Wisconsin to join our Finding Home series and explore what it means to find home through the lenses of science, arts, history, literature, and civil discourse.
In every region of the state, people shape their sense of home through cultural expression, ecological knowledge, and community care. Many are also noticing changes in the places they know best, from shifting seasons to new pressures on land, housing, and water. Finding Home programs explore how people respond with creativity, stewardship, and resilience.
At its core, Finding Home brings people with different perspectives together with the goal of deepening understanding and identifying shared values and common ground.
As part of this series, we spoke with Ismaeel Chartier, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin, about his work advancing renewable energy across the state. One of the projects that stands out most to him was a partnership with Sun Bear Industries and the Menominee Tribe to build five fully off-grid homes for tribal elders. Chartier emphasizes that the project was entirely led by the Tribe, with RENEW Wisconsin serving in a supporting role by helping secure funding and raise awareness, while Sun Bear Industries contributed to the design and construction process.
For Chartier, the concept of home is both meaningful and complicated. As a child of immigrants from Argentina, he reflects on the tension between comfort and discomfort that can come with belonging. That experience has helped shape his commitment to doing work that may be challenging but is necessary. Work that strengthens communities and helps build a more sustainable future.
