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.
Today’s Finding Home story features La Crosse County Board Supervisor Beth Piggush. In this video, Beth reflects on her role in developing the city and county Climate Action Plans. She is particularly interested in the creation of climate resilience hubs in her community, which address both emergency preparedness and affordable housing and homelessness initiatives. Beth emphasizes that emergency preparedness plans must remain inclusive and accessible and should support homeless and unsheltered populations.
She also notes that a big challenge facing communities today is that neighbors are not talking to one another, making communities feel “more siloed than they should be.” Beth believes that building relationships and sharing resources are essential to ensuring that communities remain resilient in the face of increasing natural disasters.
Beth closes the interview with a reminder that environmental awareness helps us recognize that we are all just a “small piece of this beautiful puzzle that we all live in.” She adds that “having that environmental awareness makes you appreciate all the other things around you.”
