{"id":2902,"date":"2024-02-07T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T21:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainabledriftlessmag.com\/sdmunicdn\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:50:20","slug":"editors-notes-spring-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainabledriftlessmag.com\/sdmunicdn\/editors-notes-spring-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Editor’s Notes–Spring 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Moving to Onalaska in 1996, I was part of that \u201cYuppie\u201d culture of the time: following my husband\u2019s career, trying to remake my own, and raising a young family without close relatives nearby.\u00a0 My original \u201cwhy?\u201d drew me to volunteering. I decided to apply my career knowledge to the public space: the environment. Thirty years ago, I chose to let my innate \u201cenvironmentalist\u201d rise to the surface in ways I could not have predicted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Looking back, the theme was consistent. Through design, environment, and community building, friendships and a \u201cfamily\u201d of like-minded souls living their own \u201cWhy?\u201d came together and flourished.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I recently reached out to one of those \u201cpartners in crime\u201d souls. We had worked together to \u201cbirth\u201d a project I\u2019m proud to say still exists 15 years after I bowed out: Clearwater Farm. In the meantime, others with their own \u201cwhy?\u201d came forward, returned, and changed how they volunteered as their own lives changed. They kept at it and created a unique anchor in the Driftless Region. That is the process of making change–vision, ground breaking, and the work of continuity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n

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Because of their commitment, Clearwater Farm<\/em> has had a ripple effect in their lives, in the community, the region, and as an organization. As they developed the full potential of the project\u2019s original vision, each person made their own impact along the way.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"\"This issue digs deeper into the idea of \u201cWHY?\u201d in articles by longtime cohorts in the cause of making our world a better place:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n