Beth Piggush

Beth Piggush is our Rural Health Coordinator and is a La Crosse-based climate justice organizer. In working with Healthy Climate Wisconsin, Beth will weave together her personal experience of connection to rural communities with almost two decades of work focused on climate and sustainability. Learning about renewable energy, public health and climate action started when Beth worked for the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters and then the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. She understands the language around energy and training a workforce, as she was also an auditor for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. Beth has been a LEED AP V 2.0 and a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor. Most recently Beth was a part time lecturer with the UW La Crosse Environmental Studies Department and the former Integral Ecology Director for the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

Beth thrives on building team relationships and networking to carry the message of planetary health and raising our quality of life. When she is not working or presenting on issues related to climate justice, she participates with the La Crosse County Board as District 7 Supervisor, is a parent volunteer with 4-H, and a volunteer in a local orchard. Beth’s primary vocation is as a wife and mother. Beth and her husband are running around with their three kids for school or music events, family outdoor adventures and visiting Grandparents.

When she has time, Beth enjoys practicing permaculture at their home, then cooking and preserving anything she can grow or forage. Beth grew up on a hobby farm south of Austin, Minnesota, where she learned the value of hard work. She is committed to learning, unlearning and sharing the multiple narratives of how to care for people and the planet together. Beth has not figured out a perfect solution for climate justice but is working on it for her children and all future generations.