CALEDONIA - Perhaps the problem on Saturday was that too many people were out enjoying the Earth on a fine, warm autumn day rather than gathering indoors to learn about saving it.

Whatever the reason, no one showed up for a learning session on global warming held at River Bend Nature Center. Perhaps it was because there were also other environmental activities going on around the area, said Adrienne Roach of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. She was seated on a circle of benches with Rebecca Eisel, a volunteer with the National Wildlife Federation, and Kari Olesen of the Sierra Club. Olesen's colleague, Laura Feider, waited outside for people to show up.

It wasn't just global warming that the group was prepared to talk about. They also wanted to tell people about Senate Bill 81, a proposal in the Wisconsin Legislature which would set limits on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The bill would require the Department of Natural Resources to set an emissions limit for 2020 that would be equivalent to the emissions produced in 1990. No later than Jan. 1, 2010, the DNR would have to approve a plan for reducing those emissions using methods that would be feasible and cost-effective.

There was a hearing on the bill on Tuesday, Roach said, before the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. "We only had four people who spoke against, and the other 32 spoke for it."

With Saturday's event a no-go, Eisel was looking ahead a few weeks. Nov. 3 will be the date for Step It Up 2. "It's going to be a call to our leaders to step up their leadership and do something about global warming," she said. The first Step It Up was held in the spring at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Organizers are still looking for a venue for the coming local event, she said.