Wisconsin' s Enviro Hangs In The Balance

Four Lakes Sierrans,

THIS IS A CALL FOR ALL HANDS ON DECK.

(If you don't need background or convincing, just go to WHAT YOU CAN DO
below.)

If you care about Wisconsin's environment, your health and that of other citizens of Wisconsin, and whether your children and grand children will have a healthy planet and sustainable future, then your assistance is needed NOW. The next three weeks until the election cannot be business as usual.

Big money interests (often out-of-state) have co-opt the airwaves to convince you that solid candidates who support environmental protections and the health of our citizens are the enemy, and bad for the economy. These same corporate interests stopped a bill that would have provided Wisconsin with a strong clean energy future, kept more money in Wisconsin's economy, and created more good jobs here.

It was the same interests that stopped Wisconsin from creating statewide regional transit authorities and allowing local communities to work together to create good transit options and reduce pollution and the overall costs of transportation. These same interests are now distorting the truth about high-speed rail in Wisconsin and regional transit in Dane County.

These same interests also support corporate animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that threaten our clean drinking water and the future of agriculture in Wisconsin. Don't we already have enough mercury in our waters that our fish aren't safe to eat, and we've had to enact phosphorus bans to protect our lakes for people to swim in and aquatic life to survive? Isn't our groundwater, as well as lakes and streams, polluted enough from other sources?

The effects of climate change are already being felt with melting polar ice caps, record temperatures, and dramatic floods, and climate scientists are telling us we have perhaps a decade to start implementing real change. That means we must elect legislators who get it, who will look out for citizens and the health of our planet and environment NOW.


WHAT YOU CAN DO

The next three weeks cannot be business as usual. We need your support to elect candidates who will make a difference and uphold the same values you joined the Sierra Club to support. An indication of how critical this is, is that the Sierra Club has sent a national staff person here to support this work, and that so many of our leaders are volunteering considerable time to assist this effort. You also will shortly be receiving a scorecard of the candidates we are endorsing in national and state races. Information is also available on line at
http://wisconsin.sierraclub.org/political/Endorsements.htm and on Facebook
at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sierra-Club-Wisconsin/102052479832488?ref=ts .

Now we need you. You can:

1. Contact Rachel Ackoff at Rachel.Ackoff@Sierraclub.org or our John Muir office in Madison at 608-256-0565 to volunteer your services or ask how you can help with national and statewide races. We're doing phone banking and will be doing canvassing and literature drops. (There just might be some free pizza in it as well!)
2. Contact Dave Blouin at burroak15@charter.net, or Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net to ask about local and regional candidates who need support.
3. Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to talking to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone else you know.
4. Contact you candidates' election offices to find out what support they need.
5. Write letters to the editor in support of our candidates.
6. VOTE EARLY, OR MAKE SURE YOU AND ALL OTHER SUPPORTERS VOTE ON
NOVEMBER 2! Remember, our power is our grass roots - YOU!


Thank you for your support of the Sierra Club and of candidates who will help ensure a safe and healthy future for Wisconsin's environment and citizens.

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