Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

On Friday, Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction, wrote an article called, Fort McMurray and the Fires of Climate Change. She reminded us that, "We are all consumers of oil, not to mention coal and natural gas, which means that we’ve all contributed to the latest inferno. We need to own up to our responsibility and then we need to do something about it. The fire next time is one that we’ve been warned about, and that we’ve all had a hand in starting."

On Saturday, the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch reported that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has appointed a new chair of their climate change denial task force. The new chair is part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. If you are a rural electric co-op member, you might be asking yourself (and your co-op) why they are in any way connected to ALEC and are any of the fees you pay used to pay for ALEC memberships. Just one (or so) question you might ask.

Today, the Sierra Club sent members a special mother's day message: Take action to protect mothers from toxic fracking. They note, "Fracking pollutes our water with dangerous chemicals that put the health of mothers and children at risk. This Mother's Day, call on the EPA to fully study the impacts of fracking pollution on our drinking water."

Today, Kathy Allen had an excellent letter to the editor in the La Crosse Tribune. She wrote, in part, "Humanity is addicted to fossil fuels and it's making us sick." It's making individuals sick and it's making the planet sick. 

Monday, a group of climate change deniers will open a conference in La Crosse telling people how to start even more frac sand mines. It's as if a doctor has diagnosed your children with a serious illness caused by junk food and your brother in law decides to throw a junk food party in your back yard.


Tuesday, May 10, you can make your voice heard by participating in the rally to ban frac sand mining and address climate change. The rally starts at 5 p.m. (with pre-rally activities starting at 3) at the corner of Second and Jay Streets (rain or shine!) It's the least you can do, but it's the most you can do on Tuesday at 5.

After that, plan to do something - reduce your driving, research a candidate, pledge to use public transportation, join an advocacy group, write to Ron Kind urging him to quit pushing the toxic TPP trade agreement, talk to your neighbors, think about tomorrow.  - cathy