Tuesday, Wisconsin lakes received a failing grade from the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group. Lakes that produce fish that are too dangerous to eat is not acceptable in the state that upholds the outdoors as a defining part of our heritage.
It seems that we have let the forefather of environmentalism down in his own state. John Muir once said that in \that glorious Wisconsin wilderness ... young hearts, young leaves, flowers, animals, the winds and the streams and the sparkling lakes all wildly, gladly [rejoice] together."" Now, one has to think twice before swimming in Lake Mendota.??Thus, one must ask, who is to blame?
To start with, businesses are the main polluters and the government allows it. Experts claim the anti-environmental agenda of the last governor caused some of the problems. Now we have a new governor and a new mayor that promised the upkeep and improvement of the outdoors.
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz was elected, in part, because he campaigned on a stronger pro-environmental stance than Paul Soglin. Cieslewicz said, ""Good cities are good for the environment.""
Well, prove it, Cieslewicz. Prove Madison takes actions to clean up the lakes we hold so dear and put pressure on Gov. Jim Doyle. Legislators could also increase university funding for liminology and environmental aquatic toxicology research. Wisconsin also needs all its citizens to make sure they are ensuring a cleaner environment by minimizing pollution and making sure our political leaders do the same.
And for those who are still holding on to past ideology of putting the health of our economy before the health of our environment, remember that a lot of money gets pumped into Wisconsin for tourism.
Ignoring the environment may one day turn tourists away from visiting. It will be a sad day when tourists leave Wisconsin in disgust.
Now that WisPIRG did the good deed of bringing up the topic, hope fully they will follow up with an effort to tackle water pollution problems on the state level.
