Other states in the country use to look to Wisconsin to see how best to protect their air, water and other natural resources from human exploitation and adverse environmental impacts. After all, Wisconsin is the home of naturalist John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Senator Gaylord Nelson, today’s Earth Day founder.  But things have changed in Wisconsin since the beginning of the new century.

Wisconsin’s current Governor and the heavily Republican dominated Wisconsin Legislature have placed a higher priority on such things as more highway expansion, iron ore mining, and frac sand mining, rather than adopting policies that protect our environment, such as policies that help reduce global warming or add to the state’s already existing land and water resource Stewardship Program.

For a Wisconsin Public Radio call-in hour discussion of this subject on the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day in Wisconsin, click on The Ideas Network, enter the date of April 22, and then scroll to the 3:00-4:00 pm program.

Guest: Mike Ivey, reporter for The Capitol Times. His article is called “Has Wisconsin’s Proud Pro-Environment Tradition Faded?”.