The Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group collected handwritten letters addressed to Gov. Jim Doyle Tuesday in an effort to enforce clean water laws and promote healthy lakes and streams throughout Wisconsin.
The group collected more than 100 signed postcards from Library Mall pedestrians and created an illustrative map of the concentration of concerned Wisconsin residents by placing the cards in a grassy outline of the state.
The event, which lasted several hours and left group members and concerned residents grabbing for their scarves and mittens, is WISPIRG’s semester finale. The group claims the state’s clean water laws, meant to protect residents from harmful water pollutants, have been weakened by recent policy and are not being enforced.
In addition to Tuesday’s event, the group has collected several hundred personal letters to Doyle expressing concern for Wisconsin’s waterways throughout the semester. WISPIRG campaign coordinator Cara Fitzgerald said the group would present statistics, expert testimony and the letters to the governor in an upcoming meeting in January.
WISPIRG members have been working to gain support from environmental organizations to encourage the governor to enforce clean water laws.
“We are trying to contact as many different environmental groups across the state, health professionals and political figures as we can,” Fitzgerald said. “[Our message will be] a lot clearer if it is just a few concentrated people talking on behalf of the people we have contacted.”
Fitzgerald also said the group has been working with local political leaders across the state to make a difference. Several Wisconsin mayors have expressed concern for the issue, she said, and one local leader recently gave his full support to the issue and signed on to support the group’s cause.
Fitzgerald said that many Wisconsin waterways are polluted and pose a health risk, citing the Fox River, which runs south from Green Bay to Illinois, as one of the most polluted rivers in the country. She added that the group intends to work with, rather than against, state officials to promote the group’s cause.
“It seems like we are attacking [the governor], but we are absolutely not trying to do that. We are trying to work with him and get clean-water laws enforced,” Fitzgerald said.
Individuals showing concern for the group’s cause were able to write a postcard to the governor with a personal message and information about polluted waterways near their homes.
Some UW students say the problem is more universal than many realize and hope WISPIRG’s movement gains force.
“I hope this sparks something,” UW senior Katie Eannelli said. “This campus is made up of students across the state, but sometimes we get closeted in our own areas.”
Eannelli also said she hopes students who are able to see that others are affected by the problem will become concerned and motivated to make a difference.
UW senior Eitan Silver added that Wisconsin waterways are very polluted and expressed hope that state officials would receive the message.
“You always feel kind of powerless just writing a letter and letting it go,” Silver said, “but this is certainly eye-catching.”
