Organizing in Proactive Defense of Wisconsin's Environmental Legacy

This is where we will organize our defense of Wisconsin's environmental legacy.  "Like" us now, and be among the first to join the discussion! http://on.fb.me/i30on

Proactive Preparations to Defend Environmental Protection and Preservation in Wisconsin

A major assault against Wisconsin’s environmental resources is being actively prepared, and when it is unleashed, there will be little time allowed for public input or debate.  Swift passage and implementation can be expected, and the impact will be far-reaching and irreparable.  

With republican majorities, and an established precedent of passing rushed legislation with intentionally limited public input and absolutely no compromise or negotiation, it would seem there is little that anyone can do to stop this.  

If we hope to make any difference whatsoever, we need to be proactive.  We need to be prepared, and we need to speak with a unified voice.  

Anyone paying attention to Governor Walker’s first few weeks in office had the opportunity to witness firsthand just how brash and deliberately anti-environment this administration intends to be.  They blatantly stripped a citizen’s group of it’s legal due process, in favor of granting special-favor legislation to roll back environmental protection on just one piece of land, for just one wealthy developer (a campaign contributor).  

Environmental groups were forced to scramble at the last minute to respond to this legislation.  In most cases, they only had a single day to prepare, and the republican majority quickly slammed the bill through with very limited opportunity for public debate, compromise or negotiation.  

This bill was just the beginning.  It was a shot across the bow of any organization, institution or individual that cares about protecting and preserving the environmental integrity of the State of Wisconsin.  

We can’t afford to be surprised the next time around.  We can be certain that this assault will be designed to limit our ability to organize effectively and to mute any voice in opposition to their agenda.  If we don’t use this opportunity to take a proactive stance and collectively organize in anticipation this inevitable assault, Wisconsin’s environment is sure to suffer long lasting and irreparable damage.  

We need to be proactive.  We need to anticipate the assault.  We need to have an established infrastructure around this specific agenda so that we might speak with a strong, unified and effective voice of opposition.  


Proposed Strategy:

• Leverage social media to organize ourselves
• Use social media to help crystallize and distill the best ideas, talking points, references, and action plans
• Operate in a transparent and open way - leveraging principles of collective wisdom and open source development  
• Build a Conduit
• Establish and solidify strong communication channels between all parties - toward speaking with a solid, unified voice.  
• Research and Analysis of What Works and what doesn’t work
• Reach out to, collaborate with, and learn from other parties opposing their agenda
• What have they found that works and doesn’t work?  How can we emulate the most effective ideas that work best?
• Educate the Debate
• They depend on public ignorance and complacency to promote their agenda, so we must proactively educate the public with every possible means
• Focus on the Frame
• Frame the debate before they do.  Upon announcing new items, they will frame it in a way that seems generally favorable and positive  - even when it clearly isn’t.  This is the first story media outlets will report, so we must quickly and effectively re-frame the debate in a unified and orchestrated way - bringing attention to the real issues, and informing the public about the specific environmental detriment their proposal will bring.
• Avoid Partisanship
• While we may be working against a specific republican majority in this case, we must speak with a ‘common sense’ tone - not with a divisive partisan tone.  
• Hit Home
• We must emphasize specific and convincing reasons why these issues should matter to each and every citizen of this state. Reinforce the idea that this isn’t just about being tree-huggers or liberals - this is a non-partisan issue that should be important to every single citizen of this state.   
• Avoid Singular Leadership
• Organizers of this initiative remain anonymous, in favor of promoting the collective agenda, not the goals or ideals of any single individual
• Avoid Circular Debate
• This will not be a forum for debate, but a place to share specific ideas that support the pro-environmental protection and preservation agenda.  Since there are countless other forums for engaging in debate, any post, comment or idea stated in opposition of a pro-environment agenda will be swiftly deleted without warning.
• What do *you* think we can do?...  Let’s hear each other, and open channels for discussion

They’re working on their strategy, shouldn’t we be working on ours?