Environment Colorado Launches $400,000 Outreach Effort to Defend our Environment

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Garrett Garner-Wells

Environment Colorado Launches $400,000 Outreach Effort to Defend our Environment

DENVER — Today Environment Colorado announced a $400,000 public education campaign across all seven Colorado Congressional districts to convince Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner to stand up for a cleaner, healthier future, and oppose a return to a dirtier, more dangerous past.

“From Gunnison to Greeley, Cortez to Colorado Springs, we’re hearing a consistent message: Senators Bennet and Gardner should vote against all efforts to roll back environmental protections,” said Garrett Garner-Wells, director of Environment Colorado.

The campaign, which is running out of offices in Denver and Boulder, will talk to nearly 60,000 people about the need to protect our state’s air, land, and water. It is part of a nationwide effort that boasts 30+ canvassing offices in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

“Here in Colorado, our Senators could not be more different. While Senator Bennet has voted consistently against rollbacks to environmental protections, Senator Gardner has done the opposite. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” noted Garner-Wells. “Efforts are on the horizon to roll back clean car standards and decimate the ability of federal regulatory agencies to keep our citizens safe. Additionally, President Trump’s proposed budget would slash funding for public lands, environmental protections, and clean energy research. We call on Senator Gardner to stand up for Colorado values and oppose these extreme efforts.”

Recent research from The Frontier Group and the Environment America Research & Policy Center, as of 2015 (the last year for which data is available) reveals that Americans in nearly every state still breathe polluted air. Too many beautiful and ecologically and culturally sensitive areas are threatened by drilling, mining or other destructive activities, while too many of our waterways are polluted. And of course we have only a brief period of time left to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst of sea level rise, extreme weather events, and other impacts of climate change. 

“We’re knocking on doors throughout Colorado because the environmental challenges we face extend to every part of our state,” added Garner-Wells. “On the one hand, special interests, the Trump administration and some in Congress are stuck in old ways of thinking, as if environmental protection was a luxury we couldn’t afford. On the other hand, the science has never been clearer, there’s never been as much mobilized public support as there is today for a clean and healthy environment, and the means for achieving it are well within our reach. I’m confident our campaign will help galvanize the public, and make sure people’s voices are heard loud and clear. Together, I know we’ll find the way to protect the environmental values we share and the places we love. Our families and our future depend on it.”

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Environment Colorado is a statewide, citizen-based advocacy organization working for a cleaner, greener, healthier future. www.EnvironmentColorado.org