ONLINE: Check Your Ballot for Climate

press release: On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the League of Women Voters of Dane County (LWVDC) will present a Virtual Public Issues Forum titled, Check Your Ballot for Climate. Learn how voters are influenced by their global climate crisis concerns, how they evaluate candidates in relation to their environmental positions and what climate and environmental activists are doing locally to ‘get out the vote.’

Climate change’s slow burn throws scientific facts in the face of human emotions and social behaviors, leaving many elected leaders trapped in a collective paralyzation procrastination cycle. Votes for climate offer a way to break this cycle. Many voters now recognize that climate change means more than the destruction of polar bears, elephants and corals (yes, corals are animals). It threatens our health, property, values and ultimately, freedoms. 

“…when I think of climate change I think of mental health, wars, poverty, people dying", UW Madison student Stephanie Salgado, who is serving as a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change and is co-founder of Wisconsin’s Youth Climate Action Team (YCAT). 

Salgado will join Jennifer Giegerich, government affairs director for Wisconsin Conservation Voters and moderator and LWVDC member Carol Barford, director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at UW-Madison in this constructive exploration of voting as it relates to the climate crisis.

“Climate change is affecting every aspect of our lives," says Giegerich, "and voters have a great opportunity to learn about the policies that decision-makers will be considering at the local, state, and federal levels to address this critical issue.”

Check Your Ballot for Climate is designed to help voters concerned about climate issues, eco- anxiety and the upcoming election find answers. Virtual attendees will be encouraged to pose their own questions to our featured speakers during the event. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Click this Link to register for the virtual event. Registrants will be sent a link a few days before the event. Supplemental resources can be found here.  

The League of Women Voters is a non-profit, non-partisan, national organization whose purpose is to promote informed and active participation in government at all levels. Like government, the League functions on several levels—local, state, regional and national. LWV of Dane County is an affiliate of the state and national Leagues.