Yet as we celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day – founded by Wisconsin?s own Gaylord Nelson – the jobs-vs.-environment argument has surfaced again. It is a more dubious claim than ever.
Case in point: recycling, mandated by the state in 1990 after a long, contentious political battle. Just 20 years later, Wisconsin municipalities recycle more than 700,000 tons of material each year – waste that otherwise would go to landfills. The environmental benefits of keeping plastic, metals and other materials out of the ground are many and obvious, including protecting the quality of our groundwater and conserving valuable resources. [A column by Gregg Mitman, interim director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison].