Dear John,

Yesterday's United Nations report warns our window of opportunity to address climate change is closing quickly. Global food supplies are at serious risk. Climate change is bringing extreme flooding and severe droughts that are shrinking our farmland at alarming rates.

In the Midwest, we saw the impact of climate change first hand when extreme flooding delayed farmers from planting their crops this spring. We must act now, before it's too late.

There isn’t one solution to address the impacts of climate change; there are many. That’s why ELPC combats climate change on multiple fronts.

Here are a few of the key issues ELPC is working on:
 

1. Slowing climate change by reducing carbon pollution.

• ELPC works to accelerate renewable energy. ELPC has achieved a number of strategic policy victories that will speed up the transition to cleaner, healthier and more affordable energy future in the Midwest.
• ELPC fights to make sure polluters are held responsible. For example, this summer Illinois passed an ELPC-backed law that prevents coal ash pollution, and requires polluters, not the taxpayers, to pay for the cleanup of coal ash pits.

2. Protecting the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes may be the Midwest’s most precious resource. They represent 90% of the U.S’s fresh water supply and 20% of the world’s.

• ELPC fights for funding to protecting to protect the Great Lakes.
• ELPC commissioned leading scientists to prepare a report on the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes and we developed a comprehensive set of policies strategies to address these problems.
• ELPC is working to limit the agricultural runoff polluting the Lakes and causing toxic algae blooms that poison drinking water.

3. Preserving the Midwest’s natural resources. ELPC helps protect the biodiversity and vital natural resource of the Midwest by protecting threatened areas.  

• ELPC is challenging a proposed 120-mile high-voltage transmission line which would cut a huge swath through the heart of the ecologically rich and scenic Driftless area.

ELPC has been protecting the Midwest for 26 years, please donate today and help us continue this critical work.
 

Your gift today will go twice as far thanks to The Manaaki Foundation. Gifts made by Aug. 15 will be matched dollar for dollar!
 
Thanks for your support!


Mary Frances O’Connor
Chief Development Officer
312-795-3723
 



P.S. Your gift is tax-deductible. If your employer matches gifts to charitable organizations, please list Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, EIN 36-3866530.