Students at East Tech in Las Vegas made hundreds of “Clean Air” Valentine’s for Nevada’s Senators!

It’s definitely true that those working for the conservation movement, or for progressive public policy generally, can sometimes be a bit… wonkish? Obsessed? Even, dare we say it, humorless?

Fortunately, that doesn’t apply to the good volunteers and staff at the Nevada Conservation League Education Fund! We enjoy holidays as much as the next person. We just have our own take on such events as Valentine’s Day. Usually, Valentine’s Day means delivering some chocolates or flowers and a card to your sweetheart.

For us, it meant delivering hundreds of cards to Nevada’s two federal senators, and using the day to demonstrate the huge difference between the two. Nevada’s junior Senator, Dean Heller, had a terrible record on conservation and environmental issues as a back-bencher in the House of Representatives, and upon his appointment to the Senate last year, he’s continued to side with Big Oil and other polluters, even at the cost of our country’s clean air.

With legislation pending that defunds and ultimately eliminates community safeguards developed by the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency (because clearly, clean air and water laws led to the deregulated mortgage meltdown and economic collapse, we say sarcastically), we dropped off Valentine’s hand-made by families and high-school students with a stake in protecting and preserving clean air for everyone.

On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been incredibly important in preserving those same laws and agencies that the polluters are trying to kill. Senator Reid gets it, and we were pleased to deliver sincere “thank you” cards to his office.

You can read a bit more about our effort here at The Nevada View.