I was born and raised in Idaho and have seen almost no movement on environmental issues here in my lifetime. For those of you in coastal states, big cities and predominantly democratic (blue) states, you may not realize that most republican (red) states like mine are still controlled by the "good old boy" network.

Which means that the pretty much the ONLY way to hold a public office here, especially a federal office like US senator or representative, is with the approval of one of the timber, mining or grazing families like Simplot (which supplies the potatoes for fast food chains and beef for the northwest).

So although I write my elected officials often, I have only seen concern from Mike Simpson and a handful of others. Crapo, Risch and Fulcher are firmly pro-industry and for the most part ignore all environmental concerns.

So it's really up to you in your state to write to your officials, even though Nevada, Utah and Idaho have the most public land in the lower 48 (and many endangered species).

I realize that big cities have their own problems with corruption from democrats, for example with unions or boondoggle construction projects (although I'm not personally familiar with them). But make no mistake that environmental degradation is almost purely a republican problem, and it happens almost entirely at the behest of red states.

And the citizens of red states are almost powerless to do anything about it once the demographics reach about 60/40 red. We have to go to great lengths via groups like the Sierra Club to prevent clearcuts and mass killings of wildlife, and the battle never ends.

Even if you are a conservative living in a blue state, it's up to you to contact your elected officials if you feel any concern at all for the environment.