The local group organizing against the proposed 5,000 cow farm has a website, here, and online petition, here.

A group of citizens opposed to the controversial 5,000-cow factory farm (called the Richfield Dairy) gained significant strength over the July 4th weekend following efforts to share information and to draw attention to the proposed CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). Many families living within just a few miles were unaware of this proposed dairy until this grassroots effort began just a few weeks ago.

Just one week after the Swiss government announced plans to phase out the use of nuclear power, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her own nuclear "exit strategy," with a plan to shut down all of Germany's nuclear plants by 2022. Merkel's shift was especially dramatic, given that she had been promoting nuclear plants as a safe "bridge" to renewable energy less than a year ago. The change comes less than a week after thousands of people across Germany took part in protests against nuclear power. The previous pro-nuclear stance taken by Merkel's Christian Democratic Party was also blamed for the party's poor showing in recent elections.

"Nuclear power is not only unnecessary, it is among the costliest and potentially the most dangerous ways to produce electricity," writes John Kinsman, a Wisconsin farmer and the president of Family Farm Defenders, a WNPJ member group.  "Besides the brave Japanese workers who are sacrificing themselves in the battle to stop this meltdown, who is next to suffer from the inevitable nuclear accidents? Why, of course, farmers, fishers, gardeners and consumers who have to dump milk, destroy animals and bury produce that has been contaminated by fallout," adds Kinsman, in a Capital Times op/ed.