A lot of us have been riled by the attacks on environmental protection programs at the federal and state levels these past two years. All the letters and phone calls in the world aren't enough to open the muddled minds of some of our elected officials. One remedy is the ballot box.

So who has been naughty and nice at our state capitol? The Decade staff has compiled our environmental voting scorecard, featured in this issue's center spread. I can hear the squawking and braying already from those politicos who don't like what we've chronicled. They hope your ears will fool what your eyes see.

We offer the scorecard as a yardstick for measuring who is worth supporting when you enter the voting booth. It's not really legal in most places to vote early and often, but you can double or triple your vote by talking to some of your friends and persuading them to make the environment a big issue in this fall's election. - Will Fantle