C. Nuclear Issues

1. We condemn the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) blatant attempt to hijack the term(s) “Green,”, “Green Energy,”, and “Green Power” in reference to nuclear power for the purpose of promoting so-called new, “advanced,” nuclear reactors and relicensing aging conventional reactors under the guise of sustainability. This misinformation depicts nuclear power as carbon free, in denial of the mining, milling, manufacturing, andtransportation of the fuel and with its environmental footprint. We see iIt isas a step in the direction of diverting funding from true renewables and efficiency in order to bolstering the nuclear Nuclear power is not a benign operation that and would never be classified as “clean” or “sustainable” if the truth was being told.

 

E. Zero Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

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A waste-free society is essential to public health and the integrity and sustainability of the biosphere. Natural ecosystems are self-sustaining and generate no waste. We humans are apart of these ecosystems, and while we obtain resources from them, we have a responsibility to return only those things that can be re-absorbed without detriment. Waste is not an inevitable part of production and consumption, as though that’s how it is viewed in the current economic model.

GREEN SOLUTIONS

 

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3. Support and implement the precautionary principle: “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken evenif some cause and effect relationships are not fully rigorously established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden ofproof. The process of applying the precautionary principle must be open, informed, and democratic, and it must include all potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action.“

 

H. Water

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8. Integrate land use with water use for urban planning decisions. Political bodies, such as municipal water authorities, need to be more inclusive in the representation of users, hydrologists, environmental health professionals, and environmental advocates in the region and address the issues affecting the regional supply and demand of the resource,as well as water Presently, the interests and concerns of real estate and otherdevelopersment interests have a disproportionate voice in new allocations.

 

9. Ensure that municipal water and water systems are publicly owned,; publicly sourced from the cleanest natural sources possible,; obtained and discharged without harming thebioregion’s ecosystem,; transported using safe, uncontaminated systems and materials,; and treated using scientific methods to render water uncontaminated and safe to drink without health hazard. Promptly assess and replace lead pipes in the nation’s municipal infrastructure. Comprehensive water testing and analysis that includes a wide range of contaminants and radioactivity

 

should be done throughout the municipality and the results published promptly and publicly. Public health issues should promptly inform and coincide with water testing. Using privatized, bottled water to substitute for a contaminated public water supply isunacceptable. Since water is a human right, all humans within the municipality should have full access to affordable, clean, uncontaminated water from the municipal water system for basic needs at all times and without threat of shut-off.

 

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I. Agriculture

 

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The United States’ industrialized agriculture system is highly destructive of our environment, of our people’s health, and of our society’s future. Unless it changes radically, we face desertification, ecosystem collapse, mass extinctions, and even starvation. Our civilization itselfis threatened by the loss of the ecosystem services on which it depends for its existence. Moreover, agriculture as it is presently practiced in the USA is the high-order term in a majorcontributor to climate change, not only because of the amount of carbon it contributes to theatmosphere, but more importantly because of the vital role it a different kind of agriculture could play in sequestering carbon and restoring a healthy carbon cycle.

 

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The principles of regenerative agriculture are promoted by the United Nations Food andAgriculture Organization (UN FAO) and by an increasing number of academic institutions involved in agricultural and sustainability research. In

 

addition to its positive environmental effects, the adoption of regenerative agriculture throughout the food system will put a stop to unethical confined animal operations, improve the diversityand nutritional content of our food, and help rationalize the pricing and distribution of food.

9. World hunger can best be addressed by food security—being self-sufficient for basic needs. Overpopulation, to the extent this really is a problem, is largely a consequence, not simply a cause, of poverty and environmental destruction, and all remedial actions mustaddress living standards and food security through sustainable production.

 

 

J. Biological Diversity

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Ecological systems are diverse and interlocking, and nature’s survival strategy can best be found in identified through the adaptability that comes as a result of biological diversity. All policies concerning human settlement, food, energy, natural resources, water, coastal development, andindustrialization should be formulated to prevent further disruption of the non-human ecosystems’ and their ability to maintain themselves.

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1. 10. Since We oppose the efforts to clone animals — and eventually humans—which has have been undertaken by profit-making corporations., tThe purpose behind such projects is to manufacture commodities. To classify a human (or any part thereof, including human DNA and body organs) as a commodity is to turn human beings into property.

 

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L. Forestry Practices

 

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Globally, the planet has already lost 50% of our pre-colonial forests and the plant and animal communities they supported. Our rapidly increasing numbers, high-consumption rates, and profit incentives have resulted in massive forest destruction due to logging and development,and the Earth’s remaining rainforests are being destroyed and transformed converted into cattle pastures or mono-crops for bio-fuels production.

 

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In our Eastern woodlands, for example, the normal pre-pollution background mortality rate would be 0.5 to 0.7% per year. That translates to the death of less than one tree out of 100 living treeseach year. Anything over a 2 or 3% mortality rate per year is considered a disaster. Yet, we are now witnessing local tree die-offs of 30 to 40% and even higher!

 

7. Use work projects, goats, and other sustainable methods to control undergrowth rather than spraying herbicides, especially near communitiespopulated areas.

 

IV. Economic Justice & Sustainability

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Greens support strong local economies and regional trade. The best model of economic security is for a community and region to be largely self-sufficient in the production of itsnecessities. We reject support not the corporate control of “free trade”—which, through the machinations of the World Trade Organization places the enrichment of multinational corporations above the level of national laws. Instead we—but support “fair trade,” which protects communities, labor, consumers and the environment. Local economic vibrancy and regional trade keep more money in the community and the region, rather than going to distant corporate headquarters. This is the most sensible model for economic security.

 

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A.   Ecological Economics

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2. . .   .

 

Humanizing economic relations is just one aspect of our broader objective: to shift toward a different way of life characterized by sustainability, regionalization, more harmonious balance between the natural ecosphere and the human-made technosphere, and alongwith a revival of community life. Our perspective is antithetical to both Big Business and Big Government.

3. Greens support a major redesign of commerce. We endorse true-cost pricing. [See section E.1. True Cost Pricing] We support production methods that eliminate Innatural systems, everything is a meal for something else. Everything recycles, there isno waste. We need to mimic natural systems in the way we manufacture and producethings. Consumables need to be designed to be thrown into a compost heap

 

and/or eaten. Durable goods would be designed in closed-loop systems, ultimately to be disassembled and reassembled. Toxics would be safeguarded, minimally produced, secured, and would ideally have markers identifying them in perpetuity along with their makers.

 

 

B.   Measuring Economic Health

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1. Economic growth, as gauged by increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is a dangerous and anachronistic goal. The most viable and sustainable alternative is a steady-state economy. A steady-state economy has a stable or mildly fluctuating product of based on population and per capita consumption. It, and is generally indicated by stableor mildly fluctuating The steady-state economy has become a more appropriate goal than economic growth in the United States and other large, wealthy economiesnations. A steady-state economy precludes ever-expanding production and consumption of goods and services. However, a steady-state economy does not preclude economic development—a qualitative process not gauged by GDP growth and other measures that overlook ecological effects.

 

E.   Fair Taxation

 

Small business, in particular, should not be penalized by a tax system which benefits those who can “work” the legislative tax committees for breaks and subsidies. We support substantive and wide-ranging reform of the tax system that helps create jobs, economic efficiencies, and innovation within the small business community. We will end “corporate welfare.” Smallerbusinesses are one of the U. S. A.’s great strengths. Greens believe government should have a tax policy which encourages small and socially responsible businesses.

 

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Eco-taxes to help save the planet

1. Establish a system of carbon taxes on all fossil fuels, to begin to reflect the real environmental cost of their extraction and use. Carbon taxes should be applied as far upstream as possible, preferably when possession of the carbon-bearing fuel passes from extraction (for example, coal mine, oil wellhead or tanker, gas wellhead) to the next entity in the supply chain (for example, coal shipper or utility, oil refiner or importer, natural gas pipeline). Offset potential regressivity of this kind of carbon tax for lower-income individuals via the Green Tax shift (see point 13 below) that lowers income taxesand/or other

 

2. Enact a “Green Tax Shift” that levies taxes on natural resource extraction, use, waste, and pollution rather than

shifts from taxing people and work (via income and payroll taxes). to taxing natural resource extraction, use, waste and pollution.

3. Enact a system of Community Ground Rent/Land Value Taxation that distinguishesbetween the socially and privately created wealth of in the form of land, by increasing the taxes on the former to retain for society the value that it collectively creates and lowers them on the latter to reward individuals for their initiative and work.
4. To ensure that prices reflect their true environmental cost, enact a system of True Cost Pricing (TCP) for goods and services. TCP is an accounting and pricing system that includes all costs in the price of a product. TCP charges extractive and productive industries for the immediate or prolonged damage (pollution of air, land, and water) and diminishment of natural resources caused by their acts.

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F.   Local Economic Development

 

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Successful local Green communities nurture everyone of all ages, generate

 

good jobs and housing, and provide public services. They; create cities and towns that educateeveryone, encourage recreation, and preserve natural and cultural resources. They also; build local governments that protect people from environmental hazards and crime,; and motivate citizens to participate in making decisions.

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G.   Small Business and the Self-Employed

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3. State and local governments should especially encourage businesses that benefit thecommunity especially. Economic development initiatives should include citizen and community input. The types and sizes of businesses that are given incentives (taxes, loans, bonds, etc.) should be the result of local community participation.

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H.   Work and Job Creation

There is plenty of work to do that does not jeopardize our future, does not widen the gapbetween the richest and the poorest in our society, and that can while enriching our communities. We must encourage the creation of these opportunities. People whose livelihoods depend on supporting remote, multi-national corporations cannot be expected to support changing the system.

 

I.   Banking and Insurance Reform

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12. Prosecute all financial fraud committed by criminal bankers. The Green Party calls for the aggressive investigation and prosecution ofboth individuals and

 

corporate entities that engage in these criminal acts. Present laws shield corporate officers and employees from prosecution. Existing fines resulting from convictions against corporate entities do not provide an adequate deterrent to their abuse of power. Penalties for crimes against ordinaryconsumers should include prison terms for executives and management employees, as well as fines, revocations of charters, and confiscation of corporate and individual assets.

 

13. Home ownership represents the primary method by which many individuals accumulate wealth. If lending institutions are found to have engaged in fraudulent lending or foreclosure practices, then judicial remedies shouldinclude fines and imprisonment, as well as equitable remedies in the form of damages, refinancing, and debt forgiveness for homeowners. Laws should be strengthened to protect consumers against foreclosure on their homes by banks and other lending agencies. Strict laws should be enacted that provide swift criminal prosecution of any lending agency, including executives, management employees, lawyers, and other firms that assist them in fraudulent practices and fraudulent Laws should also be enacted to provide individual homeowners with legal assistance through publicly funded agencies when faced with any potential financial fraud, including foreclosure.

 

14. Access to primary, secondary, post-secondary and vocational education should be a right of all, not a privilege of the wealthy, and certainly not anopportunity for predatory lenders. It’s time to forgive all student and parent loans taken out to finance post-secondary and vocational education. The estimated $40 billion is a fraction of the bailout distributed among thepredatory lenders who created the student debt crisis, and this action would make a material difference for households across the country.

 

15. Public Banking – We support Ppublic Bbanking consistent with the ‘Greening the Dollar’ plank – —

that is, that the power to create money no longer resides with banks, privateor public. We support the expansion of state and municipal public banking based on the model of the Bank of North Dakota, which does not create money when it lends, but lends only funds already deposited with the bank.

 

Broader financial industry reforms

 

 

 

J.   Pension Reform

 

Working people—who own over $3 trillion in pension moneymonies (deferred wages, in effect)—should have financial options in regarding where their money is invested, apart separate fromthe current near-monopoly exerted by a handful of managers, banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds.

Pension funds should not be used for corporate mergers, acquisitions and leveraged buyouts,—corporate decisions that undercut workers’ rights, employment, and retirement while generously rewarding non-productive speculation. The current system has allowed vast amountsof workers’ hard-earned money to be squandered on job-ending, plant-moving, corporate downsizing.

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K.   Anti-Trust Enforcement

 

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3. The Congress must enact its calls for legislation that will increase

 

competitiveness by stopping illegal monopolistic practices.

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L.   Advanced Technology and Defense Conversion

 

The Green Party supports defense technology transfer towards a peacetime technology-basedeconomy., This is especially important for  particularly new industrial applications and developments in the areas of advanced communications, alternative energy, non-toxic batterytechnology, and waste management.