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Posted in environment, Green party | Tagged environment, Green party, international agreement, legal personhood | Leave a comment

Ocean Protection

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Our oceans, with their enormous diversity of life and function, are essential to life on Earth and must be preserved.

Our oceans are threatened by climate change, pollution, whaling, over fishing, factory fishing, bottom trawling, by catch, pirate fishing and fish farming. Simple, strong policy changes can rejuvenate the health of our oceans and planet.

SOLUTIONS

Protect 40% of the world’s oceans as marine preserves, especially near shore coastal habitats. Determine protected zones through a democratic process involving all stakeholders.
Ban offshore oil drilling.
Ban the siting of liquefied natural gas facilities off the U.S. coast.
Phase out use of the once-through cooling process, currently used by power plants, in and near coastal waters.
Require secondary treatment of waste effluent before release.
Ban ocean transportation of nuclear and toxic waste.
Ban sonar testing in the oceans.
Support the ban on international commercial whaling as well as other international efforts to protect endangered marine species.
Ban drift-net fishing and long-line fishing and phase out factory trawling.
Map undersea toxic dump sites, and investigate methods of rendering them harmless.
Ban the importation of fish and fish products caught by drift-nets and other illegal means.
Ban the importation of coral products and the destruction of breakwaters.
Support the Law of the Sea Treaty that establishes the global sharing of ocean resources.
Support complete cleanup of existing and past oil spills. Cost of cleanups and compensation for affected communities should be paid by the corporations responsible for the spills.
Support an international agreement for the full cleanup of all plastic waste currently in our oceans, with a focus on heavily polluted international waters and environmentally sensitive ecosystems in areas like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the Great Barrier Reef.

Source: Green Party

Posted in Green party, Oceans | Tagged diversity, Green party, ocean | Leave a comment

Forestry Practices

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

From oxygen production to water conservation to carbon sinks to stratospheric ozone regulation to medicines and homes for all kinds of creatures, forests are indispensable to human and animal life and must be protected.

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 rain forests are being destroyed and transformed into cattle pastures or mono-crops for bio-fuels production.

The increase in tree die-off in the U.S. and elsewhere in the last few decades is alarming. The causes are multiple: pests, diseases, climate change, acid rain, other forms of pollution, and increased UV radiation due to our thinned ozone layer.

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 one tree out of 100 living trees each 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!

The fact is that the pollution inherent to our industrial production and lifestyles has weakened the resistance of the interconnected ecosystems we call forests. Malnourished due to acid rain’s destruction of their roots, and bombarded by unusually high UV radiation, our forests are falling victim to a host of diseases and pests. Forestry practices such as clearcutting also destroy the mycorrhizal fungi with which trees have a symbiotic relationship, and regeneration is slowed or impossible.

We should call for actions to protect our forests:

Overhaul state and U.S. Forest Service rules to protect our forests and use them wisely.
Review, reform and restructure all federal and state landuse policies so that our practices become environmentally sustainable, and so that forests provide a continuing supply of high quality wood products.
Stop building logging roads in national forests at taxpayers’ expense. These roads not only cost more than the revenue from timber sales that they expedite, but they also contribute to soil erosion and silting of streams, which ruin fish habitats.
Ban the harvest of Ancient Forests.
Ban the export of raw logs and other minimally processed forest products (pulp, chips, carts, slabs, etc.), which causes American job loss.
Offer subsidies to local watershed-based mills. This will maximize employment opportunities through value-added processing, and promote sustainability and worker control.
Use work projects, goats, and other sustainable methods to control undergrowth rather than spraying herbicides, especially near communities.
Grow and use hemp as a plentiful and renewable resource for the manufacture of paper and other forest products.
Protect significant archaeological, historical and cultural sites.
Support the rights of people indigenous to the rainforest, and their ecologically sound use of the forest, such as rubber extraction, nut gathering, and collecting medicinal herbs. End the importation of rainforest beef.
Forgive the debts of Third World countries that need help in halting the destruction of their rain forest lands.
Develop labels that identify ecologically sound forest products. This would help consumers to support ecologically sound forestry.
Protect wildlife habitats, fisheries, biodiversity, scenery, and recreation. We must accept responsibility for the affect local actions have on the global economy and ecology.
Mandate that all U.S. Government offices use 100% post-consumer waste paper processed chlorine free, and that any new fiber necessary to the process come from alternative sources such as hemp or kenaf. Where recycled paper is inappropriate, such as for archival quality paper, high quality fiber such as hemp should be the primary source.
Ban all clearcutting on publicly owned lands and in privately owned “old-growth” forests, and strictly regulate clearcutting in private sector commercial forestry.

Source: Green Party

Posted in forest, Green party | Tagged Biological Diversity, forest, forestry, Green party, habitats, hemp, rainforest, sustainable, watershed, wildlife | Leave a comment

Ethical Treatment Of Animals

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Cruelty to animals is repugnant and criminal. The mark of a humane and civilized society lies in how we treat the least protected among us. To extend rights to other sentient, living beings is our responsibility and a mark of our place among all of creation. We call for an intelligent, compassionate approach to the treatment of animals.

We reject the belief that our species is the center of creation, and that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment. Our species does not have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other creatures simply because we have the desire and power to do so. Our ethic upholds not only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of individual animals.

We should advocate the humane treatment of animals with the following policies:

Redirect the funds that are disbursed annually by the National Institutes of Health away from animal experiments and more towards direct health care, preventive medicine, and biomedical research using non-animal procedures such as clinical, epidemiological, and cell culture research. Expand the Animal Welfare Act to include rats, mice, and birds.
Phase out the use of animals for consumer product testing, tobacco and alcohol testing, psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and dissections, weapons development and other military programs.
Mandate clear labeling of products to tell whether or not they have been tested on animals and if they contain any animal products or by-products.
Establish procedures to develop greater public scrutiny of all animal research. These should include the welfare of laboratory animals, and a halt to wasteful public funding of unnecessary research such as duplicative experiments.
End the abuse of animals, including farm animals, and strengthen our enforcement of existing laws.
Ban the use of goods produced from exotic or endangered animals.
Prohibit large scale commercial breeding facilities, such as “puppy mills,” because of the massive suffering, overpopulation, and ill health such facilities produce.
Subsidize spay and neuter clinics to combat the ever-worsening pet overpopulation problem that results in the killing of millions of animals every year. Where unwanted companion animals are being killed in shelters, we advocate mandatory spay and neuter laws.
Ban the exploitation of animals in violent entertainment and sports.
Oppose captivity of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) for entertainment and/or commercial profit. End the capture and exploitation of cetaceans for entertainment purposes in marine parks and aquariums and captive breeding programs to maintain entertainment stock. Support funding for the development of sanctuaries for cetaceans which may be transitional or permanent depending on the evaluation of the cetaceans involved. *
Encourage a plant-based diet to reduce methane gas emissions that contribute to climate change, reduce animal suffering, reduce animal waste runoff in waterways, reduce animal consumption of grain that could feed the impoverished, and for improved health, among other reasons.

Source: Green Party

* I waver partially here. If done in a humane ethical manner, I do believe public exhibits of wildlife serve an important function in making the public aware, have empathy and be appreciative of wildlife and their habitat. Are we sacrificing the freedom of individuals to better protect their species in the wild. MEK

Posted in animals, Ethical Treatment Of Animals, Green party | Tagged animals, cetaceans, ethical treeatment, farm animals, Green party, humane animal treatment, wildlife | Leave a comment

Water

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Water is essential to all forms of life. We should call for an international declaration that water belongs to the Earth and all of its species. Water is a basic human right! The U.S. Government must lead the way in declaring water a fundamental human right and prevent efforts to privatize, export, and sell for profit a substance that is essential to all life.

We face a worldwide water crisis. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. If current trends persist, by 2025 as much as two-thirds of the world’s population will be living with a serious scarcity of water. Multinational corporations recognize these trends and are moving fast to monopolize water supplies around the world. They argue that privatizing water is the best way to allocate this valuable resource, and they are scheming to have water declared a human need so that it can be commodified and sold on the open market ensuring that the allocation of water will be based on principles of scarcity and profit maximization.

We do not agree. With water sold to the highest bidder, the rich will have plenty while the poor will be left with little but polluted water. Short-term profits will preclude any concern for long term sustainability. We must stop this privatization before the infrastructures become so established that it will be impossible to avoid a disaster of epic proportions.

Governments are signing away their control over their domestic water supplies by participating in trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and in institutions such as the World Trade Organization. The World Bank recently adopted a policy of water privatization and full-cost water pricing.

We need strong national and international laws to promote conservation, reclaim polluted water systems, develop water-supply restrictions, ban toxic and pesticide dumping, control or ban corporate farming, and bring the rule of law to transnational corporations that pollute water systems. Mining and depleting the present underground aquifers must be severely restricted. Implement strong laws to promote conservation, reclaim polluted water systems, develop water-supply restrictions, ban toxics and pesticide dumping, control corporate farming, and bring the rule of law to trans-state and trans-national operations that pollute water systems
We should oppose the privatization of water and demand that the U.S. government pass strong laws with effective enforcement mechanisms to assure a safe and adequate supply of water for its citizens and all life within its borders.
Decisions about water must be based on an ecosystems approach. Use an ecosystems/watershed approach to ensure responsible water use. All stakeholders need to participate in the planning. Environmental justice, ecological impact, and depletion of groundwater supplies need to be integrated with the ongoing process for approval of new withdrawalsCycles of intense drought and flooding have demonstrated the need to reorient our priorities in order to achieve a truly sustainable water policy. Over-development and poor planning have resulted in increasing rain-impermeable areas, which compounds the severity and frequency of flooding and pollution in regions downstream. We must begin to understand and apply a holistic watershed approach to managing our water resources. The principle of bioregionalism (living within the means of a region’s natural resources) should give direction to future water policies.
Conservation must be an essential part of any water policy. Water conservation also reduces energy consumption and pollution. To conserve water, the we should propose to:
1. Mandate water efficient appliances and fixtures be used in all new construction, and promote retrofitting of older buildings.
2. Promote native landscaping and other drought resistant/ climate-appropriate plants, in order to reduce the need for irrigation.
3. Promote drip irrigation systems where irrigation is necessary.
4. Eliminate storm water pollution of our water resources through education of our citizens, enforcement of our laws, and holistic watershed management.
5. Promote storm water technologies that detain, treat, filtrate, and use storm waters near where it is collected.
6. Promote the appropriate reuse of the “gray” and “black” waters we produce. Use separation techniques, such as dual piping systems where pure water is used for drinking and washing, and reclaimed water is used for lawn watering and similar purposes.
7. Mandate pre-treatment of industrial wastes to eliminate the presence of metals, solvents, and other toxins in sewer water. This would reduce the cost of municipal treatment and encourage wastewater reuse.
8. Promote and maintain passive and natural systems (such as wetlands) for water and wastewater treatment where appropriate, and enforce regulations against dumping of pollutants through regional Water Quality Control Boards.
9. Eliminate water subsidies for corporate agribusiness. Higher water prices give agribusiness incentives to conserve.
10. Assist community organizations to monitor the use of local resources, and to oversee the enforcement of water quality regulations. Preserve and restore the nation’s natural water features (streams, rivers, lakes, bays, wetlands and groundwater aquifers) that are vital to achieving sustainable use of water resources.
Set health and sustainability water quality guidelines for drinking water supported by the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Regulations are needed or need improvement, for example, for arsenic, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fluoridation chemical species such as fluoride and fluorosilicate, water disinfection-by-products, environmental estrogens, and pharmaceuticals (medicines).
Achieve a truly sustainable water policy in the light of climate change considering, for example, snow packs, aquifer recharge, rising sea levels, and available water supplies.
Oppose the disproportional political influences of the petroleum, corporate agriculture, mining, timber, real estate and development industries, while working to support family farms, open space, the protection of water quality in our rivers, conservation of watersheds, and the sustainable use and preservation of healthy forest.
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 quality. Presently, the interests and concerns of real estate and development interests have a disproportionate voice in new allocations.
Ensure that municipal water and water systems are publicly owned, publicly sourced from the cleanest natural sources possible, obtained and discharged without harming the bioregion’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 is unacceptable. 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.
It is imperative that we protect the waters and shorelines of the Great Lakes, and we should strongly urge the following actions:
1. Allocate funds to help upgrade and phase out aging municipal sewage systems and treatment plants, have mandatory inspections, and allow for composting and greywater system alternatives to septic systems.
2. Prohibit municipalities from dumping sewage into the Great Lakes with a “zero discharge” mandate.
3. Set clear and enforceable deadlines and standards for reducing nutrient runoff from agricultural lands.
4. Devise and implement a plan to stop the release of flame retardants and other toxins into the Great Lakes without further delay.
5. Immediately decommission and shut down the aging Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac as it poses an unacceptable risk to the waters of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
6. Prevent the opening of a new sulfide mining district in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula to protect the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior from the inevitable pollution that would be caused by acid mine drainage from such mining.
7. Require ocean-going freighters to filter or treat their ballast water to meet high environmentally protective standards.
8. Close the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
9. Stop the dumping of toxins by petroleum refineries into the Great Lakes by making it unlawful. Such dumping is currently allowed and administered by the EPA through the purchase of permits or licenses.
10. Have the Federal government buy and protect more undeveloped areas of Great Lakes coastlines by designating them as National Lakeshores.
11. Encourage the planting of buffer strips of vegetation to act as natural filters of toxins and contaminants, prevent erosion, and provide species habitat between waterways and developed land.

Source: Green Party

Water Actions

Posted in Green party, water | Tagged Conservation, ecosystems, Green party, privatization, water | Leave a comment

Land Use

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Land use policies must promote sustainable development and respect ecology.

Unlimited growth on a finite planet cannot be sustained.

There is a fundamental difference between growth and development and between quantity and quality. Rather than exploiting the Earth for short-term gain, We should believe in living in sustainable balance with it. Land use practices must be founded on stewardship of the Earth, to honor the interconnected and interdependent nature of all life, to respect ecosystems and other species, while at the same time providing for human needs in a responsible and sustainable way.

Only an economics that is based upon environmental health is sustainable.

SOLUTIONS

Land ownership and property rights

Insist that every property right has an implied responsibility to provide for the common good of people, places and the planet.
Encourage the formation and operation of cooperatives, non-profits, land trusts, co-housing, and other forms of communal and public interest management of land and resources.

Urban land use
Promote livable urban environments to minimize urban sprawl. Promote urban infill with affordable housing, mass transit, schools, jobs, health care, public spaces, bicycle and walking paths, community gardens, open spaces, parks, playgrounds, and urban growth boundaries.
Green our cities with green belts, energy-efficient infill, distributed solar and wind generation, gray water systems, under grounding of wires and pipelines, redevelopment of brown fields, closed loop, energy-producing sewage systems, watershed protection and urban agriculture.
Restore damaged urban ecosystems.
Consider the carrying capacities of the bioregions in which our cities are located and attempt to match urban populations to these natural limitations.
Support environmental justice policies that give communities a voice in planning future development with the goal of preventing concentration of polluting industries and practices in poor and/or minority communities.

Rural land use
Preserve and expand rural land use patterns that promote open space, healthy ecosystems, wildlife corridors and the ecologically sustainable agriculture. Protect and expand large continuous tracts of public and private land for wildlife habitat and biological diversity, to permit healthy, self-managing wildlife populations to exist in a natural state, and to promote complete ecosystems.
Promote livable rural communities to minimize urban migration.
Transition rural communities into sustainable relationships with ranching, agriculture, forestry and mining.
Reward farmers and ranchers for the ecosystem services they provide on private and public lands. Favor policies that promote mall-scale farmers and ranchers over large-scale corporate agriculture and ranching.

Public Lands
Repeal the General Mining Law of 1872.
Enact mining reforms to better balance mining with other important public land uses; provide a fair financial return to taxpayers for resources extracted, and create a fund for clean up of abandoned mines. Enact tough new environmental safeguards to protect against mining pollution, including strict curbs on mercury emissions from metal mines.
Eliminate public subsidies for livestock grazing on public lands. Raise grazing fees on public land to approximate fair market value.
Oppose the sale of any portion our national parks, forests or coastlines. Fund and maintain public lands in a healthy and productive state. Oppose commercial privatization of the management of these lands.
Ensure public ownership of natural resources located on public lands. Halt federal mineral, oil and gas, and resource giveaways, “royalty holidays,” and flagrant concessions to the mining, energy and timber industries on public lands.
Restore and remediate damaged ecosystems on public lands.
Protect old growth forests, ban clear cutting and ban industrial timber harvest on public lands. Minimize road building on public lands.
Ban indiscriminate wildlife “damage control practices” and abolish Wildlife Services.

Source: Green Party

Posted in Green party, Land Use | Tagged Green party, Land Use, private land, property rights, public lands, rural, urban | Leave a comment

Clean Air and Ozone Depletion

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

The strict, comprehensive protections of the Clean Air Act must be maintained and enhanced if we are to keep in place effective federal programs that deal with urban smog, toxic air pollution, acid rain, and ozone depletion. State and local clean air initiatives should advance and improve national efforts; for example, moving forward with stricter clean air and fuel efficiency standards, and with vehicle and fleet conversions.

We should recognize the positive contributions for controlling ozone-destroying substances that have been made by the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and subsequent amendments thereto. Problems still exist, however. Some of the chemical replacements for CFCs also damage the ozone layer or are potent greenhouse gases. These include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Very Short-Lived Substances (VSLS) such as dichloromethane and other chlorine gases.

We should support further research on the damaging effects of VSLS on the ozone layer and finding replacements for those causing destruction of ozone, and immediately phasing out their use. We call for updated amendments to the Montreal Protocol to keep it consistent with current scientific findings regarding threats to the ozone layer.

Source: Green Party

Climate Change

Posted in Clean Air Act, Green party | Tagged clean air, Clean Air Act, Green party, ozone, ozone depletion | Leave a comment

Zero Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

OUR POSITION

We should shift our nation toward clean production and principles of zero waste.

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 a part 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 it is viewed in the current economic model.

SOLUTIONS

Phase out all avoidable production and sale of toxic metals, persistent organic pollutants, persistent bio-accumulative toxins, synthetic petrochemicals, and halogenated chemicals. Replace them with non-toxic alternatives.
Make manufacturers responsible for the full life cycle of their products by requiring them to take back used products and packaging for remanufacturing, reuse, or recycling.
Support and implement the precautionary principle: “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the precautionary principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action.”
Strengthen right-to-know laws so that everyone can discover what toxic or potentially toxic chemicals are used and released in their communities, and in products that they might purchase or use.
Hold corporations strictly liable for the consequences of the pollution they produce. We support the Citizens’ Platform on Superfund, as adopted at the 1995 Comunities At Risk Superfund Summit in Washington, DC. End the use of incineration as a cleanup technology, and ensure that “cleanups” don’t simply relocate toxins to chemical waste dumps in poor communities of color.
Shut down existing waste incinerators, impose a moratorium on new waste incinerators, and phase out landfills. For all possible waste streams, we support the following strategies (in order of priority) as alternatives to incineration and landfills: (a) toxics use reduction; (b) source reduction, reuse, clean recycling or composting /digestion; or (c) neutralization, sterilization or detoxification methods where applicable.
Do not deregulate wastes containing toxic or radioactive contaminants significantly above background levels. They should not be allowed to be used in “beneficial use” schemes as fertilizer, “co-products,” or fuels; or by “recycling” them into consumer products (including construction materials) or disposing of them as municipal waste.
Do not export, under any circumstances, chemicals that are prohibited in the United States. We oppose shipping of toxic, hazardous, or radioactive wastes across national borders, and the shipment of such wastes without strict regulation across any political borders. Waste should not be considered a tradable commodity under the Interstate Commerce Clause.
Safe, secure, above ground storage for existing nuclear waste. We oppose exporting nuclear waste to other nations.
Strict regulation of radioactive materials and wastes and prohibiting such wastes to be recycled into consumer products and to enter municipal waste landfills and incinerators.
Close, clean up and remediate at national labs devoted to nuclear energy and weapons development and operations at the Department of Energy’s nuclear production sites.
Clean up depleted uranium contamination from testing ranges and battlefields, and provide generously compensate veterans and civilians who have been sickened by depleted uranium exposure.
Require independent, transparent radiation monitoring at all nuclear facilities.
Substitute chemical safety testing on animals with alternatives that do not use animals, wherever such alternative tests or testing strategies are available.

Source: Green Party

Posted in Green party, zero waste | Tagged Green party, recycling, reduce, reuse, zero waste | Leave a comment

Transportation

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Let us support a transportation policy that emphasizes the use of mass transit and alternatives to the automobile and truck for transport. We call for major public investment in mass transportation, so that such systems are cheap or free to the public and are safe, accessible, and easily understandable to first-time users. We need ecologically sound forms of transportation that minimize pollution and maximize efficiency.

Surfaces impermeable to rainwater, polluted storm run-off; paved over or polluted wetlands, the heat island effect, air pollution, and acid rain are all directly related to a transportation system run amuck.

Massive subsidies to the auto and fossil fuel industries, as well as an unworkable approach by urban planners, maintain the auto’s dominance of our cityscapes. The present-day approach of upgrading streets to accommodate increased traffic generates new traffic because access is now easier, and people will now take jobs further from their homes or purchase homes further from their jobs. Some people shift from public transit to private cars due to the trip time in cars being shorter. As patronage for public transit decreases, public transit loses funding, becomes less viable, and service deteriorates thus encouraging even more people to use their cars.

To counteract these trends and reduce auto use, We should advocate the following strategies:

1. Pedestrians and Bicyclists

Make streets, neighborhoods and commercial districts more pedestrian friendly.
Increase the greenery of streets.
Utilize traffic-calming methods, where the design of streets promotes safe speeds and safe interaction with pedestrians. Create auto-free zones.
Develop extensive networks of bikeways, bicycle lanes and paths. Include bike racks on all public transit.
Maintain free community bicycle fleets, and provide necessary support for cyclists.

2. Mass Transit

Redirect resources that currently go to enhancing auto capacity into expanding human-scale transit options.
Develop affordable mass transit systems that are more economical to use than private vehicles.
Encourage employer subsidies of transit commuter tickets for employees, funded by government Congestion Management grants.
Use existing auto infrastructure for transit expansion where possible. Light rail could be established in expressway medians through metropolitan high-density corridors.
Include land use decisions in transportation issues, with consideration of the need for mass transit to have a market and be viable, and with attention paid to crosscommuting the practice of people commuting to a place where they could and should live.
Expand our country’s network of rail lines, including high-speed regional passenger service.
Transfer ownership and operation of all intercity railroad trackage currently under control of freight railroads to responsible and adequately funded public agencies, as is done with highways, to provide for efficiency and safety of all rail traffic.

3. Motor Vehicles

Place a moratorium on highway widening, appropriating funds instead for mass transit and facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Mandate HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on freeways, and lower tolls for carpools.
Discourage unnecessary auto use by eliminating free parking in non-residential areas well served by mass transit, and establish preferential parking rates for HOV.
Regularly increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to levels which truly challenge automakers to improve the state of the art, using the fuel economy performance of vehicles worldwide for reference. Eliminate the distinction between cars and light trucks, the footprint loophole, the E85 loophole and the 8500-pound exemption. Eliminate the perverse incentives for alternative fuels that increase the nation’s petroleum consumption. Enact a Fee & Dividend system on the carbon content of gasoline, Diesel fuel and E85.
Enact a fuel-economy-based Federal sales tax that creates a significant incentive for people to select more efficient vehicles, and for automakers to make them available in the United States.
Lead by example, using government procurement to put more high-efficiency and alternative-fuel vehicles into service.
Electrify truck stops, freight terminals and loading docks. Enact and enforce anti-idling regulations. Idling engines consume nearly a billion gallons of gasoline and Diesel fuel and emit ten million tons of carbon dioxide annually (2007 data).
Encourage carpooling programs, telecommuting, and other creative solutions to reduce commuter traffic congestion.
Remove the most-polluting vehicles from the road by requiring every vehicle to comply with the emission standards in effect when it was manufactured before issuing or renewing its license.

4. Air Travel

Make airports accessible by local transit systems.
Legislate further incremental reductions in airplane noise and air pollution.
Emphasize the use of light and heavy rail for freight transportation.

5. Freight

We call for incentives to get long-distance truck hauling off of our highways and on to railways. We favor the removal of any administrative impediments to efficient long-haul freight transport by rail. Time is lost when switching goods from one railroad to another, even when the trains are the same size and gauge, and this waste can be eliminated.

Source: Green Party

Posted in Green party, mass transit, transportation | Tagged air travel, bicyclists, freight, Green party, mass transit, motor Vehicles, pedestrian, transportation | Leave a comment

Nuclear Issues

Posted on November 27, 2020 by mekorganic

Recognize that there is no such thing as nuclear waste “disposal.” All six of the “low-level” nuclear waste dumps in the United States have leaked. There are no technological quick fixes that can effectively isolate nuclear waste from the biosphere for the duration of its hazardous life. Therefore, it is essential that generation of additional nuclear wastes be stopped.
Call for the early retirement of nuclear power reactors as soon as possible (in no more than five years), and for a phase-out of other technologies that use or produce nuclear waste. These technologies include non-commercial nuclear reactors, reprocessing facilities, nuclear waste incinerators, food irradiators, and all commercial and military uses of depleted uranium.
Current methods of underground storage are a danger to present and future generations. Any nuclear waste management strategy must be based on waste containers being stored above ground and continuously monitored, and the containers must be retrievable and capable of being repackaged. All such strategies must also minimize the transportation of wastes.
Strongly opposes any shipment of high-level nuclear waste across the U.S. to the proposed Nevada waste repository at Yucca Mountain, or any other centralized facility. The Green Party believes that this proposal is part of a move to re-fire a fast-track, commercial nuclear industry by providing a means for “safe disposal.” We deny there is such a thing as safe disposal of nuclear waste.

We propose making spent reactor fuel and other high level wastes safer by vitrification at the site where it is produced or now stored.
We call for cancellation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the nation’s first weapons complex nuclear dump in southern New Mexico.
We call for independent, public-access radiation monitoring at all nuclear facilities
.
We support applicable environmental impact statements (EIS) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis with citizen participation at all nuclear sites.
We support an immediate and intensive campaign to educate the public about nuclear problems, including disposal, cleanup, and long-term dangers.
We oppose the export of nuclear technologies or their wastes to other nations.
We oppose public subsidies for nuclear power, including Price-Anderson insurance caps and stranded cost recovery bailouts. We oppose federal loan guarantees to enable the construction of a new generation of nuclear reactors.
We oppose the development and use of new nuclear reactors, plutonium (MOX) fuel, nuclear fuel reprocessing, nuclear fusion, uranium enrichment, and the manufacturing of new plutonium pits for a new generation of nuclear weapons.
We oppose the deregulation of radioactive materials and wastes, which is allowing such wastes to be recycled into consumer products and to enter municipal waste landfills and incinerators. We call for the strict regulation, tracking, monitoring, and recapturing of radioactive materials and wastes.
We call on the military to clean up depleted uranium contamination from testing ranges and battlefields and to fully compensate exposed veterans and civilians who have been affected by depleted uranium exposure in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Source: Green Party