Green Party on Environment Party Platform

Polluters should have burden of proof of safe practices

• Restore state health, safety, and consumer protection laws by striking federal preemptions that weaken state law.
• Preserve and expand product-labeling requirements.
• Repeal the misnamed Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.
• Establish new independent government consumer advocacy agencies to protect the interests of consumers and restore the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs.
• Uphold the precautionary principle, requiring polluters to bear the burden of proof in demonstrating the safety of their practices.
• Expand the application of the precautionary principle from chemicals and health to land use, waste, energy, food policy and local economic development.
• Support, enforce and strengthen the National Environmental Policy Act.

Strengthen Endangered Species & Clean Water Act

The Green Party supports a strengthened and enforceable Endangered Species Act. We support reintroducing native species to areas from which they have been eradicated, eliminating predator control on public lands, and reintroducing native predators where they would contribute to a viable ecosystem. We should educate ourselves about animal behaviors to overcome our culture's irrational fear of wildlife, and learn techniques of co-existence with other species.

Shut down waste incinerators; phase out landfills

Environmental justice: poor suffer more toxins & hazards

Environmental justice is the crossroads of environmental activism and the civil rights movement. It is founded on two fundamental beliefs: that all people have the right to live, work, learn, and play in safe and healthful environments; and that people have the right to influence decisions that affect environmental quality in their communities.

Low-income & minority areas suffer disproportionately

1. Devoting greater efforts to full enforcement and prosecution of environmental crimes.
2. Funding environmental crime units for district attorneys in counties with significant pollution problems.
3. Imposing a moratorium on siting new toxic chemical or waste facilities in those counties with the highest percentage exposure to hazardous substances.
4. Not forcing workers to choose between a hazardous job or no job at all.
5. Preventing low-income or minority communities from being coerced by governmental agencies or corporations into siting hazardous materials, or accepting environmentally hazardous practices in order to create jobs.
6. Preceding the siting of hazardous materials or practices with public hearings, conducted in the language of those community members who will be directly affected.

Human species has no right to exploit animals

• Redirect funds away from animal experiments and towards biomedical research using non-animal procedures such as clinical, epidemiological, and cell culture research.
• Phase-out the use of animals for consumer product testing.
• 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.
• End the abuse of animals, including farm animals, and strengthen our enforcement of existing laws.
• Prohibit large scale commercial breeding facilities, such as “puppy mills,” because of the massive suffering, overpopulation, and ill health such facilities produce.

Sustainable society lives within planet’s resource limits

Human societies must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our planet. We support a sustainable society that utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must have agricultural practices that replenish the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.

Safely dispose of or “unmake” all waste we create

Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counter-balance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.

Our overall goal is not merely to survive, but to share lives that are truly worth living. We believe the quality of our individual lives is enriched by the quality of all of our lives. We encourage everyone to see the dignity and intrinsic worth in all of life, and to take the time to understand and appreciate themselves, their community and the magnificent beauty of this world.

Tax industrial pollution