SECTION Vl: ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES

A. Citizens and the Environment
The U.S. government shall encourage organic and environmentally friendly farming and ranching. Genetically modified plants and animals shall be prohibited. All farm chemicals shall be tested. Subsidies or tax breaks shall go to organic and sustainable farm operations and prohibited from going to agribusiness and nonorganic farms or ranches.

1. It shall be illegal to produce, sell or use chemical pesticides, herbicides or fungicides for the home, yard, garden, or toxic household products.

2. Every person in the United States shall act to reduce home and office energy use.

3. It shall be forbidden to dump a toxic chemical into sewers, drains, or toilets, including chemicals meant to unclog drains or toilets, hazardous household products, and pharmaceutical drugs.

B. Business and the Environment
Industries and corporations shall not pollute the environment.

1. Industries shall not pollute the environment - the air, water, oceans, or land - with chemicals that harm people, wildlife, or the environment. If the toxicity or carcinogenicity of a chemical is unknown, the chemical shall be banned until its safety is determined. The government shall collect and make available a list of chemicals produced by manufacturers in this country. The list shall include the chemical, tons produced, and the impact of the chemical on human health and the environment.

2. Research and testing done by the industry or industry-paid consultants shall not be considered in determining whether a chemical is safe, nontoxic, and nonpolluting.

3. The government shall be charged with publishing the total amount of toxic waste emitted into the environment and where the waste has been emitted. The public shall be notified if toxic waste of more than 10,000 pounds has been emitted into a community's environment. Until industries stop polluting the environment, industries and corporations will disclose all toxic materials and hazardous waste they emit into the air, water, oceans, and land and publish this disclosure in their annual reports, as well as report the amount and types of toxic chemicals to the government. There shall be no minimum reporting requirements, as is the case with the current Toxics Release Inventory.

4. The cost for cleanup of any industrial spills or pollution will be borne in full by the industry that caused it, not by the American people. Any corporation or subsidiary thereof judged to be the responsible party for polluting the air, water, or soil shall pay the costs of all outstanding environmental cleanups in full and immediately and shall be barred from bidding on any government contract until such cleanup is complete and paid for.

5. Industry shall be fully liable for the cost of disease, illness, or death caused by its actions, products, or emissions.

6. Unused pharmaceuticals and byproducts shall be treated as hazardous waste.

C. The Commons and the Ecosystems
The Commons and ecosystems shall be managed for the sole benefit of the American people and the environment. The American public shall be reimbursed for use of the Commons or publicly owned ecosystems. In areas of sensitive environmental concern, use of public resources for profit shall be prohibited, as will the use of motorized vehicles.

1. Watersheds and airsheds shall be protected. This protection shall be in effect no matter who owns the land.

2. Corporate use of the commons is a privilege for which the people of the United States shall be reimbursed at fair market value for the resources. The Commons include airwaves and natural resources on or over public lands. Natural resources include but are not limited to oil, gas, air, minerals; groundwater; lakes, streams, rivers and other waterways; trees and forests. Such reimbursement shall reflect the true value of the resource and shall be used to restore the environment and fund a national health program.

3. Any corporation that uses the Commons shall fully mitigate all environmental impacts to the air, water, and land.

4. Mining, logging, and other economic activity that destroys the environment shall be prohibited in national parks and areas of environmental concern.

5. There shall be no clear-cutting of public forests nor mountain-top removal of resources on public lands.

D. Oceans
The United States shall adopt a stringent unified national ocean policy to restore the oceans to vibrancy of habitat, biodiversity, and species.

1. The U.S. national ocean policy shall focus on: prevention of runoff of point and nonpoint sources of pollution; restoration of fisheries and marine species; and restoration of kelp, seagrass, mangrove, reef, salt marsh, coastal communities and environments, and other areas that provide habitat for fish and marine species. The policy will mandate laws to prohibit plastic and trash from flowing into the ocean and address a plan to clean up ocean garbage patches. U.S. policy shall also address dead zones off U.S. coastal areas.

2. By 2012, the federal government shall designate coastal marine sanctuaries wherever fish stocks have plummeted to less than 20 percent of historic levels. Fishing, mining, or extraction of resources shall not be allowed in these sanctuaries.

3. The federal government shall work with fishermen to assure sustainable fisheries and fish populations.

4. The federal government shall ban fishing for any species that is at 25 percent or less of its historic levels.

5. Destructive fishing practices that damage marine habitats or are responsible for significant incidental catch shall be banned. These fishing practices include but are not limited to dragnets, bottom trawling, and long-lines.

6. Fish farms shall be managed so as to have no impact on natural ocean habitat or pose a threat to ocean fish or marine species.

7. Cruise ships shall be forbidden from dumping any material into the ocean, including treated or untreated sewage or gray water.

8. Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides from farms, and chemicals from factories, shall be forbidden from entering the ocean via any tributary.

9. Mining shall be prohibited on the ocean floor or in the oceans.

10. Cities shall be prohibited from dumping treated or untreated sewage or untreated gray water into the ocean. Cities shall develop alternative methods of dumping sewage waste and gray water until gray water attains the purity of unpolluted water.

11. All development along the ocean shall be prohibited within 100 feet of the high water mark.

12. The military shall be prohibited from using sonar or other technologies that disturb marine mammals and disrupt their behaviors.

E. Energy
The federal government shall immediately address the problem of air pollution and climate change gases emanating from the burning of fossil and other fuels by developing a program to replace such sources with renewable energy.

1. The federal government shall immediately and with all available resources reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent by 2012 and 90 percent by 2015.

2. The federal government shall undertake a massive project for the development of nonpolluting, carbon-neutral, and renewable sources of energy, such as solar, wind, and mechanical power. The highest priority shall be placed on developing renewable energy and mechanical sources located on residential homes and other buildings.

3. The project shall also encourage the development of carbon-neutral, renewable energy sources, including fuel sources for automobiles, through tax incentives and subsidies.

4. The development of biofuels shall be discouraged.

5. The federal government will establish a carbon tax on nonrenewable fuels - gas, oil, coal - for any entity, corporation, or person that extracts and sells fuels from the earth. The tax shall be based on the carbon content of the nonrenewable resource. Funds from the tax shall be used to fund research into alternative and sustainable energy development. The tax should be high enough to discourage the extraction of nonrenewable fuels.

6. There shall be no program that mandates carbon credits. Instead, there shall be carbon emission limits placed on all industries.

7. Gas mileage and emissions standards in automobiles and light trucks must equal the most stringent existing standard worldwide or 50 miles per gallon by 2012.

8. Government shall mandate maximum energy and fuel efficiency. This mandate shall apply to all electric and gas appliances, equipment, and devices, including such items as shop vacuums, leaf blowers, jet engines, and marine diesels.

9. By 2012, the government shall mandate that electric filters be placed on all electric appliances, equipment and computers to limit the intrusion and impact of electromagnetic fields into homes and office.

10. Government and industry shall reduce electromagnetic field emissions and radiation by 60 percent by 2012.

11. Conventional light bulbs shall be phased out by 2012.

F. Environmental Law and Policy
The federal government shall create and enforce a body of laws to reduce then eliminate the production, use, and disposal of toxic chemicals. The U.S. shall approve no technology or chemical until it is proven to be safe. In addition, the U.S. shall place a high priority on preserving and restoring environmental resources.

1. The federal government shall develop a program to replace toxic chemicals with substances that have little or no environmental or health impacts. The federal government shall initiate a "green chemistry" program to develop nontoxic replacements for toxic chemicals.

2. The government shall ban all emissions of toxic chemicals into the environment within 10 years.

3. The U.S. Government shall adopt the "Precautionary Principle." No action shall be taken to approve a technology or chemical until it is proven safe.

4. No corporate welfare, tax breaks, depletion allowances, or subsidies from the federal, state, or local governments shall be paid or allowed to any for-profit corporation, business, or industry that produces toxic chemicals, depletes natural resources, engages in the extraction of nonrenewable resources, or produces energy from the consumption of nonrenewable resources.

5. Before releasing nanotechnology products on the market, the government shall conduct research to ensure these items are safe for consumption, nontoxic, and will not endanger people or the environment. The government shall not rely on tests or research conducted by the industry that produces the products, or by industry consultants.

6. No branch or department of government, including the Department of Homeland Security or the military, shall be exempt from any environmental law in the United States.

7. The federal government shall address the growing population problem to help reduce the numbers of people in the United States.

8. American corporations operating abroad shall be subject to all U.S. environmental and health regulations.

9. The Endangered Species Act shall not be altered, in fact, law, or policy, to benefit corporations. The United States has the highest number of endangered and extinct species in the world and shall act so that no other species becomes endangered. No more species shall be allowed to become extinct.

G. Sustainability
Federal, state, and local governments shall plan for the sustainability of the earth and agriculture for generations to come.

1. In all of their decisions, federal, state, and local governments shall consider environmental sustainability and sustainability of all species under their jurisdiction.

2. Federal, state, and local governments shall develop economies that are based on the sustainability of ecosystems.

3. Cities shall not allow land within their borders to be developed into suburban sprawl.

H. Green Building
All new residential and commercial construction shall meet or exceed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards after 2012, shall use nontoxic and recycled building materials, and comply with standards for low-water use.

1. After 2015, all new construction shall be hypoallergenic.

2. Refitting or rehabilitation of any government building will incorporate green building techniques and materials, and alternative energy sources.

3. Material from all large deconstruction projects shall be recycled.

4. All major construction projects shall use as much recycled material as possible.

5. Any traditional construction method that has a demonstrable history and track record shall be permitted for residential and light industrial application. (Examples of traditional methods include cob, straw bale, wattle and daub, rammed earth, adobe, light straw, earth bag, and others.)

6. All new construction shall incorporate grey water recycling, purification and storage systems.