SECTION Vl: ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES

A. Citizens and the Environment

1. It shall be illegal to produce, sell, or use toxic household products or chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
 

2. Every United States citizen shall be encouraged to reduce energy use.
 

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

4. Chemical and hazardous waste shall be properly disposed of at a hazardous waste facility.

B. Business and the Environment

1. Industries shall not pollute the environment—the air, oceans and other waters, or land—with chemicals known to 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 U.S. manufacturers. 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 used to determine whether a chemical is safe, non-toxic, and non-polluting.

3. The government shall be charged with publishing the total amount of toxic waste emitted into the environment and the location of said toxic waste. Local residents shall be notified if toxic waste of more than one-hundred pounds has been emitted into a community’s environment.
Until industries and corporations stop polluting the environment, they must disclose all toxic materials and hazardous waste that they emit into the air, oceans and other waters, and land and publish this disclosure in their annual reports, as well as report the amount and types of 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 immediately and in full, and shall be barred from bidding on government contracts until such cleanup is complete and paid for.

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

6. Unused pharmaceuticals and by-products shall be treated as hazardous waste.

C. The Commons and the Ecosystems

1. Watersheds and air sheds shall be protected, regardless of ownership status.

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, over, or under public lands. Natural resources include but are not limited to fossil fuels, air, minerals, groundwater, natural 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 upon 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, or mountain top removal of resources on public lands.

D. Oceans

1. The U.S. national ocean policy shall focus on prevention of runoff of point and non-point sources of pollution, restoration of fisheries and marine species, and restoration of kelp, sea grass, mangrove, reef, salt marsh and 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 twenty percent of historic levels. Fishing, mining, or extraction of resources shall not be allowed in the 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 whose numbers have decreased to twenty-five 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, marine species, or human health.

7. Ships shall be forbidden from dumping any material into the ocean, including untreated sewage or gray water. Treated sewage and gray water will be allowed providing they have not been treated with toxic substances.

8. Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides from farms, along with chemicals from factories, shall be prohibited from entering the ocean.
 

9. Mining shall be prohibited on the ocean floor and in the oceans. Offshore drilling shall be banned.

10. Cities shall be prohibited from dumping untreated sewage and untreated gray water into the ocean or tributaries. All sewage and gray water shall be processed to standards that do not harm public health or the environment.

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

E. Energy

1. The federal government shall begin immediately, and with all available resources, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by seventy-five percent by 2015 and ninety percent by 2018.

2. The federal government shall undertake a massive project for the development of non-polluting, 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 in homes and other buildings.
 

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

4. The federal government shall establish a carbon tax on non-renewable fuels 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 non-renewable 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 non-renewable fuels.

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

6. Public utilities shall be operated for the benefit of the public and the environment, and shall not be used for profit.

7. Gas mileage and emissions standards in all motorized vehicles must equal the most stringent existing standards worldwide by 2015. Priority shall be given to the development of alternative sources such as electric or compressed air vehicles.
 

8. Government shall mandate stringent energy and fuel efficiency, pollution controls, and noise suppression standards. This mandate shall apply to all electric and combustion 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 offices.

10. Government and industry shall reduce electromagnetic field emissions and radiation by sixty percent by 2015.

11. Conventional light bulbs shall be phased out by 2015.

12. There shall be no new nuclear installations until the problem of nuclear waste disposal has been remedied. Funding that has already been approved for development, research, or new construction shall be reallocated to zero-point energy research.

F. Environmental Law and Policy

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 non-toxic replacements for toxic chemicals.
 

2. The government shall ban all emissions of toxic chemicals into the environment by 2018.

3. No action shall be taken to approve a technology or chemical until it is proven safe. Government representatives shall not knowingly, or through inaction, cause injury to a person or the environment.

4. Products and packaging shall not contain ingredients toxic to humans or the environment. This prohibition includes a ban on any substance known to cause cancer or other disease or disorder, or affects the development of a fetus.
   Until such prohibition is in place, manufacturers shall list, on the package, all ingredients in food, drugs, cosmetics, perfume, and toiletry products that are toxic to humans or animals, in bold, red type. Manufacturers shall list on the package of consumer products the type and weight of toxic substances used in processing and manufacture of the product and the amount of greenhouse gases created.

5. No corporate welfare, tax breaks, depletion allowances, or subsidies in any form (from 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 non-renewable resources, or produces energy from the consumption of non-renewable resources.

6. Products of nanotechnology shall ultimately be banned. At minimum, the government shall conduct research to ensure such products are safe for consumption, are non-toxic, and could not in any way 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.
 

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

8. The federal government shall encourage family planning to address the growing population problem.

9. American corporations operating abroad shall be subject to all U.S. environmental and health regulations, regardless of the location of production and sales.
 

10. The Endangered Species Act shall not be altered in fact, law, or policy to benefit corporations or other institutions at the expense of the natural world. The U.S. has the highest number of endangered and extinct species in the world and shall act so that no additional species becomes endangered or extinct.

G. Sustainability

1. In all of their decisions, federal, state, and local governments shall consider environmental sustainability, including the sustainability of all living 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 new suburban sprawl.

H. Green Building

1. By 2015 all new residential and commercial construction shall meet or exceed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and shall use non-toxic and recycled building materials that are hypoallergenic and comply with standards for low water and energy use.

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

3. Material from all large deconstruction projects shall be recycled. All major construction projects shall use as much recycled material as possible.

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

5. All new construction shall incorporate gray water recycling, purification, and storage systems.