The Green Party is in the process of updating their party platform. You can read and comment on the proposed changes here: http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/comments/?page_id=823
The deadline is NOW! So here’s what I’m submitting. Anybody have suggestions on how to write these words? Please respond with your comments.
You can comment directly to the Green Party California contact coordinating one set of party platform changes ( the document I am commenting on below) here: Marnie Glickman.
What follows are proposed changes to the Green Party platform Chapter 3 on Ecological Wisdom.
I am suggesting the edit below regarding Energy policy. My proposed changes are in large green font.
The idea is to distinguish between conventional fission nuclear power, and, clean fusion power, more specifically, fusion power from heavy hydrogen derived from sea-water, that occurs at room temperatures, and creates no radio-active waste.
Safe fusion power from hydrogen needs to be supported along with all of the renewables.
Whenever we say “nuclear power”, we must make the distinction. One way to do this would be to use the words “conventional nuclear power” when referring to dirty fission nuclear power plants, and use “clean fusion power” when referring to safe, green, power from hydrogen, called LENR low-energy nuclear reactions, CANR chemically assisted nuclear reactions, or simply cold fusion.
We suggest the Green Party say NO to FISSION, and YES to FUSION.
Whatever your political leaning, it makes sense to have everybody clear on the different kinds of nuclear power. I want EVERY POLITICAL PARTY to understand this difference, and support clean, green, cold fusion power. I just happen to be starting with the Greens as they are my registered party.
Now, let’s be clear: party politics are not my thing. It just goes to show how important this particular issue is that I am getting up off my *** to get involved this way.
Help the Greens. Help your third party. If words are magnets, then let’s get the right words attracting clean fusion power, no matter what the political stride.
BEGIN PLATFORM document:
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Section: Introduction to Chapter 3 Ecological Wisdom
The sad truth is that our planet is dying. Human-induced climate change is searing a major ecological crisis across the planet.
Glaciers and polar ice shelves are crumbling. Species are being eradicated at record numbers. The biology of our planet is growing simpler — and poorer. Air pollution kills about two million people prematurely each year. Water supplies are drying up, while water systems are being sold off to big corporations concerned only with their profits. Our weather is growing more violent. Meanwhile, our nation keeps building new coal plants, even though they are the most destructive way to meet our energy needs. And the Obama administration and some Democrats are pushing dangerous new nuclear power plants.
Greens propose a decisive break from this madness. We must save our planet — before it is too late.
Here is our Green vision:
To forestall disaster, we call for an immediate halt in greenhouse gas emissions increases, and reducing these emissions 95% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.
As a nation with less than 5% of the world’s population, we cannot continue to consume 25% of the world’s energy resources.
Greens support a decisive shift away from coal, oil, and [conventional] nuclear power, towards clean and renewable energy such as wind, solar, ocean power, geothermal and small-scale hydropower, and [clean fusion from hydrogen].
We call for extensive energy conservation efforts, to reduce energy consumption by 50% in 20 years.
We call for a massive financial commitment to developing clean renewable energy technologies [and safe, low-temperature fusion derived from seawater].
We call for major federal, state and local government purchases of solar cells on government buildings, to jumpstart the solar market.
Greens are opposed to [conventional] nuclear power. The prospect of a radioactive catastrophe is ever-present, there is no safe way to dispose of the radioactive waste, and it is financially risky and more expensive than other types of energy production.
We call for early retirement of nuclear reactors in less than five years, no new [conventional fission] nuclear plants, and an end to all corporate welfare for the nuclear industry.
We support a ban on new coal-fired power plants, and phasing out of electrical production by the burning of coal.
Much of the solution to climate change is at the local level. We support massive subsidies for expanding mass transit, as well as more bike lanes, bike paths and auto-free zones.
We support major changes in agriculture. We call for a dramatic expansion of organic farming. We want to shift price supports and subsidies away from animal agriculture to plant-based agriculture, small family farms and cooperatives. We also oppose the construction of all new factory farms.
We Greens want environmental justice. That means no new siting of toxic chemical or waste facilities in areas already contaminated.
We must stop polluting so much. Greens support a shift away from the use of toxic chemicals, and towards an industrial system based on clean production.
We want to protect our nation’s beautiful public lands. We call for an end to all commercial timber cutting and clear-cutting on federal and state public lands.
We must make the economy work to save our environment, by establishing true cost pricing for all goods and services.
We must stop trade agreements from crushing our environmental standards and accelerating the destruction of natural resources.
We encourage everyone to spend more time outdoors. When we cultivate our connections with nature, we strengthen our convictions and abilities to defend our skies, oceans, land, and biodiversity.
Chapter 3 Ecological Wisdom
Section: Energy
Section Subtitle: Energy for a safe climate and a cleaner world.
U.S. dependence on and overuse of dirty and dangerous energy sources has generated an unparalleled assault on the global environment and human rights in many nations. In the U.S., low income communities and communities of color bear the greatest burden of health impacts due to exposure to emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants. Native American communities have been devastated by uranium mining, and the poor of Appalachia witness helplessly as their ancient mountains are destroyed for a few years’ worth of coal-fired electricity.
The regional and global peaks in supply of oil, gas, coal and uranium production are driving up costs of conventional fuels, threatening continued wars and social chaos. To avert this we must move beyond the dirty and dangerous energy sources immediately and invest in only the cleanest, most sustainable energy strategies. We can and must strengthen our conservation and energy efficiency standards. Of highest importance is to use less, then to use wisely, and to have clean production of what is used.
GREEN SOLUTIONS
CLEAN RENEWABLES
1. Support public subsidies for clean renewable energy technologies – technologies that do not create pollution in the course of generating electricity. These can include wind, solar (including solar thermal and concentrating solar), ocean power, geothermal, and small-scale hydro, [and low-energy fusion from hydrogen]. Since even clean renewable energy can have negative environmental impacts, care must be taken to minimize such impacts. Clean renewable energy does not include [conventional] nuclear [fission] power, any sort of combustion or process in which by-products are ultimately combusted, or hydroelectric dams that block entire rivers.
2. Federal commitment to the mass-production of cheap, non-toxic solar photovoltaic technology to enable widespread deployment of solar power. To make solar more cost-competitive, we support large-scale government purchases of solar cells for installation on government facilities.
3. We support efforts of individuals and institutions to voluntarily purchase wind and solar power products through tradable renewable energy certificates. However, there are limits to the volunteer, market-based approach to promoting clean energy. Just as we cannot expect that individual purchases of organic food will cause all food production to become organic, we cannot expect that voluntary approaches will be sufficient to fully replace current energy supplies with clean energy. We support net-metering to make decentralized energy production economically viable.
4. We support further research to identify more safe, clean renewables, [cold fusion] and safe energy storage strategies.
END THE USE OF DIRTY AND DANGEROUS ENERGY SOURCES1. Oppose further coal, oil and gas drilling or exploration.
2. Ban the construction of hydroelectric dams.
3. Ban mountaintop removal mining.
4. Stop the development of fuels produced with polluting, energy-intensive processes or from unsustainable or toxic feedstocks, such as genetically-engineered crops, coal and waste streams contaminated with persistent toxics.
5. Support small and community-scale renewable and biofuels fuel production operations or programs that recover otherwise wasted biomass or utilize clean primary energy sources such as wind and solar.
NO [Conventional] NUCLEAR POWER
1. Ban any new construction of nuclear fission power plants.
2. Decommission all existing U.S. nuclear power plants expeditiously
3. Phase out technologies that use or produce nuclear waste, including non-commercial nuclear reactors, reprocessing facilities, nuclear waste incinerators, food irradiators, and all commercial and military uses of depleted uranium.
4. Ban plutonium (MOX) fuel, nuclear fuel reprocessing, uranium enrichment, and the manufacturing of new plutonium pits for a new generation of nuclear weapons.
5. No public subsidies or bailouts for the nuclear [fission] power industry.
CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY
1. Create extensive energy conservation efforts, with a goal of reducing energy consumption by 50% by 2030. (Review amount and time goal)
2. Decentralize electric grids.
3. Authorize tax-exempt bonds to finance public ownership of utilities and to allow publicly owned utilities to finance conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects.
4. Enact smart energy utility regulation for generation, transmission and distribution, not deregulation.
5. Support building codes for new construction that incorporate the best available energy conservation designs. For existing homes and buildings, we support programs to aid in their weatherization and increased energy efficiency.
6. Support research into advanced fuels when the purpose of the research is to develop a fuel that in its full cycle does not create more problems than it solves.
PUBLIC CONTROL AND TRANSPARENCY
1. Support municipal, county-level, and state efforts to regain control over electricity by establishing democratic, public utility systems, to locally coordinate supply and demand and to eliminate energy trading.
2. Provide ratepayers deserve full disclosure of the specific electric generating facilities used to produce their electricity.
