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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	670
Proposal	2012 Platform amendment proposal: Washington - Clean Air
Presenter	Green Party of Washington State - Platform Committee
Floor Manager	Budd Dickinson
Phase	Closed
Discussion	05/14/2012 - 05/27/2012
Voting	05/28/2012 - 06/03/2012
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	31 0.6666
Consens Quorum	39 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

The purpose of this amendment is to delete material which is a duplication of the Climate Change section (III.A.) and was not removed in the 2010 revision. Also change the section title to Clean Air & Ozone Depletion.

Modified 5/22 to clarify Chloro-fluorocarbons position.

Proposal

Delete text under III.F. except the first 2 paragraphs and change the section title to Clean Air & Ozone Depletion. (original and new text below)

Original text:
III. Ecological Sustainability

F. Clean Air/Greenhouse Effect/Ozone Depletion

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 air initiatives should advance and improve national efforts. For example, we would move forward with stricter clean air and fuel efficiency standards, and with vehicle and fleet conversions.

Earth's atmosphere is in great danger due to man-made chemicals and hydrocarbon emissions. Chloro-fluorocarbons, hydrochloro-fluorocarbons, and other related ozone-depleting substances should be banned as soon as is possible.

The Green Party urges the U.S. Congress to act immediately to address the critical global warming and climate change issues. When the U.S. Senate voted 95-to-0 to oppose any global warming treaty that does not also bind developing countries to specific, if smaller, carbon emissions reductions in the future, which many industrializing countries oppose, it put a roadblock in the way of progress by all nations.

With only 4% of the earth's people, the United States produces more than 20% of carbon emissions. From 1990 to 1996, total U.S. emissions grew by an amount equal to what Brazil and Indonesia produce every year. Per capita, the United States emits 85% more than Germany, twice as much as England and Japan, and currently nearly 10-times as much as China.

Climate change presents very real economic and social opportunities for new and sustainable jobs from new energy technologies, including both energy efficiency and renewables. Yet, too often, the focus of debate has been only on the pain of adjustment to carbon reductions, This is because of the influence of multinational business on government policies.

We must implement the following policies if we are to make a start on protecting our global climate:

a.. An early target must be set to prevent emissions from rising so far that future reductions become even more difficult.

b.. Avoiding loopholes is even more important now than an ambitious target. Unless a very ambitious target is set, which now seems unlikely, allowing sinks and trading within the protocol will create such loopholes that no real reductions will occur. Trading and sinks must be left until there is much more scientific precision in how they are measured.

c.. Targets are not enough without credible policies and measures to achieve them. We urge all governments to table a list of the policies and measures they intend to adopt to attain their target, for example eco-taxes and energy performance standards.

d.. Nuclear power is not an acceptable alternative to fossil energy. We should not accept country commitments that depend on increasing nuclear capability. We must join the solar age.

e.. We endorse the Contraction and Convergence model under discussion at international talks (which as proposed would eventually give every human being an equal right to the atmosphere) as the most practical way to achieve justice and participation for developing countries.

f.. As a nation, we must implement public and private initiatives at every level to support the Global Climate Treaty signed at the Earth Summit in 1992, committing industrial nations within a time framework to reducing emissions to 1990 level.

g.. The most authoritative assessment to date concludes that a worldwide carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 50-70 percent is necessary to contain climate change. The Kyoto Climate Protocol in 1998 falls far short, calling for only a five percent reduction. Nonetheless, the agreement is an important first step that all parties - especially the U.S. - should ratify as soon as possible.

h.. We must drastically reduce, then eliminate, the use of fossil fuels. We must use energy more efficiently, and from clean, renewable sources. We must preserve the many valuable natural services including climactic stability provided by intact ecosystems.

i.. If we fail to summon the political will now to make these investments, the costs of climatic disruptions will almost certainly force us to make them later at a greater expense. Greenhouse gases and the threat of global warming must be addressed by the international community in concert, through international treaties and conventions, with the industrial nations at the forefront of this vital effort.

New text:

III. Ecological Sustainability

F. Clean Air/Ozone Depletion

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 air initiatives should advance and improve national efforts. For example, we would move forward with stricter clean air and fuel efficiency standards, and with vehicle and fleet conversions.

Earth's atmosphere is in great danger due to man-made chemicals and hydrocarbon emissions. All remaining production of Chloro-fluorocarbons, hydrochloro-fluorocarbons, and other related ozone-depleting substances should be banned as soon as is possible.

Resources

IMPLEMENTATION / TIMELINE / RESOURCESā€Ø
Approval of this proposal will amend the 2012 Draft Platform, to be presented for approval at the 2012 Presidential Nominating Convention.

References

2010 Platform: http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2010/index.phpā€Ø
Proposition 636: http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=636

CONTACT

Platform Committeeā€ØJan Martell, co-chair, 919-682-2472, ninth.st@frontier.comā€Ø
Bruce Hinkforth, co-chair, 262-569-1370, bhinkforth@milwpc.comā€Ø
Section editor: Tim Willard, dravidic@yahoo.com

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