Ten Key Values: Ecological Wisdom

by Dorothy H. Engel, North Carolina Mountain Greens

We the people have the power, but we must take back control of our lives, our land, our institutions, and our planet.

Simply expressed, ecological wisdom is “whatever we take from the earth, we must give back to the earth.”

To uphold ecologically wise values, people must determine what can be done to practice sustainability in their own daily lives and then tackle the vast problems confronting all of us - pollution prevention, waste management, renewable energy and energy efficiency, conservation, liberation of animals from cruel practices, biodiversity, and enforcement of environmental laws currently not in force.

In this country, the giants of agribusiness loom large and seem frighteningly determined to dwarf that American institution - the family farm. The Green Party’s platform position paper states the American family farm is the most efficient unit of agricultural production in the world, yet today vertically integrated and concentrated agribusinesses, increasingly dominate our agriculture. This monopolistic control of our food economy means: overpriced farm production inputs, price instability for agricultural products, exorbitant farm credit costs, overbearing family farm debt, the spread of ecologically damaging factory farming by corporate agribusiness, and inordinate market power for a select circle of corporate agribusinesses.

Even more frightening than the giants of agribusiness are the giants of greenhouse gas production - the producers of coal, oil and natural gas. According to Green Party sources, the 12 hottest years in recorded history have taken place since 1980. When heat is trapped in the atmosphere, 20 percent of it goes to warm the air and 80 percent of it produces increased evaporation. Because of the increased heat energy in the atmosphere and higher rates of evaporation and precipitation, there has been a significant increase in the last decade in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events - hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and heat waves. There have been ten times the average number of catastrophic floods worldwide in the last ten years.

The global climate is predicted to increase two to six degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. A two degree increase may be enough to melt the glaciers of Greenland and raise sea levels 20 feet, which is enough to swamp the southern half of Florida, most of Bangladesh, and all of several island nations.

Climate change could be a significant cause of crop failures in the world’s major breadbaskets. Without immediate and massive measures to reverse global warming, human society will experience millions of deaths due to changing climate zones, crop failures, hunger and disease in the next century.

The pollution and misuse of our most basic natural resources - air and water, due to rapacious capitalistic enterprises is also appalling. Over half the total amount of water consumed in the United States goes to irrigate land growing feed and fodder for livestock. Enormous additional quantities of water must also be used to wash away animal excrement. It would be hard to design a less water-efficient diet-style than the one we have come to think of as normal. To produce a single pound of meat takes an average of 2,500 gallons of water - as much as a typical family uses for all its combined household purposes in a month.

There are so many issues and overwhelming forces. Maybe the answer is consolidation through the formation of coalitions among organizations with common interests. Being ecologically wise means being aware that “united we stand, divided we fall.” It would behoove us all to put personal differences aside and focus on the larger picture of our common goals - remembering the only power we have is power in numbers. We the people have the power, but we must take back control of our lives, our land, our institutions and our planet.

 

Money: The Bad, The Good, The Essential

by Jody Grage, Treasurer of Green Party of the United States

Money has got a bad rap. We recoil from the word that has such close associations with greed, power, and inequality. Filthy lucre -moneybags - usury - made of money - the almighty dollar. The role of money in politics has been especially negative. Buying votes - war chests - the military-industrial complex - spiraling national debt - corporate domination.

Yet money is basically a neutral means of exchange. There are positive words associated with money, too. Solvent - thrifty - making ends meet - savings - investment.

Money can be used for good too. The necessities of food, clothing, and shelter - education - health care - charitable donations - appropriate rewards and incentives - micro-lending such as through the Grameen Bank - sustainable agriculture - wilderness preservation - but I digress.

Money plays a role in Green politics, but we are uncomfortable with that idea. Yet, for Green politics to grow into a mighty force for good and the 10 Key Values, we must increase the amount of money we have available. To do that, we have to change our thinking. And get busy now.

What are good Green uses for money? Candidate support - ballot access drives - lawyer fees - office staff - field organizers - campaign schools - Internet upgrades - literature - media - outreach. And that is just for starters! It would be nice if dreaming about the possibilities would get us there, but that has not been shown to work.

The urgent questions are: What do we want to accomplish in 2008? How much money will it take to do it? How do we get to that level? How are we going to develop the skills, knowledge, and approach that will enable us to raise the money we need in 2008? Where do we begin?

Perhaps most urgent of all: Who is going to do it? How can each of us take at least some personal responsibility for working toward our essential fundraising goals?

We must increase our fundraising abilities both institutionally and personally. Institutionally at the national level we need to work toward a full-time fundraising director, create an interactive on-line database, and extend resources for ongoing database development and updates There also needs to be more programs and events to grow the donor database, distribute a wider range of well-designed demographically targeted literature, and a coordinated advertising plan.

At the state level, the number and variety of state sharing programs should increase as more ideas to make use of this cooperative effort come forward. We need to recognize the interconnection with state and national fundraising efforts and the benefits to state and local Green Parties of increased institutional capacity at the national level.

Skills and knowledge learned at one level can be used at all levels. Fundraising expertise acquired at a GPUS workshop this July, for example, can be used at the local, state, and national levels.

Personally we must accept we are the Green Party. At times when that responsibility seems too much, it helps me to realize that even then there is nothing else I would rather be doing - and a lot of the company is pretty good. The Green Party doesn’t accept money from corporations, so WE are all we have got.

Share your thoughts, ideas, and strategies. And see you in Reading in July - where there will be lots of talk about goals and money!

 

All Out Campaign In 2008 Requires Ballot Access Commitment

by Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party, Co-chair of GPUS Ballot Access Committee

To get ballot access we need to do a lot of work and raise a lot of money because the blunt reality is that a political party without ballot lines is not much of a political party.

The 2008 presidential cycle is now well underway. Not wanting a repeat of the timid campaign strategy of 2004, many Greens are pushing for a strong, all-out strategy in 2008. But an all-out campaign strategy does not operate in a vacuum and would be rendered meaningless if our presidential nominee is off the ballot in one-third of the country.

In almost every state, ballot access is secured by petition, but the signature requirements and time limits can vary wildly; and for presidential elections, almost all ballot drives begin - and some even end - before the Green Party holds its convention. This means that several state parties are actually petitioning for a ballot line before knowing who will be on it. This can make it very hard to rally support.

The national Green convention cannot take place until primary voting is completed due to complicated ballot laws. Many states wrap up before July 1. Texas petitioning ends in May; Arizona petitioning actually ends in February! Many Greens did not understand this in 2004, mistakenly thinking that ballot access for presidential candidates would be a function of the presidential campaign. Ballot access must instead be a function of the party.

The ballot access requirements in several states are so oppressive that it is unrealistic and unreasonable to expect state parties to handle ballot drives on their own. The reality is, the national party does have the ability to identify and provide the resources necessary to make a difference for several state ballot drives, but not unless the National Committee makes ballot access a priority.

After years on the petitioning grindstone, Greens across the country have learned how to run strong, effective ballot drives on small budgets. In most states - even many with difficult requirements - ballot drives can be pulled off without having to hire paid petitioners. Such states can learn from example how to manage a large-scale drive, and the national party can provide training opportunities and facilitate better interstate communication. At the same time, the states with the absolute worst requirements will probably have no choice but to rely on paid petitioners, and the national party must be able to provide whatever financial support it can.

There are other programs the national party can seed that could be cost-effective ways to support state petition drives. A major internship network where students are sent to other states to provide critical petitioning assistance, with lodging handled by the host state, would not only help states meet requirements, but also train dozens of young Green leaders who are badly needed at all levels of the party. Other possibilities might include putting together a concert or lyceum circuit which would make a priority of visiting cities where petitioning is ongoing.

The vital question is whether the national party will elevate ballot access to the stature it requires. The evidence so far is mixed. In 2004, the national party allocated only $1,000 to ballot access work. A standing Ballot Access Committee was created in 2005, but the committee has operated on almost zero budget since its inception. Petitioning windows are already open in several states, with the 2008 petition drive already well underway in Arizona; but financial difficulties have prevented the national party from offering any monetary assistance, and the National Committee has been very slow to shore up the party’s fundraising shortfalls.

If Greens are dedicated to making 2008 a success, we need ballot access. To get ballot access we need to do a lot of work and raise a lot of money because the blunt reality is that a political party without ballot lines is not much of a political party.

Here are the ways you can get involved in making ballot access a priority:

Visit the Ballot Access Committee website at www.gp.org/committees/ballot for a map showing what ballot lines The Green Party currently has and what states are already petitioning.

Contact your state delegates to the National Committee and urge them to make a priority of both national party fundraising and providing resources to ballot access efforts.

Donate to the Green Party of the United States - and earmark half your donation to support ballot access.

Donate directly to state parties that need financial assistance. See the website for more information.

See if your state party has filled its complement of members on the national Ballot Access Committee, and if not, volunteer for the committee yourself.

Make plans to take a carload (or more) of Greens to a neighboring state for a day/ weekend to help them collect signatures. Most states do allow out-of-state petitioners, and there are still ways to help in states where there are laws against out-of-state petitioners. Find contact information for those state parties on the website.

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Phil Huckelberry is co-chair of the GPUS Ballot Access Committee. As former Co-Chair of the Illinois Green Party, he coordinated the 2006 ballot drive that collected 39,000 signatures in 90 days, leading to Rich Whitney winning 10.3 percent of the vote for governor and securing a lasting ballot line for the Green Party in Illinois.

Contact Phil at: phil.huckelberry@gmail.com

 

Don’t Just Say Goodbye To Cheap Oil — Say Goodbye To The Need For Oil

A Green Look At The Global Energy Crisis
by Scott Derby, Green Party of New York State

In a paper presented to the American Petroleum Institute in 1956, Dr. M. King Hubbert outlined what would be called the “peak oil” theory. His research showed that, based on past and current oil production and field discoveries, oil production in the United States would peak in the 1970’s. He was right. Hubbert later predicted that global peak oil would be reached between 1995 and 2000.

The term “peak oil” refers to the point in time when an oil well, field or regional supply reaches its point of maximum oil output. It is the point at which there cannot be more oil pumped from the ground in a given time period, then at that moment.

The demand for energy is at its highest level - at the very same point we no longer can produce any more than we do right now. Please note peak oil is not the end of oil in the world. In fact it is only the halfway point. What it does mean is we are at the end of affordable and easy access to oil.

The oil used over the last hundred years, known as light and sweet crude, was easy to remove from the ground and easy to refine. Today we are nearing the end of this light and sweet crude, and are forced to use heavier and dirtier versions of oil. In Alberta, Canada, there is a massive oil reserve in what is known as the “Oil Sands.” This is a vast amount of oil encased in bitumen, clay, and sand that could, in theory, last for 40 years if production is increased to 10 million barrels per day. But the costs of labor, technology and refinement can easily be 6 to 12 times that of conventional drilling while the cost to the environment borders on the catastrophic.

Reducing petroleum use isn’t just a solution, it is the solution! Petroleum extraction and sales cause political instability and is a genuine national security issue, but it is in the hands of a few monied interests. These are but a few reasons to mount a true “war on energy.” What will you do when gas reaches four, five or more dollars per gallon? Will you be able to afford to get to work? Will you be able to afford to heat your home in winter? What will your food and clothing cost?

We need a new vision for the world for the next 25 years. A vision based on renewable energy, increased job opportunities and new technologies. A focus on localization and regionalism must be reintroduced to the American psyche. A massive reintroduction of small-scale organic and permaculture farms into all regions of our nation (especially the urban regions) must be an urgent priority.

To close I will give the sobering results of a hearing held on January 10, 2007 by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. During his turn at the microphone, Dr. Flynt Leverett stated, “Simply put, there is no economically plausible scenario for a strategically meaningful reduction in the dependence of the United States and its allies on imported hydrocarbons during the next quarter century.”

Contact Scott Derby at: derby@sunydutchess.edu