|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
An Environmental Voting Guide for US State Elections
In these times when states are suffering extreme downward pressure on budgets and spending, how is our environment making out? Did it suffer cuts right along with the Program to Assist Millionaires Become Billionaires? Are important environmental projects being dropped from the budget along with luxury items like the statehouse's new Gold-Plated Enforcement Gavel? And why is the issue of environmental protection relevant at the state level? Doesn't the US Environmental Protection Agency handle all that stuff? This article answers these questions and provides smart-voting tools for you to help ensure your surroundings remain green and healthful. ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AT THE STATE LEVEL While the US Environmental Protection Agency garners much of the media attention when it comes to environmental enforcement, it is actually the states that are carrying most of the load:
In 2003, states were only spending 1.4% of their budget on environment and natural resources--an all-time low, according to Resources for the Future (www.rff.org). Reducing resources at the state and local levels can cut the heart out of the monitoring and enforcement actions needed to ensure that our air, water, and land--and our bodies--are protected from environmental toxins. Even more troublesome are elected officials who have a weak commitment to the environment. The back-room deals cut in your governor's mansion, your statehouse, and your county council chambers can have a great impact on the environment. STATE-BY-STATE ENVIRONMENTAL VOTING GUIDES What have YOUR elected local officials been doing to (or for) your state and county environmental agencies, and how have they voted on environmental issues in general? Did your state legislators fund the widening of the Porkbarrel Parkway while downsizing your state's Department of Natural Resources? Find out! Grinning Planet has compiled a list of the best available environmental voting guides for all 50 US states. Find it at http://www.grinningplanet.com/vote/, along with some other helpful voting tools. Also, don't forget about your county elections. Many important issues, such as land use and recycling programs, are usually decided at the county level. The state-level organizations we list sometimes feature links to related county or regional groups. You can also check with your local chapter of the Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org) to see if they have a county-level voting guide. About The Author © 2003 by http://www.GrinningPlanet.com Mark is a writer, financial analyst, web developer, environmentalist, and, as necessary, chef and janitor. Grinning Planet is an expression of Mark's enthusiasm for all things humorous and green, as well as a psychotic desire to work himself half-to-death. Hobbies include health foods, music, getting frustrated over politics, and occasionally lecturing the TV set on how uncreative it is. bluebuck@grinningplanet.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
UAV Targets, Aerial Dog Fights, Interception, Future of War Intelligence The UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is hear to stay and they are rapidly replacing the glory days of the fighter pilot and soon, there will be no humans in military aircraft flying the planes. Here is a quick overview of UAVs and all the new types. Hopefully these few links can catch you up on the subject to understand the future of these units. A Few Quick Thoughts on Freedom and Technology We have known of the innate characteristic need of members of our species to control individual other members. We also know of our desire to control other species. We attempt to control other species in many ways, screen doors to keep out insects, fences to keep alligators off the Alligator Alley HWY between Naples and Miami, cages in zoos, barbed wire to keep in livestock, nets to capture fish, insecticides-sound waves-scare crows to keep species from our crops, shock apparatus to keep pets within boundaries, rewards such as Bananas-fish-doggie biscuits-bones-toys to evoke preferred behavior. Maximizing Efficiency at Our Airports Our Airports have excess capacity, which is not being used due to the fact that many airliners sit during the nighttime and fly during the day. This is only one problem we have that can be solved through better optimization. You can go to any large airport in this country and see how few aircraft are taking off in the middle of the night. Franchising Democracy and Creating Cohesive World Government There are so many problems with our perceived perfect checks and balances system of our government, that one cannot use the exact United States version model of government to create a franchise agreement for future governments of the world. A standardized system of government in all countries of the World needs to exist if we are all to live peacefully on the planet, trade and respect each others cultural heritage and tolerate the many different renditions of World Religion. World governments operating equally as a team together, yet separate entities, is possible and such a plan would most resemble a modern day franchise system in the business world. Ex-CIA Folks are Problematic Those who are above the law or act as such are a problematic situation for civilizations. Maybe this is why the CIA is so effective in screwing up other nation's government. There is a problem when these ladies and gentlemen retire. They often use contacts from the government and agency to network and work the system. This is a problem because invariably it hurts an honest and law abiding citizen. Regional Grid Power Backup; Energy Ideas Our Hydro-electricity accounts for some 20% of our current needs. Hydro Power; think of that? We do use the most electricity per capita than any other country in the World, but we also have the strongest middle class and rank near the top in quality of life and standard of living. For instance try living in Baghdad at 120 degrees with no air conditioning. We have done quite well with our hydro in this country and much of this has to due with the abundant flow of water. Of course recently in many regions of the United States severe droughts have hurt our ability to make electricity from hydro. Is it just hubris, or ...? In what the Americans love to describe as the war on terror, there have been no clear winners even though it has been physically going on now for over three years. By the looks of it, the tussle between the United States of America and its perceived enemy will outlast the Second World War at least in terms of duration, if nothing else. If so, it certainly represents a horrible scenario for the planet. Plastics In Our Nations Dumps and Landfills Long Term Environmental Effect of Plastics, Composites and Other Materials on Underground Water Supplies through Leaching and Decay. Making Peace with Our Ancestors and Neighbors As a result of the conflict analysis exercise and a workshop conducted earlier this year by the Liberia Community Infrastructure Program, (LCIP), participants indicated a strong resentment of ex-combatants by the war affected community leading to traditional cleansing ceremonies. Sentiments from both tribes indicated a mutual approval/acceptance of the Zalakai/Zalayei traditional healing process; only being assisted by LCIP. Villagers spoke of not only their support of peace, but more so, the importance of cleansing the desecrated land where people were killed, but not buried; sisters with brothers, but not married. Although past programs have stemmed from studies of post war conflict in other countries, the inclusion of traditional ceremonies integrated into western theory are influencing the real life healing processes. "We must go back to our ancestors to cleanse the land and women can restore the customs of our secret societies and traditional sites. The Fabric of Economic Trust Economy is called the dismal science because it pretends to be one, disguising its uncertainties and shifting fashions with mathematical formulae. Economy describes the aggregate behaviour of humans and, in this restricted sense, it is a branch of psychology. Trade Policy; Hurting Industry and Small Business The steel tariff taxes a few years ago hurt industry and small business and we as a civilization are still paying for that boo boo. This problem was affecting our team in my company and costing our franchisees money and ROI time, due to increased costs in new equipment. The increase in steel costs added $1800 to the trucks and $3000 to the truck beds? All over the import tax and the manipulation, which occurred due to supply and demand issues of the new pricing caused by those import taxes. Even still the steel industry did not have substantially higher profits and hurt were all the manufacturers such as ship builders, truck and car manufacturers. How Dogpoo is Changing The World Perhaps a silent revolution is taking place, this time more than ever literally on your doorstep. Irritatingly literally even. The ?Manchurian Candidate?: Lee Harvey Oswald? An American soldier is taken behind enemy lines and brainwashed as an unwitting assassin by communists in league with American political figures. This soldier then returns to the States to kill a presidential candidate as part of a political scheme to escalate and exploit Cold War tensions. Why Do US Media Ignore Secret UK Government Memo On A Mega Iraq War Conspiracy? The blogosphere has been jumping around the story like crazy but it seems the mainstream media are doing their best to ignore it. Yet it's been branded the most extensive case of governing-level conspiracy plotting in ages. CNN spent very limited time on it and that's also a pretty accurate indicator of the attention most other media outlets have devoted to it so far. Even though some 88 members of Congress openly inquired about it and a few other US opionion leaders spoke out against it. But that was it more or less. What was? A recently leaked internal UK government memo dated July 2002, that was so secret extra copies could not be made, not even for internal use. Monsanto Terminator Seeds How do you feel about Terminator Seeds from Monsanto? I have determined that I am in favor of Terminator Seeds, having seen the complaints against it and the evidence for it. Also to curb the problem of GM seeds over taking the Natural Wild Seeds of rice, wheat, etc. which mankind has adapted too. Now then the debate goes like this. The Politics Of The American Dream The American Dream is the promise to have it all and enjoy it all. It's been glorified and sentimentalized as a utopian goal not just by the media and Hollywood stars, but also by businesses and politicians, including the President of the United States. But in reality, the American Dream is becoming more and more like the 'Impossible Dream.' Today, many Americans believe that their odds of winning the lottery are better than attaining the American Dream. The History of Trade and Using it as a Weapon for Peace The Flow of Trade is a major consideration of civilizations and cultures working together to insure that they can get what they need. Some areas have special crops, which grow in their regions, which the other regions would like to have. In days of the First colonies in this country, before it was a country trade with the local Indians were vital to them staying alive. Our ancestors traded with the Native Indian tribes to insure the colony had the food and things needed to get through the winter months. MORAL ARMORS Counterfeit 911: Refuting Michael Moore Michael Moore asserts the following in his political film Fahrenheit 9/11: Steel Import Tariff Taxes Hurt Industry, Not Help Them US Steel prices have cost franchisees in my company and our team thousands of extra dollars due to the import taxes, which were imposed. Let me tell everyone when they raised the cost of steel we were forced to seek to build the truck beds out of other materials, and once businesses do that many times they never go back and thus the steel industry is forever damaged. Steel is a strong substance and good for building things out of but it is heavy, costs gas mileage, rusts, leaving iron oxide streaks on the exterior paint. The only reason steel is still used for so many things is that the cost is still less than other materials of it's same strength, watch out in the future for nano tubes, five times lighter, three to 100 times stronger by volume. Free Markets, Farmers, and GM Crops Many are condemning the latest GM Terminator seeds. Yet there is not need to cause a raucous because the free market will decide which seeds farmers buy? When a Corporate farmer plows under the crop for next season sometimes he uses the old seeds for new life next season. In which case he might have a problem with the newest Genetically Modified Terminator Seeds. Well then if this will be the case he should use a different seed, which will spring up next season and grow, non-terminator seeds? It's all about choice? Do not like Monsanto and their new GM Seeds? Then buy the seeds elsewhere. There are benefits to terminator seeds for instance a farmer who farms two or three seasons and is paid as part of his yield for purity, he does not want the old crop of something else mixed in with the new crop he is taking to market. When a small farmer of let's say Mustard Seed holds some of his acres for harvest for the seeds of the next season, he can use those seeds again and maybe some left over for others too. Meaning he can sell those extra seeds and offset some costs for his over head.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
