The Green Party is constantly reviewing our policy platforms as new information becomes available so that we can use the latest information in making an educated decision on the best way to govern.

One of the hallmarks of the Green Party is its devotion to ecological wisdom and protecting the long-term environmental health and sustainability of the Earth. Before adopting a policy or position on any issue, we must always consider and weigh the environmental impact.

We are living at a crossroads in human history. In the last 50 years, human society has begun to have a major impact on the global environment, as evidenced by the problems of global warming, the destruction of the ozone layer, the wholesale destruction of rain forests, the dispersal of dioxins and related chemicals into the environment, and the general deterioration of the quality of our air, water and land. Our health and the health of other living things have already been compromised by the pervasive presence of toxic chemicals, radioactive waste and pesticides. Meanwhile, new challenges are arising, such as the threat posed by giant agribusiness corporations that are attempting to manipulate and control the genetic makeup of our food supplies. The next 10 to 20 years may prove to be a crucial turning point: Will we as a species develop the wisdom and means to halt and reverse these trends, or will we continue to muddle through as we have — adopting weak regulatory measures that are constantly being watered down under pressure from big business?

Our future depends on our ability to make major changes, not just in policy, but also in our whole philosophy of government. That is one of the major reasons why the Illinois Green Party is needed, and why it must play a continually increasing role in government.

Most of the threats to our environment are global in character and will require global solutions. However, Illinoisans can play an important role in effecting change, not only by sending Green representatives to Washington, but by attacking at least some of these problems at the state and regional levels.

Some of our proposals for protecting and improving the environment are found in other sections of our platform, such as the sections on Energy Policy and Agriculture. In addition, one important policy change that could be adopted at the state level is the introduction of a “pollution tax.” One variation of this is a proposed “carbon tax”; however, the principle deserves to be applied to more than just carbon emissions. The idea behind the pollution tax is to impose the costs of despoiling the environment on those businesses that are responsible for creating the environmental hazards. Producers of greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting chemicals, dioxins and other toxic and radioactive substances, would be taxed in proportion to the quantity and severity of the emissions. The tax would give manufacturers an incentive to change their practices and give nonpolluting competitors an edge in the marketplace. Furthermore, the funds raised in this manner could be used to help develop and implement alternative methods of production.

However, taxing the emission of pollutants into our atmosphere and waterways, by itself, is not sufficient. As more and more heavy metals, toxic pesticides, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, dioxins, endocrine disrupters and other toxic and radioactive wastes are allowed to enter our air, water, land, food – and ultimately our bodies – it is not enough to say that, in some areas, we are perhaps reducing the rate at which we are poisoning ourselves. To continue to allow this gradual poisoning of our own environment and our fellow human beings, in any one of these categories, let alone in combination, with its unpredictable synergistic impact, is irrational and intolerable. Every ounce, let alone every ton, of such toxic releases, is tantamount to releasing so many tickets in a death lottery that every human being and every other creature on our planet is forced to play.

Given that protection of public health is a fundamental duty of government, the Green Party supports more aggressive action to reduce and eliminate the production, storage, use and release of toxic chemicals – moving rapidly toward a requirement that all industrial production use “closed loop” practices with respect to such substances.

One of the largest contributing sources of dioxin contamination is industrial and medical waste incineration. Direct regulatory measures should be implemented to phase out such incinerators, or at least to eliminate dioxin-creating plastics from the waste stream. Encouraging hospitals to use reusable and re-stabilized supplies, rather than throw-away items, and more careful policing of the waste stream could go a long way toward eliminating Illinois’s contribution to the dioxin problem.

Greens support the maxim, “reduce, reuse and recycle” and recognize that this involves both informed, socially responsible lifestyle choices and systemic or policy changes. “Reducing” does not have to entail reduction in the quality of life; it can actually improve the quality of life. What it implies is the elimination of senseless and wasteful practices, such as the mass consumption of throwaway products, planned to have limited life, made from finite resources, without any consideration for where the product came from, how far it traveled, who made it, under what conditions, what it is made from, whether there are any alternatives, and where it is going after being thrown in the trash. The same principle can and should be applied to energy and transportation practices, as outlined elsewhere in this Platform.

Although Illinois has begun to take encouraging steps to promote recycling, much more can be done to expand the scope of recycling and encourage the manufacture, sale, and purchase of reusable products, at both the personal and industrial levels, by using appropriate monetary incentives and disincentives, as well as easier, more available recycling collection and consumer education.

We oppose any commercial timber harvesting or other natural resource extraction on public lands.

Our public lands should be made accessible to the public, with the exception of protected wilderness areas. User fees should not be imposed. However, we oppose the expansion of horse trails on the Shawnee National Forest and the
push to allow all-terrain vehicles there, and in our state parks, as any such expansion threatens the integrity of the ecosystem.

We call for an improved funding stream for clean water programs, to meet our obligations under the federal Clean Water Act, for the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (NAAF), and the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Fund (OSLAD) in Illinois. We support a statewide wetlands protection program.

Metropolitan Chicago and the Metro East region do not meet federal health standards for air quality. The Illinois EPA must prepare and submit plans to attain healthy air quality in these polluted areas. In keeping with our platform on energy policy, we must rapidly phase out old coal-fired plants that continue to emit mercury, other heavy metals and toxins; raise emission standards for vehicles, including diesel; and enact an emissions testing/permitting program for vehicles licensed in Illinois.

The Illinois Green Party stands up for environmental justice. In siting and permitting decisions, government must consider the impact of all pollution sources in a community and must put a halt to the victimization of poor and oppressed communities. Communities that have been victimized already by extraordinary levels of pollutants or toxic or radioactive contamination must be afforded fast and effective protection, fast remediation and intensive health-care monitoring and care. Indeed, we support a government commitment to medically treat and compensate all workers and residents exposed to and sickened by exposure to toxic or radioactive contamination, and to carry out thorough studies to discover any “clusters” of illness that have occurred. We support the implementation and enforcement of community “right to know” laws.

Where environmental issues arise on any policy question, the Illinois Green Party will consistently support environmental protection over destruction, saving natural ecosystems and endangered species, not risking their demise, and promoting the long-term sustainability of the human race and other living things over corporate capitalism’s naturally short-sighted quest for maximum short-term profits.