talkpolitics | Free Will and Forward Planning

There are several problems facing Planet Earth right now, and Government really does need to govern.

When Americans look out across the oil slick in the Gulf of mexico and ask ' How come?', the informed answer that is coming back currently seems to be saying that BP ( British Petroleum or Biggish Pollution , dependent on POV) was in a very pally position with the US Guvvermint. Doing their own safety checks and working to a very watered down version of Safety Regulations, anyway, so I read in the Sunday Times.

British activists like myself have long regarded BP not so much as an ethical oil company, just as one of the least UNethical ones that we have had dealings with.

I sincerely apologise to any Americans out there for any damage this company has done to your economy and environment, and hope you get them to pay full costs on any and all damage done.
I also hope you realise that this is what will continually happen when you allow Big Business to ' regulate itself', 'Free it from red tape', or fall for any other sort of Snake Oil that they regularly try to use and british environmental activists have learned to view with extreme scepticism over the years.

The only way to run any company, especialy an oil one working anywhere near the water, is to have independent experts make the rules and have independent bodies checking that they are fully compliant. Otherwise, you get the mess we currently see along the US Coast rght now.

But, when it comes to individuals, a different dynamic is needed. Corporations oftenn have to be beaten into line with legislation. citizens have votes, and can be led, not driven, we feel.

People accepted that factories were only going to be open for 3 days a week in the days of the Heath government. there was plenty of coal, but poweer workers were on strike and black outs were frequent. so we had a 3 day week.

When it comes to recycling, many 20th century political parties Just Dont Get It. Labour councils have fined people for putting the wrong things in the wrong bags, or putting their bags out too late or too early.

Green councils have adopted the sceme where children bring paper, cardboard and other recyclables to school and sort them there into communal bins with adult assistance. kiids love to get involved, learn about the importance of recycling and nobody gets fined or coerced or sent to Gitmo Bay.

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/recycling_in_schools.htm

Greens see this 'community friendly' approach as the key to all its policies.
The Green Party in England and Wales is allied to, but not controlled by green parties elsewhere, so the Greens in the USA or Canada may differ from us on certain issues, but I would generally expect them to hold the same approach, unless you can show me different.

One of the most controversial schemes that has drawn criticism from some is British Green policy on Planned Parenthood. Again, I would say that some 20th Century political regimes like Communism just Didn't Get It, and thrust enforced sterilisation and single child families upon it's citizens.

British Greens note that when women in the UK were allowed access to contraception, they needed no legislation to compel them to use it. Likewise, when people made a fuss about aerosols damaging the ozone layer, it was not legislation, it was people 'voting with their feet' , or maybe I should say 'their cash' that put CFC cans in the bin and CFC free products on the shelves.

Fair Trade Coffee - its another scheme that Green parties favour, but banning the sale of Nescafe and making it's possession illegal was not possible, or even needed. Public oponion, once informed and mobilised, put Fair Trade products onto the supermarket shelves.

So, no - Greens are not the party of Draconian cutbacks, or compulsory serilisation, ethnic cleansing, or enforced depopulation - whatever anyone on the Right may tell tell you.

Yes, we say that WE have to reduce our consumption levels of oil and other fossil fuels, and that government intervention will be needed. and we as greens will lead from the front.
We propose to do this through raised taxation for big pollutors, and government grants and assistance for those who want to behave in an environmentally responsible fashion.

In practice, this means that -
you will get a government grant if you want to put a solar panel on your roof;

you will pay less purchase tax if you buy a very economic model when you get a new car, or fridge, or any other appliance and information will be a statutary requirement to let the consumer make an informed choice;

you will end up paying more if you choose to buy a gas guzzling, uneconomic model, that has high CO2 emmissions. The pollutter pays, but it's still your choice if you want to pay the price.

That's our platform and if we get elected, we will switch to PR by STV and will claim a public mandate for our policies. It is quite untrue to say that the Greens are not being straight with people, or that we will enforce draconian penalties to implement our policies. That is simply out of touch with Green philosophy.