Climate change
The party states that:
– climate change is a global emergency, and that there is no time to waste in taking action to protect Americans’ lives and futures; that the US must lead the world in taking on the climate crisis, and not deny the science and accelerate the damage
– recent years have seen record-breaking storms, devastating wildfires, and historic floods

The party advocates:
– rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and going further, to build thriving, equitable, and globally competitive clean energy economy that puts workers and communities first, and leaves no one behind
– achieving zero-emissions as soon as possible, and not later than 2050
– eliminating carbon pollutions from power plants by 2035
– requiring net zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030
– dramatic expansion of solar and wind energy through community-based and utility-scale systems, including installation of 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines within 5 years
– investment in clean energy, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing
– providing energy-efficiency upgrades to up to 2 million low-income homes and affordable & public housing projects
– transitioning the entire US fleet of 500,000 school buses to zero-emission vehicles within 5 years
– installation of 500,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles
– reversing rollbacks of climate and environmental protections
– rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement
– reducing harmful methane and carbon pollution from the energy sector
– investing to create millions of jobs in clean tech, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and sustainable agriculture
– requiring companies to report polluters in their operations and supply chains

Conservation & Sustainable Development
The party advocates:
– protecting wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and growing natural carbon sinks by conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030
– zero-emissions agriculture and aquaculture
– investment in sustainable, low-carbon and organic agriculture and aquaculture
– historic investments in cleanup of legacy pollution sites
– increased support for wetlands restoration

Species, Diversity & Wildlife
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on species diversity and wildlife

Stewardship of Creation
The party states, among its ten key principles, that:
– human societies must function with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature
– the human community is an element of the Earth community. All human endeavors are situated within the dynamics of the biosphere. If we wish to have sustainable institutions and enterprises, they must fit well with the processes of the Earth
– the nation must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet
– it supports a sustainable society that utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation
– to these ends the nation must practice agriculture that replenishes the soil, move to an energy-efficient economy, and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems
– social actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals, seeking to protect valuable natural resources and safely disposing of or ‘unmaking’ all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival
– the nation’s economy must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions
– the quality of all lives, rather than open-ended economic growth, should be the focus of future thinking and policy

Climate Change
The party states that:
– climate change is the gravest environmental, social and economic peril that humanity has ever met. Across the world, it is causing vanishing polar ice, melting glaciers, growing deserts, stronger storms, rising oceans, less biodiversity, deepening droughts, as well as more disease, hunger, strife and human misery
– greenhouse gases warm the Earth by trapping heat in the atmosphere. Much of that heat is initially absorbed by the ocean, creating roughly a 30-year delay in the impact of that heat at the surface of the planet. Practically speaking, that means that the melting glaciers and expanding deserts of 2009 were the result of greenhouse gases dumped into the atmosphere in the late 1970s, when the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was below 350 parts per million (ppm). To return to a safe level of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, we must reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases as quickly as possible to levels that existed before 1980, to 350ppm carbon dioxide

The party advocates:
– reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 40% by 2020 and 95% by 2050, over 1990 levels
– science-based policies to curb climate change by expending maximum effort to preserve a planet friendly to life as we know it by curtailing greenhouse gas emissions and actively removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere
– enactment of an emergency Green New Deal to turn the tide on climate change, revive the economy and make wars for oil obsolete
– a WWII-scale national mobilization to halt climate change, the greatest threat to humanity in our history
– creation of 20 million jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, conservation and restoration of critical infrastructure, including ecosystems
– implementation of a Just Transition that empowers those communities and workers most impacted by climate change and the transition to a green economy
– supporting workers displaced by the shift away from fossil fuels with full income and benefits as they transition to alternative work
– community and worker ownership of our energy system
– treat energy as a human right building of a nationwide smart electricity grid that can pool and store power from a diversity of renewable sources, giving the nation clean, democratically-controlled, energy
– ending destructive energy extraction and associated infrastructure: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, natural gas pipelines, and uranium mines
– halting any investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas, and phase out all fossil fuel power plants
– phasing out nuclear power and end nuclear subsidies
– a Fee & Dividend system on fossil fuels to enable the free market to include the environmental costs of their extraction and use. These fees shall be applied as far upstream as possible, either when fuel passes from extraction to refining, distribution or consumption; or when it first enters the United States’ jurisdiction. The carbon fee will initially be small, a dime per kilogram of carbon, to avoid creating a shock to the economy. The fee will be increased by 10% each year that global atmospheric carbon dioxide content is greater than 350 ppm, decreased 10% each year it’s less than 300 ppm, and repealed entirely when it falls below 250 ppm
– strict, comprehensive compliance with the Clean Air Act.  State and local clean air initiatives should advance and improve national efforts; for example, moving forward with stricter clean air and fuel efficiency standards, and with vehicle and fleet conversions
– further research on the damaging effects of hydrofluorocarbons and very short-lived substances (VSLS) on the ozone layer, and replacement o those causing destruction of ozone
– amendments to update the Montreal Protocol of 1987 to keep it consistent with current scientific findings regarding threats to the ozone layer

International Climate Treaty
The party states that:
– the climate treaty reached in Paris in December, 2015 is inadequate to address the climate change crisis. The 195 nations involved pledged to reduce greenhouse gases. The pledges are not mandatory, however. The treaty does not require the phase out of fossil fuels, and it delays higher aid levels for poorer nations until 2025

The party advocates:
– legally binding commitments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2020 and a 95% reduction by 2030 over 1990 levels

Repaying Climate Debt
The party advocates:
– paying for adaptation to climate change in countries with less responsibility for climate change, e.g., providing a carbon neutral development path for those countries that can no longer be permitted to develop by burning cheap fossil fuels

Conservation

The party states that:
– it is appalled by the country’s withdrawal from serious efforts to limit greenhouse gases that are contributing mightily to global climate disruption
– land use policies must promote sustainable development and respect ecology
– land use practices must be founded on stewardship of the Earth, to honor the interconnected and interdependent nature of all life, to respect ecosystems and other species, while at the same time providing for human needs in a responsible and sustainable way

The party advocates:
– adoption of organic agriculture and the careful tending of our nation’s precious remaining topsoil
– planetary efforts to slow the ever-increasing numbers of humans pressuring the ecosystems
– reduction of consumption of the world’s raw materials by the industrialized Northern Hemisphere
– adopting a national zero waste policy. The less we consume and throw away, the less we will need to produce and replace
– to remove carbon from the atmosphere and stabilize the climate, use of ecological restoration techniques such as restoration of forests, grasslands, and farmlands by planting trees, reforestation and afforestation of public lands, and revegetation of grasslands with native species to prevent desertification and improve climate resilience
– encouraging regenerative agricultural techniques
– restoring ecosystems on privately-owned lands by providing incentives to landowners
– acknowledgement that every property right has an implied responsibility to provide for the common good of people, places and the planet
– formation and operation of cooperatives, non-profits, land trusts, co-housing, and other forms of communal and public interest management of land and resources
– promotion of livable urban environments to minimize urban sprawl
– matching urban populations with the carrying capacities of the bioregions in which our cities are located
– preservation and expansion of rural land use patterns that promote open space, healthy ecosystems, wildlife corridors and the ecologically sustainable agriculture, and of large continuous tracts of public and private land for wildlife habitat and biological diversity, to permit healthy, self-managing wildlife populations to exist in a natural state, and to promote complete ecosystems
– transition of rural communities into sustainable relationships with ranching, agriculture, forestry and mining
– rewards for farmers and ranchers for the ecosystem services they provide on private and public lands
– promotion of small-scale farmers and ranchers over large-scale corporate agriculture and ranching
– reforms of mining law and practice to better balance mining with other important public land uses; providing a fair financial return to taxpayers for resources extracted, and creating a fund for clean up of abandoned mines
– strict curbs on mercury emissions from metal mines
– elimination o public subsidies for livestock grazing on public lands
– ending sale of any portion our national parks, forests or coastlines

Water
The party states that:
– according to the United Nations, more than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water
– if current trends persist, by 2025 as much as two-thirds of the world’s population will be living with a serious scarcity of water
– multinational corporations recognize these trends and are moving fast to monopolize water supplies around the world. They argue that privatizing water is the best way to allocate this valuable resource, and they are scheming to have water declared a human need so that it can be commodified and sold on the open market ensuring that the allocation of water will be based on principles of scarcity and profit maximization
– governments are signing away their control over their domestic water supplies by participating in trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and in institutions such as the World Trade Organization
– the World Bank recently adopted a policy of water privatization and full-cost water pricing

The party advocates:
– because water is essential to all forms of life, an international declaration that water belongs to the Earth and all of its species
– leadership by the U.S. Government declaring water a fundamental human right and preventing efforts to privatize, export, and sell it for profit
– strong national and international laws to promote conservation, reclaim polluted water systems, develop water-supply restrictions, ban toxic and pesticide dumping, control or ban corporate farming, and curb transnational corporations that pollute water systems, including severe restriction of polluting mines
– banning privatization of water
– re-prioritization of policies achieve a truly sustainable water policy
– application of the principle of bioregionalism (living within the means of a region’s natural resources) to future water policies
– mandating water efficient appliances and fixtures be used in all new construction, and promote retrofitting of older buildings
– promoting use of native landscaping and other drought resistant/ climate-appropriate plants, in order to reduce the need for irrigation
– promotion of drip irrigation systems where irrigation is necessary
– education citizens and enforcement of laws to end storm water pollution of water resources
– promoting appropriate reuse of “gray” and “black” waters we produce, e.g., for lawn watering and similar purposes
– promoting use of passive and natural systems (such as wetlands) for water and wastewater treatment
– upgrading and phasing out aging municipal sewage systems and treatment plants

Forestry
The party states that:
– forests are indispensable to human and animal life and must be protected. Globally, the planet has already lost 50% of our pre-colonial forests and the plant and animal communities they supported. Our rapidly increasing numbers, high-consumption rates, and profit incentives have resulted in massive forest destruction due to logging and development, and the Earth’s remaining rain forests are being destroyed and transformed into cattle pastures or mono-crops for bio-fuels production
– tree mortality rates of 0.5 to 0.7% per year are natural.  We are now witnessing local tree die-offs of 30 to 40% and even higher!
– forestry practices such as clearcutting also destroy the mycorrhizal fungi with which trees have a symbiotic relationship, and regeneration is slowed or impossible

To protect our forests, the party advocates:
– overhauling of state and U.S. Forest Service rules, and reform and restructuring of federal and state land-use policies to make our use environmentally sustainable, while allowing forests to provide a continuing supply of high quality wood products
– banning the harvest of Ancient Forests
– banning the export of raw logs and other minimally processed forest products (pulp, chips, carts, slabs, etc.), which causes American job loss
– subsidies for local watershed-based mills, to maximize employment opportunities through value-added processing, and promote sustainability and worker control
– using work projects, goats, and other sustainable methods to control undergrowth rather than spraying herbicides, especially near communities
– cultivation of hemp as a plentiful and renewable resource for the manufacture of paper and other forest products
– requiring all U.S. Government offices to use 100% post-consumer waste paper processed chlorine free, and that any new fiber necessary to the process come from alternative sources such as hemp or kenaf

Oceans
The party states that:
– the world’s oceans, which are essential to life on Earth, are threatened by climate change, pollution, whaling, over fishing, factory fishing, bottom trawling, by catch, pirate fishing and fish farming. Yet simple, strong policy changes can rejuvenate the health of our oceans and planet

The party advocates:
– protection of 40% of the world’s oceans as marine preserves, especially near shore coastal habitats, including determination of protected zones through a democratic process involving all stakeholders
– banning of offshore oil drilling and the siting of liquefied natural gas facilities off the U.S. coast
– ending use of once-through cooling process in and near coastal waters
– requiring secondary treatment of waste effluent before release
– the ban on international commercial whaling as well as other international efforts to protect endangered marine species
– banning of drift-net fishing and long-line fishing and phase out of factory trawling, and importation of fish and fish products caught by drift-nets and other illegal means
– mapping of undersea toxic dump sites, and investigation of methods of rendering them harmless
– banning importation of coral products and destruction of breakwaters. 13. Support the Law of the Sea Treaty that establishes the global sharing of ocean resources. 14. Support complete cleanup of existing and past oil spills. Cost of cleanups and compensation for affected communities should be paid by the corporations responsible for the spills

Species, Diversity & Wildlife
The party states that:
– we humans have a moral responsibility to all of our natural relations of other species, many of which are facing extinction because we carelessly and permanently halt their long evolutionary journey
– continuing destruction of animal habitats threatens an ever-growing number of species with extinction, not only depriving these species of their existence, but future human generations of the enrichment of having these species on the Earth

The party advocates:
– reformulation of all policies concerning human settlement, food, energy, natural resources, water, coastal development, and industrialization to prevent further disruption of the non-human ecosystems’ ability to maintain themselves
– promotion of and public access to seed banks and seed collections that emphasize traditional and heirloom seeds, and opposition to monopolistic production of high-tech hybrid seeds, which relies on non-sustainable methods such as single crop varieties bred with industrial traits and grown with high input of energy, chemicals, and pesticides and has led to a massive loss of biodiversity
– opposition of international trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT and the WTO in particular) that have precedent-setting provisions protecting transnational, corporate control of the intellectual property of genetic material, hybrid seeds, and proprietary products
– since the mark of a humane and civilized society lies in how we treat the least protected among us, extension of rights to other sentient, living beings, and an intelligent, compassionate approach to the treatment of animals
– in order to protect the health of continental ecosystems, a halt to the destruction of habitats, which are being sacrificed to unqualified economic expansion.

Energy & Resources
The party states that:
–  the nation’s houses and buildings, manufacturing processes, and industrial agriculture were all designed with the assumption of an endless supply of cheap and readily available fossil fuels, without thought for pollution and despoiling the land
– it is optimistic about the alternatives that now exist and that could be encouraged through tax policy and the market incentives of fuel efficiency
– it is committed to extending the greening of waste management by encouraging the spread of such practices as reduce, return, reuse, and recycle
– it strongly opposes recent attempts to roll back the federal environmental protection laws that safeguard our air, water, and soil

The party advocates:
– treating energy as a human right
– a nationwide smart electricity grid that can pool and store power from a diversity of renewable sources, giving the nation clean, democratically-controlled, energy
– ending destructive energy extraction and associated infrastructure: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, natural gas pipelines, and uranium mines
– halting any investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas, and phase out all fossil fuel power plants
– phasing out nuclear power and end nuclear subsidies
– adopting energy efficiency standards that reduce energy demand economy-wide by 50% over the next 20–30 years, as the U.S. needs no additional power, rather it can make massive reductions in its energy use through a combination of conservation and efficiency measures

Sustainable Development
The party states that:
– a waste-free society is essential to public health and the integrity and sustainability of the biosphere
– natural ecosystems are self-sustaining and generate no waste.  We humans are a part of these ecosystems, and while we obtain resources from them, we have a responsibility to return only those things that can be re-absorbed without detriment
– waste is not an inevitable part of production and consumption, as it is viewed in the current economic model

The party advocates:
– shifting the nation toward clean production and principles of zero waste
– phasing out all avoidable production and sale of toxic metals, persistent organic pollutants, persistent bio-accumulative toxins, synthetic petrochemicals, and halogenated chemicals, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives
– making manufacturers responsible for the full life cycle of their products by requiring them to take back used products and packaging for remanufacturing, reuse, or recycling
– support for and implementation of the principle: “When an activity threatens harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically; placing the burden of proof on the proponent of the activity, rather than the public
– strengthen right-to-know laws so that everyone can discover what toxic or potentially toxic chemicals are used and released in their communities, and in products that they might purchase or use
– strict liability for the consequences of the pollution produced by corporations
– ending the use of incineration as a cleanup technology, and ensuring that “cleanups” don’t simply relocate toxins to chemical waste dumps in poor communities of color
– shut down existing waste incinerators, imposing a moratorium on new waste incinerators, and phasing out landfills
– prohibition of shipping of toxic, hazardous, or radioactive wastes across national borders, and the shipment of such wastes without strict regulation across any political borders
– safe, secure, above ground storage for existing nuclear waste
– closure, clean up, and remediation of national labs devoted to nuclear energy and weapons development and operations
– independent, transparent radiation monitoring at all nuclear facilities
– replacement of chemical safety testing on animals with alternatives that do not use animals, wherever such alternative tests or testing strategies are available

Environment

The party states that:
– competitive free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. Private landowners and conservation groups have a vested interest in maintaining natural resources
– governments are unaccountable for damage done to our environment and have a terrible track record when it comes to environmental protection
– protecting the environment requires a clear definition and enforcement of individual rights and responsibilities regarding resources like land, water, air, and wildlife. Where damages can be proven and quantified in a court of law, restitution to the injured parties must be required

Energy and Resources
The party states that:
– while energy is needed to fuel a modern society, government should not be subsidizing any particular form of energy. It opposes all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production

Climate change

The party states that:
– it is the party of America’s growers, producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, commercial fishermen, and others who bring from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and the bounties of our seas that are the lifeblood of our economy
– the labor and ingenuity of such people, and love of the land, powers our economy, creates millions of jobs, and feeds billions of people around the world
– it believes that climate change is far from the nation’s most pressing security problem

The party:
– opposes any carbon tax
– advocates making all environmental decisions solely on the basis of dispassionate analysis of hard data
– advocates evaluating the recommendations of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as recommendations of a political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific institution
– rejects the agendas of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, which represent only the personal commitments of their signatories as they are not ratified by the Senate
– demands an immediate halt to finding for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, based on the 1994 Foreign Relations Authorization Act prohibiting funding any UN organization which grants membership to Palestinians as a state

Energy & Resources
The party a Affirms its belief that the people, not the government, are the best stewards of the country’s natural resources, and its belief that energy producers are in the best position to develop clean energy.

The party advocates:
– opening of pubic land and the outer continental shelf to exploration and responsible production
– giving state regulators authority to manage energy resources on federally controlled public lands, hydraulic fracturing, methane emissions, and horizonal drilling
– promotion of cost-effective development of renewable energy resources, including wind, solar, biomass, biofuel, geothermal, and tidal energy by private capital
– repealing and dismantling the Clean Energy Plan
– licensing of additional nuclear power plants
– completing the Keystone pipeline
– mining on public lands, for production of minerals including rare earth and other hard rock minerals critical to advance technology

Conservation & Sustainable Development
The party states that:
– the nation and its people have a moral obligation to be good stewards of the God-given natural beauty and resources of our country
– it believes that people are the most valuable resources and that human health and safety are the proper measurements of a policy’s success
– private ownership has been the best guarantee of conscientious stewardship

The party advocates:
– repealing and turning away from measures implemented by environmental extremists and complicit government officials, including restoring the original meaning of the Clean Water Act
– transfer of 640 million acres of federal public lands to states

Species, Diversity & Wildlife
The party acknowledges the need to protect certain species threatened worldwide with extinction. However, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) should not include species such as gray wolves and other species if these species exist elsewhere in healthy numbers in another state or country

The party advocates:
– ensuring that protection for endangered species is done effectively, reasonably, and without unnecessarily impeding the development of lands and natural resources
– advocates repealing and turning away from measures implemented by environmental extremists and complicit government officials, including restoring the original meaning of the Clean Water Act