I am fed up to my burning ears with the carte blanche castigation of plastic. Plastic is one of the greatest inventions ever, not only for modern society, but also for the environment. If plastic seems to now pose an environmental threat, it’s not plastic’s fault – but the fault of the environmental movement itself.

The use of plastic reduces the need for other natural resources. Plastic bags, cups, and plates save the need for more paper. It saves the trees the greens are so concerned about. Plastic tables and chairs and lamps also save the need for wood. Plastic bumpers on cars save the need for chrome, a natural mineral the greens worried over a couple of decades ago – plastic provided the saving solution. And the use of plastic in cars makes them lighter and therefore more fuel efficient. Plastic makes heart transplants possible. Plastic is used in a wide variety of medical devises, without which people would either die or be denied happy, useful lives. There is no natural wood, or paper or glass substitute.

It’s interesting to note that the current American obsession with bottled water came as a result of environmentalist scares over possible chemicals in municipal tap water. Green radicals like the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) spewed horror stories of tap water full of rocket fuel, arsenic, germs, feces, lead, and pesticides. Plastic bottles provided the solution. Now the pendulum has swung and we’re all supposed to forget the earlier scare mongering over tap water and obey the new scare over water bottles. Crisis to crisis – whatever keeps up the green fundraising. It’s also interesting to note that one of (more…)

Phantom Threats Confused With Real Environmental Issues

“View Sheds have as much to do with environmental protection as air guitars have to do with playing a musical instrument.” Tom DeWeese

Sometimes Even The Liberal Press Gets It

“Whether a nation is poor or rich depends on the availability of economic framework that provides incentives for working hard and taking risks. The key elements of such framework are economic liberty, secured property rights and fair and sensible rules of the market that are enforced equally.” Published in England’s Punch and Guardian Newspapers (more…)

Young Iranians thronged the streets of Tehran carrying signs in English proclaiming their march for “Democracy” and “Freedom”. The youth of America, the scholars, and increasingly the corporate professionals, regularly profess the same sentiments. This is troubling. The concepts of freedom and democracy conflict so regularly that Plato pronounced, “Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule.” Freedom is the ability to decide and act for one’s self. Democracy requires all people to conform their action to the rule of the majority.

The systems of “justice” at play in America today also contrast. One supports individual freedom and equality of rights (rule of law, equal justice). The other system of justice supports democracy (rule by the majority, social justice).

American principles are based upon the core element of the Declaration of Independence – equal justice. This is the system of law that applies the same law to every person and which implements the concept of a higher law – labeled under the Declaration as “Unalienable Rights”. These are the rights imbued and inherent within each of us that allow all people to lead a life of one’s own, with the liberty to act and the right to the use and enjoyment of one’s private property. (more…)

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared CO2 a pollutant and set about banning such emissions to save the planet. Real scientists tried to point out that nature needs CO2 to thrive. OK, so the Greens kind of heard that logic and quickly sought ways to subvert it into a new Frankenstein-style horror story. The result, headlines in The Washington Post (August 31, 2010) that rising CO2 levels are… wait for it… causing poison ivy to grow more prolifically.

Said the Post article, “According to a report in the journal ‘Environmental Health Prospectives’ last year, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has grown by 22 percent since 1960, which may not be good for humans but is great for poison ivy and other vines.” The fact is, rising CO2 levels are good for all plants (and offer no danger to humans) and there is evidence of plant life responding across the boards. But the Greens don’t tell you that. Instead, they pick the one plant that is dangerous to humans and make a big deal out of it growing like, well, like a weed. (more…)

Just promise to repeal Obama-care – and then do it. Once accomplished the Congress could be theirs for decades. (more…)

Over the past several months, the American Policy Center (APC) has mailed more than 100,000 “Remove ICLEI, Restore the Republic Survey” to Americans across the nation. The mail package contained not only the Survey, but also a detailed report on Sustainable Development and how ICLEI (International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives) is being paid dues by local communities to impose this UN Agenda 21 policy.

ICLEI is now operating in more than 600 American cities – mostly in relative secrecy. More cities are being pressured to give ICLEI control of development policy making. In most cases that includes creating non-elected boards, councils and regional governments answerable to no one. City Councils and County Commissions, which should be answerable to the people, are now able to defer decision making to these non-elected bureaucrats, leaving the people without the ability to question or overturn policy. It’s the definition of a perfect“Soviet.”Yet most people had never heard of ICLEI or the power it holds over so many American communities. So, APC set out to change that, exposing the process and then asking Americans if they agree with such actions. (more…)

A year ago, the Environmental Movement seemed on the verge of total victory. With Obama in the White House; Reid in the Senate and Pelosi in the House, it seemed nothing could stop them. Cap and Trade appeared to be a done deal. But today, even in the hottest summer on record and a massive oil spill in the Gulf, the Greens can’t get any traction for their once popular (now disgraced) cause. (more…)

A new and powerful tool that has been successfully used to counter the intrusion of federal and state policies into local communities has been developed by the American Stewards of Liberty. It’s called “Coordination.” As a result, there are some counties in the western US that are free of many of the dangerous federal environmental policies that are plaguing so many other areas of the nation. Most importantly, Coordination was used to successfully stop the Trans Texas Corridor. In this article, Dan Byfield of American Stewards tells how it worked in Texas. TAD

Recently, Arizona past a new bill which requires local governments to initiate coordination with federal and state agencies. In this article we look at the existing law in Texas that requires state agencies to coordinate with local governments. This is the powerful statute instrumental in stopping the I-35 Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). It is a simple, one sentence provision that could be helpful if enacted in other states as well.

Small Local Governments Band Together

When it comes to coordination, Texas has a unique state statute; Section 391 of the Texas Local Government Code. This section allows cities and counties to “join and cooperate to improve the health, safety, and general welfare of their residents…and plan for future development of communities, areas, and regions…” through joint planning commissions. (more…)

From Tom DeWeese, Sledgehammer Alert:

Senator Christopher Dodd has introduced a bill to enforce UN Agenda 21 policy on your community. It’s called the “Livable Communities Act” (S.1619). It will destroy your community. Here’s why:

S. 1619 “Livable Communities” act is on a fast track to passage! – S.1619 is a blueprint for the transformation of our society into total federal control. – S.1619 will enforce federal Sustainable Development zoning and control

of local communities. – S.1619 will create a massive new “development” bureaucracy — (development Czar?) – S.1619 will drive up the cost of energy to heat and cool your home. – S.1619 will drive up the cost of gasoline as a way to get you out of your car. – S.1619 will force you to spend thousands on your home in order to comply.

- S.1619 is NOT Voluntary – it will set up $4 billion in grants (TAX MONEY WE DON’T HAVE) that will force your community to comply. (more…)

As if the sputtering U.S. economy weren’t in enough trouble already, the Obama administration is cooking up a new scheme that will extend the heavy hand of Washington to somewhere it has never gone before.

Unveiled with precious little fanfare on July 19 in the form of an Executive Order, the White House’s Ocean Policy Initiative will subject America’s waterways — oceans, rivers, bays, estuaries, and the Great Lakes — to federal zoning. Under the scheme, these areas would be managed according to the Orwellian -sounding notion of “coastal and marine spatial planning.” As an unnamed administration official told the Los Angeles Times: “This sets the nation on a path of much more comprehensive planning to both conservation and sustainable use of [ocean] resources.”

An elaborate, multi-layered bureaucratic structure would oversee all of this. Nine regional commissions, composed of federal, state, and tribal officials, would decide which commercial and recreational activities are appropriate. Their recommendations, however, would have to be approved by a newly created National Ocean Council, which the White House says will “strengthen ocean governance and coordination.” (more…)