Time to pull out the big guns

I have to agree with Mr. Maniates that it's time for the greener ranks of our population to be empowered to do more and for the coddling to stop. The ordinary citizen should be encouraged to do more than recycle here and there or buy a light bulb. But the everyday person can only do so much, and it's time to start looking at the more radical violators more sternly.

While there have been initiatives to encourage people not only in the U.S. but other countries to be far more environmentally conscious about their choices and development, but it's hard to argue for greener policies and development while there is little regulation and punishment for violates here in the U.S.

U.S. legislation on the environment is already some of the weakest in the developed world, and we severely lag behind many other nations in the development and encouragement of greener industrial practices, and we have to look at our political/economic system as a major cause of environmentalist woes. When California decided to take matters into it's own hands and wanted to enforce stricter standards for emissions, they found themselves in court against the Federal government, which was very clearly acting to defend the more egregious offenders of the stricter standards, American car markers. With how deeply corporations have embedded themselves within Washington politicians, a green-conscious citizen has little to no voice to make their concerns heard.

Furthermore, the environment has not become a political issue, and a toxic one at that. A vote for one party or the other has become a vote for either jobs or earth, and when the article was written, the job market was starting to look gloomy. Four years after the 2008 crash, unemployment is uncomfortably high and job security is not guaranteed. It's easy for one side or the other to say 'screw the planet, we need to get people back to work.'

Because our, and increasingly the world's, economic system relies on constant expansion and growth, the notion of paying more to be environmentally conscious is a poor business choice. with countries making a 'race to the bottom' to secure their place in the markets, things like the environment are business expenses that can be pushed to the side to ensure profits. Companies who are trying to become more green do not yet have enough incentive to make a real impact. So there is huge demand to maximize profits and little motivation to try and be environmentally conscious.

What we need is hard-hitting legislation which puts a corporation's existence on the line if they do not follow green practices. Clearly fines have only so much impact, so raise the stakes and force the company to disband if they are found in violation of strict laws. To do this, companies need to be distanced from lawmakers. Trade with a country needs to be dependent on their business practices. We have one of the largest consumer bases in the world, use that in our favor. Our economy can be far more effective than our military when it comes to changing the globe.