It is the responsibility of man to be prudent productive
and efficient steward our planet's natural resources. Man is challenged to be fruitful, to multiply,
to replenish the earth, to turn deserts into farms and wastelands into groves. This requires a proper
and continuing dynamic balance between development and conservation, between use and preservation.
The proper exercise of stewardship demands that we avoid the extremes; that we escape the deadly hand
of government confiscation; that we recognize and preserve the right of the individual to acquire, own
and use his property so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of other individuals to do the
same...
...I wholeheartedly support realistic efforts to preserve the environment and reduce pollution; air, water and land. I reject, however, the argument that this objective ought to be pursued by costly governmental interference, accompanied by multitudes of regulations and the heavy hand of arrogant bureaucrats spurred by irresponsible pressure groups.
The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution limits the federal power of eminent domain solely to the purchase of private property at fair market value for public use, such as military reservations and government office buildings; not for public ownership, such as urban renewal, environmental protection, or historic preservation. Under no circumstances may the federal government take private property without just compensation by means of rules and regulations which preclude or substantially reduce the productive use of the property.
The environment is an incredibly important issue because it's our future in a very fundamental sense. Preserving the natural environment for our children to experience is one of the obligations we have to future generations. I think that we do that in a number of ways: one is that we make sure that the areas in America that are not polluted remain unpolluted - that they remain pristine, able for people to experience and to understand the idea that nature conveys, which is that there is something bigger than we are lasting longer than we live. It also means that we clean up areas that have already been polluted and preserving them for future generations to experience.
Let me add this much, because I think it is important. I think that some have convinced themselves that the whole environmental crisis is an exaggerated excuse for expanding the power of government. And I think that that leads them to see it as a hoax of some kind, the way some people thing NASA faked the moon landing. And I think that's a big mistake.
Many cities in the developing world are on the verge of shutting down, because the environmental infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate and decay. Indeed, the ecological system of the entire Earth is now in jeopardy. Look first at Mexico City. They are closing factories there, not because of the economy, not because of the social infrastructure, not because of the water lines or the electricity lines, but because they are choking to death on the air pollution. Most cities in the developing world are no more than a half step behind Mexico City. We are seeing one of our great industries shut down because the environmental infrastructure is decaying-salmon fishing on the west coast is about to end because overfishing has destroyed the generativity of that species.
In Mexico City, again, it is interesting that retailers there cannot sell spray cans that they have on their shelves if they are not labeled 'ozone friendly.' There is no law respecting that, but it is just that the consumers there refuse to buy it if they think it is going to hurt the environment. And they are desperately trying to buy the new machinery and processes and products that will allow the factories to reopen without adding to the burden of pollution. Who will sell it to them? Japan is eager to do so. So is Europe. Japan is now openly saying that the biggest new world market in the history of world business is in the products and processes which make environmental progress possible without environmental destruction.
The Keidandren, the largest Japanese business organization, has now announced a 100-year plan. They now imposing much tougher environmental standards on their corporations than the ones embodied in U.S. law. Why? There are two possibilities. No. 1, it could be that the Japanese are just plain softheaded about international economic competition; or if you do not accept that premise, maybe it is because they know something that we do not. They say that this is a tremendous new business opportunity, and they say that in eliminating pollution they find new ways to improve productivity and efficiency.
I want to emphasize that, in refusing to hear the call of the others, and in failing to take responsibility for our overwhelming contribution to the global warming problem, we are jeopardizing not only successful completion of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but we are also standing in the way of the completion of an effective and binding agreement to protect the world's forests.
It is high time we get on with it. While we hedge and retreat from commitment, we further jeopardize our planet's delicate climate balance and, at the same time, we are responsible for allowing the rampant destruction of the forests to continue unabated. Indeed, the destruction is not only continuing but is accelerating. The latest statistics show thatevery secondanother 1.5 acres of forest is torn or burded down. Thousands of species are being driven to extinction.
There is one humanity, one planet and they share a destiny! The citizens of this great nation must learn to curb over-production and over-consumption while learning to live in balance with the earth's ecosystem. The earth's health cannot be forsaken for creature comforts and the corporate bottom line. The 'profit vs. planet' mindset causes us all to lose! Human ingenuity if cultivated can and will solve existing environmental problems.
The simple fact is, no one survives unless the planet does. For too long, politicians have gambled with our future by often allowing abuse to our planet. It is time we realize that the earth gives us life, and in turn, we must care for it. Nature provides us with what we need, but in return we must protect those gifts.
Our environment must be a Federal priority. We must encourage organic agriculture to reduce the amount of chemicals in our earth, air and water.
We must encourage and create earth friendly alternative energy to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, which pollutes and damages the planet. We must hold businesses and industry responsible for all their by-products. These environmental problems must be addressed. In some areas we have made progress, while others are worsening. Pollution continues to be a health concern, hazardous material is shipped rather than neutralized, trees are being bulldozed in outrageous numbers, species extinction, and habitat destruction are accelerating at an alarming rate. Our land, water, and air remain in a state of disgrace.
As citizens, we must not depend on Congress alone to protect our planet. All too often, the greatest concern of elected officials is protecting the pockets of special interest groups who support their campaigns. It is time for we, the people, to become the guiding force of this nation. We must protect our earth. We must use energy more efficiently, conserve, recycle, join environmental groups, and become outspoken proponents for environmental issues. If we lead the efforts to restore this planet, the leaders will follow.
I am a candidate for President because I know that unless we restore the people's sovereignty over government, renew their pride in public service, reform our public institutions and reinvigorate our sense of national purpose, we risk losing the good faith necessary to protect all that is good in this blessed country, including the quality of our natural environment.
Theodore Roosevelt, first among America's great conservationists, captured it best:
"To waste, to destroy our natural resources...will result in undermining in the days of our children, the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
Roosevelt reminded us that we are Americans before we are Democrats or Republicans. And as we all inherited a rich and extraordinarily beautiful country, so must we bequeath the same to those who will share our good fortune tomorrow.
While environmental politics should be about rendering rational and effective public policy from diverse and strongly held views; today, it is much more the sport of political one-upsmanship with all its inflammatory rhetoric, insulting sound bites, screaming headlines and phony posturing.
As President, my priority will not be scoring partisan points, it will be unifying Americans in pursuit of our common purpose; working for policies that benefit the American people. My friends, it's time to agree to a simple premise that seems lost in our political life today: what's good for America is good for the people.
Special interests would have us believe that we must choose between a healthy environment or a strong economy. We know better. We know that our economic and environmental futures are both indispensable elements of the American dream. Poverty is a poor caretaker, and wastelands impoverish the richest man's quality of life. Just ask the people of Eastern Europe who emerged from the Cold War, their resources decimated and poisoned by 45 years of communist rule.
The false choices and the "we versus they" mentality that pollutes our political discourse, divides our nation along many battle lines, particularly, on environmental questions. Just as politicians or industry squander credibility when we indifferently brush aside genuine environmental threats, some environmentalists risk becoming irrelevant when they eagerly denounce even the most necessary reforms of failed policies as evil conspiracies to "gut" environmental law.
Americans have become too accustomed to petty politics and less willing to rally to important public causes.
Trust is a fragile commodity in politics that is easily squandered and difficult to restore. And, when it is lost, so are our chances to accomplish the necessary and sensible reforms we profess to be the object of our labors.
One of the most serious challenges before us is protecting the integrity of America's great treasures-our National Parks.
From the Grand Canyon to the Everglades of South Florida, from Alaska's Denali, to the shorelines of Acadia on the coast of Maine, the national park system represents the best attributes of American life. And its preservation deserves our best efforts.
But our political leaders today are failing to live up to Theodore Roosevelt's vision. Work vital to protecting our natural and cultural treasures is too long delayed for lack of resources-an estimated five billion dollars in unmet needs. And the quality of our children's experiences in our national parks is increasingly less than it was when we were children. My friends, that's unacceptable.
It's long past time to make the tough budget decisions to care for our parks. Guided by a comprehensive strategic plan that sets goals, priorities and timelines for achievement, I will make it my mission-America's mission - to fulfil vital unmet needs in our national parks within eight years.
At the Grand Canyon, we've taken action to reduce air pollution; preserve natural quiet; and protect the Colorado River from damage caused by dam operations. We took these actions, not because they were easy or without cost, but because they were the right thing to do.
If we are to assure that our parks remain unspoiled, we must be prepared to defend their integrity from threats, regardless of whether these emanate from within or outside park boundaries. And we must reconcile the needs of visitors with our conservation responsibilities.
For example, we need to manage the rapid growth in overflights of parkland by commercial airtours. As President, I will see to it that every park where overflights occur has a plan that ensures the safety of visitors in the air and on the ground, and that preserves the natural quiet that people expect and deserve in our parks.
Improved planning, better funding, vigorous resource protection, these are the tasks that confront us as we sustain the most extraordinary places in our vast and beautiful country.
As President, I will work for balanced, environmentally responsible, and sustainable multiple-use of our public lands. And I will never lose sight of the fundamental principle that federal land management decisions affecting local communities must be made in cooperation with the Americans who call those communities home.
The idea that Washington knows best, and that local residents cannot be trusted to do what's right in their own back yard is the epitome of federal arrogance. The existence of each and every single forest repudiates that offensive notion.
Take, for example, White Mountain National Forest,which exists not thanks to "enlightened" federal fiat or the presumed superior foresight of the political class in Washington, but was set-aside as a National Forest nearly a century ago thanks to the vision and energy of local residents who demanded it. Washington would do well to keep this example in mind.
As President I will ask leaders, residents and affected stakeholders of every state containing federal lands, to turn their attention to the difficult decisions about what areas should remain forever wild. Ample and qualified areas should be included in the wilderness system and those not appropriate for the designation should be made available for responsible multiple-use. We must get on with the job of protecting our wilderness.
Without ample wilderness I fear that we will lose a precious part of our heritage, the last unspoiled vestiges of the American frontier and untrammeled habitat for American wildlife.
I know that habitat protection and accessible public lands are especially important to many hunters and sportsmen across the country who have a proud tradition of conservation. It's time that we honor their role and encourage their further help in the conservation movement, rather than threaten to deprive them of their Constitutional rights and drive them from the land.
As President, my budgets will fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and assure that states receive at least 50% of the proceeds to meet their environmental protection goals.
As President, I will fight to make permanent the research and development tax credit and focus federal research activities on the most promising environmental technologies.
But advanced technology and new methods of removing pollution from the air and water can not be used to maximum effect when federal law does not encourage their use, or worse, discourages it.
Most of the nation's environmental laws are over 30 years old. It's time to comprehensively review them to assure they are relevant to today's needs and capabilities. That's not code for weakening our standards, it's a call for strengthening our methods for addressing the threats to human health and the environment, and for seeking ways to make them less costly.
We must make regulations more flexible, emphasizing measurable results rather than means favored by bureaucrats. Flexibility will foster innovation.
Our nation's clean air and water laws have improved the environment dramatically. But as far as we have come, we have serious environmental problems left to tackle. In doing so, we must resist the temptation to throw money at every problem. Rather we should build on what works, free enterprise and open markets.
Rather than pork barrel programs, let's establish the necessary standards to achieve responsible goals, and then allow the private sector can harness the power of free markets to assure they are achieved as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible.
As President I will give to the EPA administrator one simple battle plan: in concert with state, tribal and local officials, and the public, vigorously but flexibly enforce our vital environmental protection laws and the rules that contribute directly to the protection of human health and the environment, and retool or retire outdated regulations that serve no useful purpose toward those ends.
As President, I will order a complete top to bottom review with these criteria in mind. And I will make it a priority to ensure that federal agencies abide by the laws that the government imposes on everyone else. Several years ago, mercury was discovered leaking into the ground water from, of all places, a lab operated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government is the biggest polluter in the land. That's not right and it must stop.
As President, I will establish an environmental Report Card that will truthfully inform Americans about the quality of their air, land and water. We continuously monitor and measure the economy, and widely share that data with the public. We should do so with the environment as well.
At the end of the Cold War, America found itself the lone superpower, with the privileges and responsibilities such a position confers. We are the greatest force for good on earth. Our values are advancing across the globe, as other countries look to us for leadership.
America must lead on all fronts, including environmental issues that affect shared resources, whether it's the overfishing of international waters or the threat of a changing global climate. That doesn't mean America plays the patsy. It means we use our leadership to insist on the international cooperation necessary to address legitimate global environmental problems.
Global climate is a scientific question, not a political one. But appropriate remedies must be crafted with American leadership, in a manner that reflects our values:free markets, sound science, cost-benefits, and common sense. This demands the cooperation of other nations,or our response-- well intentioned as it may be -- will fail ourselves and the world we lead.
America is beautiful. Clean air, safe water and sublime open space are the pride of the country. Let us take all necessary action to pass on to our children an even richer natural heritage than was bequeathed to us.
And let us remember the words of an intrepid Grand Canyon explorer and conservationist, John Wesley Powell. Before embarking on his trip to brave the uncharted rapids of the Grand Canyon, he said:
"We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown... We have an unknown distance to run; and an unknown river to explore. What falls there are...what rocks beset the channel... (and) what walls rise over the river we know not."
Those words echo forth from the past as prelude to our own journey into the future--the Great Unknown. With our values as our vessel and our principles as our lantern, we too will negotiate the distance we must run, together, with honor and success for us all, and for anyone who appreciates how good God is to let us live in this, the loveliest part of His wonderful creation.
According to the bible we have a responsibility to take care of the environment. Genesis 1:26-31 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Thank you very much. May God bless each and every one of you!
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