Issues: Energy and Environment

"We seek an earth restored . . .": FCNL's Statement of Legislative Policy

C-03-039B

We recognize that issues regarding the use and protection of the earth's resources are global and require mutual respect and cooperation with every community on earth.

We understand that the global environmental crisis has deep relevance to Friends' Peace Testimony. Environmental degradation and resource scarcity are among the underlying causes of violence and war.

We recognize the interdependence of humans with the whole world and their responsibility to the ecosystems on which all life depends. Humanity must commit to curbing excessive and destructive consumption and pollution. We believe these responsibilities are urgent and must be acted upon globally, nationally, locally, and individually.

Section 1. Caring for the Earth

We can see that the health of the earth's ecosystems and their ability to support life has been and is being seriously impaired by human activities. We deplore the pollution of the earth's land, water, and atmosphere; the decline in biodiversity and nonrenewable resources; and the increase in deforestation and desertification. The world is in the midst of a mass extinction of species, primarily human in cause.

We urge that national legislation promote ecologically sound agricultural, extractive, industrial, and commercial enterprises. Ways must be found to meet the needs of human beings without doing violence to the rest of creation. Specifically, we advocate that the U.S. government develop policies that provide:

• regional and international cooperation for the solution of environmental problems, including the incorporation of environmental standards in trade agreements that assure the rights of nations and local governments to establish more stringent environmental protections and standards. The UN environmental program requires adequate funding and authority for monitoring and enforcement of international environmental policies
• regional and international cooperation to conserve and allocate diminishing water resources
• reformation of international aid to promote sound ecological practices and technologies appropriate to the economy and culture in which they will be used
• sufficient funds and other resources for the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies to carry out their statutory environmental mandates
• in federally funded activities, support for efforts to protect open spaces and productive farmlands from urban sprawl and development, with sensitivity to the needs of low-income persons
• commitment to protect and expand parks and wilderness areas, both for the protection of wild animal and plant life and for low-impact recreation, in full consultation with local communities affected by such actions and with dislocation assistance for them
• protection and management of federal lands to restore and safeguard their ecosystems
• requirements that the military and other government agencies must comply with the same environmental laws and regulations as the private sector
• resource conservation, including oceans, fisheries, and coastal areas; estuaries, rivers, and wetlands; watersheds and aquifers; forests, especially old growth forests; prairies; deserts; soil; and nonrenewable fossil fuels
• expansion of ecological education within schools so that young people increase their understanding of the natural systems within which they live
• expansion of research, development, and implementation of strategies to minimize waste and prevent pollution, especially by substituting products and processes of lower toxicity in manufacturing and agriculture
• a comprehensive recycling program and economic incentives that encourage both the use of recycled materials and creation of markets for the use of recycled products
• development and enforcement of regulations to safeguard biological diversity
• regional and international cooperation to abate the loss of biodiversity--genetic, species, and ecosystem--worldwide
• elimination of the ability to patent naturally occurring genetic sequences
• strengthening and consistently applying the Endangered Species Act; reauthorizing the Endangered Species Act without compromising any of the authority of the present Act
• prohibition of brutal and inhumane treatment of animals such as raising and holding animals in tightly confined quarters and causing avoidable pain in animal testing; encouraging use of alternative means of testing
• careful evaluation and regulation of the safety and ecological effects prior to any introduction into the environment of synthetic chemicals or organisms modified by genetic engineering, and careful monitoring and regulation after such introduction
• full disclosure labeling of food products, including identifying genetically altered and irradiated products.

Section 2. Population and Consumption

We believe it will be impossible to improve the lives of all the peoples of the earth if the population continues to grow. The failure to confront the problems of population and over-consumption will endanger the finite home planet that all people share.

We are gravely concerned about the rapid human population growth and increasing consumption. In 1960, world human population reached 3 billion; in 2000, it was 6 billion.

We therefore support access to responsible family planning services and education, although we oppose coercive population control. We urge the federal government to:

• improve educational, economic, and political opportunities for women everywhere, to both improve the lives of women and children and reduce birthrates
• provide adequate financial and institutional support for responsible, effective, universally available, medically safe, and non-coercive family planning in the U.S. and throughout the world. (We acknowledge that Friends are not united in their understanding of abortion and access to birth control by minors; FCNL does not lobby on either issue.)
• promote the education of children and adults in the U.S. about the current growth of human population and its effects; support the UN in its development and funding of similar programs internationally
• encourage research to improve the safety, reliability, and affordability of contraception.

Although most population growth is occurring in the developing world, the average person in the U.S. consumes and pollutes many times more than does the average person of these developing nations. This over-consumption not only threatens the global environment, but also sows the seeds of war and reduces the resources available to meet the world's needs.

We urge the federal government to:

• encourage, wherever legislative opportunities permit, reduction of high levels of consumption and the associated pollution of the environment
• encourage teaching school children and others to recognize and critically evaluate the pervasive advertising they are exposed to every day
• promote life cycle environmental cost analysis or a similar process to bring the environmental impacts of raw materials, production, packaging, use, and final product disposal to the forefront of manufacturing and purchasing decisions for companies and consumers
• promote the education of children and adults in the U.S. about the effects of ongoing pollution and consumption of resources.

Section 3. Global Climate Change and Energy Policy

We realize that climate change, changing land use, and energy use are inextricably intertwined in greenhouse gas generation. The reality of recent global warming and forecasts of even faster warming in this century pose significant moral challenges. We recognize that climate change exacerbates the ongoing mass extinction, and will cause disproportionate suffering and loss of life in poorer societies as a result of famine, flooding, desertification, and disease.

We believe that right use and sharing of the world's resources for energy are crucial to human survival and welfare. We urge that energy policy be based on global humanitarian and environmental concerns, rather than narrow commercial, military, or national interests, and that the price of energy reflect its full cost.

We recognize that all people need equitable access to sources of energy for personal needs and development of their communities. We are concerned about the great risk to the environment and to future generations posed by increased use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. We urge a shift to renewable and less damaging energy sources. We believe that increased efficiency and conservation are essential: to meet the energy needs of people throughout the world; to lessen the likelihood of war over energy sources; and to reduce the dangers to health and the natural environment.

We urge the federal government to assume leadership in addressing this important international problem by such actions as:

• joining the world community in ratifying and implementing international agreements to reduce global warming
• developing strong, fair, and effective national policies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases
• supporting research on climate change: its physical processes, its environmental and societal impacts, the factors driving emissions of greenhouse gasses, and methods to mitigate its effects
• promoting energy conservation through federal standards and regulations that reduce fuel consumption; for example, increasing fuel-efficiency and anti-pollution requirements for all classes of vehicles and promoting and subsidizing public transportation; reducing subsidies for damaging energy-intensive forms of transportation
• setting a well-publicized example through energy conservation programs in government agencies, use of renewable energy in government buildings, and use of fuel-efficient vehicles in government fleets
• instituting tax and pricing policies that more fully reflect and publicize the economic, social, and environmental costs of energy production and use
• increasing total spending on energy research and development, with emphasis on shifting priorities from nuclear and fossil fuels to energy efficiency and conservation and to all forms of renewable energy
• promoting sustainable energy technologies and industries for domestic use and export; adopting incentives for producing and using renewable energy; removing regulatory barriers to renewable on-site power generation and distribution
• giving priority to reducing the enormous health and safety hazards and environmental damage from production and use of fossil fuels
• placing an explicit moratorium on construction of nuclear fission power plants and the transportation of nuclear wastes until methods for the safe transportation and long-term disposal of radioactive waste have been demonstrated
• maintaining the long-standing policy against reprocessing spent nuclear fuels, and urging other nations to cease such reprocessing, because of the peril of diversion of nuclear materials into weapons.

Section 4. Environmental Restoration and Regeneration

Restoration of the earth requires healing the places damaged by the release of toxic and nuclear substances. We urge the Departments of Defense and Energy and other government agencies, together with private companies, to take responsibility for the damage they have caused and to work to redress it. We believe that the cost of cleanup should be borne by the responsible parties; however, cleanup should proceed promptly, and not be delayed by litigation over who ultimately will bear the cost. The dangers of pollution and waste disposal should not fall disproportionately on the world's poor or marginalized peoples. Pollution problems should be addressed in full consultation with affected local communities.

We urge that the federal government participate in this environmental restoration by:

• monitoring, limiting, and reducing toxic contaminant build-ups, in both humans and wildlife, that affect physiologic processes, especially reproduction, fetal and neurological development, and immune system capacity
• continuing or expanding the penalties for hazardous discharges in excess of legal limits. The highest priority should be given to public and environmental health risks in determining legal limits. Where there is significant uncertainty in the level of risks, conservative assumptions should be used
• prohibiting the manufacture and export of toxic products to other nations after their use has been banned in the U.S.
• allocating sufficient funds to clean up the environmental legacies of the United States' military establishment
• working to destroy and safely dispose of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and materials stockpiles in the U.S., Russia and other countries
• seeking safe, ecologically benign, and socially equitable methods for the disposal and destruction of toxic wastes
• continuing the successful international and national efforts to reduce damage to the stratospheric ozone layer
• strengthening and enforcing laws and regulations to protect, efficiently use, and clean up water resources and sufficiently funding their implementation

We are convinced that all on this earth are interdependent and we cherish the sacred value of the natural world as God's creation. Impelled by both the sacred and the practical, and inspired by Friends' testimonies, we seek an earth restored.

Reviewed 8/22/05

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