Green Main Street

Situation: Myopia and Mania

During globalization, the greatest threats to our environment are myopia and mania. The myopic claim nothing must be done to conserve our earth. The manic claim everything must be done to conserve our earth. These views have one thing in common: both harm our earth.

Arguing for a third way, Joseph Pearce wrote, “Humanity is part of an integrated and ordered living creation and cannot exist in isolation from the biosphere that sustains it. If we destroy life on our planet, we are ultimately destroying ourselves. Biocide is suicide.”

But what is the responsible third way between myopia and mania?

The strongest unit for conserving our earth is the individual and the family, not the United Nations or the U.S. government; and the surest principles for conserving our earth are voluntarism and federalism, not the ideologies of myopia and mania. We must promote civic volunteerism that empowers Americans to directly participate in environmental preservation. This third-way is citizen stewardship.

Solution: Green Main Street

Empowering people and families to daily practice citizen stewardship within their communities will green Main Street and, ultimately, America. While the emphasis is rightly on individuals and families, the success of citizen stewardship requires community, state, and federal co-operation and “green light” legislation.

Citizen Stewardship Corps
* We must establish a Citizen Stewardship Corps (CSC).
* Membership and funding for minimal administration are simultaneously achieved through a voluntary check-off on people’s tax returns.

* These citizen stewards will heighten environmental consciousness and conservation measures through voluntary, community-based initiatives.

Green Light Legislation
* Washington should also implement market-oriented encouragements of entrepreneurial innovations for conservation in accordance with the principle of community-based conservation.
* Provide tax relief for individuals and families participating in community, municipal, and state conservation programs, including green architecture.

* Speed regulatory relief for responsible Corporate-Citizen Stewards
* Promote “green light tax relief” to prevent taxation on the profits of emergent. environmental technologies for a period of five years to hasten their dissemination and implementation.
* Seek and respond to additional ideas and innovations brought forward by our nation’s greatest force for conservation: her people.

Restoration: Ensure a Purer Earth

President Theodore Roosevelt rapidly mobilized the federal government to preserve public lands from the rush of industrialization. Compelled to act quickly, he did not directly engage the citizenry in environmental protection. Today, the situation is reversed. During the rush of Globalization, the Industrial Era’s public lands and regulatory regime remain firmly in place. Further pursuing Industrial Era protections will, at best, have marginal impact and, at worst, preclude the prosperity enabling developing nations to lead in environmental protection.

It is better for us to build upon these foundational environmental protections through community-based conservation initiatives that empower and mobilize citizen stewards of our earth. This promotes our environment and our communities. While the myopic and manic will disagree, this sane third way will prevent excuses for personal inaction or governmental domination; preserve and promote our environment and prosperity; and ensure a purer earth for future generations of our free people.