[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE 'Green Generation': Green Party events, news for Earth Day '09, with a focus on water

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, April 15, 2009



'Green Generation': Green Party events and news for Earth Day 2009,
with a focus on water

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on
environmental issues http://www.gp.org/speakers

• "The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?"
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100


WASHINGTON, DC -- On Earth Day 2009, the Green Party is promoting the
theme of 'Green Generation,' with an emphasis on the party's current
activities and its role in the past generation and the next
generation.  Earth Day falls on Wednesday, April 22.

A major focus of Green Generation is water, especially the growing
threat to water supplies because of global warming, pollution, and
privatization.  In March, the National Committee of the Green Party of
the United States passed a proposal
(http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=380) that makes water a
priority for the party at national, state, and local levels.

The proposal lists "guidelines to Green Party candidates and
organizers to increase the visibility of water issues in Green
campaigns and increase our ecological focus in electoral and political
activities" and charges the Green Party's EcoAction Committee
(http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php) with leadership on
water issues.  The many recommendations include:

• "development of local, renewable energy sources that minimize
consumptive water use, destruction of watersheds and water pollution"

• measures to "prevent the usurpation of public rights through
privatization of the water resource by multi-national corporations"

• "enforcement of indigenous treaties, paramount water rights for
indigenous nations and the Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo regarding land
and water rights"

• "legislation that promotes urban conservation, efficient
agricultural use and the integration of land use with water supply"

• "legislation in Congress to fund public water planning and
investments in upgrading and improving water infrastructure, levees
and hazardous waste dumps"

The proposal's background section declares, "Water is the source of
life.  El agua es vida.  The Green Party seeks to safeguard the
well-being of future generations and restore ecological systems.
Clean and available water is a critical priority which government can
and must secure for all people.  The threats to our waters are many,
from depleted aquifers, to the pollution of surface waters, to the
degradation of oceanic waters that have been treated as international
waste dumps.  There is no time, and no water, to waste."

The EcoAction Committee has published a brochure on water
(http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/documents/ecoAction%20Brochure_2.pdf).

Contact for the proposal is Martin Zehr (415-337-5773,
m_zehr at hotmail.com).


Green Party news and events related to Earth Day, Green Generation, and
water:

• For Earth Day 2009, Los Angeles Greens will host a panel of speakers
discussing water issues in California.  "Water Justice and Preparing
for Peak Water" will take place Wednesday, April 15, 7pm at the Peace
Center, 8124 West Third Street in Los Angeles.  The two guest speakers
are Rev. Hannah Petrie, associate minister at Neighborhood Unitarian
Universalist Church in Pasadena, who serves on a state-wide Unitarian
Universalist water issues team; and Conner Everts of the Southern
California Watershed Alliance and Desal Response Group
(http://www.desalresponsegroup.org).
More information: http://losangelesgreens.org

• San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (Green) has been appointed
to the California Coastal Commission.  Mr. Mirkarimi was first elected
in 2004.

• Gordon Clark, the 2008 candidate for Congress in Maryland (8th
District) has started a group called Montgomery Victory Gardens, which
will promote backyard and community gardens in Montgomery County.  He
is lining up support for the effort from groups like the Organic
Consumers Association and the Grow It, Eat It program.

• On April 18, Jack Lindblad, Green candidate for the California
Assembly (39th District) in the 2010 election
(http://LindbladForAssembly.blogspot.com) will participate on a
climate change panel at the University of Southern California (USC),
on which he will discuss water issues.

• The Illinois Green Party (http://www.ilgp.org) has issued a public
statement condemning legislative attempts to repeal the state's
moratorium against new nuclear production
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=197).  State House Bill 875
and State Senate Bill 2162 would delete the provision in state law
prohibiting the construction of new nuclear facilities until the
nuclear waste storage issue is resolved.

• The Green Party of Pennsylvania (http://www.gpofpa.org) has called
for the resignation of acting Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection Secretary John Hanger
(http://www.gpofpa.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0).

  Mr. Hanger recently claimed that the economic benefits of drilling
for gas in the Marcellus Shale were worth the "inevitable"
environmental damage, including poisoning of some residents' water
sources.

• The Green Party of the United States has endorsed International
Seeds Day (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=201 /
http://www.INEAS.org/20090426_PR.pdf) on April 26, which will mark the
fifth anniversary of the passage and signing of Order 81 by Paul
Bremer, administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
Order 81 makes Iraqi farmers dependent on powerful US agribusiness for
their seeds.

• Green Party leader Nancy Allen, farmer and member of the Maine Green
Independent Party, voiced concerns in a national Green Party press
release about the "Food Safety Modernization Act" (HR 875 and S 425)
and, while supporting the goal of food safety and farm inspections,
urged amendments in the bill to protect small and family farms,
farmers' markets, and organic farming
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=199).

Other Earth Day events and news can be read at the Green Party's
national web site (http://www.gp.org) and on state Green Party sites
(index: http://www.gp.org/states.shtml).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Tally of Green election victories
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
• Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

"Think about what you can do on Earth Day"
By Wes Rolley, co-chair of the Green Party's EcoAction Committee,
Morgan Hill Times (California), April 10, 2009
http://www.morganhilltimes.com/opinion/255193-think-about-what-you-can-do-on-earth-day

Water Planning: Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly
http://www.waterassembly.org

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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