Green Party Watch

The Green Party’s Eco Action Committee has recently issued three brochures designed to promote ecological protection.

The first, issued on March 7th and covered here at Green Party Watch earlier, addresses water issues here and abroad.

The second, issued on April 4th, addresses a proposed Seventh Generation amendment to the Constitution which would read

“The right of citizens of the United States to use and enjoy air, water, sunlight and other renewable re-sources determined by the Congress to be common property shall not be impaired, nor shall such use impair their availability for use of future generations.”

This proposed amendment has been encouraged by Winnona LaDuke, GP Vice-Presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000.

The third, issued on April 14th, addresses Earth Day, and the Green Party’s role in protecting the planet. That brochure, just in time for Earth Day 2009 can be found here.

All these brochures are free to download and distribution by individual Greens is a great way to build, or create, a strong local group of like minded people into a focused Green Party chapter.

H/T to Mato Ska of California for the links.

The Green Party of Suffolk County issued a Social Media Release via pitchengine.com announcing the election of Suffolk County Green Matthew Lavery to the Green Party House Campaign Committee. In the release they point to his experience in the Green Party in Norwich, Norfolk England, and his work on a campaign for the European Parliament for Rupert Read, who is a Norwich City Councilor. The announcement includes a video.

Indian Country Today covers an appearance in Seattle March 18 – 19 for discussions on diversity and environmental stewardship by Winnona LaDuke, Green Party Vice-Presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000.

The High Springs Herald carries a story about Michael Canney, who is running for Seat 4 in the April 14th Alachua (FL) City Commission election. His website includes information about Alachua City Manager Clovis Watson Jr., who it seems resigned, and now is about to be re-appointed without discussion. H/T to Anita Stewart for the story, posted to her FaceBook page.

In this article at the News Gazette, Republican Mayoral nominee Rex Bradfield bemoans his loss in that race, expresses dismay that the voters voted along party lines, and explains that he thought the Green Party nominee Durl Kruse would take votes away from the Democrat.

Over at Independent Political Report, writer Ross Levin covers the campaign of Lee Scott Laugenour for Lenox, Massachusetts town select board. Langenhour is an active member of the Green-Rainbow Party and, according to this article at the Berkshire Eagle, is a ten year resident of the town, serves on the board of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, and has been married to his husband for four years. To carry the thanks forward, Levin pays kudos to Green Ferret.

Levin also writes about Green Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, CA here, noting that she is pushing for green building requirements in that city. The Contra Costa Times reports that the proposal is

“in the middle of the pack when it comes to how stringent its requirements would be for commercial construction, and a little above the middle when it comes to residential construction.”

Finally, in a press release the Green Party national office announced that the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on the Green’s constitutional challenge to the manipulation of presidential elections. The statement says that the court has issued a ruling that, while dismissing the plaintiff for lack of standing, did not reject the validity of his arguments challenging the Electoral College based on the Mal-Apportionment Penalty clause of the 14th Amendment. The case was filed pro-se by Asa Gordon of the DC Statehood Green Party.

Is the Green Party too rigid in its opposition to nuclear power? Is nuclear power a safe alternative to fossil fuel? Are the Green Party concerns about the long term (seven generations) impact of nuclear power more important than the short term energy consumption needs of today’s generation?

Based on the interest in this story last week, I felt compelled to post this interesting story out of the UK. A Green Party Candidate for Parliament is finding himself in hot water for suggesting that atomic energy might have a role in fighting climate change. From The Independent:

Chris Goodall, prospective parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon, upset many party members with his assertion in yesterday’s Independent that atomic energy has a role to play in the fight against climate change. Mr Goodall was one of four prominent environmentalists disclosed as having had a change of heart about the nuclear issue, having moved from an anti-nuclear stance to believing that atomic power is a necessary part of the energy mix in the struggle to cut carbon emissions and halt global warming.
read more »

The US Green Party’s National Committee voted to suspend print publication of its national newspaper “Green Pages”, with the exception of a single issue. Green Pages will continue to be published online, including downloadable versions for local chapters and state parties to use with outreach. Part of this plan involves improving and expanding the online presence of Green Pages.

In other internal Green Party news, the 2009 Annual National Meeting of the national Green Party is being proposed to be held in Durham, North Carolina June 17-21, hosted by the North Carolina Green Party and the local Triangle Green Party. Voting on this location will end March 1. The 2008 Annual Meeting was in Chicago, 2007 was in Reading, PA, 2006 was in Tuscon, AZ, 2005 was in Tulsa, OK, 2004 was in Milwaukee, WI.

Also nominations are being taken for candidates for the Green Senate Coordinating Committee (GSCC) and Green House Coordinating Committee (GHCC). Up to seven members will be elected to the GSCC, up to 9 to the GHCC, serving two year terms. You don’t have to be a Delegate to the National Committee to be nominated, but must be nominated by a Delegate to the National Committee. Elections to the two committees will begin March 9 and end March 15, using Single Transferable Voting.

The EcoAction Committee considers the importance of the water resource a critical priority in this election year and every year after. The Green Party advocates for the future well-being of generations to come by actively working to implement the necessary legislation, electing the committed candidates and establishing the required administrative and political measures in every state. We actively work in accordance with our Key Values to make the changes needed to empower the people to make the decisions regarding the water resource that impact on their daily lives.
 
We want:
* to work together with our neighbors in making decisions that recognize the stake that future generations have in those decisions; (Future Focus)

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Congratulations Green Party of Canada – Their candidate will participate in major debate
Canada is having an election too, in case you had not heard. Their candidate for Prime Minister, Elizabeth May, is polling at 10% currently, and will participate in the nationally televised debates.

It appears Canadians will get to hear more than just the pre-approved political participants.

Great article from the Christian Science Monitor:

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/10/02/why-canada’s-green-party-is-finally-a-prime-time-draw/

Why Canada’s Green Party is (finally) a prime-time draw
Elizabeth May, the Green candidate, will make history by appearing in a nationally televised debate on Thursday night.

By Susan Bourette| Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/ October 2, 2008 edition

TORONTO
One way or another, Canada’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May will make history this week.

The mother, lawyer, environmental activist, and native of Connecticut will be the first Green Party member to participate in national televised debates on equal footing with Canada’s mainstream party leaders.

The debates – in French on Wednesday and in English on Thursday night – are “make or break” events for a party long relegated to the fringes of Canadian politics. Despite Green Party success in Europe, Canadians have yet to elect a single Green member to Parliament.
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Hello everyone! My name is Daryl Northrop, and I have been active with the Greens since the fateful election in 2000. Green Party Watch admin-extrodinaire Ronald Hardy has graciously allowed me to be a poster here, and I hope not to bore everyone silly with my news and analysis of current political activities, and ideas for the future.

It’s at this point that some of you may be thinking “Who is this guy, anyways?”

Born and raised in Iowa, I have spent the last 11 years in the financial industry (life insurance and annuities). During that time, I attended Drake University and completed my bachelors degree in international relations, became active in the Iowa Green Party, organized my county branch, ran for office (2004 Iowa Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate), served as co-chair of the Iowa Green Party, and as one of Iowa’s delegates to the National Committee.

Summer of 2008, my wife and I relocated to northern Virginia, where I am attending the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, getting my Masters degree in Political Management, with an emphasis on campaign management and party building. “What is political management?” you might be asking yourself. A pop-culture reference would be Toby Zeigler and Josh Lyman from West Wing. My goal at GWU is to better learn the ins and outs of campaign management, media management, issue crafting, voter outreach, and party building, in order to help local and state Green Parties and their candidates campaign for and WIN elections.

As a side note, I have also come to admire the netroots movement that has helped to energize the Democratic Party. While understanding that they are a special-interest/corporate dominated party, the netroots phenomenon has revolutionized the way energized activists, and regular citizens, communicate with each other, build shared consensus, and most importantly: translate this into real-world action!

I look forward to engaging and communicating with all of you. If you would like to contact me directly, my email is daryl.northrop@gmail.com   my door is open!

As always- Green and Growing!

Daryl

First 100 Days Energy and Environmental Policy
The Green Party Platform:
Ecological and Energy Sustainability.

The human community is an element of the Earth community, not the other way around.

All human endeavors are situated within the dynamics of the biosphere. If we wish to have sustainable institutions and enterprises, they must fit well with the processes of the Earth. The ideology of industrialism, in both capitalist and communist countries, insists that modern society lives on top of nature and should rightly use and despoil the rest of the natural world as we desire—because any loss of the ecosystems is merely an “externality” in economic thought and read more »