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: The Brockovich Report

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I have said before that being Green has philosophical meaning. Of course philosophy is purely theoretical, and our approach to living Green can not be limited to the philosophical. It has to be purely realistic. We don't live in a philosophical world. We live in a real world. Being Green, Living Green, and making Green choices are not some theoretical thought processes which only affect our minds. These are choices that affect life. Not just our life, but life around us, and the life that is to come after us.

I get a lot of mail from people who share my concerns about how our increasingly contaminated environment increasingly threatens our health.

Just imagine we if we all addressed the issues, we would probably have lower health insurance rates, but who wants that?

Recently I got an email from Mike Cushman, a Canadian who is a prime example of someone who is getting involved. He too has become alarmed by the connection between toxic environment and illness. He read a book by Dr. Devra Davis Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology. Combined with Davis's book, Mike's research and his own family history, Mike had a wake-up call:

• Illness and the contaminated environment are connected.
• Greening the environment should be top priority for us all.

Mike Cushman took advantage of the Freedom of Information Act. He did as we all should; he informed himself, and then he took it on himself to make a noise, and inform other people.

Being Green is not and should not be just another trend for people to make money. It can not be a cause of the week for us to make a so so effort and then move on to the next fad.

Being Green is an imperative.

We must look at all contamination in all its facets. Air. Water. Earth.
We must clean up the contamination in all its facets. Air. Water. Earth.

There is no magic reality. A clean-up won't just happen spontaneously. It won't ever happen if we look the other way. We can not close our eyes. There is only one option for us, and that is to face the issue: we have runaway contamination. It is killing us.

How can we clean it all up?

We must heal the dysfunction of the EPA. We must inform the our public agencies who daily, yearly look the other way and make them do their jobs.

I see the power of Industry; Industry has the funds to clean up after itself. But it does not.
Therefore it is the EPA's job--it is my job--your job--everyone's job--to hold industry accountable.

Thirty years ago, the federal government funded 75% of the costs of maintaining a clean water infrastructure and now its support is down to 5%. One possible solution could be a Clean Water Enforcement Trust Fund. What about a dedicated trust fund that would be used exclusively to keep Industry accountable for cleaning up its own mess? This backed with a two-sided accountability: Industry Accountability AND Administrative Accountability. Americans will NOT tolerate waste, fraud or abuse. There MUST be an effective firewall for this trust fund. Funding must be held to its original intent.

We must all become active participants in Greening the world. Our future generations deserves a greater legacy from us than a ruined planet.

Full post as published by The Brockovich Report on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).