As far as Green Peace and Sierra Club go... They are involved politically only in issues of the environment.
Protecting and preserving our environment should not be a political issue in any way. Destruction of the environment will lead to destruction of the human race.
It was not very long ago that the first earth day, etc was created. Why was it created ? It was created because back in the '60s, on the cover of Life magazine were pictures of people literally walking across the crust of Lake Erie. The great lakes were almost destroyed because of industrial, agricultural and household pollution (in particular phosphorous). A tremendous effort was undertaken throughout the '70s to toughen environmental protections and clean up the damage that had been caused by 100 years of industrial usage. At that time the river Thames in england was pronounced dead (it is now enjoying a recovery thanks to all the "leftist" laws there), Large parts of our Lakes and river systems were unusable due to high levels of toxins within them. Acid rain was proven to be destroying the watershed system of the adirondacks and the Catskills.
The "leftist" laws and controls put into place since then have seen a tremendous recovery take place. But that doesn't mean that the laws should be loosened up, it does not mean that they should be necessarily tightened up further. But we got to see firsthand how bad it can get and I personally would hate to see it get that bad again.
from:
http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution...ter/water1.html
Water pollution in the Great Lakes
The pollution of our waterways became a national issue in June of 1969, the day that the Cuyahoga River, flowing through Cleveland, Ohio, on its way to Lake Erie, caught on fire because it was so polluted. Although this was not the first time that the Cuyahoga River had been in flames, the 1969 fire caught the attention of the nation and the fight began for increased water pollution controls, which eventually led to the Great Lakes Water Quality Act and Clean Water Act in the 1970s.
From:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/4105420.htm?t.../printstory.jsp
In the mid-1960s, national publications, including Life magazine, declared that Lake Erie, filled with blankets of algae, was dead. But the lake wasn't dead -- it was over-enriched with phosphorus.
In 1969, nearly 30,000 tons of phosphorus went into Lake Erie. By the mid-1990s, that amount had been cut to 11,000 tons under a U.S.-Canadian agreement.
An estimated $8 billion was spent to upgrade sewage treatment plants to reduce the amount of phosphorus going into Lake Erie.
In 1990, Ohio banned the sale of high-phosphorus laundry detergents in 32 counties that drain into the lake.
Btw... The current Clean Water act was composed firstly of amendments made to laws in 1972 during the tenure of the "leftist" administration of Richard Nixon... It was then tightened in '77.
http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/cwa.htm#ECWA
edited to change original to current in my last paragraph. The original clean water act was 1948. It was for all intents and purposes totally rewritten with the amendments of 72 and the changes in '77. It was also tightened in '87 under the "leftist" regime of Ronald Reagan.
from:
http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/w...FTOKEN=59216183
1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act P.L. 80-845
(Act of June 30, 1948)
1956 Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 P.L. 84-660
(Act of July 9, 1956)
1961 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments P.L. 87-88
1965 Water Quality Act of 1965 P.L. 89-234
1966 Clean Water Restoration Act P.L. 89-753
1970 Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970 P.L. 91-224, Part I
1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments P.L. 92-500
1977 Clean Water Act of 1977 P.L. 95-217
1981 Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Construction Grants Amendments P.L. 97-117
1987 Water Quality Act of 1987 P.L. 100-4
Last edited by sarettah at Feb 21 2004, 12:20 AM