The fourth largest political party in the United States is the Green Party.
How long has the Green Party been around?
What does the Green Party believe in?
In 1962, conservationist Rachel Carson published a book titled Silent Spring, which documented
the effects of pesticide on the environment.
This book prompted the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
Ever since the book’s publication, the public has been growing more aware of the ecological
and environmental issues that plague our society.
The fledgling environmentalist movement encouraged President Richard Nixon to propose the creation
of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1972.
This government agency was given the task of writing and enforcing regulations to protect
the environment.
Currently, the EPA has more than 15,000 full time employees and utilizes no less than 27
laboratories to conduct environmental research and assessment.
As the 1970s progressed into the 1980s, more and more people became environmentalists.
Some felt that neither of the two main political parties was giving the cause the attention
or focus it deserved.
As a result, in 1984, the Green Party was formed.
At first, it was merely a loose collection of groups and individuals involved in grassroots
organizing and education campaigns.
Over the course of time, they developed a full organizational structure, with party
leaders, bylaws, and a party platform.
As would be expected, most of the Green Party’s beliefs focus on environmentally friendly
causes.
For example, they believe that the government should encourage increased use of mass transit
vehicles for transportation.
They feel this would be preferable over each individual driving an automobile.
They would also like to make streets and neighborhoods more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
They feel that this would encourage more people to walk or ride a bike to their intended destination.
The Green Party would like to reduce waste by encouraging, or even requiring, recycling.
They would like to phase out the use of waste incinerators and landfills.
Instead, they hope to reduce consumption and encourage people to reuse items when possible.
This strategy is promoted with the phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”
They believe that a waste-free society is essential to ensuring public health.
Greens also believe that the planet is facing a worldwide water crisis.
To deal with this upcoming issue, they feel that the nation needs strong laws in place
to promote water conservation.
This would include mandating the use of water-efficient appliances and fixtures (faucets and shower
heads) and reducing the need for irrigation of landscapes and crops.
They also promote using technology to retain, treat, and filtrate storm water where it is
collected.
The Green Party believes that all people have a right to safe, adequate, and nutritional
food.
They believe that food should be grown in an environmentally friendly and sustainable
manner.
They promote legislation that would encourage smaller family farms and the growth of non-traditional
crops.
They oppose large centralized farms and feedlots which they claim have destroyed rural communities
and squeezed out the family farmer.
Greens also oppose using animals for experimentation and testing.
They also feel that the government should ban the use of products that are made from
exotic or endangered animals.
The Green Party advocates prohibiting large scale breeding facilities, such as “puppy
mills”.
They feel that these facilities only increase the overpopulation of pets.
They also fight to end the abuse of animals, including farm animals, and to enforce the
already existing laws related to abusing animals.
The Green Party argues that the human population expands at the expense of all other species.
They feel that humans should work to lower birthrates in an effort to control unchecked
population growth.
This belief stems from the fact that the more people there are, the more food and water
is needed to sustain the population.
These factors place increased pressure on the environment, which the Greens believe
is ultimately unsustainable.
As the Green Party has become larger, they have branched out into other areas of the
political sphere.
The Green Party platform now includes a wide variety of positions on everything from free
speech, healthcare, and labor issues.
For example, in the area of free speech, the Greens advocate breaking up the large media
conglomerates and giving the public greater access to the airwaves.
The Green Party also believes that prisons should be reserved for the most violent of
criminals.
Those convicted of non-violent crimes should be steered towards rehabilitation programs,
work programs, community service, or electronically monitored.
They feel that prisoners should have access to education, job training, and psychological
treatment, which would help with their re-entry into the community after incarceration.
This is not every belief promoted by the Green Party as there are too many issues to be listed
in this video.
It should also be remembered that not every Green Party member holds each of these beliefs.
It is difficult to categorize an entire group of people in broad terms.
The party includes a wide variety of people who have differing opinions on many of these
topics.
Green Party candidates have experienced reasonable success in the past two decades.
In 1996, the Green Party candidate for president, Ralph Nader, earned more than 650,000 votes.
Nader represented the Green Party again in 2000 and achieved more than 2.8 million votes.
In 2012, the Green Party presidential candidate, Jill Stein, appeared on the ballot in thirty-four
states.
Stein was the 2016 Green Party candidate as well.
There are currently more than 100 Green Party members who hold elected office across the
nation.
There have been several mayors and city council members elected who were members of the Green
Party.
There has never been a Green Party member voted into the U.S. Senate or U.S. House of
Representatives.
However, many communities have voted for Greens to represent them in their state legislatures.
There are approximately 250,000 Americans registered with the Green Party.
Also, there are numerous Independents who claim to be Green Party members but live in
states where they are unable to register with the party.