The EPA Changed the Way it Makes Scientific Decisions to "Sustainable" 

In January 2012, the EPA announced it was "realigning its entire research enterprise around the concept of sustainability."  The new initiative is titled, "The Path Forward." Agency scientists and managers agreed to base their process on "the widely used definition of sustainability as outlined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987..." 

The 1987 Brundtland Commission report, also known as "Our Common Future," stated that the earth was in danger, there was too much poverty and industrialized nations like the US were the cause. According to Brundtland, the only way to protect earth was for powerful central authorites to control all of society, the economy and the environment in an initiative it coined as "sustainable development."

 

Union Founder's Words on Socialism

"Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and secure democracy."  Samuel Gompers 1918

Samuel Gompers was the founder and longest serving president of the American Federation of Labor. (AFL)

"Deja vu All Over Again?"

FDR won his first two terms by attacking the wealthy and pitting them against poor Americans.  In 1932 he promised to "cut government operations by 25% and lower taxes", but did neither. 

In 1936, he overwhelmingly won by raising taxes on the rich then redistributing the money to larger voting blocks in swing states using the WPA, Silver Purchase Act and the Agricultural Act. 

By 1940, needing businesspeople to win the war, he called for unity among the same people he divided and won another decisive victory. 

In 1944, FDR sidestepped laws prohibiting union money in elections by forming the nation's first Political Action Committee.  This provided urban labor support. Fearing a backlash by Japanese prisoners if released from internment camps, he created an executive order to keep them imprisoned until 3 days after the elections.  To gain the Polish American vote, FDR promised special treatment for Poland after the war.  He won nearly 90% of their vote, and then betrayed the group by failing to offer the promised "self-determination" for Poland at the Yalta conference.  Still, he won a fourth slim victory. 

Upon his death, the NYT wrote, "Men will thank God on their knees 100 years from now FDR was in the White House."!

Between budget battles and elections, politicians and media supporters spin wildly to advance their own positions, leaving the public misinformed. In this column we will attempt to unravel some of the worst spins.

Worst Economy, I think!

In 2008, now Pres. Obama said "we are in the worst economy since the Great Depression."

Click Here For The Real Story

Presidential  Whoppers!

During the Healthcare Summit and his 2010 State of the Union message, Pres. Obama declared the healthcare bill would cut the federal deficit. 

Click Here For The Real Story

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EPA Uses New "Sustainability" Method for Regulatory Decision Making

Under a new process called "The Path Forward", the EPA has changed its traditional risk assessment and risk management approach to conducting scientific work by realigning the Agency's entire research enterprise around the concept of sustainability.

The agency is making the change for two reasons:

  • An increase of 15% to 20% annually in papers published on sustainability between 1997 and 2007 suggests to the EPA that sustainability is now an established scientific field.
  • The agency, until now, has lacked a systematic incorporation of sustainability into all of its research areas.

The EPA's realignment of its entire research enterprise will recognize the widely used definition of sustainability outlined by the Bruntdland Commission in 1987: "meeting the needs of the current generation while preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

To fully embrace this definition, the three commonly recognized pillars of sustainability - economy, environment, and society have been systematically integrated into the EPA's research portfolio.

The EPA will sustainably integrate the following research programs:

  • Air, Climate and Energy (ACE)  - Addresses the interrelated goal of clean air, a sustainable climate and meeting energy needs.
  • Chemical Safety for Sustainability (CSS) - Develops tools for more rapidly calculating the sustainability of chemicals to inform more sustainable approaches to green chemical design and production across life cycles.
  • Safe and Healthy Communities (SHC) - Uses land use, sustainable buildings and community infrastructure, ecosystem services and benefits, technology for a greener environments, children's health, environmental justice and more areas  to work with communities to develop sustainability decision analysis, provide tools and target high priority needs.
  • Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) -  Ensures that the nation's water supply is both safe for current use and sustainable for future generations.
  • Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) - Provides research and documentation to help understand the potential risk to public health from exposure to environmental contaminants of concern.
  • Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP) - Incorporates sustainable and systems thinking into research the EPA provides to Homeland Security to enhanced preparedness, response and recovery capabilities involving chemical, biological and radiological threats. 

The New Path Forward will mean substantial changes in the EPA's process for regulatory decision making.  Read more.




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