Penalize the environmentally irresponsible

   From oil spills in Alaska to mercury contamination in the Great Lakes, from radiation in the mid-west to the acid rain over our forests, no matter what your position on global climate change is, we all have a problem with pollution. It’s also a fact that we have limited control over how the rest of the world controls its pollution problem. All the time we are pointing to China, saying that we will change our policies when they do.

   I have two things to say to people who will adopt an environmentally sound policy only after the rest of the world does:

   1) How can we even think of mandating environmental policy on other countries if we don’t take the lead?

   2) Why should the U.S. give up its place in global leadership over an issue so obvious?

   America may or may not be the world’s largest polluter (the facts vary depending on where you turn), and it may or may not be the world’s largest source of green technology (Israel and China both would have something to say about that claim), but it is clear that we have a problem with pollution.

   America needs to wake up and enact serious legislation which will control pollution here at home, the rest of the world be damned.

   I’m not talking about cap and trade, but about taxing, fining, and restricting the business of companies which refuse to follow environmentally sound policies. It has been shown over and over again that the private sector (and the public sector as well) only changes when it is forced to.   

   Only when it is no longer lucrative to function one way will the private sector switch to a different method of operating. So let’s make it financially irresponsible to continue being environmentally irresponsible.

   Proponents of the private sector will of course cry about the free market, the invisible hand of the market, the sovereignty of the market. Do we not live in a democracy? The free market should not mean anarchy. We the people should have a say in what business practices we will allow to operate in our country.

   Changing our policies on pollution is about ensuring the future viability of America, not about limiting freedom. Do we need another Exxon-Valdez or Chernobyl here at home before we wake up? The time for responsible environmental policy is now. Let’s maintain America’s position as a global leader.