Fix Our Environment

Exhibit 5 below is the portion of the ASRP that will help to “Fix Our Environment.”  The website that supports it, (Interestingengnrng-10 Ways Humans Impact the Environment. n.d.), presents ten ways humans are negatively impacting the environment and the natural resources of the earth.  Proposals are made in the ASRP to begin addressing these ten negative impacts on the environment.

From the very beginning God commanded humanity to subdue the earth and be good stewards of all the natural resources that were made available through the creative process which included air, water, minerals, and the soil (Gen. 1:28).  For too long humanity has placed short-term profits and immediate prosperity above the desire to preserve the earth for future generations.

This neglect of the environment during the industrial revolution of the past two centuries has caused a crisis that must be addressed to avoid further damage to the environment and our natural resources.  Listed below are ten ways humans are negatively impacting the environment and natural resources as summarized by the website, (Interestingengnrng-10 Ways Humans Impact the Environment. n.d.):

  1. Overpopulation
  2. Pollution
  3. Global Warming
  4. Climate Change
  5. Genetic Modification
  6. Ocean Acidification
  7. Ocean Pollution
  8. Deforestation
  9. Acid Rain
  10. Ozone Depletion

It does not appear practical in the foreseeable future to stop the burning of fossil fuels in the world economy, but it is possible very soon to reverse the negative trends that we are currently experiencing.  It is also possible to remove the contaminants from surface water and pump it back into the ground to begin replenishing aquifers and reducing the subsidence in coastal areas. 

Before the Federal Government can effectively begin implementing the environmental projects proposed below, America must begin fixing our relationship problems, our democracy problems, and our money problems.  Some of the following proposals could be partially funded and implemented within 8 years to begin addressing the above environmental issues. 

  1. Work with state, local, and national leaders and the agricultural community to develop agricultural reserves as a national asset to reduce the national impact of weather-related disasters, combat hunger nationally and abroad, and improve trade balances with other nations. 

    As agricultural production exceeds the needs of the national and international marketplace, the excess production would be withdrawn from the market and purchased, at a set percentage of market value by the government.  This excess production would be stored as agricultural reserves to maintain competitive prices, and the agricultural reserves would become a national asset to be used for disaster relief, hunger relief, and export trade negotiations with other nations around the world. (Department of Agriculture)
     
  2. Work with Congress, the Department of Defense (Corps of Engineers), the scientific community, and indusry with goals, timetables, and the awarding of contracts to convert excess large military and civilian helicopters and transport/bomber aircraft and excess civilian aircraft to firefighting equipment by developing and installing huge freshwater tanks, from recycled materials, in their fuselages with quick-fill and quick-discharge capabilities.

    Then strategically locate these vehicles around the country at military bases and airports near freshwater sources to respond very quickly to local fires, forest fires, industrial fires, and potential terrorist attacks like 9/11.  The goal would be to attack the fires with massive freshwater resources before they have had time to spread to large areas.

    Excess military and civilian aircraft can be found at the following websites: (Airplaneboneyards-Military Airplanes. n.d.) and (Airplaneboneyards-Commercial Airplanes. n.d.).  These boneyards represent an enormous waste of America’s resources and should be either recycled or converted to a beneficial use in the economy.

    This fleet of aircraft would virtually eliminate the impact of fires on the American environment, reduce insurance costs to citizens and insurance companies, and save the lives and property of citizens.  The military would be responsible for the maintenance and piloting of the aircraft.  A percentage of civilian property insurance premiums could pay for the ongoing operational support costs and the cost of all missions and flight hours.  

    The fleet could also reduce the impact of droughts on agricultural production.  Many of these converted aircraft could be exported to other countries to reduce the impact of fires on the global environment and improve America’s balance of payments to other countries. (Department of Defense, Corps of Engineers, National Science Foundation)
     
  3. Work with colleges and universities, the scientific community, and industry by the issuance of grants with goals, timetables, and contracts to design a modern upgrade to the national electrical power/communications grid. It is proposed that the grid be constructed underground alongside the major arteries of the current interstate highway system and connect to the various sources of electrical power generation and communications around the country. 

    This would substantially reduce the need for forest products for power and communication lines, and the sources of power would include the existing coal-fired plants, nuclear plants, wind farms, and solar panel farms.  By being constructed underground, it would also reduce damages and power outages to citizens during natural disasters and emergencies such as hurricanes and winter storms, and it would connect to existing privately owned grids. 

    Strategically locating the power grid alongside the current interstate highway system, would also support a new generation of electrically powered vehicles.  The excess power poles and metal from power lines would be added to the agricultural and metal recycled reserves as liquid assets.  The grid would be owned by the people and would be managed by the Department of Energy through fees and contracts with private companies, who would directly serve the American people.  (Department of Energy)
     
  4. Work with colleges and universities, the scientific community, and industry by the issuance of grants with goals, timetables, and contracts for the design and construction of prototype solar panel farms in the desert areas of the country with ways to store that energy and connect that energy source to the power grid for added capacity. 

    Continue to provide tax incentives to households and companies that convert to solar power.  These prototype solar panel farms would be owned by the people and managed by the Department of Energy through contracts with private companies. (Department of Energy)
     
  5. Work with colleges and universities, the scientific community, and industry by the issuance of grants with goals, timetables, and contracts to design prototype recycling systems and plants for 100% recycling of all metals, paper, plastics, rubber tires, and organic garbage and trash received from daily garbage pickups from the public to:
    1. Clean up the national landscape;
    2. Reduce the content of landfills and reclaim lost real estate;
    3. Provide recycled metal materials to rebuild the infrastructure of the nation;
    4. Provide recycled paper materials for the manufacture of paper products to preserve national forests;
    5. Provide recycled plastic materials for the manufacture of plastic products and stop the pollution of the oceans;
    6. Provide recycled rubber materials from vehicle tires and other products for the manufacture of new and more advanced rubber materials for vehicle tires and other products by the use of polymers or other synthetic components, and
    7. Convert organic garbage and trash, animal parts from meat processing plants, and dead animals into commercial fertilizers with maximum control of odor and minimum pollution of the environment.

It is proposed that the recycled raw materials from these areas be processed in modern, relatively automated recycling plants that produce standard-sized ingots or bricks of raw material for re-sale in the national and international marketplace.  As the recycled production of these recycling plants exceeds the needs of the marketplace, the excess production would be withdrawn from the market and purchased, at a set percentage of market value, by the government to maintain competitive market prices.

The excess recycled production would be added to the national assets to be used for nationally sponsored infrastructure and environmental projects and for export trade negotiations with other nations around the world.  These recycling plants would provide new sources of investment and revenue for state and local governments and reduce the taxes of citizens.  (Department of the Interior, National Science Foundation)

  1. Reopen and modernize old foundries and establish new foundries for the recovery and 100% recycling of all military debris and obsolete military equipment and aircraft left from national military operations and foreign military operations by melting them down into ingots and adding them to the National Recycled Reserves.

    This recycled equipment would provide raw materials for the rebuilding of the national infrastructure, new national projects, and resale to industry and foreign countries for revenue, which would reduce taxes and improve the export balance of payments.   For a look at excess military aircraft, go to the website, (Airplaneboneyards-Military Airplanes. n.d.). 
    (Department of Defense, Department of Commerce)
     
  2. Re-establish nuclear power plants as a primary source of electrical power in America, by establishing a dedicated research team of scientists and engineers, similar to the WWII Manhattan Project for the atomic bomb, to determine how the half-lives of radioisotopes can be reduced, modified, or neutralized, so that the radioactive wastes and other byproducts of nuclear reactors can be recycled or safely disposed of in a relatively short period without potential damage to the environment.

    According to the Principle of Le Chatelier (Chapter 3, Item 11), nature tends to undo the stress caused by a system that is not in equilibrium, such as a radioisotope.  The website, (Creation-Radiometric Dating Breakthroughs. n.d.), has an article about radiometric dating breakthroughs which suggests that this is already occurring in nature. (Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
     
  3. Work with colleges and universities, the scientific community, and industry by the issuance of grants with goals, timetables, and contracts to design a prototype 100% recycling program for concrete and asphalt from demolished buildings and roadways and the slag from smelting processes to reduce the content of landfills and reclaim lost real estate. 

    It is proposed that tax incentives be established for the design and construction of strategically located, high-volume, automated recycling plants for concrete, asphalt, and slag.  As the recycled production of these recycling plants exceeds the needs of the national industrial marketplace, the excess production would be withdrawn from the market and purchased, at a set percentage of market value, by the government to maintain competitive market prices.  The excess recycled production would be added to the national assets to be used for nationally sponsored projects.  (Department of the Interior)
     
  4. Provide tax incentives to encourage manufacturers to stop designing new technology to force the short-term obsolescence of their existing products that are still working well to the satisfaction of their owners and are forcing owners to send good, useful products to landfills.  Instead, design their products to be upgraded as new technology is developed. 

    This would revitalize the repair and product support industries, help protect the environment, and allow these older products to be resold by the owners to lower-income families in this country or exported to underdeveloped nations around the world to improve their standard of living.  (Department of the Treasury)
     
  5. Work through NASA and other nations to start controlling the proliferation of space debris by designing space vehicles that can recover space debris and bring it back to Earth for analysis and recycling when deploying, servicing, and recovering satellites from space. (Department of Transportation, NASA)
     
  6. Work with colleges and universities, the scientific community, and industry by the issuance of grants with goals, timetables, and contracts to upgrade the existing water and wastewater infrastructure and develop new processes and equipment to remove and recycle harmful chemicals from wastewater.  

    These harmful chemicals include glyphosate, estrogen, Prozac, and harmful discharges from industrial plants and sewage treatment plants before they are pumped into lakes, rivers, and streams.  Provide tax incentives for individuals and companies that convert to eco-friendly technologies and equipment. (Department of the Interior) (Department of Education, National Science Foundation)
     
  7. Work with local, state, and national leaders toward the design and construction of a national flood control system that transfers the flood waters from flood-prone areas in the east to drought-prone areas of the west through the Grand Canyon using pumps, canals, dams, and tunnels. 

    The dams would provide more sources of electrical power and more sources of surface water for the nation, which would reduce the consumption of groundwater and replenish depleted water tables that are creating substantial subsidence in coastal areas. 

    The pumps and tunnels would be used to transport all excess surface water from dams and rivers in the east to the Grand Canyon for transport to the west coast via the Colorado River. The pumps could also be used to pump properly treated wastewater and flood water back into depleted aquifers to reverse the effects of subsidence.

    The system would reduce the erosion of soil and the loss of excess fresh water to the Gulf of Mexico and the oceans.  The system would be designed and managed by the Corps of Engineers through contracts with private companies.  (Department of Defense, Corps of Engineers)
     
  8. Establish a NASA-style program to develop vehicles for the exploration of the oceans to recover and recycle the sunken vessels from previous wars and civilian operations.  According to the website at (Mapsterman-Number of Sunken Ships in WWII. n.d.), the total number of sunken ships in World War II alone was 15,256, with a total tonnage of 43,242,974 tons, from 44 different countries.

    The total ships and tonnages from the six major powers during World War II were distributed as follows:  Germany - 4,282 ships with a tonnage of 17,826,428; the United States - 3,654 ships with a tonnage of 9,979,675; the United Kingdom - 2,157 ships with a tonnage of 3,324,124; Japan - 483 ships with a tonnage of 2,016,386; Russia - 219 ships with a tonnage of 400,520; and Italy - 168 ships with a tonnage of 722,210.  These six powers represent about 72% of the total ships and about 79% of the total tonnage.

    The materials not shared with the foreign nations from these sunken vessels would be recycled and added to the assets of the national recycled reserves.  Once this program is established, the raw materials recycled from this program should be much less expensive than mining the materials from scratch and much less damaging to the environment.  This program would add new technology about the oceans, just as NASA has added new technology about space. (Department of Defense)

Exhibit 5 - Fix Our Environment