‘Greens’ want the state
By Julie Jacobson
economy to grow, tooTHE defenders of the status quo, and the purveyors of more of the same, have made a concerted effort to claim that Green Party politicians are against economic development.
The truth is the Green Party supports a different kind of economic development, and has a track record it can be proud of. It advocates economic development that prioritizes residents and taxpayers, rather than the pocket books of multinational corporations and their political power brokers.
For a good example, look at Arcata, Calif., the first place in the nation to elect a Green majority.
In case you missed the stories in Newsweek magazine and on CNN, the tiny city of Arcata is the first landowner in California to have its forest products certified as "Smartwood." This means that its harvest plan and management is certified as sustainable and thus sells at a higher market price.
Every couple years, Arcata has a sustainable harvest of high-value woods from its publicly owned lands. Last time, it netted $300,000. It will have another harvest next year, and expects at least that much in profit.
Mayor Yamashiro and his allies on the Big Island Council have argued that the County of Hawaii isn't able to manage public lands and so should sell them. Those who have objected to the "sell or lease it to corporations" philosophy have been characterized as economically naive or opposed to progress.
Since 1992, Green political leaders on the Big island have argued that the county and state could use public lands to kick-start a sustainable and diverse forest products industry that would become the basis of an economic and environmental restoration program benefiting residents and the local economy, while also strengthening the island's base.
No matter how many experts testify to the benefits of long-term sustainable forestry (not pulp forestry), the political good ol' boys refer to them as naive dreamers.
Besides the free national media attention resulting from Arcata's "Smartwood" certification, the land itself draws a regular stream of tourists. Professionals and lay people have pointed out that Arcata's forest is noticeably more beautiful than its privately managed adjacent forests.
So much so, that the city's forest can be picked out as the "pretty one" from GIS satellites and planes flying overhead. The key is to preserve and restore ecosystems, rather than manufacturing monocrops.
So-called "pro-business" groups, that originally argued the land was being "wasted" and should be "developed," are now protecting the land as the asset that it truly is.
Recently, they have begun advocating that the city should purchase more land as an investment in the economy. They like the fact that it keeps down taxes and draws tourists.
INCIDENTALLY, Arcata also has 20,000 tourists a year, who come just to see the town's sewage treatment facility. It uses a natural wetland, which is also a bird sanctuary, as a cheaper and more ecologically sound way of cleaning sewage and runoff.
To be fair, it should be pointed out that these projects were started before the Greens became the majority. However, since becoming the majority, the Greens have been expanding this approach by divesting from environmentally destructive corporations and investing in local environmentally sustainable development.
They have found many ways to simultaneously strengthen their economy, keep down taxes and improve their environment.
So the next time someone tells you that members of the Green Party are against economic development, please remind them that this isn't so. Greens are for a different kind of economic development -- the kind based on creative solutions, not excuses and corporate subsidies.
Julie Jacobson is a co-chairwoman of the
Big Island Green Party. She lives in Kurtistown, Hawaii.