Any system that requires infinite growth will break. The fundamental reason we have been blinded to this reality is the illusion of infinite power provided by fossil fuels and economic growth over the last century. But it is not a complex equation. The minerals and resources we mine from the Earth to power a globalized, ravenous, wasteful and consumptive economy are limited. Finite. The health of our soils that we overwork and artificially nitrogenate to produce the same monoculture of crops is rapidly deteriorating.Some experts have predicted our land on Earth will run out of fertile topsoil in 60 years. Big agriculture’s exploitation of the land is finite.The ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide we produce through the absurdly wasteful globalized economy which transports bananas, for example, thousands of miles on spewing cargo ships only to have those same bananas rot on a counter, is finite. Our capacity to produce and consume and grow has been artificially increased by the finite amount of fossil fuels we extract from the ground and it has convinced us we can exploit the Earth and each other forever. Make no mistake – this is absurd. I think we’re smart enough to see now that the system is broken.

Our systems since the dawn of the Enlightenment have treated humans as an exception. They have fabricated a false line between humans and nature. This line is a lie. We rely on the Earth and the life around us. Try drinking water from a toxic, life destroying cyanide-laden runoff of a gold mine, for example. You will quickly find that just as the nature around us relies on clean water, so do we. Or try hunting in barren deforested land. It doesn’t work very well. We can move our food production to massive feedlots, but try breathing when the air becomes thick with smoke from wildfires as we desperately try to consume and exploit our way out of a problem caused by exploitative consumption. The only real solution to the root cause is recognizing that we not only rely on, but are a part of the Earth, and we need to afford rights and dignity to the life that gives us life. Human rights include rights for the Earth.

Therefore, we must create institutions that represent life. We must create checks to the power of technology to exploit the earth. We must enfranchise the earth while encouraging growth in the direction of self preservation of life. Technology used to this end must be fostered while extractive technologies must be treated as such while the exploited receive restitution.

Purpose

• Enfranchise the Earth
• Sustain life and complexity on Earth
• Lead the world in technology based sustainable human society
• Execute policies and act on behalf of WA Ecology Department health of life assessments and studies

Responsibilities

• Audit efficacy of carbon policies and WA Ecology Dept
• Assess and set Earth retribution rates for each large corporation in Washington
• Audit extractive nature of companies and industries
• Identify most harmful practices
• Like judges, cops, and tax collectors, must be incorruptible
• Enforce state-wide environmental regulations
• Fine companies that violate environmental regulations
• Recommend economic priorities and policies
• Prosecute and litigate on behalf of the environment

Implementation

• Elected Policy Recommendation Board by volunteers who put in above the threshold of required volunteer hours in Ecology department
• The agency will not be full of coal and oil lobbyists
• Earth Agent company and industry auditors will enforce Earth retribution rates
• WA dept of ecology may recommend ethics audit of Earth Agents to be performed by WA judicial system
• Earth Agent lawyers and representatives can file suits on behalf of the environment but must go through WA judicial system to provide evidence of their claims
• Individuals and corporations can petition for company audits of Earth retribution rates if they believe the rate is set too high or too low

The face of Washington agriculture is rapidly changing. It’s time to face it: drought is here to stay. We will need more diverse and drought tolerant planting strategies, strong irrigation systems and adaptive water management. As we change Washington’s economy to fundamentally rely on sustainable agriculture, much support and reeducation will be channeled towards learning new long term practices, building new infrastructure, and streamlining a rapid restructuring of current agriculture towards a resilient, prepared future with well managed, plentiful water even in the face of drought and diverse, well adapted crops across the state to ensure a stable food supply, and healthy, well tended soil supported by diverse planting, cover crops, and rotation. In a self sustaining Washington, the practices we know heal the land will not only be desirable, they will be profitable in a life based economy. Washington farmers don’t want to destroy the Earth for future generations any more than city workers. We all need quality food and fertile land to grow it. It’s time to create a system that reflects this. These are the foundational pillars of the new system:

• Subsidize non-monoculture, independent farming proportional to its benefits to the land and assessed by the Earth Agency
• Subsidize proven sustainable low-till, low pesticide techniques as gauged by the Earth Agency
• Create agricultural focused long term water management practices
• Implement practices that promote healthy and well-tended soil
• Promote diverse and well-adapted crops for a stable food supply
• Build new infrastructure to support resilient agriculture
1. Residential sources send 91% of their roughly 500,000 annual tons of food waste to the landfill
• Provide support and reeducation for implementing long-term sustainable practices
1. For example, impose cover crop usage where beneficial to the soil, avoiding unsustainable practices which erode billions of tons of topsoil
• Create a self-sustaining economy where sustainable land practices are profitable

Housing

Sustainable, rational, and affordable housing means anticipating and understanding the rising sea levels. In the coming 20 years, destruction from rising sea levels will cost Washington billions in damages. To meet this challenge, we need to subsidize the creation of new, safe living spaces and increase decarbonized public transport that allows for industry to move inland. Furthermore, space in downtown Seattle has simply run out, driving rent to unreasonable levels and making the cost of living for everyday people intolerable. We will create space while addressing the inevitabilities of climate change. Increasing the transportation accessibility to the entire state will enable collaboration and strong flourishing industries across the state. We will focus on enabling jobs to move inland, and enabling commuting accessibility to adapt at the same time. This is the only viable long term solution to rising housing costs and crushing density.

Transport and Infrastructure

To further secure the livelihood of crucial metropolitan areas of Washington along the Puget Sound, we must take infrastructure seriously. Transforming Washington into a self sustaining state will take major infrastructure investments. Roads, public transportation options, and especially rail between the east and west of the state must be expanded and improved. Expediting and supporting the Washington State Rail Plan for 2019-2040 as well as supplementing the analysis with climate based predictions is crucial. Next, bridges around the Puget Sound, which have been deteriorating rapidly, must be strengthened. To prevent damage from flood zones in Western Washington, options such as protecting upstream forest ecosystems and coastal wetlands will be rapidly embraced. Finally, major cities face major heat islands, and therefore we will mandate vegetation and urban tree coverage minimums in cities to protect Washingtonians from increasing temperatures and heat waves of the future, while reducing pollution and keeping our cities green.

It is clear: we need a new economic system. Now. A system based on the exploitation of our own land and food systems, our own water sources, and our own clean air is suicidal. We need a new system now. But creating life need not and does not come at the cost of jobs. We need a new system now. Returning care to the Earth is how we will do it.

Deglobalization

We are all experiencing the devastation of globalization. Although it has brought increases in GDP to some areas, this is not to be mistaken with quality of life. Globalization erases independence of states and countries in energy, agriculture, and the basic ingredients of prosperity in exchange for dependence on massive corporations and far away What’s worse, globalization is the engine of exploitation of the earth and the people on it. Self sustaining communities are turned to factories. Local businesses are destroyed by competition with huge global corporations. Raw materials are stolen from the Earth in the dirtiest, most destructive, and unfortunately, cheapest manner found anywhere on the planet. This is the force lighting wildfires in the Amazon to make way for soy fields and cattle. This is the force putting oil in cars. This is the force selling us plastic shit that we don’t need, clothes and gadgets and new furniture that we don’t need. Ultimately, this is the force putting particles in our lungs, giving asthma to our children, putting smoke in our air, putting toxins in our water, and lighting fires in our forests. Frankly, we’re complicit. This is unacceptable. We will no longer tolerate it. We will first sustain ourselves and those who peddle goods earned from exploiting workers and life across the globe to lower prices – they will pay. We will once more give local businesses the upper hand and create community based competitive local economies. Washington will create prosperity the right way.

Training

There is a pervasive myth. That deglobalization means increased poverty. This is a lie. Washington has the technological expertise, the intellectual prowess, the agricultural foundation, and the natural resources to have a fully prosperous economy without enslaving ourselves to the exploitative master of globalization. In the short term, while we restructure our infrastructure to once again become self sustaining there may be painful periods of change. But with time, we will create new opportunities and ways of living in a self sustaining Washington. Jobs that were outsourced to other countries will become available to Washingtonians. And to pair with this rising demand for diverse labor, we will invest in diversifying, and strengthening accessibility to retraining and secondary education that will prepare a self-sustaining workforce. Moreover, whether we accept the reality of the end of globalization or not, economic restructuring is coming. Fast. The AI revolution is here. To embrace the advantages and remain prosperous through the rapidly emerging turbulence of automated knowledge work, we will aggressively invest in retraining and education restructuring programs. These will also prepare a ready workforce to implement the necessary infrastructure changes to keep Washington resilient.

Small Business

Through these deglobalization efforts, small businesses in Washington will once again prosper through local markets and support without crushing competition from fundamentally exploitative super corporations and elite technology companies. The market will still decide what is best for the state, but it will do so while considering the fundamental costs to humanity and the Earth under the global economy.

A sustainable world is one where there is no one and nothing left to exploit. No people will be left behind, no trees, no flowers, no streams will be forgotten. No people or beings will be exploited by others.

Civil Rights

The word transgender has become a spiteful dog whistle. It is a distraction. But weare smarter than that. We will not fall for this ridiculous, divisive diversion. We know we need each other, and our diverse community is our strength. We won’t support attacks on free speech, attacks on the rights of all people, attacks on gender, sexuality, race or any characteristic. Through a strong sense of community, inclusive of each other and the Earth, the focus will be on building prosperity across our state, not tearing ourselves apart.

Worker's Rights

No different from civil rights, a sustainable world is where there is nothing left to exploit. We are creating a new system founded on creating life, not exploiting it. Strongly supporting labor unions and creating iron-clad unavoidable taxation on exploitative industries will care for the workers and the life that produces. The task of our economy will be to create life for the future, not to bring death to our working selves and our earth.

The most crucial pillar of restructuring our lives to support life is restructuring our energy consumption. Deglobalization and a self sustaining economy are huge components of this plan, and creating robust non carbon energy sources is the next piece. Washington is an energy exporter. We produce more than enough for our state. Now, we need to be the world’s source of energy that supports life on Earth. We need to show the world how to lead.

Nuclear Energy

We must first recognize that no form of energy production has come without human exploitation. A transition to 100% renewables would cause disastrous mining and ecological and social harm necessary to create the batteries, turbines, and glass panels required for such a vision. Not to mention that this vision does not account for the continuous degradation of these power sources, generating further perpetual exploitation of the Earth and workers. Dams and hydropower are not without their own exploitation, destroying sacred lands for fishing and decimating surrounding ecosystems. And we need not explain the obvious harms to coal miners, civilians of petro-states, oceans, our air, our atmosphere, and our Earth that fossil fuels have unleashed. No energy source exploited for profit is without exploitation of people and the Earth. And nuclear is no different.

But nuclear power has been, and is currently, a success story for many nations' energy sectors. Nations that prioritize building expertise, community support, and local, responsible waste management plans have succcess. France gets 70% of its power from nuclear energy. It is evident that without nuclear power, there cannot be a just and swift transition to more respectful, less exploitative energy sources.

In Washington, we need to embrace safe and efficient nuclear power now. A single nuclear power plant on the Columbia already provides an incredible 8% of electricity in Washington state. To become a strong, self sustaining economy based on respect for the Earth and humanity, we need nuclear. We do not have the storage technology needed to make a grid powered by wind and solar reliable and scalable. Moreover, nuclear is safe. The death rate per terawatt hour of nuclear energy produced 0.03 compared to 18.43 for oil or worse, 24.42 for coal. So, as a state we must lead this change. Safer small modular reactors (SMRs) must be supported through investment and rapid, carefully monitored adoption and existing safe nuclear technologies must be embraced. These reactors have the potential to be a much cheaper initial investment than traditional reactors, and could even produce cheaper power than traditional reactors.

One immediate action we can take is partnering with X-energy and other companies expanding nuclear research to bring small modular reactors to Washington by 2028.

Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas

Seattle alone was the fifth largest coal exporter in the United States. That ends now. Washington does not rely on coal for energy and if we want a world where we exist in fifty years, neither can anyone else. Washington will not support our collective suicide. Coal exports will be subject to extreme taxation. Washington is the fifth largest crude oil refining state in the nation. That ends now. We do not support our collective suicide. And natural gas poisons that run through Washington veins? Those end now.

Wind and Solar

Wind and solar are frankly not developed enough to power the energy needs of our state. Much of Washington is not suited to solar power, particularly Western Washington which has the greatest energy needs. Wind is more promising and makes up about 7% of power in Washington. This is a beginning, and wind power can be effectively implemented to help diversify the energy profile of the state.

Hydroelectric

Hydroelectric power is the heartbeat of Washington state. Washington is already a strong leader in clean, renewable hydroelectric power, and it accounts for roughly 67% of electricity needs in the state. But as the climate warms and we are subjected to drought more frequently, the effectiveness of this energy source is declining. The Grand Coulee dam swings from up to 26 million megawatts of power produced down to just 17 million in times of drought. These facts urge us to diversify our non-carbon energy sources rapidly. We must also judiciously manage existing hydroelectric dams, as the damage to the salmon ecosystem of Washington state may outweigh the beneficial energy of the dam.

Research and Development

Geothermal energy and fusion are among nascent technologies promising new ways to support life. Although we cannot wait for these technologies to mature, Washington will lead in their development and research efforts through continued strong support to public university research grants and collaboration. Furthermore, we will encourage multilateral work across university institutions to share ideas and create innovation solutions together as our world faces the challenge of the destruction of the Earth together.

We need to create new ways to care for one another and our communities. Our population is aging rapidly and the workforce to replace it is well below the levels required for capitalism to function. But we cannot assume there will always be more children than adults. We cannot rely on increasing population forever. The Earth is finite and we must have a system to adequately support ourselves without relying on absurd ideas of infinite growth. But there is good news: we have the resources and technology to accomplish this.
Through the combination of leveraging new knowledge producing technologies of artificial intelligence, and creating new mechanisms of accounting for wealth and labor, the wellbeing and health of our communities will be more secure.
Moreover, cleaning up our water supplies and guaranteeing our youth clean, fresh water, robust access to local, healthy food and a future without smoke and pollution, we will pursue a long term vision of health in addressing the root causes of illnesses. Finally, we must prioritize preventative healthcare measures that focus on promoting healthy lifestyles, early detection, and disease prevention. This includes supporting community health initiatives and ensuring access to affordable and quality healthcare services for all individuals. We must care for ourselves as we care for our world. By integrating environmental considerations into healthcare policies and practices, we can create a sustainable and resilient healthcare system that not only addresses immediate health needs but also protects and preserves the environment for future generations. This holistic approach recognizes the intrinsic link between a healthy environment and human well-being, fostering a healthier and more sustainable future for all.

Much of what we are told about recycling is a myth fabricated by corporations that rely on cheap plastics. Although paper, glass, and metal recycling are effective, plastic recycling is broken: it has never worked before and it won’t work now. But no one is keeping track. No one holds the industries that create these myths accountable for the continent of plastics they bring to the Pacific ocean, or for the ecosystems they destroy haphazardly. The solution is not just to get off of plastics, but to create institutions that audit the false claims of so-called sustainable practices like plastic recycling. This will be the most important function of the Washington Earth Agency. The next step is to put a true price tag on their destruction of our planet, including all ecological harms in the cost. Then, together, we will find ways to get off of plastic. Food waste reaches over 80 million tons in the United States each year, with most of this generated by residential consumption. Up to 40% goes to landfills. This is unacceptable. Composting is the most effective solution for food waste, along with restructuring the exorbitantly consumptive habits of our society (see Earth Agency section). Composting reduces methane emissions to the environment compared to landfills and creates fertile soil as a byproduct. However, the efficiency of Washington composting is abysmal. An estimated mere six percent of food waste is composted across the state. According to Cascadia Consulting Group, “Most composted food waste is coming from manufacturing and wholesale distributors, 31 percent and 26 percent respectively. Residential food waste contributes only 16 percent of food going to compost.” But we can do better. Clearly, the businesses which throw nutritious, hard-won food into a landfill do not respect the farmers that labored to create their products, the factory workers that toiled to produce refrigerators and food products, nor the resources extracted from Earth that brought us the bounty of food available in Washington. The true cost of this disrespect will be reflected by taxing all landfill waste in Washington and audited and reformed by the Earth Agency experts to ensure the desired effects of allowing business and individuals to properly dispose of food waste – or to never create such waste in the first place.

The crashing salmon populations of the Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead and more are painful, burning reminders of all that we are losing as we speak, as we watch and encourage a machine that is bound to pollute, poison, and massacre life on Earth. Furthermore we see the effects all through life in Washington. We cannot survive without each other, we are always connected. Orca populations which depend on salmon have declined to 74 whales in Washington.

Here is what we must understand: this issue is far bigger than the endangerment of any one species. Instead it reaffirms what was already evident. The system of endless consumption, waste, and disregard of other lifeforms Can. Not. Last. It is ending now whether we like it or not. If we make the choice now to restructure our society of waste and mindless consumption we can choose a society that values complex life over a sickening economy of death.