The Big Ideas Project

Pass the ACHE act. We must open our eyes to the harmful health effects of mountaintop removal coal mining.

Submitted by willieintn in Environment Jan. 5, 2015, 12:12 a.m.

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#609

314 votes

Create a federal program to reward carbon sequestration into agricultural soils. Tax carbon emissions and use the revenue to subsidize increases in soil carbon. Rodale Institute research concludes: recent data from farming systems and pasture trials around the globe show that we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term “regenerative organic agriculture.”

Submitted by Keith J. from WI in Environment Dec. 10, 2014, 2:07 a.m.

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#617

302 votes

Create mandatory offender registry for animal abusers. Database should include individual citizens as well as agricultural practices such as those offenders caught in recent dairy and pig farm exposes. Strengthen existing laws on animal abuse and neglect to include mandatory sentencing. Prohibit further contact with or ownership of animals for known offenders.

Submitted by Wendy Chrisman in Environment Dec. 13, 2014, 9:47 a.m. 2

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#634

292 votes

Stronger protection for our oceans. Prohibit Navy sonar testing and other testing that harms whales, dolphins, and other sea life.

Submitted by MGG in Environment Dec. 18, 2014, 9:25 p.m.

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#637

291 votes

Pass a national law giving any homeowner the right to collect all rainwater that falls upon his property. In many states there are no laws governing rainwater harvesting and in many water may only be harvested from the roof of the home.

Submitted by Hidrologo in Environment Jan. 2, 2015, 8:33 p.m.

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#648

285 votes

Ban all plastic shopping bags! If Hawaii can do it, so can the rest of the USA. Literally TONS of plastic bags end up in landfills and ultimately, the ocean, where they cause tremendous damage to sea life and birds.

Submitted by Judith Mitchell in Environment Dec. 19, 2014, 12:12 a.m.

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#655

283 votes

Use the land that exists as a seperation between interstate highways for solar and wind power. The land is already cleared so site costs will be minimal. It is a perfect use for otherwise dormant land.

Submitted by Pat in Environment Dec. 24, 2014, 6:59 a.m.

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#656

282 votes

A bold U.S. climate change strategy would highlight the single most challenging issue of our time and offer solutions to many of the major problems we face--jobs and infrastructure needs, public health, public education, renewable energy, conservation of lands and resources, pollution control, etc. It would unite our diverse citizenry with a constructive mission to lead the race to save the planet.

Submitted by Patricia W. from WA in Environment Dec. 10, 2014, 1:44 p.m.

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#669

274 votes

Stop all the killing of Wild Horses and Burros on Public Land.. Make the heavily subsidized Ranching Industry pay for the grazing Cattle on Public Land and dismantle the corrupt BLM whore of Big Cattle..

Submitted by Rosemary G. from CA in Environment Dec. 10, 2014, 4:35 p.m.

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#679

266 votes

Think small. We produce 15 billon wood chopsticks every year equal to 15 million trees; 25 billon Styrofoam cups every year, toxic to people who use them, toxic to the ozone; paper, 15 million sheets every 5 minutes, again countless trees,plastic bags 19 billion every year. killing our oceans and it inhabitants, and on and on. We need to get our legislators and citizens to ban these things.

Submitted by Dee Dee in Environment Jan. 3, 2015, 11:47 p.m.

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#680

265 votes

very large penalties for extractive mining (including mountaintop mining,fracking and tar sands mining) reducing carbon and methane emissions for clean air safe water

Submitted by Susan in Environment Dec. 10, 2014, 3:40 p.m.

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#680

265 votes

Offer incentives for white roofs and green roofs in appropriate construction and renovation projects to reduce energy consumption and fight global warming.

Submitted by Kerry in Environment Dec. 31, 2014, 11:19 a.m.

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#686

261 votes

Require products that are developed by manufacturers, be 100 percent recyclable, biodegradable, or reusable. Cease using harmful plastic packaging for sodas, shrink-wrap, etc. Plastic ends up in the ground, oceans and atmosphere and even broken down to it's basic chemical compounds, causes irreparable damage to the environment and wildlife. The companies be given a time frame to comply and financial incentives to do so. The companies would need to show proof of said improvements to qualify.

Submitted by Charlton V. from TX in Environment Dec. 12, 2014, 4:18 a.m.

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#692

256 votes

Encourage small farming. It's a strange quandary that if the farmer has a bad or good year cropwise, he/she can lose money. Farming should be decentralized for food security. We produced 4X the food we use, more farmers should be paid to restore the biodiversity their land once had.

Submitted by John Norton in Environment Dec. 18, 2014, 3:20 a.m.

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#706

249 votes

Climate change needs to be aggressively addressed, like a Marshall Plan for the United States.

Submitted by Diane E George in Environment Dec. 11, 2014, 11:04 a.m.

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#708

248 votes

Invest in good management of forest and rangelands to help reduce global climate change.

Submitted by Robert Stebbins in Environment Nov. 11, 2014, 8:19 p.m.

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#712

245 votes

A national, comprehensive, carbon fee and dividend program which charges fossil fuel companies for the costs their emissions impose on the public and then refunds the money to everyone in the country. This would catalyze a shift to clean energy and thus reduce our carbon emissions, while also boosting consumer spending and thus our economy. The carbon dividend would also protect low-income Americans from any resulting increases in energy prices, and provide them with a guaranteed income.

Submitted by Ian in Environment Dec. 9, 2014, 11 p.m.

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#716

244 votes

Fight the movements to make disclosing fracking chemicals and industrial agriculture practices illegal.

Submitted by Sarah Fellman in Environment Dec. 11, 2014, 12:05 a.m.

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#721

241 votes

CLIMATE CHANGE threatens all life on Earth. It's the number one issue of our time. Oceans are rising, forests and arable lands are burning, rich farmlands are becoming parched, some animal habitats are disappearing, whole ecosystems and food sources are being disrupted, category 4 & 5 storms are destroying human life and communities. And time is running out. Time for courageous leadership worldwide .... time to act on great ideas.

Submitted by ElizabethT in Environment Dec. 12, 2014, 7:18 p.m.

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#732

236 votes

There needs to be a compassion category. We need to stop the horrific destruction and abuse of our nation's wildlife, especially the BLM's treatment of the wild American mustangs which are being exterminated and the destruction of wolves in western regions. The practice of horse slaughter and transport of horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter in unimaginably inhumane conditions MUST stop.

Submitted by CAB52 in Environment Dec. 18, 2014, 10:13 p.m.

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#736

235 votes

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