Summary: A Strategy for
Economic and Environmental Stability
Meeting our Obligation to Posterity
Proclamation
IN recognition that the health and welfare of our nation’s citizens, and that the stability of their economy and social structure are inextricably dependent upon the stability of all aspects of their environment, and
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THAT this dependency has, as an example, recently been demonstrated by degradation of coastal waters in Florida related to release of excessive nutrients and freshwaters from Lake Okeechobee and from associated watersheds, and by harmful algal blooms (HAB) which resulted in extensive fish kills in the Banana and Indian River Lagoons in Florida, with both events causing serious stress to the economy
IT is proclaimed that substantial changes in the management of the economy and environment are necessary to avoid such debilitating disruptions in the future and to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence,* promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America
Obligation to Posterity
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IT is recognized that the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution makes direct reference to an obligation to conduct governance such that the welfare of the citizens extends beyond the present population to future generations.
THE FOUNDING FATHERS, with clear intention, included the word posterity, and made no reference regarding the temporal limit of posterity, and therefore, the consideration of future generations should be extended as far into the future as possible
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WITHIN science, those open systems with the highest level of stability and therefore the lowest rate of decay and the greatest chance of long-term survival are those in dynamic equilibrium in which material and energy inputs and outputs are nearly equal,
IN recognition of this, it is concluded that human systems, which includes economic, social and ecological attributes, to be congruent with the posterity directive, must be managed such that dynamic equilibria are established to the greatest extent practical to fully satisfy the obligations to ourselves and our posterity.
Management Strategy
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Several strategic management measures to be considered include but are not limited to:
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Conduct comparative, objective economic review over an extended study period (>50 years) of present practices vs. proposed rehabilitation plans, with such review to include external imposition upon society and the environment; impacts upon human health and safety; long term benefits to the economy and resource protection; creation of jobs; and reclamation and recycling benefits.
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Secure through eminent domain or negotiated purchase, lands critical to long-term environmental and economic stability.
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Reclaim and restore floodplains and adjust infrastructure accordingly.
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Provide means of removal and recovery of excessive stored (legacy) nutrients associated with impaired surface and ground waters.
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Negotiate land use rights with aboriginal indigenous peoples in concert with historical treaty obligations.
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Establish meaningful wildlife corridors and key species protection from habitat encroachment and hunting.
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Replace herbicide control with mechanical harvesting and recovery.
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Provide incentives for private sector to recover and recycle legacy nutrients and other pollutants.
* The spelling of “defence” was used by Gouverneur Morris and James Madison who wrote the final version of the Preamble. The modern spelling is “defense”.