GB No. 3(14)/94

PROCEEDINGS OF THE VII GREEN FEDERATION CONGRESS
TRZY MORGI NEAR PIOTRKÓW TRYBUNALSKI
AUGUST 29-31, 1994

The Green Federation is a network of groups spread throughout Poland that are interested in implementing principles of sustainable development, peace, and direct, participatory democracy. The Green Federation is a movement and doesn't have a hierarchical structure. Last year several GF groups organized bicycle demonstrations (in Szczecin, Kraków, and Łódź), while others organized actions against waste incinerators (in Mielec and Wrocław) or fought for animal rights.

This year's Green Federation Congress took place August 27-30 in Trzy Morgi near Piotrkow Trybunalski. The Congress is an annual meeting of people active in the Green Federation. The purpose of the Congress is to make decisions and to develop stand-points which become the basis for future GF activities.

1. The stand of the VII Green Federation Congress on access to information about pollution and emissions.

The VII Green Federation Congress believes that the public has the full right to be informed about environmental pollution and its sources. This right should have priority over any other regulations, including the one about capital and trade secrets.

2. The stand of the VII Green Federation Congress on the United Nations Population Conference in Cairo.

Under current political-economic systems, we are threatened by uncontrolled global population growth which is going to accelerate the degradation of the natural environment. The high birthrate and its consequences -- the rapid destruction of life on Earth -- can be stopped by fighting poverty and introducing birth control. This should be based on promoting contraceptives and educating people about the threats which stem from excessive population growth.

Still, we believe that one of the ways to stop uncontrolled population growth is also abortion. Abortion should be used only when other methods prove ineffective. And nobody should be forced to have an abortion.

3. The stand of the VII Green Federation Congress on waste.

With every month, the production of waste in Poland increases. Most of it is no longer reused or recycled. The main cause of the problem is the large amount of single-use packaging coming from the West as well as a lack of environmental education in primary schools, in the community at large, and within the government itself.

The VII Green Federation Congress believes that the best way to reduce waste is to make the producers of items of single-use packaging (packaging that is not and cannot be reused, such as tetrapacks and plastic bottles) pay extra taxes. The taxes on packaging should be equal to the external costs the packaging creates: the costs of storing the waste produced, the costs of environmentally-friendly recycling, and the value of damages caused to the environment.

The Green Federation is going to cooperate with local authorities to implement and enforce systems of segregation and recycling of waste. We will make the authorities actively support firms which purchase recycled materials, companies which employ the unemployed to work on recycling or reusing waste, and also stores selling things in environmentally-friendly returnable packaging. We will also try to make the government restore tax breaks for producers who use recycled materials.

We will strongly object to the building and exploitation of waste incinerators. Incinerators are a good way for producers of single-use packaging to get rid of their waste at the community's expense. Waste incinerators have very high external costs (environmental and typically economic). They are a good example of the breaking of the principle according to Polish law that polluters should pay for damages to the environment. Since incinerators require a lot of waste, they make the realization of waste reduction and recycling programs impossible.

The Congress also drafted letters:

Letter from the VII Green Federation Congress
to the Constitutional Committee
of the Polish Parliament

Concerning the shape of the Polish Constitution as the principal act of the law of the Republic, we insist that it guarantee freedom of speech, opinion, and religion.

In relation to this we propose abolishing the article concerning obligatory military service, which is a violation of the right to freedom.

Leaving both the article which guarantees freedom of opinion and the article of obligatory military service in the new constitution will cause a significant internal contradiction in the most important act of the law of the Republic.

Letter from the VII Green Federation Congress
to Parliament, to the Senate,
and to the President of the Polish Republic
[Extract]

For quite a long time the media has been presenting information about the plan to build new highways and fast roads in Poland. The debate on this subject is very limited and it doesn't touch on the most important issues. The decisions about buiding the highways are made by officials. The community has no influence on these decisions, and it is also deprived of any information about the effects the highways are going to have on the economy and the environment.

Building highways is said to be a pro-environmental initiative which creates jobs and improves economic development. The basic arguments against this point of view are always omitted.

The VII Green Federation Congress asserts that:

1. According to many experts (such as the Worldwatch Institute in Washington), building of highways in fact creates fewer jobs than initiatives undertaken in other transportation sectors.
   According to the Worldwatch Institute, 1 billion(milliard) DM invested in the building of highways creates 14-19 thousand jobs, while the same amount invested in railways creates 22-23 thousand. Even more jobs could be provided by bulding public and alternative transportation networks. We think that the idea of decreasing unemployment by building highways is not right and should not be considered. Restoration of old roads is necessary for many reasons and it's much cheaper than building new ones.
2. Wherever building of highways and fast roads decreases individual fuel use at a certain vehicle speed, car traffic will automatically increase, leading to an increase in global fuel use and pollution.
   Reduction of pollution emissions, traffic jams, and fuel use can only be carried out by replacing individual, energy-intensive means of transport with efficient, economical public transport systems.
3. Building of highways doesn't create any economic progress.
   Highways have a negative influence on small local community markets and businesses. They centralize the economy and cause a rise in the importing of liquid fuel, which is expensive.
4. Serious doubts arise from the fact that land bought with tax-payers' money is going to be given for free to private firms building and exploiting highways. This means subsidizing environmentally-destructive motorization.
5. Development of automobile transportation is going to take money away from restoration and modernization of the more environmentally-friendly railway transport and public transport in general. It also discriminates against people who cannot drive (the handicapped, children).
6. Building of highways at the expense of restoring roads or building of railway tracks will require the expropriation of property and compulsory displacement of significant numbers of people. People living close to the new highways will suffer from a decreased standard of living and a fall in their property values.
7. Building of highways and fast roads clearly affects the ecological balance of the areas which they cross. They destroy natural resources as well as the beauty of the landscape.

We believe that investing a great deal of money in an undertaking which has irreversible effects on the environment and is doubtful from an economic point of view should be discussed by the public.

The VII Green Federation Congress calls into question the reasonability of building highways and fast roads in Poland. We think that money designated for building highways should be used instead for a radical restoration and modernization of railway transport, containerization of cargo-trains, and improvement and integration of municipal and suburban public transportation systems. Ring roads should be created around many Polish cities.

The VII Green Federation Congress believes that instead of building highways and high-speed roads, the number of holes and uneven patches in already existing Polish roads should be reduced.

Green Federation -- Warsaw
tel. 48/ 2/ 633 28 52
Green Federation -- Krakow Group
Foundation for the Support of Ecological Initiatives
ul. Sławkowska 12
31-014 Krakow
tel. 48/12/ 22 21 47 ext 10, 48/12/ 22 22 64
fax 48/12/ 22 22 64

AN ECOLOGICAL CONSTITUTION?

The Parliamentary Constitution Commission established to create the new Polish constitution has solicited proposals from the people of Poland. Citizens or organizations were invited to submit their own versions of the constitution as they would like to see it. A draft accompanied by 500,000 signatures would be considered by the Commission when deciding upon the draft to be presented to Parliament for a vote. Eventually, Polish citizens will vote "yes" or "no" on the final version approved by Parliament, and it will go into effect with a positive response of more than 50%.

Polish environmental groups banded together to prepare their proposal and to collect signatures. They decided to prepare only a section rather than a full constitution. Their proposal was supported by the Presidential Environmental Advisory Board, and by at least one member of Parliament from every party. By the September 30 deadline, they had collected only about 25,000 signatures. However, Mr. Kwaśniewski, the President of the Commission, answered the letter from the Environmental Advisory Board saying that the Commission will still consider the environmentalists' proposal. Environmentalists will continue to collect signatures merely as a way of raising public awareness.

The environmentalists' proposal is as follows:

For more information contact:

Andrzej Obalski
The Social Committee "Ecology in the Constitution"
BORE
Al. Zieleniecka 6/8, 03-727 Warszawa
fax: 48/22/364572