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Business Week Special Edition on Environment 4/24/90 [OA 4729]
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26
16
2
6
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
90 MAR 25 P5: 38
April 25, 1990
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARY KATE GRANT mkg
SUBJECT:
BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL EDITION ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Attached for your review is a proposed forward, which will
appear in letter form, for the June 18 special edition of
Business Week on "Managing the Earth's Resources." Senators Gore
and Heinz as well as Secretary Reilly will also be contributing
pieces for publication. Expected readership for this issue is
seven million business leaders worldwide.
Grant
April 25, 1990
draft three
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first settlers stepped ashore into
the new world that would become America and found a lush, green
land with clean air, clear-running streams, and endless acres of
trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant billions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to enhance our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes an initiative called "America
the Beautiful" to expand our national parks, wildlife refuges,
forests and other public lands. It will also improve
recreational facilities on public lands and encourage tree
planting.
America's forests and trees need national attention, and, in
the budget, I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're also asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
2
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens
-- individual "points of light" -- to act in their own innovative
ways to reforest America.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of sulfur dioxide.
And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution at its source,
without placing unreasonable and unnecessary burdens on economic
growth.
But business does have a role to play, and a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. A strong
economy allows this nation to live up to the obligations of
stewardship, by making environmental protection easier -- and
environmental stewardship is crucial to sustaining our strong
economy, by providing the base for economic growth. We risk both
goals if we lose sight of the forest for the trees. We must
leave our children with a strong economy, a cleaner environment
and a sense of mission to protect both. Working together, we can
discover a new world of environmental commitment -- by building a
better America.
# # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
1990 APR 25 PM 6: 17
April 25, 1990
on
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
MARY KATE GRANT mkg
SCED been
SUBJECT:
BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL EDITION ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Attached for your review is a proposed forward, which will
appear in letter form, for the June 18 special edition of
Business Week on "Managing the Earth's Resources." Senators Gore
and Heinz as well as Secretary Reilly will also be contributing
pieces for publication. Expected readership for this issue is
seven million business leaders worldwide.
81:80 MARAT 27 06
Grant
April 25, 1990
draft three
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first settlers stepped ashore into
the new world that would become America and found a lush, green
land with clean air, clear-running streams, and endless acres of
trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant billions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to enhance our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes an initiative called "America
the Beautiful" to expand our national parks, wildlife refuges,
forests and other public lands. It will also improve
recreational facilities on public lands and encourage tree
planting.
America's forests and trees need national attention, and, in
the budget, I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're also asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
2
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens
-- individual "points of light" -- to act in their own innovative
ways to reforest America.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of sulfur dioxide.
And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution at its source,
without placing unreasonable and unnecessary burdens on economic
growth.
But business does have a role to play, and a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. A strong
economy allows this nation to live up to the obligations of
stewardship, by making environmental protection easier -- and
turn,
environmental stewardship, is crucial to sustaining our strong
economy, by providing the base for economic growth. We risk both
goals if we lose sight of the forest for the trees. We must
leave our children with a strong economy, a cleaner environment
and a sense of mission to protect both. Working together, we can
discover a new world of environmental commitment -- by building a
better America.
# # #
Document No. 135366 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES N/C
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST N/C
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
David Struss
GRAY
3742
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PM 3. 31
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
in to a
3
when the first settlers stepped ashore
3 new world thatwasto become
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
Censica,
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
endless
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
b
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
enhance
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a cun new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
refuges, forests and other public lands. It will also
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands tree
and encauge
went
planting.
A
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
meat A
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
individual "points of light" like the Earth Corps to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
But
Cloes have
and
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
April 24, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
DALE CURTIS, CEQ
RE:
DRAFT PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE FOR BUSINESS WEEK:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY", ETC.
1)
Page 2, line 7: reference to Earth Corps is cryptic, and in
any case, the "Earth Corps" name is likely to be in
litigation between two competing groups.
2)
Considering the audience for this piece and the "visionary"
title, this draft needs to be more sound and upbeat on long-
range environmental themes of interest to business leaders.
The last two lines on page 1 are vague and negative; make
this passage positive by using the phrase "pollution
prevention pays" (pollution prevention and energy efficiency
often save companies millions of dollars on the bottom
line).
For ideas, see Fortune cover story, week of 2-12-90: with
growing citizen/consumer awareness, pollution prevention is THE
business issue of the 1990's (saves money for all kinds of
companies, enhances international competitiveness)
Also, the President's closing address to the White House
Conference on Global Change (4-18-90) had a very nice passage to
the effect: "Those who are the most ardent defenders of the
environment should defend economic growth, which makes
environmental protection easier
Likewise, those who are the
most ardent defenders of free markets should defend the
environment, which provides the base for economic growth.' "
Hope this helps!
April 24, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
DALE CURTIS, CEQ h
RE:
DRAFT PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE FOR BUSINESS WEEK:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY", ETC.
1)
Page 2, line 7: reference to Earth Corps is cryptic, and in
any case, the "Earth Corps" name is likely to be in
litigation between two competing groups.
2)
Considering the audience for this piece and the "visionary"
title, this draft needs to be more sound and upbeat on long-
range environmental themes of interest to business leaders.
The last two lines on page 1 are vague and negative; make
this passage positive by using the phrase "pollution
prevention pays" (pollution prevention and energy efficiency
often save companies millions of dollars on the bottom
line).
For ideas, see Fortune cover story, week of 2-12-90: with
growing citizen/consumer awareness, pollution prevention is THE
business issue of the 1990's (saves money for all kinds of
companies, enhances international competitiveness).
Also, the President's closing address to the White House
Conference on Global Change (4-18-90) had a very nice passage to
the effect: "Those who are the most ardent defenders of the
environment should defend economic growth, which makes
environmental protection easier
Likewise, those who are the
most ardent defenders of free markets should defend the
environment, which provides the base for economic growth
Hope this helps!
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Stephenic Landner,
122 OEOB.
RECYCLED PAPER
April 24, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
DALE CURTIS, CEQ
RE:
DRAFT PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE FOR BUSINESS WEEK:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY", ETC.
1)
Page 2, line 7: reference to Earth Corps is cryptic, and in
any case, the "Earth Corps" name is likely to be in
litigation between two competing groups.
2)
Considering the audience for this piece and the "visionary"
title, this draft needs to be more sound and upbeat on long-
range environmental themes of interest to business leaders.
The last two lines on page 1 are vague and negative; make
this passage positive by using the phrase "pollution
prevention pays" (pollution prevention and energy efficiency
often save companies millions of dollars on the bottom
line).
For ideas, see Fortune cover story, week of 2-12-90: with
growing citizen/consumer awareness, pollution prevention is THE
business issue of the 1990's (saves money for all kinds of
companies, enhances international competitiveness).
Also, the President's closing address to the White House
Conference on Global Change (4-18-90) had a very nice passage to
the effect: "Those who are the most ardent defenders of the
environment should defend economic growth, which makes
environmental protection easier
Likewise, those who are the
most ardent defenders of free markets should defend the
environment, which provides the base for economic growth.' "
Hope this helps!
PENT BY:CEQ
i 4-24-80 i 4:25PM
6
COMMENTS DUE 10am TMW 4-25
COMMENTS TO DALE
Tom
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PM 3. 31
A:business
who
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
European to
I
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
J!
streams, and over a billion acres of treas.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities elaphter on public lands.
affecting plaquens our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
Our Clean Air Act proposal the will out airborne pollution
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed the use of
so thet we can
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics un the and
address an
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
chropet
prible
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
way
burdens on economic growth.
06-#7-*
,
4.5UPM
CERT
0
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
year. And we I've re asking Congress to approve another step to
the budget I asked for incruated $175 million to plant one billion treas a
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant treas across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
whatin
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
likely to he in litigation -
# # #
1 to to
SENT BY:CEQ
; 4-24-90 ; 4:29PM ;
CEQ->
2023953744;# 2
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PM 3. 31
A:business
much restoring
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
nox
wetlouds going on.
over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of treas.
protect our
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant m lllions billions of
-41
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billien in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will out airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
Not the point pollution prevention/energy efficiency often soues $
replace underscore with: -- measures that not only seen protect our
environment, but often soue money oswell.
SENT BY:CEQ
; 4-24-90 ; 4:30PM ;
CEQ->
2023953744;# 3
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
disjoint requirer +
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps - to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
nou
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
suggest
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and & sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
Lity to be in Cityat
# #
or
MANAGING / COVER STORY
ENVIRONMENTALISM
It may be the biggest business issue of the 1990s. Here's how
some smart companies are tackling it.
by David Kirkpatrick
REND SPOTTERS and forward
T
3M is investing in myriad pollution con-
thinkers agree that the Nineties will
trols for its manufacturing facilities beyond
be the Earth Decade and that envi-
what the law requires.
ronmentalism will be a movement
Procter & Gamble and other smart mar-
of massive worldwide force. How massive?
keters are moving to cast their products in
Listen to Gary Miller, a public policy expert
an environmentally friendly light (see box).
at Washington University in St. Louis: "In
Pacific Gas & Electric teams up with en-
the Nineties environmentalism will be the
vironmental groups-some of them outfits
cutting edge of social reform and absolutely
it used to fight-to do joint projects, such as
the most important issue for business." Fu-
a $10 million study of energy efficiency.
turist Edith Weiner of the Manhattan man-
"The 1990s will be the decade of the envi-
agement consulting firm Weiner Edrich
ronment." That's not the chief druid of
Brown concurs: "Environmentalism will be
Greenpeace talking, but rather the new
the next major political idea, just as conser-
president of the Petroleum Marketers Asso-
vatism and liberalism have been in the past."
ciation of America in a November speech.
The smartest companies are not just fac-
Mere corporate ecobabble intended to pla-
ing this thunderous music, they're singing
cate the latest group of special-interest loon-
along. Consider:
ies? Any company that thinks that way will
Du Pont is pulling out of a $750-million-
probably regret it. Exxon provides the obvi-
a-year business because it may-just may-
ous if inadvertent example of the bitter costs
harm the earth's atmosphere.
of seeming unconcerned about the environ-
McDonald's, which produces hundreds of
ment. Not long after the March accident in
millions of pounds of paper and plastic
Valdez, Alaska, 41% of Americans were an-
waste annually, has become a crusading pro-
gry enough to say they'd seriously consider
ponent of recycling, and aims to become
boycotting the company. Bill McInturff, se-
one of America's leading educators about
nior researcher at the Wirthlin Group, a
environmental issues.
polling firm with close Republican ties,
ANN STATES-SABA
PROCTOR& GAMBLE
WAL-MART
FOR SHARINGI
OUR COMMITMENT. ENVIRONMENTAL
TIDE
HISPACKAGED
Wal-Mart has asked all its suppliers for more recycled or recyclable products, which it trumpets loudly.
Nudged by the Environmental Defense Fund, Pacific Gas &
44 FORTUNE FEBRUARY 12, 1990
MANAGING
blames Exxon not for the accident but for its
Such salvage won't get any easier. The
Democrats and Republicans, profess con-
response: "It was a disservice to American
New York Times/CBS News poll regularly
cern for the environment in roughly equal
industry the way the pullout last fall was han-
asks the public if "protecting the environ-
numbers.
dled. Exxon seemed satisfied with what they
ment is so important that requirements and
Environmentalism is likely to continue as
had accomplished. It hardened the notion
standards cannot be too high, and continu-
an issue at the forefront for several reasons.
that business is just interested in making a
ing environmental improvements must be
One is demographic. Says futurist Weiner:
buck and doesn't give a damn. It flabber-
made regardless of cost." In September
"The combination of baby-boomers having
gasts me that a company that size doesn't
1981, 45% agreed and 42% disagreed with
children and a significant part of the popu-
get the drift." Even spending over $1 billion
that plainly intemperate statement. Last
lation moving into senior years means an
on cleanup hasn't salvaged the oil giant's
June, 79% agreed and only 18% disagreed.
enormous percentage of the population is
reputation.
For the first time, liberals and conservatives,
taking the attitude of stewardship." The
Gallup Organization reports that 49% of
In an innovative program, last fall McDonald's began asking customers at 100 New England outlets
people over 50 feel strong identification
(this one is in Vermont) to dispose separately of polystyrene packaging-It's recyclable.
with environmentalism, compared with
39% of those between 30 and 49 and 31%
of those under 30. This reverses the pattern
that prevailed during the country's last up-
surge in environmentalism 20 years ago.
The new crusade will be different from
the old in other ways as well. Miller of
Washington University explains, "In the
Sixties, environmentalism was the tail end
of a period of social activism that was pri-
marily based on civil rights and the
antiwar movement," while now it's a
movement of its own. The players are dif-
ferent. Far fewer activists of the 1990s will
be embittered, scruffy, antibusiness street
fighters.
S AN EXAMPLE of the new
A
breed, consider Allen Hershkowitz,
who freely drops the names of his
CEO acquaintances. As a solid-
waste-disposal expert at the litigious Natu-
ral Resources Defense Council, Hersh-
kowitz has won many legal battles with
business. Now high-ranking executives of
major companies regularly make the pil-
grimage to his office in the elegant, airy, and
amply funded New York City headquarters
of NRDC, coming to him lest he go after
them. As he explains, "They come in here to
see what they've got to cover their asses
on." The cocky 34-year-old Ph.D., who
serves as an adviser to banks and Shearson
Lehman Hutton, among others, elaborates,
"My primary motivation is environmental
protection. And if it costs more, so be it. If
Procter & Gamble can't live with that,
somebody else will. But I'll tell you, Procter
& Gamble is trying hard to live with it."
Still, for all his militancy, Hershkowitz is
no fanatic or utopian. He understands that a
perfect world can't be achieved and doesn't
MARIANNE BARCELLONA (3)
hesitate to talk of trade-offs: "Hey, civiliza-
tion has its costs. We're trying to reduce
them, but we can't eliminate them." Envi-
ronmentalists of this stripe will increasingly
REPORTER ASSOCIATE Alicia Hills Moore
46 FORTUNE FEBRUARY 12, 1990
show up even within companies. William
HOW ONE INVESTMENT FIRM RATES 25 COMPANIES
Bishop, Procter & Gamble's top environ-
mental scientist, was an organizer of Earth
ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Day in 1970 and is a member of the Sierra
INDUSTRY
COMPANY
RATING
Club. One of his chief deputies belongs to
=best, worst
CHEMICALS
H.B. Fuller
1.5
Environmental initiatives in HQ construction
Greenpeace.
Eager to work with business, many envi-
Monsanto
4.0
Pesticides, toxic dumps, offset by clean-air efforts
ronmentalists are moving from confronta-
W.R. Grace
5.0
Toxic dumps, several environmental lawsuits
tion to the best kind of collaboration. In
COMPUTERS
Apple Computer
1.5
Recycles, lets environmental groups solicit on site
September an ad hoc combination of insti-
IBM
3.5
tutional investors controlling $150 billion of
High CFC emissions
assets (including representatives of public
ELECTRIC
Louisville Gas & Electric
2.0
Leader in installing smokestack scrubbers
pension funds) and environmental groups
UTILITIES
Southern
5.0
High SO2 emissions contribute to acid rain
promulgated the Valdez Principles, named
for the year's most catalytic environmental
ENVIRONMEN-
Safety-Kleen
2.5
Leading recycler of solvents and motor oil
TAL SERVICES
accident. The principles ask companies to
Wellman
2.5
Leading recycler of plastic
reduce waste, use resources prudently, mar-
Browning-Ferris
5.0
Numerous landfill violations
ket safe products, and take responsibility for
Waste Management
5.0
Numerous londfill violations
past harm. They also call for an environ-
mentalist on each corporate board and an
FOREST
Jefferson Smurfit
2.5
Leading recycler of paper
PRODUCTS
annual public audit of a company's environ-
Louisiana-Pacific
4.0
Air and water pollution violations
mental progress.
NATURAL
Consolidated Natural Gas
2.5
Promotes new, clean-burning technologies
The group asked corporations to sub-
Panhandle Eastern
4.0
scribe to the principles, with the implicit
Substantial PCB pollution problems
suggestion that investments could eventual-
OIL
Amoco
2.0
Strong waste-minimization program
ly be contingent on compliance. Companies
Exxon
5.0
Poor response to Valdez oil spill
already engaged in friendly discussions in-
cluded Du Pont, specialty-chemical maker
PHOTO
Polaroid
2.5
Strong waste-minimization program
H.B. Fuller, and Polaroid, among others.
EQUIPMENT
Eastman Kodak
4.0
Substantial leaks in Rochester sites
Earth Day 1990, scheduled for April 22,
STEEL
Nucor
2.0
the 20th anniversary of the first such event,
State-of-the-art mills, uses recycled metals
is becoming a veritable biz-fest. "We're
Bethlehem Steel
4.0
Old mills with numerous environmental problems
really interested in working with companies
OTHER
Wal-Mart Stores
2.0
Promotes environmental products, recycling
that have a good record," says Earth Day
Borden
4.0
Toxic dumps, air and water complaints
Chairman Denis Hayes, who predicts that
General Electric
4.0
Major PCB cleanup problems
100 million people will take part one way or
another. Apple Computer and Hewlett-
General Motors
5.0
Toxic dumps, air and water problems
Packard have donated equipment. Shaklee,
Franklin Research & Development of Boston, which calls itself a "socially responsible" investment firm
the personal and household products com-
and manages $200 million, bases these ratings on several factors. Each company starts with a score
pany, paid $50,000 to be the first official
of 3, which then rises or falls based on corporate actions that harm or help the environment.
corporate sponsor. Even the Chemical Man-
ufacturers Association is getting in on the
brace these principles will increase market
wide in compliance by 1993. Cost: more
act, preparing a list of 101 ways its members
share and profit substantially."
than $80 million. "Regulations are about to
can participate. The more than 1,000 Earth
While that's hard to prove, few dispute
overwhelm us," says Robert Bringer, 3M
Day affiliate groups in 120 countries pro-
that farsightedness today will pay off tomor-
staff vice president for environmental engi-
pose to shake up politicians worldwide and
row. Environmental regulations will contin-
neering and pollution control. "The only
launch a decade of activism.
ue to be tightened. Says Lester Lave, a
way we see to deal with that is to reduce the
professor of engineering and public policy at
number of materials we emit that trigger
HE MESSAGE that leading envi-
the Carnegie-Mellon business school: "If
regulation."
T
ronmentalists are sending, and pro-
you build a plant that just squeaks past now,
Chastened in part by Exxon's example,
gressive companies are receiving, is
you'll have to pay much more money down
some corporate bosses don't see red when
that eco-responsibility will be good
the line."
faced with green activists-they see them-
for business. Says Gray Davis, California's
That is partly why Minnesota Mining &
selves. One of Edgar Woolard's first acts af-
state controller, who helped draft the Valdez
Manufacturing is going beyond the call of
ter becoming CEO of Du Pont in April (just
Principles and who sits on the boards of two
duty and government deadlines. For exam-
after the Valdez spill) was to deliver a
public pension funds with total assets of $90
ple, new federal regulations require replace-
speech in London entitled-and calling
billion: "Given the increasing regulation
ment or improvement by 1998 of
for-"Corporate Environmentalism.' Said
and public concern, there's no question that
underground storage tanks for liquids and
the top man of the chemical giant in re-
companies will eventually have to change
gases. The company decided to comply by
marks subsequently reprinted by the com-
their ways. The first kid on the block to em-
1992 instead, and to have all tanks world-
pany on recycled paper: "Avoiding
FEBRUARY 12, 1990 FORTUNE 47
MANAGING
environmental incidents remains the
volatile solvent may be replaced by a
single greatest imperative facing in-
water-based one, eliminating the
dustry today." He bemoaned indus-
need for costly air pollution control
try's lack of credibility on the issue
and called for spending more money
BLAKE
equipment.
If, as many predict, alliances be-
than "mere compliance" with laws
tween environmentalists and corpo-
would require.
rations are the wave of the future,
Woolard now meets at least once
Pacific Gas & Electric has already
a month with leading environmen-
learned to surf. But it took practice.
talists, and his company is taking
In the mid-1970s economists and
what seem dramatic steps demon-
lawyers from the Environmental De-
strating its concern. In March 1988,
fense Fund started fighting the com-
Du Pont announced that, based on
pany's plan to build several giant
new evidence that chlorofluorocar-
coal and nuclear power plants. The
bons (CFCs) might be seriously de-
PG&E's Clarke: He has an environmentalist on the board.
environmentalists proposed instead
pleting the Earth's ozone layer, it
a combination of smaller-scale gen-
would voluntarily suspend all production of
from the new business by 2000. Defensive
erating facilities like windmills or cogenera-
CFCs-a $750-million-a-year business in
actions sometimes pay off too. Faced with
tion plants on the sites of regional
which it leads the industry-by 2000, or
protests over the ocean dumping of acid
businesses, combined with aggressive con-
sooner if possible. The company has al-
iron salts off the coast of New Jersey, Du
servation measures.
ready spent $170 million developing safe
Pont halted a practice its scientists were
compounds to replace CFCs in cleaning,
convinced was harmless. It then discovered
HE BIG PLANTS were never built.
refrigeration, and other uses. It is prepared
the salts could be sold to water-treatment
to spend as much as $1 billion on the best
T
A persistent EDF campaign of
plants.
pressure at utility commission
replacements discovered so far, but since
At 3M, CEO Allen Jacobson directs that
meetings and sophisticated televi-
even these compounds may slightly deplete
pollution-control installations be judged by
sion advertising came just as the price of
the ozone layer, Du Pont wants guarantees
their environmental benefit, not only by re-
fossil fuels started climbing dramatically.
that new plants will be allowed to function
turn on investment. But 3M too has learned
PG&E's resistance gradually melted. The
long enough to recoup the investment. Says
that environmental controls often lead to
company took several steps to conserve en-
Woolard: "In my opinion it has not been
cost savings. The company specializes in
ergy, and much of the rest of the electric in-
proven that CFCs are harmful to the
coated products (such as videotapes and
dustry eventually followed PG&E's lead.
ozone, but there is a fairly good probabili-
pressure-sensitive tapes) whose manufac-
Says EDF attorney David Roe: "We spoke
ty, and we have to deal with that.'
ture has long emitted significant pollutants.
to them in their own language. We used
Evidence of increased environmental
It has saved well over $1 billion since 1975
their type of computer models, their finan-
sensitivity is everywhere in Du Pont, per-
through a program called Pollution Preven-
cial analysis sheets. We weren't saying, do
haps partly because that's now one of the
tion Pays. The program spotlights projects
what's good for the environment and it will
criteria in determining managers' compen-
that reduce pollution as well as save money.
cripple you. We were saying, it will save you
sation. The company voluntarily spends an
Solvents that were once emitted to the at-
economically."
estimated $50 million each year on envi-
mosphere may be recycled and reused, or a
While the company says it would have
ronmental projects beyond what
eventually taken most of the ac-
the law requires, like the $15 mil-
Du Pont's Woolard: He's making zero pollution a company goal.
tions EDF proposed anyway, it ac-
lion it spent at a Texas plant to re-
knowledges that the give-and-take
duce the risk of dangèrous gases
JOHN ABBOTT
was beneficial, Says PG&E attor-
being released. Du Pont's ultimate
ney Kermit Kubitz: "I think both
goal is zero pollution in all activi-
sides may have been closer togeth-
ties. While Woolard is certain this
er than either side realized at the
new priority will strengthen the
beginning." Echoes Roe: "The ba-
company, he admits profits will suf-
sic point is, there's usually a lot
fer from the effort over the next
more common ground than either
few years.
side realizes."
Du Pont also sees business oppor-
Today PG&E has a policy of ag-
tunity in environmental concern.
gressively seeking discussions and
Building on expertise gained in
joint projects with any willing envi-
cleaning up its own plants, the com-
ronmental group, even those that
pany announced in early December
have opposed the company in the
the formation- of a safety and envi-
past. Its board includes Melvin
ronmental resources division to help
Lane, a well-known West Coast en-
industrial customers clean up toxic
vironmentalist. In November,
wastes. Management forecasts po-
PG&E announced a $10 million
tential annual revenues of $1 billion
study, conducted in conjunction
48 FORTUNE FEBRUARY 12, 1990
MANAGING
with the Natural Resources Defense Coun-
mount public issue, he has seen America's
everything they want, but there certainly are
cil, among others, to improve efficiency in
environmental mood foreshadowed. A few
occasions where they prevail."
the use of electricity. And that computer
guiding principles Clarke has learned:
"Have a continuing dialogue with envi-
model EDF developed to demonstrate the
"Make environmental considerations and
ronmental groups."
relationships between conservation and
concerns part of any decision you make,
"Put someone on your board to help you
electricity costs-PG&E now rents it from
right from the beginning. Don't think of it
factor in environmental issues."
EDF for about $18,000 a year.
as something extra you throw in the pot."
"Do these things because they are the
PG&E chief Richard Clarke believes that
"Develop an internal cadre of environ-
right thing to do, not because somebody
on the rocky coast of Northern California,
mentalists. They have minds of their own
forces you to do them."
where quality of life has long been a para-
and will advocate things. They may not get
McDonald's might add another principle
LEADING THE CRUSADE INTO CONSUMER MARKETING
There's money to be made cater-
tions to environmental marketing, and
ee is assigned to spend half a day each
ing to the public's mounting con-
experts have little doubt the U.S. will
week on activist work. Customers get
cern for the environment, as astute
soon follow. In mid-November, Procter
discounts if they bring their old bottles
consumer marketers are beginning to
& Gamble began test-marketing its first
back to the store for recycling. In 1988
learn. A July 1989 survey conducted for
domestic product with an explicit envi-
the chain collected over a million signa-
the Michael Peters Group, which pro-
ronmental claim: Downy Refill comes in
tures in Britain on a petition asking Bra-
vides consulting on products and design,
a 21 /2-ounce milk-carton-type container
zil's President to save the rain forests. In
found that 77% of Americans say a com-
and is intended to be mixed with water
13 years the Body Shop has opened 420
pany's environmental reputation affects
in a used plastic Downy bottle to make
stores in 38 countries. Sales for the year
what they buy. Observes Howard
64 ounces of fabric softener. Prominent-
ended February 1989 were over $90 mil-
Marder of the Hill & Knowlton public
ly printed on the carton: "Better for the
lion with pretax profits of about 20%.
relations firm: "For the past 20 years the
Environment
Less packaging to
Make sure your green-marketing
throw away." With a package 75%
ACNV.
claims amount to more than a fig leaf.
smaller, Downy Refill costs 10% less
British Petroleum got flak recently for
than regular Downy. It's too early to
promoting a new brand of unleaded gas-
gauge the product's success.
oline in Britain with the claim that it
For Wal-Mart, environmentalism is
caused "no pollution." It later apolo-
"a cause and not a marketing scheme,"
gized for what it called an inadvertent
claims William Fields, the chain's execu-
error. A plastic grocery bag used by
tive vice president for merchandise. The
some New York supermarkets says:
giant discounter in July asked its 7,000
"This 'Earth Sack' will begin degrading
BELIEVES
ALTERNATIVES
suppliers to provide it with more recy-
within 3 days of exposure to ultraviolet
cled or recyclable products. About 100
light
TESTING
and will continue the process
are already in stores, with labels (printed
until it turns into a nontoxic environ-
on recycled paper) explaining their sup-
mentally safe dust." Scientists believe
posedly beneficial features. K mart and
the statement can be misleading, and in
at least a dozen small to medium-size
landfills light can be in short supply any-
The Body Shop sells causes and cosmetics.
grocery chains have announced similar
way. Some environmentalists have tar-
programs. Experts suggest Wal-Mart
geted "degradable plastics" for protest.
environmental movement in the U.S.
and the others proceed slowly. Overea-
In general, the more you tell your cus-
has focused on cleaning up damage. Al-
ger green-marketing campaigns in Brit-
tomers, the better off you'll be. Procter
most overnight the focus is changing to
ain and Canada have been attacked by
& Gamble environmental chief Geoff
prevention. Marketers had nothing to
environmentalists for unsubstantiated
Place visited his brother's family in Eng-
sell before, but now they can say, 'Be
or inappropriate claims.
land recently and found them no longer
part of the solution by buying our prod-
The London-based Body Shop, with
using several P&G products because of
uct." Among those now making just
14 outlets in the U.S., puts environmen-
environmental concerns. Later a family
that pitch in the U.S.: Arco, Colgate-
tal concerns at its core and in the pro-
member told Place they'd started using
Palmolive, Lever Brothers, 3M, Procter
cess finds its way to the green in
Fairy Dishwashing Liquid again because
& Gamble, and Sunoco.
customers' pockets. The skin- and hair-
P&G had improved it. In fact the com-
Marketers with experience abroad
care stores display literature on ozone
pany had simply added a statement on
have seen France and Britain quickly
depletion next to sunscreens and fill
the label saying "Only biodegradable
catch up to West Germany and Sweden
their windows with information on is-
surface active agents are used in this
in the responsiveness of their popula-
sues like global warming. Every employ-.
product." That has been true since 1963.
50 FORTUNE FEBRUARY 12, 1990
DAILY UN
MANAGING
to the list: Educate your customers inces-
their homes and the health of their chil-
santly. Faced with growing protests over the
dren. That means they are relentless. In
volume of waste it generates, especially the
general, unlike the mainstream environ-
polystyrene foam packaging used for hot
mental groups, they are not interested in
food, the restaurant giant has taken major
compromise or mediation." McDonald's
steps to reduce waste at the source, to recy-
successfully confronted antipolystyrene
cle what's left, and to explain what it is do-
picketing at several of its Vermont stores
ing. Just by making its drinking straws 20%
with an aggressive local educational cam-
lighter, the chain eliminated one million
paign. By the end, local activists were ask-
pounds of waste per year. In October, Mc-
ing that the company convert its paper
Donald's began collecting polystyrene
cold-drink cups to plastic.
waste in 100 New England outlets and recy-
cling it; the company intends to include all
NE LESSON from the company's
450 regional stores in the plan by March.
O
experience: Don't ever assume
Customers are asked to put polystyrene
you've solved an environmental
containers, such as those for Chicken
problem. As knowledge evolves,
McNuggets or Big Macs, in special bins.
attitudes change, and so do solutions. Mc-
All napkins in U.S. stores are now made
Donald's switched from paper to polysty-
from recycled paper, as are carry-out drink
rene packaging for Big Macs and other
trays and office paper at headquarters.
sandwiches in 1976 largely because the pub-
Shelby Yastrow, the company's general
lic was worried about cutting trees and the
counsel and point man on environmental
energy that paper production consumed. As
issues, says that since polystyrene is 100%
recently as the early Seventies, CFCs, one of
recyclable, it is better for the environment
today's leading environmental villains, were
than paper, which theoretically degrades
believed to be a harmless and inert triumph
but most commonly ends up in anaerobic
of modern chemistry.
landfills-virtually no oxygen gets
You have to keep looking ahead-way
through-which may instead preserve it
ahead. For gutsy environmental farsighted-
for decades. Paper is also significantly
ness, few companies can top Applied En-
bulkier than plastic in most uses, thus cre-
ergy Services. The private, Virginia-based
ating more waste. "Everything I look at
power-plant management firm donated $2
tells me plastic is better," says Yastrow. "I
million in 1988 for tree planting in Guate-
have a little trouble convincing my children
mala to compensate for a coal-fired plant
or my neighbors, but the scientific commu-
it was building in Connecticut. The trees,
nity isn't a problem."
which of course consume carbon dioxide,
To correct the misconceptions of those
are intended to offset the plant's emissions
kids and neighbors and their peers nation-
of the gas, which may lead to global warm-
wide, the company is embarking on a ma-
ing. Says CEO Roger Sant: "We pride our-
jor educational campaign. McDonald's is
selves on being part of the solution, not
describing its efforts and explaining recy-
part of the problem. We weren't trying to
cling on the paper liners on customers'
do any more than salve our own guilt, I
trays, in advertising, in brochures it hands
guess." The company expects to couple
out in stores, and in mailings to school
tree-planting programs with all seven new
teachers. That's a lot of describing and ex-
plants on its drawing boards. Several large
plaining: McDonald's serves 18 million
outfits have contacted Sant to ask his help
customers in the U.S. each day, making its
in refining similar plans.
tray liners alone one of the largest of the
One recent weekday afternoon, three
nation's mass media.
men walked out of the Environmental De-
fense Fund's midtown Manhattan office
VEN IF IT IMPROVES public un-
E
on their way to have lunch together. On
derstanding of solid waste, Mc-
the left was EDF's senior economist. On
Donald's will continue to confront
the right was an environmental expert in
one of the nagging realities of the
the Soviet government. Between them was
new environmentalism: Grass-roots local
a businessman, a trader in the nascent en-
groups, many of them misinformed, wield
terprise of buying and selling pollution
increasing disruptive power. Says David
rights. Together that trio forms a picture
Stephenson, a Boston public relations con-
of how the new environmentalism is shap-
sultant who specializes in corporate envi-
ing up: global, more cooperative than con-
ronmental strategy: "The grass-roots
frontational-and with business at the
groups are concerned about the value of
center.
- 2 -
We also recognize that ours is an increasingly prosperous planet
-- with greater hopes now than ever before that more of our
people, in every nation, may come to know an enduring peace and
an unprecedented quality of life.
So we are called upon to ensure that the Earth's integrity is
preserved -- and that mankind's prospects for prosperity, peace,
and in some regions, even survival, are not put at risk
by the unintended consequences of noble intentions.
That is the reason we have held this conference.
The minds at work here are among the very best we have -- and
they are the best insurance that our actions are sound. We have
gathered talent from around the world -- scientists, economists,
environmentalists, energy ministers, policymakers -- to assess
the environmental and developmental future of the planet. An
unprecedented cross-fertilization of disciplines -- and of
nations. That alone is reason for hope.
But if diversity of perspective is expected, unity of purpose is
crucial. In an atmosphere of uncertainty, we must foster a
climate of good will -- and a stubborn hope -- that we might
forge solutions without the excessive heat of politics.
Among all the challenges in our tenancy of the planet, climate
change is, of course, foremost in your minds. We are leading the
search for response strategies, and working through the
uncertainty of both the science and the economics of climate
change. But there is one area where we will allow for no
uncertainty -- and that is our commitment to action -- to sound
analyses and sound policies.
To those who suggest we're only trying to balance economic growth
and environmental protection, I say they miss the point. We are
calling for an entirely new way of thinking, to achieve both
while compromising neither, by applying the power of the
marketplace in the service of the environment.
We cannot allow a question like climate change to be
characterized as a debate between "Economists versus
Environmentalists." To say that this issue has "sides" is
about as productive as saying that the Earth is flat. It may
simplify things, but it doesn't do justice to the facts, or
our future.
The truth is, strong economies allow nations to fulfill the
obligations of stewardship -- and environmental stewardship is
crucial to sustaining strong economies. If we lose sight of the
forest for the trees, we risk losing both.
But above all, the climate change debate is not about "Research
versus Action" -- for we have never considered research a
substitute for action.
Over the last two days you've heard, formally and informally,
that the United States is already taking action to stabilize and
reduce emissions -- through our Clean Air legislation, our use of
market-based incentives to control pollution, our search for
alternative energy sources, our emphasis on energy efficiency,
our reforestation initiatives, and our technical assistance
programs to developing nations.
- more -
- 4 -
Those who value environmental quality most highly should be the
most ardent supporters of strategies that tap the power of free
wills and free markets -- strategies that turn human nature to
environmental advantage. Equally, those who value economic
development most highly should be the most ardent defenders of
the environment, which provides the basis for a healthy economy.
Efficient strategies are the only realistic hope for developing
nations to save themselves from the mistakes that developed
nations have made.
And we have made mistakes -- but over the past century we've made
tremendous progress in this country, especially in the last
20 years. In the U.S., automotive emission controls have brought
about a new generation of cars that emit only four percent as
much pollution as the typical 1970 model. We've cut airborne
particulates by 60 percent, carbon monoxide by about 40 percent,
cut sulfur emissions, and virtually eliminated lead from the air
-- all during a period of population growth and economic
expansion. Now we want to share that knowledge -- our
technologies, new processes, and pollution prevention techniques
-- with the developing world.
Two decades ago, America -- holding to its birth-right of free
expression -- was home to a movement symbolized by Earth Day. It
motivated President Nixon to sign into law "a national policy
[to] encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and
his environment." And it set in motion a new sense of conscience
that a few idealists hoped would change the world.
It did. What began as an isolated American movement 20 years ago
is now shared by over 130 countries on seven continents. And
while many thought this experiment in environmental protection
would prove impossible -- that you couldn't maintain both a
productive economy and a healthy environment -- we've learned
that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in
hand. And we've learned that worldwide, united action is
essential -- and possible, as the Montreal Protocol proved.
America and other nations must now extend an offered hand to
emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and to developing
societies around the world. In some, the raging fires of forests
and grasslands burned for compelling but devastating economic
reasons have been visible to astronauts in space. Other nations,
in the struggle to support life, have been virtually stripped of
the resources that sustain life.
And in Eastern Europe, whether through the tyranny of neglect, or
the neglect of tyrants, pollution has been unveiled as one of the
Old World's cruelest dictators. An oppressor. Not man -- but
man-made.
In the majestic city of Krakow, monuments to great men, statues
that survived countless invasions by kings and emperors, by
Hitler and by Stalin, have been defaced by pollution -- their
medieval majesty reduced to shapeless lumps of stone.
If mankind's greatest creations cannot equal God's smallest, some
may grieve that our greatest destruction is turned at times upon
ourselves.
Let us neither grieve nor quarrel, but act on what we know can
help -- and act in good faith. Our challenge is global
stewardship. To work together to find long-term strategies that
will meet the needs of the entire world, and all therein.
Our conviction, and my sincere belief, is that environmental
protection and economic growth, well-managed, complement one
another -- and that we can serve this generation, while
preserving the Earth for the next -- and all that follow. It is
an uncommon opportunity we share. So let us seize the moment.
Together, we will succeed.
# # #
Document No. 135366 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
OR. S.R
90 MAR 24 P4: 35
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PH 3. 31
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
June Issue America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
2
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
Brian
Senate. - SCoane24-0636
House 1 Andres Dary 7092 6493
* Jacic Howard 7766
Document No. 135366 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
Valled in
NC to Kim
9:15am
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90 4/25
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SB
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
P
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
NC
AD
90 MAR 25 P3 : 02
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PH 3. 31
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
Document No. 135366 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
SUBJECT:
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
P
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
No Comment 4/25/90
20 Ed 25 MAR 06
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Porter per: Brad Mitchell
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
when our nation was established,
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
America wasa
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
billions
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
enhance
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
an
change research. And it includes new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
Mamo
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
P.1,42
a billion trees on private land;
30 million trees in communities
Grant/Min
March 16, 1990
draft two
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
SOUL
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
al FV al
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
abillion
Budget, p.121
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
budget, p.119
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
Budget,p
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public XA lands.
Budget 120
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
Refareweither
OMB
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and 6827
Budget,
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
126
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
Deb
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
Bindget
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
Jp.127
burdens on economic growth.
6827 Farwell
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
Budget
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
piz1
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
###
10
new
Essay
Lance Morrow
Forest of Dreams
W
ith the names of trees you can make a fine pagan bou-
points: the unused energy and gifts of young blacks, the real
quet of words: hornbeam, ginkgo, quickbeam, oak,
needs of the environment, and the motivating focus of some
white willow, tamarind, Lombardy poplar, false cypress, elder,
parts of military life. Pinkerton wanted to remove the Earth
laburnum, larch, baobab, black gum, rowan, hazel, white-
Corps from direct Government (and therefore congressional/
beam, tree of heaven, ash
political) control and from the sort of bureaucratic and ideo-
At one time trees were sacred. Gods inhabited them and
logical overelaboration that came with the Great Society. Un-
took their forms. Trees were druidic. They rose out of the
like Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, which
earth, gesticulating, tossing their hair. They were the tender-
was run by the U.S. Army, the Earth Corps is to be not a Gov-
est life-form: cooling, sheltering, calming, enigmatic. Or else
ernment agency but a nonprofit corporation funded by private
they might harbor terrors: beasts and devils in the dark forest.
donations and perhaps eventually some Government grants.
They were, in either case, magic. Still are, of course, although
Its director and chief executive officer is John Wheeler, 45, an
they have also evolved into mere lumber.
intense, effective idealist who graduated from West Point in
The spiritual descendants of those who worshiped trees
1966, served in Viet Nam, took degrees from Harvard Busi-
may sentimentalize them now as some green sermon. Ronald
ness School and Yale Law School and among other things
Reagan did not. Once during the 1980 campaign, in a nuke-
headed the foundation that got the Viet Nam Veterans Me-
the-wimps frame of mind, Reagan claimed that no matter
morial installed on the Mall in Washington.
what environmentalists say, trees are a source of deadly pollu-
With a grant of $300,000 in seed money from the Annie
tion. On the campaign plane later, Reagan's
E. Casey Foundation and office space near
press secretary James Brady sighted forests be-
the White House donated by lawyer Allan
low and shouted, "Killer trees! Killer trees!" It
seems that Reagan was confusing nitrous oxide
with deadlier oxides of nitrogen. Never mind.
ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME BY TIM
Fox, Wheeler is developing plans to establish
an Earth Corps Academy, probably in Vir-
ginia, by next year. The corps will recruit 500
The Republican President in the White
cadets for a two-year tour of service that will
House now may not poeticize trees-he takes
start with three months of forestry, academic
a certain pride in not poeticizing anything-
and environmental training at the academy.
but he does have a fine secular appreciation of
The recruits will be young men-and wom-
what trees do. They hold the earth and scrub
en-ages 16 to 21, with preference given to
the air. Chop them down, and the world be-
attracting the poor. Recruits will have to
comes a moonscape in a greenhouse. Egypt's
pass a qualifying examination and must be
eastern desert is a cautionary text: each tree in
drug free. Their main work will be reforest-
the sparse landscape is under the protection of
ing the nation, starting with some 1.3 million
a Bedouin family. Sometimes the people build
acres of South Carolina that were torn apart
a wall around each tree to guard the leaves
by Hurricane Hugo. Eventually, Wheeler
from goats.
hopes, the corps will attract 4,000 recruits a
George Bush, who said he wanted to be an
year. By encouraging local and state conser-
environmental President, is making trees a
vation corps as well, the Earth Corps may be
kind of fetish of his Administration. In his bud-
able to double Bush's 10 billion trees by the
get submitted last week, Bush allotted $175
year 2000.
million to plant 1 billion trees this year. By the
Cadets will wear uniforms with the Earth
year 2000 there should be 10 billion new trees
Corps insignia (the earth seen from space and
that eventually should absorb 13 million tons of carbon diox-
the words TRUTH, DUTY, ONE EARTH.) They will receive food,
ide a year, or 5% of the nation's annual emissions of the gas.
shelter and the minimum wage, a portion to be set aside in sav-
The news is that a larger environmental ambition is in har-
ings. When a cadet leaves the corps, he will have technical
ness. John Kennedy launched the Peace Corps. There may be
skills and environmental training. The corps will work to find
some symmetry in the fact that a man in the Bush White
him a job or a path to higher education.
House has hatched the idea for something called the Earth
Pinkerton and Wheeler are concerned that the military
Corps, which will try to enact the spirit of the last line of Ken-
image might deter recruits. It is the military esprit they want,
nedy's Inaugural Address in 1961: "Here on earth God's work
not military coercion or rigidity. Wheeler is also steering
must truly be our own."
10,000 miles clear of the welfare mentality. The corps will not
The Earth Corps is the inspiration of James Pinkerton, the
be remedial, not mandatory, not a punishment, not an entitle-
31-year-old Deputy Assistant to the President for Policy Plan-
ment. not cushy and not trivial. Excellence and dignity are
ning. Pinkerton did not begin by thinking about trees. but
words that recur in Wheeler's conversation. Cadets will do
rather about the wreckage of America's inner cities and the
hard. necessary work-reforestation, fire fighting, fire preven-
prospects that face young black males. Looking for an ap-
tion. wetland protection, cleaning up oil spills and protecting
proach to the problem, he considered the way that the Army,
habitats for endangered species.
at its best. trains people-teaches them discipline, teamwork
The Earth Corps is still a seedling. But it is a daring idea.
and such values as courage. honor, strength. loyalty, pride.
From the first landfall, the logic of the American enterprise
The experience, when all goes well, can transform lives. The
was the ax. clearing the way west through wilderness. That was
welfare system institutionalizes an abject status quo and pro-
a way to make a civilization, as Brazil is now making a civiliza-
duces generations of angry, mired victims.
tion by burning itself down. The idea of the Earth Corps draws
Pinkerton made a triangular connection among these
a line that circles back to the sacred.
74
TIME. FEBRUARY 12. 1990
Cinema
Manhood and the Power of Glory
black Americans
By LANCE MORROW
but Americans!" In that historical proto-
moment, at the instant of death, blacks become, incontrovert-
T
he movie Glory is, as the historian James M. McPherson
ibly, Americans. They won it. It was-is-theirs.
has written, the most powerful and historically accurate
Every generation forges its own conscience. Glory reaf-
film ever made about the American Civil War. But Glory,
firms an older, persistent moral theme in the black community
which tells the story of one of the war's first black regiments,
that in the past 25 years seemed to go out of fashion, at least at
has deeper meaning. The movie addresses the most profound
the leadership level of the civil rights movement: self-determi-
theme of race in America in 1990. Glory is about black man-
nation, responsibility. This sterner theme, developed well be-
hood and responsibility.
fore emancipation and repeated by Frederick Douglass,
The worst problems of the black underclass today-young
Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and genera-
black men murdering other young black men; young black
tion after generation of struggling black fathers and mothers,
males fathering children of females who are virtually children
instructed: the antidote to racism is excellence.
themselves; young blacks lost to crack and heroin-all con-
But after the Great Society, the emphasis on dignity,
nect directly to black manhood and responsibility.
struggle and pride in accomplishment was re-
Perhaps Marion Barry, Washington's
placed in the rhetoric of some black leaders
mayor, and Benjamin Hooks, executive
by a toxic seepage of self-pity, of the vic-
director of the National Association
tim theme. Passivity, grievance and
for the Advancement of Colored
denial became the psychic ortho-
People, should celebrate Black
doxy. The culture of victimiza-
History Month by watching
tion came to replicate in an ee-
Glory. When Barry was arrest-
rie way the configurations of
ed for cocaine possession last
slave days-the Government
month, Hooks' most visible
functioning as benevolent
reaction was that the mayor
slave master, dispenser of
had been the victim of a plot
all things. Many blacks were
by law enforcement to perse-
trapped in ghettos as surely
cute black elected officials.
and hopelessly as slaves on
Presumably, the mayor of the
plantations. Perhaps civil
nation's capital (not exactly an
rights organizations, designed
unemployed ghetto youth, but,
to battle discrimination and
absurdly, a role model for unem-
hardening over the years into in-
ployed ghetto youths) is not responsi-
stitutional mind-sets, could not ad-
ble for being in a hotel room with a fash-
just to new realities and needs after the
ion model, smoking crack. A white
structure of Jim Crow had been torn down.
conspiracy must have put a pistol to his head and
At worst, the Great Society turned the leaders
made him do it. Hooks' reaction harmonized with something
into petitioners, even while thousands upon thousands of
the late Whitney Young said 23 years ago. Young, then the
working-class blacks toiled in the hardest, dirtiest jobs rather
head of the Urban League, told white leaders, "You've got to
than accept welfare.
give us some victories." But if a victory is "given," it is not a
Those who suggest that the solution to black problems lies
victory. It is a dole.
in the minds and wills of blacks are always accused of blaming
The freemen and runaway slaves of the 54th Massachu-
the victims. But that's a futile line. Forget blame. Presumably,
setts Infantry regiment were not given anything in 1863: cer-
black America long since abandoned the delusion (if it ever
tainly not victory. The blacks of the 54th were actual men who
harbored it) that white America was going to ride to its rescue.
died actual deaths in a redemptive violence that they sought.
The only authentic black fulfillment will be achieved by blacks.
The lesson that Glory teaches-and it is finding an audience-
Jesse Jackson is one black leader who over the years has
is this: it was not the Great White Paternalist alone who freed
consistently preached self-help. Now he warns, "Our failure to
the slaves and made them American citizens. It was also
become introspective and responsible takes away our moral
blacks who freed themselves. These were the blacks who en-
authority." Nelson Mandela worked the same vein last week:
listed, trained, suffered, endured condescension and insult,
"All students must return to school and learn." The lesson of
disciplined themselves, fought for the right to fight and the op-
Glory, proceeding out of black history, is that blacks are not
portunity to die in the pursuit of their freedom and manhood.
powerless in the face of racism or poverty. The battles fought
On July 18, 1863, the blacks of the 54th Massachusetts led
and won by earlier generations of blacks were immensely
a virtually suicidal assault upon Fort Wagner, a massive Con-
more difficult than those that face most blacks today.
federate earthwork guarding the approach to Charleston,
Once, in 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. told some
S.C., harbor. At a critical moment in Glory's version of the at-
black college students about the Aristotelian bigot. This
tack, Trip, the runaway slave-soldier played by Denzel Wash-
bigot, said King, constructed a syllogism: All men are made
ington, seizes the American flag and runs forward with it to his
in the image of God; God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro;
death. His death says this: "I did not want your white man's
therefore, the Negro is not a man. The black soldiers of
flag; earlier I refused the 'honor' of carrying it. But I will do it
the 54th Massachusetts, and 180,000 other blacks who served
now, dying with other black men, because, understand me, we
in the Civil War, took that syllogism and burned it to
are citizens, we are Americans, not white Americans, but
ashes.
68
TIME, FEBRUARY 26, 1990
February 8, 1990
Memorandum
Re: Earth Corps Doctrine
In addition to an actual Earth Corps operation, another key
objective is generating new thinking on U.S. social policy. As a
parallel operation, the Earth Corps should encourage study and
provoke debate on the following ideas and assertions.
Fundamental Earth Corps Principles:
1)
Youth are a valuable resource
All people are created equal. They have the same basic
needs, desires, and hopes -- they want to contribute and
better their lives. Concern about the environment is
another universal attribute of all.
2)
The experience must transform lives
All youth have potential. The Corps will cultivate the
values of responsibility, accountability, and integrity
through a structured disciplined experience.
3)
A strong correlation between effort and reward must be
maintained.
o
Small hurdles that mark improvement are essential to
bolstering pride and self-esteem. (The military
accomplishes this during basic training by innumerable
individual and unit honors).
Pertinent Thoughts:
Trees taken seriously -- the hard science of the Greenhouse
Effect and reforestation as a partial solution.
Importance of "tree" culture, i.e. the history, literature,
the mystique of rainforest, the Austin, Tx. tree, etc.
A retrospective of the CCC -- why was it good? weren't the
critical principles close to #1 and #2, and #3 above? what was
the Army's role? (Pam Austin?)
Experiences of blacks in the military -- the rough blue-
collar equality (cf. Ben Wildavsky book).
Credentialism and the AFQT
-2-
Revisionism: the military's previous attempts as a vehicle of
uplift (Josephus Daniels, Mickey Kaus).
The tradition of work (New Deal VS. Great Society: a move from
the factory and the work ethic to the university and the
entitlement ethic).
Defeating bad values: an analysis of past mistakes of no
accountability, group entitlement, no punishment for crimes,
no education, etc.
The sociology of basic training and uniforms -- the military's
2000 year tradition that works for young men.
The hidden history of blacks and the environment, from Africa
to the U.S.
A need for an Earth Corps history -- an evolution of Earth
Corps doctrine, key articles, etc. Include Jack Wheeler's
diary.
Review the Five Nots -- not mandatory, not punishment, not
entitlement, not remedial, not cushy.
#
January 26, 1990
Memorandum
Re: The President's Reforestation Initiative and the Role of the
Earth Corps
This memorandum sets forth the rationale for:
(a) the President's initiative on reforestation in which
he calls upon every citizen to participate.
(b) a possible Foundation to marshal citizen participation.
(c) the role of the Earth Corps in inspiring citizens to
achieve the President's goal and serving as an essential
work force in achieving the goal. The Earth Corps is
now performing this function.
REFORESTATION
A key area of environmental concern is our forests -- all of
America's forests, public and private, wilderness as well
as trees in suburban and urban areas. They are part of our
children's inheritance.
When Christopher Columbus sailed, there were approximately
1.1 billion acres of trees in America. Today there are about 730
million acres of trees. This is a depletion of 370 million
acres, fully one third of our forest inheritance.
The accompanying graph shows this trend.
And for the first time, in 1990 commercial timber harvests
exceeded commercial timber growth.
Unchecked, these trends will continue in the 21st century.
To reverse this trend, the Administration is proposing a
comprehensive strategy that includes:
A USDA component.
Possibly establishing a Foundation, in addition to and
separate from the Earth Corps, to raise private funds
to marshal citizen action for reforestation. Initial
funding would be by a $35 million federal grant.
Suggested text for the President's State of the Union Address:
"
our forests and trees need national attention.
Let us reforest both wilderness and cities. Part of
this task will be carried out by federal forestry
programs. But most should come from citizens --
points of light --acting on their own unique creative
ways to reforest America."
If it is decided to launch a new Foundation, the President could
also say:
"I ask Congress to join me in establishing a Foundation
to give every citizen, rich and poor, of all races,
the opportunity to join this effort.'
A Presidential call for reforestation is the key to help the
Earth Corps drive home its message that poor people should also
have an opportunity to contribute, with the one great thing they
possess -- the willingness and capacity to work hard.
EARTH CORPS
Once the President has his reforestation effort up and
running, he could add a second stage booster rocket by supporting
the Earth Corps.
The Earth Corps is a private foundation dedicated to helping
disadvantaged youth help themselves. The Earth Corps stands for
the principle of matching a transcendent national mission --
the conservation and environmental work facing our country --
with youth eager and willing to devote part of their lives to
accomplishing the mission, with bare subsistence, as in the Army
in the field.
The Earth Corps will field its own force and by example
and cooperation urges the creation and growth of other youth
conservation corps. The Earth Corps also projects the message
to all citizens of the importance of our nation's reforestation
goals, with an array of initiatives for children and families.
The Earth Corps therefore is a strong supporter for the
Presidential reforestation initiative. April 22, Earth Day,
is one time when the Earth Corps could particularly benefit
from Presidential support.
One of the most significant challenges America faces is the
tragic loss of the potential of disadvantaged urban and
rural youth. Still, in 1990, too many teenagers and young adults
find no way out of the culture of drugs, poor education and lack
of job opportunities.
The youth are a resource. The task of leaders is to bring
young people into work on an important national mission and, in
the course of their work and commitment to the mission, transform
their lives.
One such mission is the task of reforesting our country. It
is a vast undertaking. The dedicated work of youth in well-
administered conservation corps can provide an essential arm of
the overall effort.
To assist in achieving the President's reforestation goal,
the Earth Corps has been established as a private non-profit
foundation. The Corps combines the best practices of military-
style training and President Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian
Conservation Corps. The best practices of the CCC still apply:
Hard work, intensive education, taking responsibility
for oneself and others, self-discipline, honesty,
personal accountability, physical fitness, building
self-confidence, dedication to an important national
mission.
The program has "five nots". It is NOT mandatory --
it calls instead upon volunteers. It is NOT punishment
-- youngsters are drawn in because of their potential,
energy and the commitment they want to make to our
country. The work is NOT trivial -- the mission is
urgent for our country. The jobs are NOT cushy -- the
work is hard and challenging. It is NOT an entitlement
--it is a tough two years where members earn their way,
prove themselves and get a big job done.
This year, including Earth Day 1990, marks the
mobilization of our youth through the Earth Corps,
matching their vigor and commitment with great
environmental needs. Just like their forebears under
Franklin Roosevelt, they will help transform our
country and in so doing transform their lives. This is
what always happens when people commit themselves to a
great mission.
Earth Corps members reforest wilderness areas, fight fires,
protect and cultivate wetlands, carry out tree planting and
environmental projects in urban areas, respond promptly to repair
oil spills, hurricane, storm, insect and fire damage, cultivate
forests, and prepare firebreaks.
Suggested Text for Presidential remarks:
"
I take pride that citizens have matched our
country's environmental needs with the tremendous
potential of disadvantaged youth by establishing the
Earth Corps. Modeled upon President Franklin
Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, the Earth
Corps will transform the lives of young people,
preparing them for employment and educational
opportunities, while focussing on a vital national
mission."
Earth Corps Operating Plan
Draft of 12/8/89
John Wheeler, Director and CEO
Reference: "Initial Policy and Planning Issues", November 28,
1989, copy attached.
The Earth Corps is a nonprofit corporation working in private/
public parternship.
During 1990 500 cadets will be recruited and trained for a two-
year stint in the Earth Corps. The Academy phase will last three
months, starting in June, then the Corps will go to work. Another
1000 will be recruited to start in June, 1991. These two classes
will constitute the Pilot Years for the Corps, during which
the recruiting, academy, tour-long education, and work program
of the Corps will be fully developed and refined. Attrition is
estimated at 20%, so the first class will be 400. Every effort
will be made to work with the cadets to keep attrition down.
But the work and learning is hard, and experience says attrition
will occur.
The main work will be reforesting America, in sites worked out
with government and private agencies, to contribute as much
as possible to the goal of planting a net new 40 to 60 million
acres of new trees in America by the year 2000. Other work will
be developed based on research by the Corps staff.
The cadets will be American citizens age 16 to 21. The Corps is
open to all young women and men in the age group, with preference
given to disadvantaged youth. There will be 70 staff and training
cadre for the 1990 class, including staff who accompany the
class on subsequent work, and including teachers in the education
program.
Testing will be part of recruiting, using a variation of the
armed forces qualifying test. The results will help in tailoring
each new cadets' education program. Cadets must be drug free,
but prior drug problems are not necessarily a bar to entrance.
1990 cost is estimated at $25k/graduated cadet per year, or
a total of $10 million. Funds will be raised from private
foundations and, with Earth Corps Board approval, federal
and state governments. As much in-kind support as possible
will be found and used.
In 1992 the first class will go back into the civilian world.
Earth Corps staff will work hard to place each graduate in a job,
and will work to place those graduates who wish into technical
school or college. In the Corps, each member will have continuing
education and training, both in the 3 R's and on Environmental
Studies. Each cadet who does not have a GED will commit to
-2-
completing GED by the end of his or her tour. Some members will
be asked to remain an extra year as cadre for new cadets. Their
education will continue in a Corps tutorial program.
There will be a regular education track and a more accelerated
track for members focussed on going to college if they can.
Members can shift between tracks.
From 1991 to 1994 the Corps will expand to an annual intake of
4000, cycling through the national academy in 4 classes of 800
each per year, after attrition. The steady-state cost per year
of the Corps then becomes a figure on the order of 3200 members
in year one and 3200 in year two of their tours, times $25k
each, for a total of $160 million per year, in 1989 dollars.
The scale of 3200 graduates a year is necessary to make a
material actual contribution to the environment and to
transform the lives of a material actual number of disadvantaged
youth. For purpose of comparison, an American soldier costs
over $35k/yr and an incarcerated offender costs over $40k/yr
versus $25k/yr for Earth Corps, in 1989 dollars. Also, to
have the symbolic power necessary to move America to a new
level of Environmental commitment and education, and to
show other nations that America is doing its part on protecting
and growing forests, the scale of 3200 graduates a year is
the necessary scale.
The challenge to the CEO is to raise the funds necessary.
The voices of the graduates themselves and the quality of
the work they do will become a powerful fundraising vehicle.
The education that continues through the two-year tour includes
leadership development and writing and speaking skills. Provision
will be made for some handicapped cadets.
The economic value of the work performed in the field each year
by the Corps will be more, up to two times more, than the total
cost of operating the Corps for the year. The work will be aimed
at supplementing, not displacing, other workers in the economy.
The philosophy is that there is so much work to do on the
environment that all hands possible are needed. This included
stimulating and helping expand other conservation corps in the
states. The Environmental Syllabus and 3R's Syllabus and other
resources of the Academy will be shared with all persons
interested in creating or improving their Corps. Some cadets
from other Corps will be admitted, to spread best practices.
The Pilot Academy will be located within driving distance of
Washington, D.C. The President will be invited to serve as
-3-
Honorary Chairman of the Earth Corps and to speak at the first
graduation. There will be three to five major work sites for
graduates, spread nationally.
The Corps program will draw openly from the best practices and
knowledge applicable to the work, educational and values
instruction facets of Corps life. All learning will be shared
openly.
Each graduate will be followed in his or her subsequent life,
in order to keep faith with the young person and to hold the
Corps accountable for long term results in transforming the
lives of its members.
The staff, teachers and cadre will be carefully recruited and
trained. Some will be former military. The purpose is to
show forth the ideals of the Corps in the life and manner
of the staff and cadre itself. They will be men and women
of all backgrounds and race.
Key Operating Tenets
1. The work is huge and urgent. All hands possible in the
reforestation and other work are needed. Share all we learn.
Help other conservation corps grow. But beat them at
basketball, soccer, baseball, football.
2. The cadets are a gift and are capable. They are an instrument
of important national work and the Corps is steward of them
and accountable to our country for their growth. The Corps
members help abate the environmental crisis; we staff help
them in their lives.
3. "Greener, Faster, Cheaper" -- the Corps will study and refine
its practices so that it does the job in the field right
the first time and does it well, improving techniques
wherever possible.
4. Help each other. Cadets learn to rely on, help, and learn
from each other. Group bonding is built in.
5. Learning is built in. This includes in the field, where
writing and reading assignments continue and are monitored.
with feedback, through mail, from the Academy.
6. Expert on the Environment. The teaching syllabus on the
Environment is being developed to incorporate the best that
is known about how to teach the Environment as a subject.
This is knowledge and movtivation that the Corps members
will carry and transmit all their lives.
-4-
7. Excellence. Whatever job we do, is worth doing well.
8. The dignity of the individual, and according respect to the
individual. Each Corps member, on graduating as a cadet,
designs and receives a simple small plastic medallion with
their design on one side and the Earth Corps symbol on the
other. At each work site, the member leaves a copy of his or
her medallion in a small display at the site, along with the
medallions of the other Corps members who worked there.
9. Spiritual values. Cadets and Corps members are free to worship
as they wish. Education includes attention to moral and
ethical concerns. Questions of faith and meaning are freely
discussed, as in any other place in American society.
10. Thrift. A portion of the minimum wage pay of members goes
to a thrift fund, to teach thrift. Printouts on savings
are sent to members while in the Corps.
11. Health and physical fitness. Education includes attention
to these factors, and it is put in practice in the field.
12. Good food.
13. Boy meets girl; that's ok. But we keep things responsible
and within reason. No dating in the field; no living
together.
President's National Service Objectives
Earth Corps in operation contributes to meeting the President's
national service objectives:
o The Earth Corps claims a key societal problem as its
own -- to contribute as much as it can to abate the
Environmental crisis our country and planet face,
and to train young citizens to help improve the
environment lifelong. In so doing, the Corps breaks
new ground in teaching about the Environment and
brings new life, a transformed life, to its members,
including the majority of disadvantaged rural and inner
city youth who make up the Corps. By this effect, the
Earth Corps also helps abate the problem of drugs among
youth.
The Earth Corps enlarges and multiplies what is working.
This private/public partnership at the national level
of environmental action is an idea whose time is come.
Local and state successes attest to this. An excellent
national model will add immensely to the national
movement. It is an act of leadership and sharing.
-5-
O The Earth Corps builds leaders. Leadership is woven into
the two-year tour. The positive effects are lifelong.
The Earth Corps will stimulate others in states to
start or develop state conservation corps. The effect
in time will also be international.
Progress and Accountability in Getting Trees in the Ground
The attached letter shows that work is underway on getting
a consensus among experts on setting a benchmark from which
the Earth Corps and the country as a whole can measure progress
on the goal of 40 - 60 million acres of net reforestation,
including in urban areas. The President will be able to use
this data in yearly updates.
Operations in December 1989 and January 1990
1. Reserve "Earth Corps" name. Incorporate as a 501 (c) (3).
Do ASAP, since IRS clearance takes 60 or so days.
2. Office. In-kind contribution will help.
3. Best Practices survey -- other conservation corps, inner
city programs, experts. Extensive travel. Seek in-kind
travel help.
4. Fundraising plan; fundraise. Foundations, government. Enroll
in Combined Federal Campaign; test Direct Mail.
5. Brief all interested parties in Executive Branch and on Hill.
6. Organizational design.
7. Recruit staff, trainers, cadre.
-Computer support expert
-Fundraising professional
-Cadre director -- an effective field soldier type
-Forest expert -- set Corps work plan for members
--research work sites nationally -- oversee site work
-3R's Director
-Environmental Education Director
-Television/Radio/Press Professional
-Management and Financial Control Director -- measure
our results; assure financial integrity.
-Deputy Director (when workload on CEO requires) NOTE: Cadre
Director, Environmental Director and 3-R's
Director report to the CEO or his Deputy, so
that the whole development of each cadet and
member is tracked as a top priority of Earth Corps.
8. Prepared Environmental Syllabus.
9. Prepare 3-R's Syllabus.
10. Interagency meetings to get Reforesting Benchmark.
11. Coordinate with other parts of President's Reforestation
Program. Earth Corps representation on steering group
for reforestation.
-6-
12. Pick site for Academy. Coord with DoD for in-kind site.
Coord with Maryland and Virginia delegations on Hill.
13. Syllabus for training staff and cadre.
14. Research the science of tree-planting. Refine and improve
techniques for mass planting.
15. Research on work that Earth Corps is distinctively competent
to do, in additon to mass reforestation and inner city
reforestation.
16. Research on work sites for graduating classes.
17. Coordinate with advertising agency (in-kind help needed)
to prepare recruiting material.
18. Brief President; invite his participation.
19. Establish financial controls; select outside auditor.
20. Introduce Earth Corps to the public and to the media.
Media will be intensely interested. "Grapevine" feedback
on Earth Corps is strongly positive, including from
trusted advisers who are in the media.
President may wish to refer to Earth Corps starting in
January, and perhaps in State of the Union address.
21. Establish theme of openness in designing the Earth Corps
including in the Pilot Year of 1990.
22. Coordinate with those involved in S. 1430, so account is
taken of Earth Corps.
23. Brief Governors.
24. Build up full Operating Plan for 1990-95.
25. Research on how to fulfill commitment to Corps members
to place them in jobs or place them in higher education
on completing their tours.
26. Plan how to follow and evaluate members in subsequent life.
27. Find schools, universities and colleges, and employers who
will commit to giving opportunities to Members who complete
their tour.
28. Research and set standards for incoming cadets. Develop
modified version of armed forces qualifying test.
29. Arrange for teaching materials for Academy.
30. Set standards for Earth Corps achievement in next 5 years --
public accountability.
31. Get the word out about Earth Corps and its values. CEO on
the road speaking (in time our graduates hit the road as
speakers).
32. Go to uniform experts; plan Earth Corps uniforms; seek
in-kind help for pilot. Four-season clothing and outdoor
clothing will be needed, to include footwear and field
protective head covering. Pick efficient design, good price.
33. Pick options for how to name each incoming class --
how to let cadets name their class and companies.
34. Arrange health insurance for cadets, members, staff.
Arrange medical support for Academy, including medical
exam of incoming cadets.
"For not only leadership is passed from generation
to generation, but so is stewardship."
President George Bush
Inaugural Address
January 20, 1989
EARTH CORPS
Initial Policy and Planning Issues
Topics for December Planning Meeting
John Wheeler
202-456-6250 (day)
703-527-5153 (eve)
November 28, 1989
This begins implementation of the Earth Corps, as described in
the memorandum of October 12, 1989 (copy attached).
The Earth Corps is a non-profit corporation which gives
opportunity for youth, especially disadvantaged youth, to help
achieve national environmental goals such as reforestation.
It will help meet the Earth's environmental emergency and give
Corps members a transformational experience.
In addition to its work in the field it will cooperate with and
highlight existing state conservation corps and help to create
conservation corps in states and other countries.
I. Urgency and Perfect Timing
There is urgency in launching the Earth Corps. First,
President Bush has committed to leadership in education,
environment and building up the national sense of voluntarism--
three principal components of the Earth Corps. The Earth Corps
can build upon the momentum created by the President and make
progress toward the goals he set.
Second, there is a crisis in the environment, with global
warming a key issue. There is national consensus that major
reforestation is needed to abate the threat. The Earth Corps is
needed to help meet an emergency.
Third, Congress may pass in 1990 an omnibus national service
statute. It is now in the form of S. 1430, which consolidates
over 10 national service bills submitted in the 101st (current)
Congress. The omnibus bill leaves an unmet need, which will
be met by the Earth Corps. The bill provides funding for existing
state conservation corps but creates no national-level corps.
An excellent national level corps is needed to lead and
inspire states and other countries to create their own corps and
to put the idea of successful youth conservation work firmly into
the public consciousness. As a private foundation, the Earth
Corps is free to create and demonstrate a strong, effective model
for others. The consensus is that the bill will pass the Senate
in 1990 and may pass the House. The Earth Corps Board can weigh
whether it wishes to obtain some funding under this statute.
Fourth, cuts in military spending and easing of the threat
of war that appear likely in the near future make a window where
major resources and public commitment can be diverted to the
Earth Corps and its goals.
These factors make a stage where the Earth Corps can seize
the intitiative, making a strong and urgently needed contribution
to our country and the world.
-2-
II. December Meeting
The next step is an informal session with a few funding
personnel and persons involved in planning the Earth Corps.
Agenda items include the matters in this memo and other subjects
suggested by attendees. Prior to the meeting, a draft operating
plan (or "business plan") will be circulated. It would be
the better part of a day.
III. Symbols
Nations and individuals navigate by symbol. The Earth Corps
will be an inspiration to its members and the public. One step is
a mission statement. A draft is:
"The mission of the Earth Corps is to educate and
train the Corps so that each member shall be expert
on the Earth's environment; to help free the Earth of
environmental danger and build a better environment;
and to inspire each member to a lifetime of service
to others. "
A visible symbol is also important. The Earth seen from
space is a powerful expression of the ideals of the Earth Corps.
An example is in color on the next page. This would be the center
of the logo and the shoulder patch for the Earth Corps.
A motto is also a powerful central symbol. It should express
the ideals of the Corps and also the ideals for living which
the members aspire to. My suggestion:
Truth, Duty, One Earth
"Truth" points both to education, including education about
the environment, and to honesty in dealing with others. "Duty"
points to the Corps' call to carry out its environmental mission
but also points to the belief that each person ought to help
the community. "One Earth" conveys the point that environ-
mental cause and effect interconnect all nations -- for example,
damage to the atmosphere by one nation affects all -- and also
points to the ideal of peaceful relations among countries.
IV. Values and Practicing the Values in Operation
The Earth Corps has to strive to live what it professes.
This is true of all institutions and organizations. Values
which will be important are first, living up to the motto, then,
also, creativity, physical fitness, thrift and economy, and
exellence in teaching and in work (so people say, "When the
Earth Corps came in, they did the job right. ").
-3-
There should be an Honor Code to which members of the Corps
aspire. It should be designed and administered by the Corps
members. The education program on the environment should be first
rate, a pathbreaking model for school systems and universities to
use. Reading, writing and arithmetic should be taught well. There
should be writing requirements for each member, including a daily
journal.
The dignity and great value of each human being is central
to the Earth Corps. In practice, this is shown by the sense of
community in the Corps and the Corps practice of following each
Corps member through life after his or her tour, to see how they
are doing and how they can be helped.
In the field, Earth Corps units should be noted for their
efficiency and morale. The science and art of the tasks has to
researched and studied so that trees are planted and other work
done in the best, most effective way. A model for this is the
way McDonald's studies and perfects the seemingly simple task
of preparing food or Japanese firms study machinery to make
it smaller, lighter and more powerful.
The field of work can be the deep forest, urban areas,
conventional workplaces where Earth Corps volunteers are needed,
or, perhaps most importantly, posts where analysis reveals
unmet needs that Earth Corps members can fill.
V. Budget, Finance, Fundraising
I am optimistic about the power of the Earth Corps to
attract funding and significant in-kind contributions. I am
gathering the cost data from similar programs for the draft
operating plan.
It appears we should start with a Pilot that tests a basic
approach. The Pilot would be a two-year program for 100 to 200
young people. A well-run pilot will open the option of obtaining
government funding if the Board wishes some government funds.
Costs per Corps member per year appear to be $10,000 to
$20,000, including all overhead. In-kind contributions can reduce
this as can government funding. The evidence from other
conservation corps is that the value of work actually done by the
Earth Corps would exceed this cost. The Earth Corps would also be
developing good citizens and transforming the lives of some kids
who might otherwise not be freed to realize their full potential.
The long-run net benefits from the Earth Corps in fulfilling its
mission statement will be immense.
-4-
VI. Accountability
Accurate data on work done and the value of the work has
to be kept. In the Pilot phase especially, the Board needs timely
information on progress, problems and ways the Board can help.
VII. Benchmark and Progress on Reforestation
One service that the Earth Corps and its planners must
perform is to establish a benchmark on reforestation against
which progess in the coming years can be measured. The benchmark
should be global and should show the trend toward net positive
reforestation, including the contribution made by the United
States and by the Earth Corps.
We have the resources to get the data for this and begin
keeping track. The key, again, is that the data be global and
comprehensive as to all felling and planting of trees, making
necessary estimates where data is scarce.
The President has signalled reforestation as a key need.
We can help by providing for the essential task of answering
the question, "How is the world doing?" on this issue.
VIII. Presidential Involvement
The Earth Corps combines resources with great efficiency
to tackle big problems: environmental crisis, environ-
mental education, disadvantaged youth, illiteracy and
undereducation, and strenghtening the American spirit of
voluntarism. All of these are issues important to the President
and the First Lady.
The President or President and First Lady could be honorary
co-chairmen. Public presentation of the Earth Corps should
include the President. There can be help on S. 1430 if the
Board wishes. The President could visit the Pilot operation. We
must keep the President and his speechwriters apprised of net
progress on reforestation -- globally and from Earth Corps.
IX. Next Steps, December 1989
1. Hire director.
2. December meeting.
3. Visit some existing conservation corps operations.
Visit forestry experts -- universities and in field.
4. Research, integrate all data, operating plan.
Media relations is key part of plan.
-5-
5. Coordinate with President as to his speeches and travel
in 1990.
6. Incorporate.
7. Get fund-raising going, including in-kind contributions.
X. Media Relations
The Earth Corps has exceptional access to the media. Media
strategy and contacts are a key part of the Earth Corps'
operations, since one of its obligations is to inspire others
with the ideals of the Corps. I will work closely with the Board
on media relations.
XI. Administration
Director to work with law firm on incorporation of Earth
Corps and 501 (c) (3) certification from IRS. Take to Board for
approval. Initial office and staff formed. Bookkeeping and
outside auditor provided for. Good computer support provided
for. Health plan for staff and members of Corps.
October 12, 1989
Memorandum
Re: Earth Corps
Need
The President has set forth a bold agenda for environmental
protection, from clean air to hazardous waste to wetlands. One
Presidential initiative stands out as an opportunity for broad-
based citizen involvement -- planting trees. As the President
said last month in Sioux Falls, SD, "we should remember the
oldest, cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth --
trees." The Environmental Protection Agency's plan for
alleviating the Greenhouse Effect by reducing CO2 includes a
target of reforesting 43 million acres of the United States.
To help reach this goal, we propose the creation of "Earth
Corps," a highly structured volunteer program based on Franklin
Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The Earth Corps
would provide opportunity for youth, especially disadvantaged
youth, to help achieve the President's environmental goals,
cifically, reforestation. Such a program will draw not only
past successes, but also on the successful CCC-styled
programs currently run by 39 states.
Program Overview
Earth Corps will be a comprehensive, rigorous para-military
program, with the major emphasis on planting the maximum number
of trees. However, we expect to see a substantial side benefit:
providing another path of opportunity and upward mobility for
youth, especially minority and inner-city youth, who otherwise
would not have the chance to participate in helping save the
natural environment. Looking to the example of the CCC, which
was operated by the Army, we note the need for a rigorous work
environment which would offer structure and purpose to teenagers
who have grown up with little or none. The Earth Corps will
combine the challenge and comprehensive environment of Army-
styled bootcamp with the self-esteem that comes from rugged
outdoor experience. In addition, by emphasizing the paramount
national objective of reforesting 43 million acres -- 2% of the
entire land mass of the U.S. -- the Earth Corps will enjoy the
esprit that comes from tackling a clearly defined, urgent,
national mission.
Earth Corps will present an opportunity for many
individuals, particularly the at-risk population, to benefit from
a transformational work experience, one that pulls them out of
their surroundings and offers them a new way of life. The
program will instill values such as hard work, responsibility,
accountability and discipline -- all crucial to the development
of well-balanced, productive individuals. While working to
reforest the nation, Earth Corps will provide a strong national
example of public service in the spirit of Roosevelt's CCC and
Kennedy's Peace Corps, and President Bush's "thousand points of
light. The Earth Corps will be open to all Americans, but by
paying salaries commensurate with the military, Earth Corps can
provide a unique opportunity for disadvantaged youth:
escape their present surroundings
engage in experiences that bolster self-esteem and
encourage virtue
receive educational enrichment geared to their special
circumstances
interact with leaders who will serve as positive role
models
become directed, inspired individuals while serving
their country
Note: Earth Corps should not in any way be confused with
"prison boot camp" or "shock incarceration. The emphasis should
be on young people volunteering to make a clean break with their
past.
Program Elements
The unique mission of Earth Corps -- to help reforest the
nation while providing a transformational experience for
disadvantaged youth -- will demand that the program be carefully
organized, highly structured and meticulously implemented:
Earth Corps will target youths age 16 to 23, focusing on
those unable to exit their current environment through
conventional paths, such as regular employment or the armed
forces. The Earth Corps will take advantage of motivational
techniques perfected by the military over the centuries --
uniforms, flags, insignia, etc.
Recruits will undergo a period of rigorous and motivational
training and physical conditioning. With the goal of
attaining self-sufficiency, participants will be taught
camping, field skills, first aid, cooking and environmental
skills.
After initial training, recruits will commit to a three to
four year program, with their time divided between
environmental work and highly structured educational
enrichment. If diplomatically possible, Earth Corps members
could go abroad to plant trees in the Third World.
Upon completion, Earth Corps "graduates" will be guaranteed
either jobs or placement in "traditional" educational
programs. An extensive follow-up program will assist
"alumni" placement and adj ustment in new careers.
FORESTRY
AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 2000
1516 P Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20013
Washington, D.C. 20005
telephone (202) 667-3300
Founded 1875
December 7, 1989
John Wheeler
Office of Policy Planning
The White House
Washington, DC
Delivered to:
1700 H Street, N.W.
Dear Mr. Wheeler:
Enclosed is a copy of the package originally sent to you, James
Pinkerton, and Emily Mead at the White House on December 1.
We have also arrived at some figures for you on the two specific
questions you asked. Keeping with the carbon figures we have,
one acre of trees sequesters 1.366 tons of carbon per year.
Planting 40 million acres would sequester 55 million tons of
carbon. This is 4 percent of the approximately 1.4 billion tons
of carbon the US contributes annually to the atmosphere from the
burning of fuels (25 percent of 5.6 billion tons of carbon
emissions worldwide).
In terms of automobiles, we know that 1 gallon of gasoline equals
18 pounds of carbon dioxide (or 5 pounds of carbon). If a tree
uses 26 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, one tree is needed to
offset every 36 miles driven by a car, assuming a 25 miles per
gallon fuel efficiency. One acre of trees would "offset" 13,600
miles of driving an automobile.
Allen sent a package to Bob King of MADD on Global ReLeaf just
recently. I will try to speak with Sally "Connor today, and I
look forward to meeting you at the ceremony on Monday.
Sincerely,
Abrah Deborah Gangloff
Director of Communications
encl.
The
National
Citizens
Organization
For
FORESTRY
AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 2000
1516 P Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20013
Washington, D.C. 20005
telephone (202) 667-3300
Founded 1875
December 1, 1989
James P. Pinkerton
Deputy Assistant to the President
for Policy Planning
The White House
Washington, DC
Dear Jim:
John Wheeler of your office asked Allan Comp of our staff for some estimates about tree
planting goals that might be appropriate in upcoming years. Enclosed are three graphs which
set forth some estimates that we have developed. They portray three separate situations, and
challenges.
On the rural forest lands, public and private, the Forest Service has a good data set that
estimates the number of trees produced each year in nurseries and the number of acres planted
each year. There's good data through 1988, so we used that as the base year in goal-setting for
the future. Since 1989 is done, and we can't affect it now, but we also don't know what it will
be, we left it blank.
We believe that the goal should be a 50 percent increase in annual rural forest plantings by
1994. That would continue the trend of the late 1980's, and result in a net gain of forests of
some 10-15 million acres by the end of the 20th Century. (Much of this is the replanting of
harvested forest acres, but we don't have the data to tell how much of that is involved.) In
terms of tree numbers, that would approach 3.3 billion per year by 1994, up from 23 billion per
year in 1988. The challenge is significant, and the need for both nursery capacity and technical
assistance is significant.
Our definition of community tree planting includes both public and private lands such as yards,
business properties, parks, greenways, school grounds, freeway medians, etc. There is no data
upon which to base a historical record except that the nursery industry thinks it produces about
30 million trees annually at the wholesale level. Nobody knows how many are planted, where
they go, or how many live.
The goal we have projected for community tree planting is based on what our surveys indicate is
needed, not on a departure from current trends. It would build to about 35 million a year by
1992. It would result in planting the 100 million trees that AFA has called for in Global
ReLeaf, then maintain a high level of planting to begin truly taking advantage of all our
community forest potential. We will be trying to get a decent estimate of plantings in 1989 this
winter, and hopefully, start the construction of a data base that helps in future planning and
program accountability.
The National Citizens Organization Fur Trees. Forests. and Forestry
The final goal is for street trees, which need to be larger, more expensive trees. We have a fair
set of recent data to establish a trend, but we also know that most cities need to double their
street trees, so this goal calls for a doubling of the annual planting rate between 1989 and 1994.
That is still only about 25 million trees a year, but with an average cost per tree in the $2-400
range, this is not an insignificant commitment on the part of America's communities.
We're aware that it would be easier to just have one numerical goal for a tree planting
initiative, but these situations are so different, in terms of their costs, that we feel it is
important to portray them separately. We hope this is helpful.
Lastly, we don't know what to do about tropical forests, or any kind of worldwide estimates.
We're working with Worldwatch Institute and others to evaluate what data is available, but its
pretty limited. FAO has estimated that only about one hectare is afforested or reforested for
every ten hectares cleared or logged. That was a 1981 estimate and, so far as I know, there's
nothing newer. Our challenge in the rest of the world is to help them develop information and
understanding of their situation, both through the sharing of information such as remote-sensed
data, and U.S. forest research. I'm not sure we can do more right now, in terms of helping
reverse the trends of forest destruction that seem to be continuing at alarming rates in parts of
the world.
Sincerely,
Neil
R. Neil Sampson
Executive Vice President
Enclosures: 3 Graphs
cc: John Wheeler
Emily Mead
U. S. FOREST PLANTINGS
Public and Private Lands
Millions
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
80
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
Acres Planted
25% Increase Goal
50% Increase Goal
Source: U.S. Forest Service
American Forestry Association
November 30, 1989
Community Tree Planting
Public and Private Lands
Millions
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
Planting Goals
American Forestry Association
November 30, 1989
Street Tree Planting
Cities over 2,500
Population
Thousands
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1980
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
Trees Planted
Street Tree Goal
American Forestry Association
November 30, 1989
MEMORANDUM
TO:
James P. Pinkerton
Deputy Assistant to the President for Policy Planning
CC:
Nancy Maloley, The White House
Paul Roellig, The White House
Gene Cartledge, Union Camp
Gary MacDougal
Red Cavaney, American Paper Institute
FROM: Larry Wiseman
in
RE:
November 8 Meeting on Forestry/Earth Corps Initiative
DATE: November 10, 1989
Jim:
As promised, I have enclosed polling data and focus group tapes
from various research projects we have conducted over the past two
years. Virtually all confirm your judgment that an Administration
initiative which blends forestry with the concept of youth service
would have substantial public and policy impact.
As a first step, we felt it important to sketch the background of
programs over which this new initiative will be fit. Attached is a
memo on current youth conservation activities. We are planning a
similar assay of forestry and reforestation efforts.¹
With this material in hand, we will begin working with Nancy and
Paul to develop program alternatives for you and Roger to consider.
Our goal is to complete development of these alternatives by early
December.
On a personal note, Jim, I just want to reiterate how excited I am to
be involved in this project. I'm confident we can break new ground
and come up with a program that will be a winner for young
people, the environment and the future health and vigor of America's
forests.
1 Also attached are brief descriptions of two programs operated by American Forest Council on behalf of the
industry and other forestry interests. They are good examples of the kinds of resources that can be put to work
in the Administration's initiative.
MEMORANDUM
RE:
Background on Youth Conservation Corps
DATE:
November 10, 1989
FROM:
Larry Wiseman, American Forest Council
Based on discreet, preliminary conversations with professionals active in this field
and on other contacts, I can offer both some background about the current state of
youth conservation programs, and some observations about the kind of project we
discussed last week. To preserve confidentiality at this early stage, data were not
confirmed via contacts with relevant state or Federal agencies - though I believe
them to be reasonable accurate.
Background1
The youth conservation movement, first sparked by the New Deal-era Civilian
Conservation Corps, is enjoying a resurgence -- fueled in part by Federal Youth
and Young Adult Conservation Corps programs, the availability of funds via the
Federal Job Training Partnership Act, and growing interest nationally and locally in
service as a means of breaking young people out of poverty. Programs vary
considerably -- though most are government-sponsored, with growth concentrated
at the state and local level.
YACC. The Federal role in youth conservation reached its contemporary peak
with the Young Adult Conservation Corps [YACC]. Before funding ended in 1981,
YACC appropriations totaled $260 million for programs operated at both the
Federal and state levels.
YCC. The Federal government still maintains Youth Conservation Corps programs
operated through the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the
Forest Service. With separate appropriations for YCC no longer available, the
agencies allocate from their operating budget for YCC activities. During the
summer of 1989, approximately $3.5 million was spent by the three agencies to
employ some 3,000 young people via YCC. This accounts for less than 10 percent
of all young people believed to be engaged in youth service activities.² Contacts at
the relevant agencies can be provided, or initiated by me if you wish.
¹Statistics collected by the Human Environment Center [HEC], a 13-year old organization founded to address
environmental issues which disproportionately affect minorities and the poor. HEC is the contract sponsor of a
loosely-knit group called the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps. The Ford, Hewlett, Mott
and Public Welfare Foundations contribute substantially to its work.
2At its height, some 32,000 young people were employed in both Federal and state grant YCC programs
with a total appropriation of $60 million.
Youth Conservation Corps
Background Memo by Larry Wiseman
November 10, 1989
Page 2
Pending Legislation. At least 10 bills were introduced in Congress covering some
aspect or another of youth service. Many of the features of these bills have been
combined into a Democratic-inspired omnibus sponsored by Ted Kennedy and
reported out of his Senate Labor Committee. [Attached are copies of two essays
from the Wall Street Journal offering perspectives on the resurgence of interest in
national service.]
Summary Statistics
[Estimates Based on NASCC Survey, August 1989]
All
State
Local
Approximate Number of Corps:
62
26
36
Year Round:
38
15
23
Summer:
24
11
13
Combined Annual Budgets:
As much as $165 million
Young People Served:
At least 39,000
Age Range:
12-26
Notable Programs
California. Certainly the largest and most diverse corps, this program operates its
own training academy and 17 residential centers with 32 satellites. Approximately
2200 young people are enrolled at minimum wage. After one year's service, they
are eligible for a $400 bonus and $800 toward educational expenses. Activities
performed, almost solely on public lands, range from fire fighting to fisheries
restoration. Budgeted at $58 million, the California program accounts for fully
one-third of all funds expended on state and local youth service corps nationwide.
A Classic Program. The Wisconsin Conservation Corps appears to be
representative of top-tier state level efforts. Like many, its traditions are firmly
rooted in the old CCC with its focus on labor-intensive conservation work.
Operated by the state's Department of Natural Resources, the program accelerated
rapidly during the '80s recession. WCC's mission, set by the Legislature, is
straightforward:
employ those who don't have job;
Youth Conservation Corps
Background Memo by Larry Wiseman
November 10, 1989
Page 3
put them to work on worthwhile projects;
teach them work skills.
WCC crews are trained to perform virtually any sort of labor intensive
conservation work, including much that's timber related. They can plant, prune,
thin and harvest, lay trails or help with wildlife and fisheries management. Most
of their work is on public land, or on private lands where there is a clear public
benefit [e.g. erosion control] and where public access is guaranteed, via easements
for example. WCC's budget of $3.6 million for 300 participants puts it in the top
five nationally among similar conservation corps.
After 12 months, participants are eligible for $1800 tuition grants or $500 in cash
bonuses. Like most programs, WCC has difficulty collecting hard data on how
their participants have fared after leaving the Corps.
Of those eligible, about 25 percent take advantage of the tuition voucher. Some go
to college, but many enter two-year technical schools. WCC surveyed 800 ex-
Corps members earlier this year. Only 125 responded - reflecting the difficulty in
evaluating post-Corps experiences of inner-city youth. Of those who responded,
however, virtually all said they were either in school or working at a higher wage
or enrolled in institution of higher learning.
Observations
1. Recruitment. Some corps report declines in participation in some
communities as the labor market has tightened. With opportunities to make more
than minimum wage in a variety of urban jobs, those youth inclined to work
appear to be staying out of the woods. But professionals caution that declines are
highly localized and that, overall, the corps movement appears to be growing.
2. Education and Counseling. A critical component to most corps
programs, some [like the Chesapeake Bay Youth Conservation Corps] offer training
in areas as specialized as marine science and ecology. Most, however, focus on
fundamentals -- perhaps remedial academics, GED and personal and career
counseling. Many involved professionals suggest these elements are vital to the
post-Corps success of enrollees.
3. Skill Training. Again, programs vary tremendously. But most seem
geared more to cultivating basic work habits than to providing specific training
that could be readily applied in the labor market. In the few states I contacted,
corps members with meaningful experience in construction trades, for example,
were reported to find jobs more easily than those who had performed rudimentary
conservation work. Work in energy conservation, becoming a staple of urban
corps, seems to also lead readily into construction and allied trades.
4. Post Corps Opportunities. These vary, with some programs
[predominantly local] organized to provide "graduates" with specific employment
or education opportunities. In Philadelphia, for example, corps members are
Youth Conservation Corps
Background Memo by Larry Wiseman
November 10, 1989
Page 4
enrolled at Temple University and serve as urban park rangers. A number of
programs are affiliated with construction trade unions and employer groups and,
somewhat like apprenticeship programs, feed their "graduates" into local labor
groups. California Conservation Corps offers its graduates "career-ladder"
opportunities into the corps bureaucracy itself.
5. Cost. State programs are not inexpensive. California's -- considered to
be among the best and certainly the broadest -- costs roughly $26,000 annually per
participant. Programs without such an extensive network of training academies
and residential centers cost less, about $10,000 per entrant per year.
6. Benefits. There are two kinds of benefits: to participants, and to the
communities that sponsor the programs. Professionals seem to agree that inner-
city participants do benefit - if for no other reason than they've matured as
workers and learned things that employers value - dependability, punctuality,
responsibility. Community benefits can also be substantial. But some feel they are
equally difficult to quantify since the market doesn't easily assign value to fire-
fighting, noncommercial tree planting, trail construction, fisheries management and
the like. Overall, evaluation of these kinds of programs hasn't progressed as
quickly as enthusiasm for the concept.
7. Private Sector Opportunities. Most state-funded corps rarely work on
private lands. But there are substantial opportunities to develop new private
sector partnerships as the "corps movement" itself learns to reach outside its
traditional funding sources and networks.
Target Expenditures Narrowly
By PETER L. SZANTON
1. Consider the ingredients. not the
5. l'nderciass youth are n special con-
The debate over National Service, has
name. Ignore "national service" in the ab-
cern. Are such expenditures worthwhile.
begun again. After a decade in which more
stract: consider specific proposals. They
then? Yes. if targeted. People of all ages
than 50 localities established their own
will differ in crucial ways.
and all classes should be encouraged to
service or conservation corps and dozens
2. "Scruce" should be service. As com-
serve. but there are many ways for mid-
of school systems made community serv.
monly understood. service implies sacri-
die-class kids. and their elders. to serve at
ice a prerequisite to high-school gradua-
fice. It involves accepting risk. or giving
little public cost. They can volunteer at
up income. or deferring a career. It follows
any of thousands of non-profit institutions.
tion. the focus has shifted to Washington.
At least 10 bills proposing one or an-
that proposals like Nunn-McCurdy, whose
or participate in service programs re-
other national program were introduced in
benefits to enrollees are worth some S17.-
quired by high schools or encouraged by
Congress this spring. One. co-sponsored by
500 a year. do not qualify. There is a ra-
colleges or employers.
Sen. Sam Nunn D., Ga. and Rep. Dave
tionale for such bills: Federal subsidies to
McCurdy D.. Okla. would have re-
college students amount to "a GI Bill with-
stricted federal college subsidies to stu-
out the GI": arguably those benefits
Altered Calculation
dents who had served. An omnibus bill as-
should be earned. not given. But the earn-
Underclass youth don't have those op-
sembled by Sen. Edward Kennedy D..
ings exceed by 20% the average income of
portunities. They are not enrolled in high
Mass. and including some diluted Nunn-
school or college. They are unlikely to be
young high-school graduates with full-time
McCurdy provisions along with proposals
employed. And they have grown up in un-
jobs. Why call that service?
by fellow Democratic Sens. Claiborne Pell.
precedentedly grim circumstances. among
3. Encouragement is fine: compulsion is
Barbara Mikulski and Christopher Dodd.
family structures breaking down. sur-
not. Compelled service is unconstitutional.
has been reported out of the Senate Labor
rounded by self-destructive behaviors and
It IS also unwise and unenforceable. (Who
Committee. It might well win Senate pas-
bleak prospects. But many of them can be
will throw several hundred thousand re-
sage. President Bush has outlined his own
quite profoundly reoriented by productive
fusers in jail each year? But through tax
Youth Entering Service YES plan.
and disciplined service.
policy and in other ways the federal gov.
though its details remain to be specified.
Some won't accept the discipline: oth-
ernment encourages many kinds of behav-
What IS one to think of all this? Doc-
ers drop out for other reasons. But some
for. It should also encourage service-pref-
trine and specia! interests govern some re-
whom nothing else IS reaching are trans-
erably by all classes and all ages. Its en-
sponses. People eager to have youth "pay
formed. Learning skills. producing some-
couragement should strengthen and not un-
their dues 10 society favor service propos-
thing cooperatively. feeling useful. they
der UT the strong tradition of volunteering
als-preferably mandatory ones So de
are no longer dependent-others now de-
11: 11:- U.S.. should build on the service pro-
those who seek a "re-energized concept of
pend on then. Even If II is cheaper to build
grams already in existence. and should
citizenship. a concept imposing stern obli-
playgrounds or paint apartments or plant
honor local convictions about which tasks
gations as well as conferring rights. Then
dune-grass with paid professionals. the ef-
most need doing.
there are instinctive
fects on the young people providing those
opponents. T.. liber-
services alter the calculation.
tarians. mandatory
Many
underclass
Strictly speaking. these youth are not
service IS an abomi-
performing service. They are giving up no
nation and voluntary
youth can be profoundly
income. deferring no careers. incurring no
systems are diegitt-
reoriented by productive
risk. But they believe themselves to be
mate uses of tax
serving. and they begin to respect them-
money. Demotees of
and disciplined service.
selves 'and others to take control of their
the market question
lives. to think of the future. That IS a serv-
the value of the work national service
ice to the nation. It is what federal support
should try hardest to achieve.
would perform. If the market won't pay
4. Good programs are not cheap. Enthu-
for II. they argue. it can't be worth its cost.
stasts assume that national service would
Mr. Scanton. " Carter administration
Elements of the ieft are also reflexively
get important work done cheaply: forest
budget official. heads his own Washington-
opposed: they see service as a cover for
fires fought. housing rehabilitated. stu-
based strategic planning firm. Hc is n co-
the draft. or fear the regimentation of
dents tutored. day-care centers staffed.
author of "National Service: What Would
youth. or want to see rights enlarged. not
There IS important work to be done. and
It Mean!" Lerington Books. 1986,
obligations.
existing service and conservation corps
But what about those of us whose views
have shown that even youths who start
are not predetermined by formula or ideol-
with few skills can do much of it well-but
ogy? How should we think about national
not cheaply.
service? Let's begin by recognizing a main
Good service programs require recruit-
It's Ba-ack!
source of confusion-"national service"
ment. screening. training and supervi-
has no agreed meaning. Would service be
sion-all of high quality. They involve sti-
voluntary or compulsory? Short or long?
pends to participants. Full-time residential
Part-time or full-time? Paid or unpaid?
programs also require housing and full-
Would participants live at home and work
time supervision: they are particularly ex-
National Service
nearby or live in barracks and work on
pensive-more per participant than a year
public lands? What kinds of work would
at Stanford or Yale.
they do?
Non-residential pro-
Not Trivial Questions
grams are cheaper.
1989
but good ones still
What does "national" mean? Would the
program be run by the federal govern-
come to some $10.-
ment. by local governments. or by private
000 a year. Are they
worth that? Evalua-
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
voluntary organizations? And who would
serve? Only males. as with the draft. or
tions suggest that
good
both sexes? Youth only or all ages? Mid-
die-class people. or poor people. or a genu-
cially so If the effects on participants are
ine cross-section? Many or few?
counted. But the calculations are chal-
MONDAY. OCTOBER 16. 1989
lengeable.
Those are not trivial questions. and the
label "national service" answers none of
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MONDAY. OCTOBER 16. 1989
It's Ba-ack! National Service 1989
Put Brakes on the Omnibus
happy and the res-
By BRUCE CHAPMAN
taurant is pushing
The DLC plan envisaged "volunteers"
the dish very hard. The aroma of patron-
Proposals for government-operated
planting trees. emptying bedpans. tutoring
age IS in the air.
"national service." like influenza. flare up
children. and assisting librarians for $100 a
Is the voluntary sector so weak that it
from time to time. depress the resistance
week. tax free. plus medical care. With a
needs such unsolicited assistance? On the
of the body politic. run their course. and
tax-free $10.000 voucher payment at the
contrary. it is as robust as ever. According
seem to disappear. only to mutate and af-
end of each year. the volunteers would be
in the Gallup Poll. American adults con-
flict public life anew.
making a wagr comparable to i
tribute an average of :wo hours a week of
The disease metaphor comes to mind.
year. Mind you. most of "the volunteers
service. while financial contributions to
of course. not as an aspersion on the advo-
would be unskilled 17. to 18-year-olds. some
charity in the 1960s have risen 30% ad-
cates of national service. Rather. it is born
not even high school graduates. and many
justed for inflation
of frustration with having to combat con-
saving money by living at home. They
Even if government does see various
stantly changing strains of a statist idea
would be doing better financially under
number needs." national service is not the
that one thought had been eliminated in
tional service than many taxpayers work-
way to meet them. If we want to support
the early 1970s. along with smallpox.
ing at the same kinds of jobs and perhaps
students. we might adopt the idea used in
It is back with us again. in the form of
supporting families.
other countries of offering more scholar-
legislation to pay volunteers under a "Na-
As it happened. political resistance de.
ships based on something called "scholar-
tional and Community Service Act." a
veloped among educational and minority
ship." rather than on the government's
proposal with a serious shot at congres-
interests that count on the present educa-
idea of "service." Or we might provide a
sional passage this fall.
tion grant system. so the national-service
tax credit for working students. What we
Why does the national-service virus
devotees decided to abandon the suppos-
do not need to do is start a war. and then
keep coming back? Perhaps It is because
edly crucial principle of "give in order to
try to justify It by creating a GI Bill.
utopian nostalgia evokes both military ex-
get." Opposition to national service from
To the extent we lack manpower to staff
perience and the social gospel. If only we
could get America's wastrel youth into at
the Pentagon. which wants to protect its
menial jobs in hospitals. for example. we
least a psychic uniform we might be able
own recruitment process. also led to the
should raise pay. pursue labor-saving tech-
nology. or allow more legal immigration.
to teach self-discipline again and revive
military-service option being dropped.
Clearly. a new rationale for national
rather than overpay high school graduates
the spirit of giving.
as short-term workers and cause resent-
A quarter of a century ago national
service had to be cooked up. What better
place to turn than Sen. Edward Kennedy's
ment among permanent workers paid
service was promoted as a way of curing
the manifest inequities of the draft-by.
Labor Committee. that great stove of gov.
lesser amounts to do the same jobs.
of all things. expanding the draft. Those of
ernment expansionism. where many a
'Points of Light'
us who resisted the idea then suspect today
stagnant pot of porridge is kept on the
Will national service. in the current
that an obligation of government service
back burner until it can be brought for-
highly politicized and opportunistic form
for all young people
ward and presented as nouvelle cuisine?
exert enough appeal to get adopted? Not
is still the true long-
necessarily. Polls show wide. generalized
term: aim of many
They would be doing
support for some vague concept of service.
national-service
but the bill now under discussion lacks any
backers. despite
better financially than
passionate public backing. Nonetheless.
their protests that
many taxpayers working
Senate Democrats are organizing a roll of
supporting associations. "societies" and
present plans con-
tain no coercion.
at the same kinds of jobs.
"councils." some of which may hope to re-
ceive the paid "volunteers."
Choice of the vol-
unteer military in the 1970s seemed to
In this case. the new recipe for national
So far. the president seems ill-disposed
doom national service as much as the
service called for throwing many assorted
to substitute any of the omnibus for his
draft. But the virus was kept alive in soci-
legislative leftovers into one kettle: a dem-
own free-standing proposal to endow a
ology departments until a couple of years
onstration project for educational aid (par-
"Points of Light" foundation with $25 mil-
ago, when it again was let loose. This time
ticularly satisfying to the DLC and Sen.
lion to inform citizens of all ages and ex-
it attempted to invade two connected prob-
Sam Nunn a similar demonstration pro-
hort them to genuine volunteerism.
lems. the rising cost of higher education
gram for youth conservation (a la Sen.
However. even this admirable plan
and the rising expense to the federal gov-
Chris Dodd). a competitive grants pro-
could become objectionable if the White
ernment of educational grants and loans.
gram to states to spark youth and senior
House gives in to congressional Demo-
Why not keep and even expand the loans
citizen volunteer projects (a Kennedy spe-
cratic pressure to add to the scope of the
and grants. the advocates reasoned. but re-
cialty). a community service work-study
president's Initiative or to involve the inde-
quire some form of service from each re-
program for students (pleasing to the pal-
pendent foundation in "brokering" federal
cipient? Military service. moreover. could
ate of Sen. Dale Bumpers. among others
funds for volunteer projects.
be a mational-service option.
plus engorgement of the VISTA volunteer
program and the Retired Senior Volunteer.
There's no need for such concessions.
Home Purchases
Foster Grandparent, and Senior Compan-
The omnibus can be defeated. the virus
ion programs. Before the menu is printed.
controlled. and real service protected. Na-
Thus. undoubtedly it was hoped that the
the House may add more ingredients. also
tional service. the utopian idea, still won't
changing the initial price, now posted at
go away then. of course, but the millions of
new strain of national service would prove
contagious. infecting patriotic conserva-
some $330 million.
knee-socked youth performing works of
tives, pay-as-you-go moderates, and ideal-
It is widely known that "too many cooks
"civic content" will be mobilized only in
istic liberals. The Democratic Leadership
spoil the broth." but that wisdom does not
the imagination of their progenitors.
Council, a centrist group sponsoring the
necessarily reflect the view of the cooks,
plan. surely thought it might help the party
especially if they
Mr. Chapman is a fellow at the India-
to attract support. especially among col-
are senators. The
napolis-based Hudson Institute. This arti-
lege students and their parents. A provi-
"omnibus" bill com-
cle is adapted from remarks at a Hoover
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
December 1, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON
SUBJECT:
Eric Hoffer and the Earth Corps
Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman/philosopher best known for The
True Believer, also wrote the attached essay, The Role of the
Undesirables, which puts the idea of an "Earth Corps" in
historical context. Writing half a century ago about
"undesirable" people down on their luck, Hoffer builds the case
for a program that lets people work their way out of poverty and
despair.
Hoffer's point of view is simultaneously humane and hard-
nosed. He confesses that "The majority of us were incapable of
holding a steady job. We lacked the self-discipline and the
ability to endure monotonous, leaden hours. We were probably
misfits from the very beginning. Our contact with a steady job
was not unlike a collision. Some of us were maimed, some got
frightened and ran away, and some took to drink."
Hoffer's point is that there still can be a place for
everyone, even if that place is one of the "the drainage ditches
of ordered society." Hoffer observes "there must be in this
world a task with an appeal so strong that were we to have a
taste of it we would hold on and be rid for good of our present
restlessness."
What sort of task? Here is Hoffer's account: "I saw them
fell timber, clear firebreaks, build rock walls, put up barracks,
build dams and roads, handle steam shovels, bulldozer, tractors,
and concrete mixers." Hoffer is no mollycoddler. His point is
that such hard work is precisely what "misfits" (his phrase)
need. Note that Hoffer's view is mirrored by the best New Deal
programs, which emphasized work, not entitlement.
The reason the New Deal was such a success was because it
was a contemporary reworking of the American Dream: the idea that
hard work would enable you to overcome obstacles or handicaps and
earn a piece of the pie.
-2-
The ability of "misfits" to rise out of "the slough of our
present existence" led Hoffer to conclude that the "tramps" of
his day were analogous to the pioneers of yesterday. Hoffer
asks: "Who were the pioneers? Obviously those who had not
made good: men who went broke or never amounted to much; men who
though possessed of abilities were too impulsive to stand the
daily grind; men who were slaves of their appetites -- drunkards,
gamblers, and women chasers; outcasts -- fugitives from justice
and ex-jailbirds."
Anyone who believes in the American Dream -- the right to
try, to try and perhaps fail, and finally to try and succeed --
will believe in Hoffer's argument that "the quality of a nation
-- its innermost worth -- is made manifest by its dregs as they
rise to the top.' As Hoffer writes, "Only here, in America, were
the common folk of the Old World given a chance to show what they
could do on their own
Small wonder that we in this country
have a deeply ingrained faith in human regeneration. We believe
that, given a chance, even the degraded and the apparently
worthless are capable of constructive work and great deeds. It
is a faith founded on experience, not on some idealistic theory."
#
BETWEEN
THE DEVIL AND
THE DRAGON
The Best Essays and Aphorisms of
ERIC HOFFER
11
HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS, New York
Cambridge, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London
Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Sydney
1817
H/N27
LIBRARY OF 5
SEP 1 4 1982
COPY
CIP
This collection includes The True Believer and substantial selections from Working and
Thinking on the Waterfront; The Passionate State of Mind; The Ordeal of Change; The
Temper of Our Time; First Things, Last Things; Reflections on the Human Condition; In
Our Time; and Before the Sabbath, all published by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Re-
printed by permission.
The aphorisms and essays in this book were selected by the publisher in consulta-
tion with the author and edited where necessary to avoid repetition.
-
-
-
-
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DRAGON. Copyright 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, c 1955. 1956.
1958, 1959. 1961, 1962. 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971. 1973, 1976,
1979, 1982 by Eric Hoffer. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For
information address Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, N.Y.
10022. Published simultaneously in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Toronto.
FIRST EDITION
Designer: Sidney Feinberg
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hoffer, Eric.
Between the devil and the dragon.
1. Social history-20th century. 2. United States-
Social conditions. 3. United States-Intellectual life.
1. Title.
HN27.H62
303.4'0973
81-48040
ISBN 0-06-0149841-1
AACR2
82 83 84 85 86 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1
THE ROLE OF
THE UNDESIRABLES
IN THE WINTER OF 1934, I spent several weeks in a federal tran-
sient camp in California. These camps were originally established
by Governor Rolph in the early days of the Depression to care for
the single homeless unemployed of the state. In 1934 the federal
government took charge of the camps for a time, and it was then
that I first heard of them.
How I happened to get into one of the camps is soon told. Like
thousands of migrant agricultural workers in California, I then
followed the crops from one part of the state to the other. Early in
1934 I arrived in the town of El Centro, in the Imperial Valley. I
had been given a free ride on a truck from San Diego, and it was
midnight when the truck driver dropped me on the outskirts of El
Centro. I spread my bedroll by the side of the road and went to
sleep. I had hardly dozed off when the rattle of a motorcycle
drilled itself into my head and a policeman was bending over me
saying, "Roll up, mister." It looked as though I was in for some-
thing; it happened now and then that the police got overzealous
and rounded up the freight trains. But this time the cop had no
such thought. He said, "Better go over to the federal shelter and
get yourself a bed and maybe some breakfast." He directed me to
the place.
I found a large hall, obviously a former garage, dimly lit and
packed with cots. A concert of heavy breathing shook the thick
air. In a small office near the door, I was registered by a middle-
aged clerk. He informed me that this was the "receiving shelter"
The Role of the Undesirables
:
75
where I would get one night's lodging and breakfast. The meal
was served in the camp nearby. Those who wished to stay on, he
said, had to enroll in the camp. He then gave me three blankets
and excused himself for not having a vacant cot. I spread the
blankets on the cement floor and went to sleep.
I awoke with dawn amid a chorus of coughing, throat clear-
ing, the sound of running water, and the intermittent flushing of
toilets in the back of the hall. There were about fifty of us, of all
colors and ages, all more or less ragged and soiled. The clerk
handed out tickets for breakfast, and we filed out to the camp
located several blocks away, near the railroad tracks.
From the outside, the camp looked like a cross between a fac-
tory and a prison. A high fence of wire enclosed it, and inside
were three large sheds and a huge boiler topped by a pillar of
black smoke. Men in blue shirts and dungarees were strolling
across the sandy yard. A ship's bell in front of one of the buildings
announced breakfast. The regular camp members-there was a
long line of them-ate first. Then we filed in through the gate,
handing our tickets to the guard.
It was a good, plentiful meal. After breakfast our crowd dis-
persed. I heard some say that the camps in the northern part of
the state were better, that they were going to catch a northbound
freight. I decided to try this camp in El Centro.
My motives in enrolling were not crystal clear. I wanted to
clean up. There were shower baths in the camp and washtubs and
plenty of soap. Of course I could have bathed and washed my
clothes in one of the irrigation ditches, but here in the camp I had
a chance to rest, get the wrinkles out of my belly, and clean up at
leisure. In short, it was the easiest way out.
A brief interview at the camp office and a physical examina-
tion were all the formalities for enrollment. There were some two
hundred men in the camp. They were the kind I had worked and
traveled with for years. I even saw familiar faces-men I had
worked with in orchards and fields. Yet my predominant feeling
was one of strangeness. It was my first experience of life in inti-
mate contact with a crowd. For it is one thing to work and travel
with a gang, and quite another thing to eat, sleep, and spend the
greater part of the day cheek by jowl with two hundred men.
I found myself speculating on a variety of subjects: the reason
76
: INNOVATION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
for their chronic bellyaching and beefing-it was more a ritual
than the expression of a grievance; the amazing orderliness of the
men; the comic seriousness with which they took their games of
cards, checkers, and dominoes; the weird manner of reasoning one
overheard now and then. Why, I kept wondering, were these men
within the enclosure of a federal transient camp? Were they peo-
ple temporarily hard up? Would jobs solve all their difficulties?
Were we indeed like the people outside?
Up to then I was not aware of being one of a specific species
of humanity. I had considered myself simply a human being-not
particularly good or bad, and on the whole harmless. The people I
worked and traveled with I knew as Americans and Mexicans,
Whites and Negroes, Northerners and Southerners, and so on. It
did occur to me that we were a group possessed of peculiar traits
and that there was something-innate or acquired-in our make-
up which made us adopt a particular mode of existence.
It was a slight thing that started me on a new track.
I got to talking to a mild-looking elderly fellow. I liked his soft
speech and pleasant manner. We swapped trivial experiences.
Then he suggested a game of checkers. As we started to arrange
the pieces on the board I was startled by the sight of his crippled
right hand. I had not noticed it before. Half of it was chopped off
lengthwise, so that the horny stump with its three fingers looked
like a hen's leg. I was mortified that I had not noticed the hand
until he dangled it, so to speak, before my eyes. It was, perhaps, to
bolster my shaken confidence in my powers of observation that I
now began paying close attention to the hands of the people
around me. The result was astounding. It seemed that every other
man had been mangled in some way. There was a man with one
arm. Some men limped. One young good-looking fellow had a
wooden leg. It was as though the majority of the men had escaped
the snapping teeth of a machine and left part of themselves be-
hind.
It was, I knew, an exaggerated impression. But I began count-
ing the cripples as the men lined up in the yard at mealtime. I
found thirty (out of two hundred) crippled either in arms or legs.
I immediately sensed where the counting would land me. The
simile preceded the statistical deduction: we in the camp were a
human junk pile.
The Role of the Undesirables
:
77
I began evaluating my fellow tramps as human material, and
for the first time in my life I became face-conscious. There were
some good faces, particularly among the young. Several of the
middle-aged and the old looked healthy and well-preserved. But
the damaged and decayed faces were in the majority. I saw faces
that were wrinkled, or bloated, or raw as the surface of a peeled
plum. Some of the noses were purple and swollen, some broken,
some pitted with enlarged pores. There were many toothless
mouths (I counted seventy-eight). I noticed eyes that were
blurred, faded, opaque, or bloodshot. I was struck by the fact that
the old men, even the very old, showed their age mainly in the
face. Their bodies were still slender and erect. One little man over
sixty years of age looked a mere boy when seen from behind. The
shriveled face joined to a boyish body made a startling sight.
My diffidence had now vanished. I was getting to know every-
body in the camp. They were a friendly and talkative lot. Before
many weeks I knew some essential fact about practically every-
one.
And I was continually counting. Of the two hundred men in
the camp there were approximately as follows:
Cripples
30
Confirmed drunkards
60
Old men (fifty-five and over)
50
Youths under twenty
10
Men with chronic diseases: heart, asthma, TB
12
Mildly insane men
4
Constitutionally lazy men
6
Fugitives from justice
4
Apparently normal
70
(The numbers tally up to more than two hundred, since some of
the men were counted twice or even thrice-as cripples and old,
or as old and confirmed drunks, etc.)
In other words, less than half the camp inmates (seventy nor-
mal, plus ten youths) were unemployed workers whose difficulties
would be at an end once jobs were available. The rest (60 percent)
had handicaps in addition to unemployment.
I also counted fifty war veterans and eighty skilled workers
representing sixteen trades. All the men (including those with
78
: INNOVATION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
chronic diseases) were able to work. The one-armed man was a
wizard with a shovel.
I did not attempt any definite measurement of character and
intelligence. But it seemed to me that the intelligence of the men
in the camp was certainly not below the average. And as for char-
acter, I found much forbearance and genuine good humor. I nev.
er came across one instance of real viciousness. Yet, on the whole,
one would hardly say that these men were possessed of strong
characters. Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of
the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character; and the
average tramp is, more or less, a slave of his few appetites. He
generally takes the easiest way out.
The connection between our makeup and our mode of exis-
tence as migrant workers presented itself now with some clarity.
The majority of us were incapable of holding a steady job. We
lacked self-discipline and the ability to endure monotonous, lead-
en hours. We were probably misfits from the very beginning. Our
contact with a steady job was not unlike a collision. Some of us
were maimed, some got frightened and ran away, and some took
to drink. We inevitably drifted in the direction of. least resis-
tance-the open road. The life of a migrant worker is varied and
demands only a minimum of self-discipline. We were now in one
of the drainage ditches of ordered society. We could not keep a
footing in the ranks of respectability and were washed into the
slough of our present existence.
Yet, I mused, there must be in this world a task with an appeal
so strong that were we to have a taste of it we would hold on and
be rid for good of our present restlessness.
2
My stay in the camp lasted about four weeks. Then I found
a haying job not far from town, and finally, in April, when the hot
winds began blowing, I shouldered my bedroll and took the high-
way to San Bernardino.
It was the next morning, after I got a lift to Indio by truck,
that a new idea began to take hold of me. The highway out of
Indio led through waving date groves, fragrant grapefruit or-
chards, and lush alfalfa fields; then, abruptly, it passed into a des-
The Role of the Undestrables
:
79
ert of white sand. The sharp line between garden and desert was
striking. The turning of white sand into garden seemed to me an
act of magic. This, I thought, was a job one would jump at-even
the men in the transient camps. They had the skill and the ability
of the average American. But their energies, I felt, could be
quickened only by a task that was spectacular, that had in it
something of the miraculous. The pioneer task of making the de-
sert flower would certainly fill the bill.
Tramps as pioneers? It seemed absurd. Every man and child
in California knows that the pioneers were giants, men of bound-
less courage and indomitable spirit. However, as I strode on across
the white sand I kept mulling over the idea.
Who were the pioneers? Who were the men who left their
homes and went into the wilderness? A man rarely leaves a soft
spot and goes deliberately in search of hardship and privation.
People become attached to the places they live in; they sink roots.
A change of habitat is a painful act of uprooting. A man who has
made good and has a standing in his community stays put. The
successful businessmen, farmers, and workers usually stayed
where they were. Who then left for the wilderness and the un-
known? Obviously those who had not made good: men who went
broke or never amounted to much; men who though possessed of
abilities were too impulsive to stand the daily grind; men who
were slaves of their appetites-drunkards, gamblers, and women
chasers; outcasts-fugitives from justice and ex-jailbirds. There
were no doubt some who went in search of health-men suffering
with TB, asthma, heart trouble. Finally, there was a sprinkling of
young and middle-aged in search of adventure.
All these people craved change, some probably actuated by
the naive belief that a change in place brings with it a change in
luck. Many wanted to go to a place where they were not known
and there make a new beginning. Certainly they did not go out
deliberately in search of hard work and suffering. If in the end
they shouldered enormous tasks, endured unspeakable hardships,
and accomplished the impossible, it was because they had to.
They became men of action on the run. They acquired strength
and skill in the inescapable struggle for existence. It was a ques-
tion of do or die. And once they tasted the joy of achievement,
they craved more.
80 : INNOVATION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
Clearly the same types of people which now swelled the ranks
of migratory workers and tramps had in former times made up
the bulk of the pioneers. As a group the pioneers were probably as
unlike the present-day "native sons"-their descendants-as one
could well imagine. Indeed, were there to be today a new influx
of typical pioneers, twin brothers of the forty-niners only in mod-
ern garb, the citizens of California would consider it a menace to
health, wealth, and morals.
With few exceptions, this seems to be the case in the settle-
ment of all new countries. Convicts were the vanguard in the set-
tling of Australia. Exiles and convicts settled Siberia. In this coun-
try, a large portion of our earlier and later settlers were failures,
fugitives, and felons. The exceptions seem to be those who were
motivated by religious fervor, such as the Pilgrims and the Mor-
mons.
Although quite logical, the train of thought seemed to me then
a wonderful joke. In my exhilaration I was eating up the road in
long strides, and I reached the oasis of Elim in what seemed al-
most no time. A passing empty truck picked me up just then, and
we thundered through Banning and Beaumont, all the way to
Riverside. From there I walked the seven miles to San Bernardino.
Somehow, this discovery of a family likeness between tramps
and pioneers took a firm hold on my mind. For years afterward it
kept intertwining itself with a mass of observations which on the
face of them had no relation to either tramps or pioneers. And it
moved me to speculate on subjects in which, up to then, I had had
no real interest, and of which I knew very little.
I talked with several old-timers-one of them over eighty and
a native son-in Sacramento, Placerville, Auburn, and Fresno. It
was not easy, at first, to obtain the information I was after. I could
not make my questions specific enough. "What kind of people
were the early settlers and miners?" I asked. They were a hard-
working, tough lot, I was told. They drank, fought, gambled, and
wenched. They wallowed in luxury or lived on next to nothing
with equal ease. They were the salt of the earth.
Still it was not clear what manner of people they were.
If I asked what they looked like, I was told of whiskers, broad-
brimmed hats, high boots, shirts of many colors, suntanned faces,
horny hands. Finally I asked, "What group of people in present-
The Role of the Undesirables
:
81
day California most closely resembles the pioneers?" The answer,
usually after some hesitation, was invariably the same: "The Okies
and the fruit tramps."
I tried also to evaluate the tramps as potential pioneers by
watching them in action. I saw them fell timber, clear firebreaks,
build rock walls, put up barracks, build dams and roads, handle
steam shovels, bulldozer, tractors, and concrete mixers. I saw them
put in a hard day's work after a night of steady drinking. They
sweated and growled, but they did the work. I saw tramps elevat-
ed to positions of authority as foremen and superintendents, and
in those cases I noticed a remarkable physical transformation: a
seamed face gradually smoothed out, and the skin showed a
healthy hue; an indifferent mouth became firm and expressive;
dull eyes cleared and brightened; voices actually changed; there
was even an apparent increase in stature. In almost no time these
promoted tramps looked as if they had been on top all their lives.
Yet sooner or later I would meet up with them again in a railroad
yard, on some skid row, or in the fields-tramps again. It was
usually the same story: they got drunk or lost their temper and
were fired, or they got fed up with the steady job and quit. Usual-
ly, when a tramp becomes a foreman he is careful in his treat-
ment of the tramps under him; he knows the day of reckoning is
never far off.
In short, it was not difficult to visualize the tramps as pioneers.
I reflected that if they were to find themselves in a single-handed
life-and-death struggle with nature, they would undoubtedly dis-
play persistence. For the pressure of responsibility and the heat of
battle steel a character. The inadaptable would perish, and those
who survived would be the equal of the successful pioneers.
I also considered the few instances of pioneering engineered
from above-that is to say, by settlers possessed of lavish means,
who were classed with the best where they came from. In these
instances, it seemed to me, the resulting social structure was inev-
itably precarious. For pioneering de luxe usually results in a plan-
tation society, made up of large landowners and peon labor, either
native or imported. Very often there is a racial cleavage between
the two. The colonizing activities of the Teutonic barons in the
Baltic, the Hungarian nobles in Transylvania, the English in Ire-
land, the planters in our South, the Spanish in Latin America, the
82
: INNOVATION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
British and Dutch in their plantation colonies are cases in point.
Whatever their merits, such societies are characterized by poor
adaptability. They are likely eventually to be broken up either by
a peon revolution or by an influx of typical pioneers-who are
usually of the same race or nation as the landowners.
3
There is in us a tendency to judge a race, a nation, or an
organization by its least worthy members. The tendency is mani-
festly perverse and unfair; yet it has some justification. For the
quality and destiny of a nation are determined to a considerable
extent by the nature and potentialities of its inferior elements.
The inert mass of a nation is in its middle section. The industrious,
decent, well-to-do, and satisfied middle classes-whether in cities
or on the land—are worked upon and shaped by minorities at
both extremes: the best and the worst.
The superior individual, whether in politics, business, industry,
science, literature, or religion, undoubtedly plays a major role in
the shaping of a nation. But so do the individuals at the other
extreme: the poor, the outcasts, the misfits, and those who are in
the grip of some overpowering passion. The importance of these
inferior elements as formative factors lies in the readiness with
which they are swayed in any direction. This peculiarity is due to
their inclination to take risks ("not giving a damn") and their pro-
pensity for united action. They crave to merge their drab, wasted
lives into something grand and complete. Thus they are the first
and most fervent adherents of new religions, political upheavals,
patriotic hysteria, gangs, and mass rushes to new lands.
And the quality of a nation-its innermost worth-is made
manifest by its dregs as they rise to the top: by how brave they
are, how humane, how orderly, how skilled, how generous, how
independent or servile; by the bounds they will not transgress in
their dealings with a man's soul, with truth, and with honor.
The average American of today bristles with indignation when
he is told that this country was built, largely, by hordes of undesir-
ables from Europe. Yet, far from being derogatory, this statement,
if true, should be a cause for rejoicing, should fortify our pride in
the stock from which we have sprung.
This vast continent with its towns, farms, factories. dams,
The Role of the Undesirables
:
83
aqueducts, docks, railroads, highways, powerhouses, schools, and
parks is the handiwork of common folk from the Old World,
where for centuries men of their kind had been beasts of burden,
the property of their masters-kings, nobles, and priests-and
with no will and no aspirations of their own. When on rare occa-
sions one of the lowly had reached the top in Europe he had kept
the pattern intact and, if anything, tightened the screws. The
stuffy little corporal from Corsica harnessed the lusty forces re-
leased by the French Revolution to a gilded state coach and could
think of nothing grander than mixing his blood with that of the
Hapsburg masters and establishing a new dynasty. In our day a
bricklayer in Italy, a house painter in Germany, and a shoe-
maker's son in Russia have made themselves masters of their na-
tions; and what they did was to re-establish and reinforce the old
pattern.
-
- Only here, in America, were the common folk of the Old
World given a chance to show what they could do on their own,
without a master to push and order them about. History contrived
an earth-shaking joke when it lifted by the nape of the neck lowly
peasants, shopkeepers, laborers, paupers, jailbirds, and drunks
from the midst of Europe, dumped them on a vast virgin conti-
nent, and said, "Go to it; it is yours!"
And the lowly were not awed by the magnitude of the task. A
hunger for action, pent up for centuries, found an outlet. They
went to it with ax, pick, shovel, plow, and rifle; on foot, on horse,
in wagons, and on flatboats. They went to it praying, howling,
singing, brawling, drinking, and fighting. Make way for the peo-
ple! This is how I read the statement that this country was built by
hordes of undesirables from the Old World.
Small wonder that we in this country have a deeply ingrained
faith in human regeneration. We believe that, given a chance,
even the degraded and the apparently worthless are capable of
constructive work and great deeds. It is a faith founded on experi-
ence, not on some idealistic theory. And no matter what some
anthropologists, sociologists, and geneticists may tell us, we shall
go on believing that man, unlike other forms of life, is not a cap-
tive of his past-of his heredity and habits-but is possessed of
infinite plasticity, and his potentialities for good and for evil are
never wholly exhausted.
November 29,1989
Memorandum to Gary MacDougal
Marty Scwartz
Jack Wheeler
From:
Jim Pinkerton
Re:
The attached articles
The juxtaposition of these two pieces, one on the front page
of the New York Times and the other on the op-ed page of the
Washington Post, is very revealing.
The Broder article decries, in fashionable anti-"me decade"
terms, the lack of commitment of the young. I would be concerned
about this were I not so sure that the exact same article could
have been written 10, 20, or 1000 years ago. History tells us
that, in the absence of a crisis of some sort, free people will
always look after themselves first. However, as they get older,
their realm of concern broadens to include children, community,
and country.
Meanwhile, overwrought handwringing about middle class kids
who will inevitably grow out of their self-absorption threatens
to crowd out concern over the very real problems highlighted in
the Times story. Here we can not be confident that the aging
process will solve the problem.
It would be a tragedy if we let our natural concern for
perfecting people like us get in the way of saving people who
aren't like us, but who need our help.
#
The Short Life of 'Little Man':
A Drug Dealer's Grim Legacy
N/T 11/29/89
By KEVIN SACK
The life and death of Preston (Little
mother, his girlfriend will become a
Man) Simmons, a 14-year-old mari-
teen-age mother next month when she
juana peddler who was shot and killed
is due to deliver his child. The girl-
last Thursday, is a story that has be-
friend, 17-year-old Denise Butler,
come dismally familiar in his part of
doubts that her child's life will be much
the world.
different from that of Preston, a per-
When he was executed in the court-
sonable youngster who made his
yard of his housing project in the
spending money by selling $5 bags of
Bronx, he became one of almost 140
marijuana.
homicide victims aged 18 or under in
"If he's still living around here,".
New York City this year. For the last
Miss Butler said of her expected child,
three years, about 10 percent of the
"I guess he'll be selling drugs, will be
city's homicide victims have been in
forced to sell drugs, or will have a lot of
that age group, many of them killed in
bad habits."
drug-related incidents, according to po-
The police have yet to make an ar-
lice officials.
rest in Preston's case, but contend they
'A Lot of Bad Habits'
have good leads. Although police offi-
That the case of Preston Simmons is
cials are reluctant to declare the killing
so commonplace is what gives it spe-
a drug hit, Preston's family and friends
cial weight. His existence at the Castle
Continued on Page B6, Column 1
Hill Houses, a sprawling public hr sing
complex in the East Bronx, was -ypical
of life in the underclass. And the legacy
of despair he left behind provides little
hope of a better life for the next genera-
tion.
Like Preston's mother and grand-
1
B6
THE NEW YORK TIMES METRUPOIIAN WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 49, 1989
'Little Man' Dies Young:
A
Drug Dealer's Legacy
Continued From Page AI
dren," said Zalreth P. McCreath, the
director of the Randall Early Learning
believe he was killed because he
Center, a few yards from the site of the
threatened to break with his marijuana
shooting. "It's clear that the whole
family unit has broken down and
supplier and set up a competing opera-
what's caused it seems to be drugs."
tion.
In Preston's case, it is hard to know
Although the man identified as Pres-
whether drugs were the cause or the ef-
ton's supplier is not suspected as the
fect.
gunman, he has been questioned at
From Shelter to Project
length by the police, said Sgt. William
T. Kivlehan, a detective at the 43d Pre-
Preston was the fourth of Ruth Sim-
cinct in the Bronx. The man, who was
mons's seven children, who range In
at the site of the killing when It oc-
age from 18 years to 15 months. An
curred, has a record of drug arrests.
eighth child died as an infant.
Preston was killed at about 8: 15 P.M.
Ms. Simmons dropped out of high
while walking from his girlfriend's
school in 11th grade, when she first got
apartment at 580 Castle Hill Avenue to
pregnant. Preston's father, Ms. Sim-
mons said, was an abusive drug user
hisfamily's apartment a block away at
who wandered in and out of her life,
2120 Randall Avenue. He encountered
often entering through a smashed win-
the drug supplier and, while talking to
dow or door.
him, was approached by a group of at
During the two years that they lived
least four men.
together, he regularly beat her and the
One of them pulled a 9-millimeter au-
children, Ms. Simmons said. Eventual-
tomatic pistol from his waist and shot
ly, Ms. Simmons got a protective court
Preston twice, once in the head and
order prohibiting the man from seeing
once in the body, and then shot him
his children.
Ms. Simmons and her family spent a
number of years crowded into her
mother's two-bedroom apartment.
The York Washington
For $5, they'll
They moved into a shelter in Queens in
Ruth Simmons, whose son, Preston, a 14-year-old marijuana peddler, was shot and killed last Thursday,
the summer of 1988 before moving into
their four-bedroom apartment at Cas-
with one of her sons, Lewis, in the courtyard of her apartment complex, where the shooting took place.
shoot you in your
tle Hill 15 months ago.
head,'a friend
Unemployed for the last six years,
Now the Butlers, like many resi-
boys working for the same man, he sta-
Ms. Simmons has received a welfare
dents, spend most of their time locked
tioned himself in a playground near the
check since 1969 when she first became
in their seventh-floor apartment,
spot where he was killed.
says.
pregnant. She gets a check for $235.55
watching music videos, preparing
every two weeks, which is supple-
meals, and peering through grime-
On a good day, he would sell 20 to 30
mented by a $371 monthly check for
stained windows at a view of the Em-
bags for $5 each and would keep $1.50
nine more times as he fell to the snow.
one of her sons, who has a mental dis-
pire State Building framed between
for each bag sold, Anthony and Denise
"This kid was full of holes," said Vin-
ability. She pays $266 a month in rent at
two other Castle Hill high-rises.
Butler said. Occasionally he would
cent Pizzo, chief of detectives for the
Castle Hill.
keep some marijuana for his own use,
Because Preston Simmons was a
housing police.
but his sister and friends said he pre-
Preston's friends said he sensed the
Gunfire Is Commonplace
broad-shouldered and self-reliant
ferred a Heineken beer to a joint.
danger in the drug trade, although he
About one-fourth of the 2,025 families
youth, he had been called "Little Man"
thought it came more from the police
living at Castle Hill are on full welfare,
since childhood. He was friendly and
Ms. Simmons said she was not aware
of her son's drug dealing.
than from his counterparts in com-
saidVal Coleman, a spokesman for the
outgoing, often playing the role of the
merce. It was a risk he thought worth
New York City Housing Authority. The
family clown. He also was susceptible
average family Income at the 14-build-
to peer pressure, according to his sis-
Preston spent his money on food and
ter, Natasha.
gifts for Denise, and for pricey clothing
guess he did it for the reason all
ing complex is $11,022. More than 7,000
and shoes. "Young people like to keep
the young dudes do it," said Anthony
people live there now, with almost half
His was a life devoid of positive role
up with the styles and it's expensive to
Butler, the brother of Preston's girl-
of them under the age of 21.
models or heroes, said his mother and
keep up," said Mr. Butler. "These are
friend and one of Preston's best
The project is a complex of 12-story
friends. After learning some elemen-
low-Income projects here and your par-
friends. 'He was too young to get a job
buildings clustered around play-
tary karate moves from a friend, he
ents can't get you everything the other
and it was some quick little change in
grounds and courtyards. Most of the
lined the walls of his bedroom with
kids have.'
his pocket."
apartments are spacious, but the eleva-
magazine pictures of Ninja warriors.
Although residents of Castle Hill are
tors smell of urine and the tile hallways
Since Preston's death, both his
are marred with graffiti.
Preston (Little Man) Simmons
Because he was hyperactive, Pres-
accustomed to bloodshed, they were
family and Denise's family have found
taken aback by Preston's death be-
Residents report that the project is
ton was enrolled in a special education
special meaning in the coming birth of
cause of the coldness of the killing,
overrun with crack dealers. Gunfire
class at Intermediate School 174. His
Denise's baby. They seem unfazed by
particularly given the victim's age and
from roofs and windows has become
drugs, money, even the way you look at
teacher, Norman A. Washington, de-
the prospect of another generation of
his low position in the drug hierarchy.
commonplace and there have been four
people," said Crystal McNeill, a 17-
scribed Preston as an average student
fatherless children living a life of desti-
homicides this year.
year-old Castle Hill resident who knew
who rarely skipped school, who did his
The incident has made children and
tution and danger.
elderly people afraid to leave their
One killing took place only a month
both Preston and Jamal. "For $5,
homework, and who showed respect for
and a half before Preston's death, when
they shoot you in your head."
authority. "He seemed to have a good
"Little Man is gone but he's left
apartments and has encouraged com-
munity leaders to philosophize about
17-year-old Jamal Graham was shot
Before the emergence of crack, Cas-
self image," Mr. Washington said. "He
something behind," Ms. Simmons said.
the spiraling cycle of poverty and
twice with a 32-caliber automatic. Po-
the Hill was a relatively quiet place,
had an elastic ego. He didn't get hurt
"We hope it's @ boy so he can keep his
drugs that seems to pull each genera-
lice have labeled the killing a terri-
said Anthony Butler, who is 24. He re-
easily."
name. We loved Little Man a lot. Since
tion's youth farther away from hope.
torial drug dispute and have charged a
members when his mother would plant
Preston began selling marijuana
he's not here any longer we all will
"There is a growing fear that the
20-year-old man from another housing
a beach chair in the grass in the late af-
after meeting his supplier last sum-
have something to remember him by."
drug cancer is metastasizing and it's
project in the shooting.
ternoon and spend much of the evening
mer, according to friends and family
really impacting on the young chil-
"People are dying over jackets,
there.
members. Along with several other
DO NOT FORGET THE NEEDIESTI
11-29-89
THE WASHINGTON POST
David S. Broder
Young America's Civic Failings
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, like many other fami-
dominant answer (43 percent) was that it meant someone
lies, we had four generations gathered at the house-rang-
who is generous and caring. Only one-third mentioned being
ing in age from two months to 87 years. It seemed the right
law-abiding and only 12 percent suggested voting or other
time to be reading "Democracy's Next Generation," the
forms of political involvement.
recently released survey by pollster Peter D. Hart for the
Those who teach this generation say they are alarmed at
liberal advocacy group People for the American Way.
the other indications they see in the classroom that the
Hart's survey focused on slightly more than 1,000 young
emphasis on self-fulfillment, which is obviously a natural
Americans, between the ages of 15 and 24, with supplemen-
quality of that stage of life, is increasingly crowding out a
tal information from interviews with 405 social studies
sense of involvement with the community and nation.
teachers. The findings are disquieting, particularly at a
As Hart comments, "The results from this study make
moment when young people in Czechoslovakia are putting
clear the necessity for concerted efforts-enlisting the
themselves on the line to make their country the latest
active engagement of parents, educators and administra-
Soviet-bloc nation to declare for democracy.
tors-to teach young people not only about their rights and
The key conclusion from these interviews is that "Young
opportunities but about their obligations as citizens as well."
people have learned only half of America's story. Consistent
That need, it seems to me, becomes increasingly impor-
with the priority they place on personal happiness, young
tant as we move into a post-Cold War world. It is not simply
people reveal notions of America's unique character that
that fewer young people will have the experience of military
emphasize freedom and license almost to the complete
service in coming years. It is also that the temptation will
exclusion of service or participation. Although they clearly
increase to believe that once the main challenge facing this
appreciate the democratic freedoms that, in their view,
society-the contest with communism-has been won, we
make theirs the 'best country in the world to live in,' they
can become even more focused on our individual goals.
fail to perceive a need to reciprocate by exercising the duties
Donald Eberly, who heads the Coalition for National
and responsibilities of good citizenship."
Service, is taking a small delegation to Moscow next month
to discuss the possibility of joint U.S.-Soviet youth projects.
That's a nice gesture, but the real challenge lies here at
home.
At the beginning of this year, Washington seemed to
UNCLE
SAM
recognize the obligation to find ways to arouse and channel
the civic-mindedness of the younger generation. President
Bush promised a personal effort to encourage volunteer
community service. Senate Majority Leader George Mitch-
ell (D-Maine) said he would give high priority to national-ser-
vice legislation. Not much has come of those pledges.
WANTS YOU
Hart's study emphasizes what we intuitively know to be
the case: that parents and teachers, families and schools, are
far more important in shaping the values that underlie active
democratic citizenship than distant politicians. The flourish-
ing examples of volunteer youth activity are almost all locally
organized and funded.
But I cannot avoid the feeling that such politicians as
Sens. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) are on
the right track when they talk, as both have been doing in
recent years, about national-service programs that would
expose the younger generation to the challenges of active
MILL
citizenship.
The evidence for this sweeping statement comes in
Hart's survey found strong resistance among the young.
several forms. Asked about goals that are important to
people to proposals that would require a year of civilian or
them, three times as many selected "being successful in job
military service of all of them. They also reject the
or career" as chose "being involved in helping the communi-
Nunn-Robb proposal that would condition student loans and
ty be a better place"-72 percent to 24-percent. Three out
other higher education benefits on the performance of such
of five are not involved in any form of community service.
service. But there is overwhelming support-9 to 1-for
Only one-third said they could foresee a time when they
programs that would offer extra credit in high school or
might join the military or work as a volunteer in a political
extra financial aid beyond high school to those who volunteer
campaign.
for community or military service.
The concept of "good citisenship" these young people
One way or another, we have to find a way to teach this
have gained is individualistic-net civic. Asked how they
generation the other half of democracy's story: the experi-
would describe a "good citizen in their own words, the
ence of civic involvement and citizenship obligation.
October 11, 1989
Memorandum
Subject: Earth Corps
Need
The President has set forth an ambitious agenda for
environmental protection, from clean air to hazardous waste to
wetlands. One Presidential initiative stands out as an
opportunity for broad-based citizen involvement -- planting
trees. As the President said in Sioux Falls, SD, "we should
remember the oldest, cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on
Earth -- trees.' The EPA's plan for alleviating the Greenhouse
Effect by reducing CO₂ includes a target of reforesting 43
million acres of the United States.
To help reach this goal, we propose the creation of "Earth
Corps," a highly structured volunteer program based on FDR's
Civilian Conservation Corps. The Corps would provide opportunity
for youth, especially disadvantaged youth, to help achieve the
President's environmental goals, specifically, reforestation.
Such a program will draw not only on past successes, but also on
the successful Civilian Conservation Corps-styled programs
currently run by 39 states.
Program Overview
Earth Corps will be a comprehensive, rigorous para-military
program, with the major emphasis on planting the maximum number
of trees. However, we expect to see a substantial side benefit:
providing another path of opportunity and upward mobility for
youth, especially minority and inner-city youth, who otherwise
would not have the chance to participate in helping save the
environment. Looking to the example of the CCC, which was
operated by the Army, we note the need for a disciplined,
rigorous, and thus transformational experience. The Corps will
combine the challenges of the most exacting Army-styled bootcamp
with the demands of a "rugged outdoor experience." In addition,
by emphasizing the paramount national objective of the
reforestation of 43 million acres, the Earth Corps will enjoy the
esprit that comes from the successful completion of a clearly
defined, urgent, national mission.
Earth Corps will present an opportunity for many
individuals, particularly the at-risk population, to benefit from
a transformational work experience, one that pulls them out of
their surroundings and offers them a new way of life. The
program will instill values such as hard work, responsibility,
accountability and discipline -- all crucial to the development
of well-balanced, productive individuals. While working to
reforest the nation, Earth Corps will serve as a strong national
example of public service in the spirit of Roosevelt's CCC and
Kennedy's Peace Corps, and President Bush's "thousand points of
light.
While open to all Americans, by paying salaries
commensurate with the military, Earth Corps can provide a unique
opportunity for disadvantaged youth -- opportunity to:
escape their present environments
engage in experiences that bolster self-esteem and
encourage virtue
receive educational enrichment geared to their special
circumstances
interact with leaders who will serve as positive role
models, and,
become directed, inspired individuals while serving
their country.
Program Elements
The unique mission of Earth Corps ---- to help reforest the
nation while providing a transformational experience for
disadvantaged youth -- will demand that the program be carefully
organized, highly structured and meticulously implemented. The
following elements will be included in Earth Corps to ensure that
this mission is achieved:
Earth Corps will target youths age 16 to 23, focusing on
those unable to exit their current environment through
conventional paths, such as the armed forces.
Recruits will undergo a period of rigorous training and
physical conditioning. With the goal of attaining self-
sufficiency, participants will be taught camping, field
skills, first aid, cooking and environmental skills.
The program will aim for an attrition rate of under 20%.
After initial training, recruits will commit to a twelve
month program, with two-thirds of the time devoted to
environmental work, and one-third of the time devoted to
highly structured educational enrichment.
Upon completion, graduates will be guaranteed either jobs or
placement in formal educational programs. As an incentive,
those who pursue a more rigorous education program while in
Earth Corps will be assured higher-wage jobs or special
help in furthering their formal education.
After the one year program, Earth Corps will provide
support for its graduates to assure that they successfully
readjust to society beyond Earth Corps.
#
September 29, 1989
Memorandum
Re: Earth Corps/Pride Brigades Briefing paper
The Earth Corps will give our country's disadvantaged youth
a chance to move into mainstream society through a
transformational experience involving hard environmental work.
It will be privately funded and run and will:
significantly improve the environment
change many lives for the better.
set a strong national example of public service
While the focus is on inner cities, youth volunteers from
all backgrounds will be included, both because the needs are not
just in the cities but because one of the most positive parts of
learning and growth is to work in a group that reflects the full
diversity of our country.
The Earth Corps draws the best parts from President
Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, the U.S. Marine Corps,
the Peace Corps, and the current and successful California
Conservation Corps.
The Earth Corps is premised on the basic idea that military-
type training (bootcamp) when well-run can transform youth into
productive contributing members of society by instilling values
such as hard work, responsibility, accountability, and discipline
which are the cornerstone for successful development. The Corps
will provide opportunity for disadvantaged youth in particular
to:
most importantly escape their environment
be exposed to experiences that bolster self-esteem
get educational enrichment geared to their special
circumstances
be exposed to positive role models
ultimately become inspired to change/incentive to
become productive
The program will attract youth and develop pride and
confidence in them only if its work is seen as important and
necessary. The environment today is plagued with destruction on
all fronts, providing tasks in which these youth are needed to
complete: reforestation, wilderness area maintenance, and
response in special environmental disasters.
A national level program is needed because the
environmental needs and the number of underclass youth at risk
are so vast, and also because a national level program best
inspires all citizens to get involved.
Program Elements
Youth ages 18 to 23 with the will to grow out of their
current situation will be recruited. One focus will be
youth who are not able to pass the armed forces
qualifying test due to cultural or educational
limitations.
They will undergo six months of rigorous training and
physical conditioning where camping, field skills and
environmental skills are taught, including first aid,
cooking, and other skills so that each company can
maintain itself while at work on the environment, for
example in a major tree-planting efforts.
Graduates (the goal is 80%) commit to 12 months of work
(two-thirds of their time) and intense formal education
(about one-third). They will receive a modest stipend.
On completion, graduates are guaranteed a job or
placement in further formal education. Students who
take the most rigorous educational program earn a
higher wage in their new jobs or receive special help
in furthering their education.
Each graduate is followed in his or her subsequent
career to help the individual and to provide
accountability for the program.
Cost
The emphasis here must be in budget and financial planning -
how to achieve maximum resourcefulness in drawing on public and
private sector necessary supplies. The purpose being to keep
down the total cost/graduate.
Next Steps
A working group is planning a small exploratory conference
to address program, timing, budget, fundraising, curriculum,
environmental priorities and administration, and report a. fully
recommended action plan to commence with the pilot phase in 1990.
The initial pilot is set to begin with 100 recruits and a funding
price at $6 million.
September 22, 1989
Memorandum
Re:
Earth Corps
Mission Statement
The mission of the Earth Corps is to provide an opportunity
for some of the members of our nation's underclass to move into
mainstream society through a transformational experience
involving hard environmental work.
The program will be privately funded and will:
significantly improve the environment
O
change many lives for the better
o
set a strong national example of public service.
It would be thoroughly coordinated and planned.
Need
There is an obvious need for the transformation of many
underclass men and women between the ages of 18 and 23 into
productive, contributing members of society. The term underclass
denotes the social class of people defined not only by income but
by behavior as well. Certainly not every disadvantaged youth is
a gang member, violent crack dealer, or a teenage parent. Many
are able to overcome their difficult environments and move on to
become productive responsible, citizens. But, unfortunately,
there are also many who will need some external help and
assistance if they are to escape from the path that inevitably
leads to crime, unhappiness, and in too many instances, an early
death.
While the focus is the inner cities, youth from all
geographical and cultural backgrounds will be included, both
because the needs are not just in the cities but in some rural
and suburban areas, and because one of the most positive parts of
learning and growth is to work in a group that reflects the
diversity of our great country.
Encouragement and opportunity should be afforded to
these youths. Those that want to "get out" of potentially
destructive environments ought to be able to go somewhere, and
more important, the place should be one where underclass youth
would be exposed to the values that foster and give rise to happy
and productive citizens. Values such as hard work,
2
responsibility, accountability, and discipline are the
cornerstone of successful development -- these values are often
suppressed by the conditions under which underclass youth live
and the results are discouragingly visible.
Background
The idea for the Earth Corps stems from three thoughts: 1)
that youth in the inner city seldom have a chance to be exposed
to experiences that bolster self-esteem and instill virtue, 2)
that those individuals who experience success in overcoming
adversity profit greatly, and 3) that military type training
(boot camp) as a discipline offers some effective combination
for transforming disadvantaged youth into productive citizens.
Unfortunately, few of these youths are able to be accepted
in the armed forces due to cultural or environmental factors that
make them unable to pass the qualifying tests and standards for
entry.
Yet, if some sort of military styled organization could be
established that could accommodate the young people, it would
not attract the targeted individuals nor instill a desired sense
of pride unless it had a purpose or a mission that was
universally recognized as important and necessary. It is most
important that the organization not be seen as a dumping ground
for society's trash individuals -- this would greatly reduce its
effectiveness and attractiveness.
The environment today is plagued with destruction on all
fronts -- from the impact of Chloro-Floro Carbons to Acid Rain to
the Greenhouse Effect. Fortunately, the country appears ready to
begin addressing the issue as evidenced by environmental
awareness becoming more and more of a popular cultural movement,
including an increase in recycling initiatives and the President
Bush's Clean Air Program recently sent to Congress.
From the above, the name and concept of the Earth Corps has
evolved!
Concept
The Earth Corps is patterned after President Roosevelt's
Civilian Conservation Corps, the U.S. Marine Corps, the current
successful California Conservation Corps, and the Peace Corps.
While initially privately operated and funded, it is predicted
that the program will be so effective in carrying out its
transformational mission that it will be expanded through
governmental support.
3
The program will initially set up as follows:
Individuals who have the will and desire to escape
their current situation and have the referrals to back
up these qualities will be recruited.
The recruits will undergo a rigorous 6 month training
and physical conditioning program, not unlike a
military boot camp, where survival, field camping, and
environmental skills (initially tree planting) are
learned.
Those who survive (the goal is 80%) commit to a 12
month program consisting of both hard work (about two-
thirds of the time) and intense education (about one-
third of the time). In addition, there would be
supervised sports and recreational activities to fill
most of the non-working periods. This commitment to a
period of very hard work to help the earth's
environment is in exchange for an opportunity for an
individual to break out of his/her plight.
Upon completion of the program, the individual will be
guaranteed a job. Those who complete the more rigorous
educational program are guaranteed a job at a rate 50%
above that of the minimum wage or access to further
formal education.
This program will be designed to cause the individual to
undergo a transforming process that would not only empower him to
learn what it takes to get and hold a job, but also help the
individual to generate the self esteem and pride that will enable
him to be a successful, contributing member of society.
Recruiting Efforts
The Earth Corps' objective is to graduate as many
transformed underclass youth as possible with the funds
available. The underclass category of youth is here defined as
those men and women between 18 to 23 who would be unable to pass
the written armed forces qualifying exam due to educational and
cultural limitations. The group targeted for recruitment are
those in the category who are the most likely to graduate. An
important part of the recruitment program is to develop and
administer tests that effectively identify these individuals.
Testing is also necessary to weed out substance abusers,
those who are physically incapable of withstanding the rigorous
demands of the Earth Corps program, and convicted felons.
Further, some testing or reference checking system must be
devised to prohibit those who have a repeated history of being
4
unable to adhere to normal social standards.
The initial recruits will be referred through established
inner city, rural, and local support organizations. As the
program expands, the number of referral organizations will also
be expanded and records will be kept documenting the success rate
of various groups. As feedback is analyzed, recruiting programs
will be developed that both generate interest in qualified
recruits and help the referral organizations do a more effective
job of recruiting.
Program
The Earth Corps is an 18 month program that can, under
certain circumstances, be extended for 3 to 6 months. During the
first 6 months, when the rigorous training and physical
conditioning takes place, individuals may quit or may be asked to
leave. The program will be designed to enable 75-85% of the
individuals initially enrolled to successfully complete.
The daily regimen will follow the best of military boot camp
procedures under skilled leadership. The objective is healthy
personal growth. During the first (6-12 weeks) of the six month
training program the focus is on physical conditioning and
discipline. During the second period, the focus is on survival
training and the building of self esteem (Outward Bound). The
third and final period is focused on learning field living and
specific environmental skills. Field camping skills are needed
because 60-80% of time, during the 12 month work/study program,
will be spent out in the field planting trees or some other
environmental task. Recruits will be trained as cooks,
carpenters, mechanics, and medical assistants: every skill group
needed to transport a company to a remote location, set up camp,
provision them while they accomplish the task, take down the camp
and remove evidence of its existence, and return to base camp.
In addition to a camp skill, every recruit will learn basic
environmental skills: tree planting (different techniques for
different species and different geographic terrains); oil spill
clean up skills for beaches, arctic areas (breaks in the Alaskan
pipeline), harbor areas, wild life; various ways to deal with
debris in the wilderness area (bury, pack out, set up for
helicopter lifts); and other skills to be defined.
The next 12 months of the program is focused on the
environmental work to be done and on completing the education
program. The Earth Corps members will be based initially at the
same camp at which they were originally trained. Later, as the
Corps grows, there may be a number of base camps located around
the country. Platoons of 10 to 100 men will be transported to
areas where work is to be done for periods of 1 to 4 weeks. On
5
the average, men will spend from 60 - 80% of the time in the
field.
The typical day will divided among periods of work, education,
sports activities and recreation. The proportion of each category
will vary from day to day and between base camp and field camp.
A typical work day might involve the following hours of various
activities:
Type of day
Environ-
Camp
Educa-
Sports
Recre-
Person-
in terms of
mental
work
tion
ation al
hours
work/edu
Work-Field
8
0
2
2
0
1
11
Off-Field
ED
0
1
3
2
3
3
12
less-ED
0
1
2
3
3
3
12
Work-Base
ED
0
2
5
2
2
2
11
less-ED
0
2
2
5
2
2
11
Off-Base
0
0
3
3
3
3
12
Educational Program
There are six facets to the educational program. The facets
are:
Pride and self esteem
O
Daily living, learning, and work habits
O
Discipline and citizenship
O
Green Brigade skills (survivor, camp, and
environmental)
O
Basic education
O
Job skills
The six facets are taught in the course of these five basic
activities:
Military training by the sergeants: boot, survival,
camp during the first six months and the camp work and
personal time periods during the final 12 months
(first 4 facets)
Environmental work and education periods during the
final 12 months (first 4 facets)
Formal education periods (all facets)
6
Sports periods (first 3 facets)
Recreation periods (2nd and 3rd facets)
How the various facets can be taught during some of the activity
periods is obvious, others may require some explanation:
Military training includes all the elements that would be
found in a good military boot camp. As various phases are
completed recruits are given raises, promotions and other
types of recognition as incentive. They are given
opportunities for leadership and responsibility. They also
experience discipline when they behave at a level below the
established standards. If it is not a criminal offense, it
will be handled by the Corps authorities judging guilt or
innocence and dispensing discipline as needed (such as guard
duty, carrying a heavy pack for 5 miles, cleaning the
latrines, etc). A criminal offence will result in immediate
expulsion from the Corps and prosecution by civil
authorities.
During the 12 month work period, military training is
expanded to all the various elements of camp life where
every one has responsibilities, is held accountable,
and must deal with other people. Moreover, as the
members gain experience, they will be encouraged to
participate in rule setting and other aspects of
brigade camp life.
Environmental training includes all the specific skills and
techniques needed for carrying out the environmental tasks
assigned. This training will be carried out by the sergeants
and visiting specialist. In most cases it will be done by
demonstration. In addition, certain aspects will be
conducted by the professional teaching staff during the
formal education sessions. Advice and consultation will be
sought from both government and private experts.
Formal Educational training sessions will utilize the most
effective educational techniques and equipment; there will
be no traditional classroom lecturing. The techniques used
will be designed to promote self esteem and pride in what
has been learned.
The first task of this program will be bring every
individual up to a minimum level of English language
communication skills. The objective balance of the basic
education program is to bring everyone up to a 8th grade
level of reading and writing and a 6th grade level of math
skills. For those who have mastered these skills, oppor-
tunity shall be provided for those who are able to complete
7
all elements of a high school education. Those who do
finish will be awarded a high school diploma. Individuals
who complete a college preparation course will be awarded a
one year college scholarship to be extended or rescinded for
the following three years based on an annual performance
review of the previous year.
The job skill program is optional (ED Track) and will
qualify a person for a job paying at least 50% more than the
minimum wage. Skills taught are basic computer entry and
clerical skills, work place etiquette, customer relations
skills.
Follow-UP
Each participant's subsequent career will be followed, both
to provide help for the individual where needed and to provide
accountability for the program.
Environmental Work Program
The elements of this program are to identify specific needs
and opportunities that can be converted to specific Earth Corps
projects, arrange the various logistics and arrangements for the
carrying out of the specific tasks, schedule the Corps for
deployment, and evaluate performance and provide feedback to the
troops.
The various environmental projects are expected to include
reforestation (probably the initial focus), oil clean up (when
special situations arise), and wilderness area cleanup and
maintenance.
Program Rewards
Each member who completes the program is assured a job. The
program is designed so that those who complete the 6 month
recruit portion of the program and "sign on" with a written
commitment, 90% will at complete the minimum number of hours of
environmental work and the minimum educational program. Of the
10% that do not, about half will be close enough that they will
be given the opportunity to commit to another 6 months and try to
pass the educational program (and complete an additional 6 months
worth of environmental work hours).
Some proportion of the members will also complete extra job
training. These members will be guaranteed a job with pay at
least 50% above the current minimum wage.
8
In order to be able to make these guarantees, positions will
be secured for each applicant before he/she is accepted as a
recruit. Initially, those funding the program will have to commit
to one job per $20,000 of contribution. Later, as the Earth
Corps expands beyond private contributions, commitments for job
placements can be obtained from other organizations.
The fusion of private contributions to job guarantees has
the added advantage of providing both feedback and discipline to
the program. Only if graduates of the program perform up to
expectation can the Corps expect contributors to repeat their
contributions in subsequent periods. Further, those employing the
graduates will have valuable input on ways to improve various
aspects of the program.
Finally, some of the members will complete the college
preparation program. It is anticipated that negotiations with
various colleges and universities will result in contracts that
will allow the Corps to guarantee scholarships to these
individuals.
Administration and Organization
The director and functional department heads should be top
calibre individuals in their respective fields. In order to
attract these people, some may be "lent" from large corporations
at little or no cost, thereby allowing a higher salary to others.
It may be possible to hire younger, less experience individuals
but have them backstopped by a part time volunteers who are
retired. Over the longer term, perhaps salaries can be increased
over the current budget in order to develop a more stable
professional staff. However, in the short term, before the
program has fully evolved, it would be better to follow the above
plan even if more money were available.
In addition to the functional heads and their support staff,
there will be a board of directors and a board of advisors. The
first will oversee managements adherence to the Earth Corps'
mission statement and its effectiveness in implementing the
Corps programs. The second will provide assistance and guidance
in assessing how well the Earth Corps is perceived to be doing
by various publics.
The five function heads and their duties are listed below:
Recruitment: To be sure the entire recruitment process, as
outlined in the relevant section above is carried out
and to recommend needed changes where appropriate.
Operations: To direct the activities of the recruits and
members of the Earth Corps through the sergeants and
9
teaching staff.
Education: To develop the various education programs and
monitor the results to ensure that the material is
being learned.
Environment: To identify environmental projects and
coordinate with the requesting or host agency or
organization. Continuously upgrade the methods and
procedures used by the Green Brigade, within the bounds
of its mission statement.
Administration: To maintain necessary records, disburse
funds, provide administrative facilities, to provide
administrative support to the other functional heads,
and prepare reports that the Board of Directors may require.
An end of year, audited (Big 8 firm), set of financial
statements, along with statistical performance measures will
be presented each year, along with quarterly interim reports
and estimates.
The boards make up and method of operation will be as follows:
Board of Directors: The board will be made up of 10 men and
women that meet quarterly for a full day. (Missing more than
two meetings per year will result in replacement.) The
makeup will be:
2 from contributing sponsors (Top business executives)
2 from jobs providers (Top human resources experts)
2 from military advisors (Pride building expert)
1 from an environmental group (Expert in field)
1 from the inner city (Leader of group having success)
1 from a private college (Expert on remedial education)
1 from a private public relations firm (Expert in field)
Board of Advisors: The board will be made up of 15 to 25
public figures and community leaders who have a reputation
for being forthright and being responsible in their
positions. They should be committed enough to the
mission and concept of the Earth Corps that they will
be willing both to help sell it to the various
constituencies and feel obligated to point out
(privately) how it can be improved. The board members
will receive periodic reports, have access to the
Director at any time, may be asked for advice from time
to time, and will meet annually. At the annual
meeting, members will be discuss progress and review
the various suggestions that members have individually
made during the year, as well as the contributions that
have been made. If the board as a group is not
satisfied with either progress of the responsiveness of
management, it shall empower a committee of the board
10
of advisors to meet with the board of directors at its
next scheduled meeting.
One of the more important aspects of the administration is
that of the performance review and internal audit. Because
the Corps' bottom line is the number of individuals
transformed into productive citizens per dollar of cost,
records need to be kept, not only on those completing the
program, but also on how the graduates succeed over the
following five to ten years. Since the time from
recruitment to being a successful citizen is too long to
rely these data alone, the Corps will also develop a number
of performance measures that will help the Board of
Directors and the management identify problems early SO that
they may take corrective action.
Growth Plans
An initial group of 100 recruits will launch the pilot
program phase. Growth will be slow at first as bugs are worked
out and feedback can be obtained from the field. As soon as the
first group graduates, and assuming performance warrants, the
growth rate will be accelerated. The rate of acceleration will
depend upon the level of private support (see following Funding
Plan) and anticipated level for the future. Also, the likelihood
of congressional/administration financial support will affect the
need to stretch out the program at a lower level or achieve a
larger level more quickly.
The following growth schedule will be modified as the
program develops. The July 90 group of 100 is the pilot phase.
HALF YEAR PERIODS
Recruits
90-II 91-I 91-II 92-I 92-II 93-I 93-II 94-I
Jul 90
100
100
85
80
5
Jan 90
150
150
127
120
7
Jul 91
200
200
170
160
10
Jan 92
300
300
255
240
15
Jul 92
500
500
425
400
25
Jan 93
800
800
680
640
Jul 93
1500
1500 1275
11
Jan 94 2500
2500
Total at be-
100
235
407
595
922
1675
2595
4460
ginning of period
Budget for period
1
3
5
7
11
21
32
56
($000,000's)
Pilot Phase Evaluation
The initial pilot phase will be fully evaluated and modified
as needed to meet the mission of the Corps.
Budget
A detailed budget will be developed as the timing and rates
of build up are finalized. The following budget represents an
annual budget stabilized at the 500 member level and will serve
as a guideline for detailed budget development.
Min
Max
EXPENSE CATEGORIES
($000's)
Pay to recruits and members
750
750
$200 to 400 per month, 300 average, less
150 per month health insurance, equals
150 per month net times 500 members
Housing, food, etc in existing barracks
1500
3000
Est at $300 per month with existing facilities
at no cost to 600 if they must be leased
Medical/Dental at $150/mo, 1800/yr, X 500 = 900,000
800
1000
Supervision
4000
5000
25 Sergeants (1 per 20 recruits) at $40,000/yr 1,000
50 Jr Sergeants (2 per sergeant) at $30,000/yr 1,500
20 Teaching staff (1 per 25) at $30 to 50,000/yr 800
Sub total
3,300
Overhead (insurance, support, etc) at 30%
1,000
Total
4,400
Uniforms & Equipment
350
750
One dress uniform, HD clothing for cold
weather, boots, tents, field kitchen, etc
Rough estimate is $1000 per member. If army
surplus is available for all of it, it could
12
be less; if none is available, it would be more.
Transportation
500
750
Assuming 12 separate field locations per member
for 2/3 of the entire time or 8 round trips,
$1000 per member is a minimum
Management
1000
1200
Director at $100,000/yr
100
5 Function heads at 80,000/yr
400
10 support/clerical at 30,00/yr
300
Overhead (insurance, facilities etc. 300
Contingency at about 20%
2100
2550
Grand Total
$11,000 15,000
Funding Plans
The Earth Corps will be launched when $2.5 million in
support has been pledged and 10% of each pledge has been paid.
The $250,000 will be used to line up facilities, prepare
education programs, identify supervisory and educational
personal, and secure the remaining pledges. Hiring and recruiting
will begin when and additional $5 million has been pledged. The
efforts line up additional funds will continue and the rate of
Earth Corps buildup will be partially dependent upon the rate at
which funds can be raised.
Those who pledge will be asked to indicate a willingness to
commit additional amounts in subsequent years if the program
meets its objectives. Ideally, sponsors will commit for at least
three years (with the last two being conditional). This will give
a sufficient planning horizon to enable the program to be
operated efficiently.
While the initial profile of Earth Corps will be low, as
soon as it starts showing success, the sponsors will be able to
publicly share in their pride of having launched this successful
program.
All sponsors will receive the annual report and will have their
nominees considered for a Board of Director's position.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
April 25, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON
SUBJECT:
Draft Business Week Special Section
One minor comment:
pg. 1, para. 1, line 1
"Over 200 years ago, the first
Americans settled in the 'new world' and found a lush,
green land with clean air, clear-running streams, and over
a billion acres of trees."
We suggest removing the quotation marks around "new
world" -- it's a standard phrase, usually capitalized,
according to our dictionary. Also, to say the pioneers
found a land with "over a billion acres of trees" sounds
odd, notwithstanding the reference to tree planting later.
Something less statistical like "endless acres of trees"
seems more appropriate.
2,1,7 "Earth Corps"
We regretfully suggest removing the reference to Earth
Corps. We think it would be unfair to single out any one
"tree" group at a time when so much attention is being
focused on the tree legislation now before the House
Agriculture Committee.
52 : 11v 25 MAR 06
Document No. 135366 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
P
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: no comment
See comments
90 MAR 25 All : 37
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 4-25-90 10:52AM ;
OMB/ENVIR BRANCH-
2023955730:# 4
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 4-24-90 ; 5:48PM :
2023955730-
68991# 3
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
1990 APR 24 PM 3. 3.31 31
draft two
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
recognize or presen to not a
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled
the
America was a
"new
A
and dound & lush, green land with clean air, =lear-vunning
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment - through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect OUR environment, with over #: billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
refuges, forests and other public lands; to
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks, and Wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands; and to
our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
encourage
tree
INSERT
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
TREE-
planting.
PARAGRAPH
PLANTING forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
FROM
service of the environment, For example, we've proposed
DAGE 2.
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
SENI BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 4-25-90 :10:52AM ;
OMB/ENVIR BRANCH-
20239557301# 5
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 : 4-24-80 ; 5:49PM ;
2023855730->
6899:# 4
1 AMERICA PART OF BEAUTIFUL. 2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment the the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to set in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but & responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect 12.
Working together, we too can discover a "new World" -- by
Building a better America.
...
Document No. 135366 55
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: no comment
90 MAR 25 All : 55
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PH 3. 31
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
00013
Document No. 135366 ss
122
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
NO COMMENT. THANKS 4-25-90
Holly Williamson NW
EZ : olv MARAS 06 Assistant James to W. the Cicconi
President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
April 25, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
JEFFREY R. HOLMSTEAD Jett
ASSISTANT COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Business Week Special Section: "Agenda for the
21st Century: Managing Earth's Resources"
Attached are the comments of Counsel's Office on the above
referenced draft article.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President and
Deputy to the Chief of Staff
S2 : Y 25 KAPC 06
Document No. 135366 55
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/24/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM 4/25/90
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION: "AGENDA
SUBJECT:
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: MANAGING EARTH'S
RESOURCES"
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
Rogers
CICCONI
winston
DEMAREST
Pmkerton
FITZWATER
Deland
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Room 122,
ext. 2930, no later than 10:00 AM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1990, with
a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
1990 APR 24 PH 3. 31
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
b
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
It is
that will allew us to
unclear non this
achieve substantial reduction,
relies to the power
in sulfur dior'ls emissions at
of TVG
2.
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
nic
Grant/Nappo
March 16, 1990
draft two
A:business
PRESIDENTIAL ARTICLE: BUSINESS WEEK SPECIAL SECTION:
"AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
MANAGING EARTH'S RESOURCES"
Over 200 years ago, the first Americans settled in the "new
world" and found a lush, green land with clean air, clear-running
streams, and over a billion acres of trees.
Today, we're working to restore our parks and wetlands, cut
pollution in the air, clean up our beaches, and plant millions of
trees. This Administration is committed to protecting our
environment -- through the use of new, innovative solutions to
some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
This year's budget provides over $2 billion in new spending
to protect our environment, with over $1 billion for global
change research. And it includes a new initiative called
"America the Beautiful" to expand our national parks and wildlife
preserves and improve recreational facilities on public lands.
Our Clean Air Act proposal will cut airborne pollution
affecting our cities and reduce acid rain harming our lakes and
forests -- by unleashing the power of the marketplace in the
service of the environment. For example, we've proposed
emissions trading credits to reduce the level of air toxics and
sulfur dioxide. And we're encouraging measures to stop pollution
at its source, without placing unreasonable and unnecessary
burdens on economic growth.
2
America's forests and trees need national attention, and in
the budget I asked for $175 million to plant one billion trees a
year. And we're asking Congress to approve another step to
protect the environment -- the National Tree Trust Act of 1990.
It will foster the partnership between the public and private
sectors to plant trees across America, and encourage citizens --
"points of light" like the Earth Corps -- to act in their own
innovative ways to reforest America.
Business has not only a role to play, but a responsibility
in keeping America beautiful for generations to come. As you
teach your children the "secrets of the trade," remember this:
not only is leadership passed down from generation to generation,
so is stewardship. We must leave our children with both a
cleaner environment and a sense of mission to protect it.
Working together, we too can discover a "new world" -- by
building a better America.
# # #
Manio 10