Kalistan

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Chancellor of the Empire blasts oil states in Nat'l Assembly
Empress wants a Environmental Summit, says Lady Alvarez-McLinn
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
March 10, 5723


Chancellor of the Empire says Pollution is Kalistan's biggest threat

"Kalistan has long strove for security on all fronts," said Chancellor of the Empire, Lady Melanie Alvarez-McLinn, "but one persistent and pernicious threat we cannot prevent is other nations polluting our waters and our air. Global pollution is a global problem and it is well past time that others take this problem as seriously as we do." The Chancellor said that others should be forced to bear the costs if they wish to pollute. "Destroying the lives of people in other nations so you can make money will no longer be profitable," said the Chancellor. "You don't just get to throw your garbage over your neighbor's fence because you don't think you should have to deal with it yourself. That is not how neighbors co-exist."

The Chancellor said that Her Imperial Majesty's new, far more nationalist oriented government is exploring ways to punish those nations who refuse to move off of oil, especially those in the Anantonese Region. "Kalistan is home to the Green Terra Initiative, which is the carrot. But we do not posses a stick, and that is what we are now looking at. We can bribe other nations to do what they should do anyway--Green Terra can cover some of that burden. But we should not have to reward those nations who are doing what they shouldn't be doing to get them to change their ways. They just shouldn't be doing that stuff. They shouldn't be allowed to engage in economic activates that put other nations at risk."

The Chancellor named a few of the biggest threats to Kalistani environmental security during her speech. "Our list includes neighbors like Gaduridos, Egelion and Nadiya, all of whom profit from the extraction of oil in this world, and all of whom possess the potential to greatly damage Kalistan's environment even though we, uniquely among the nations of this region, have moved off petroleum and have adopted sustainable, clean energy and industrial practices." But, she added that Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto is not ready to level sanctions at polluting nations. "The Empress is far more optimistic than I am that we can bring these nations along and encourage them to adopt a measure of burden sharing, rather than jumping directly to hard sanctions. And as always, she has the final word on all policy matters in this nation, so we will try it her way."

The Chancellor said that the Empire is in the initial stages of working on an international conference to discuss the problem with our neighbors. "Most of the world ignores Kalistan when we point out things that are obviously wrong," said the Chancellor. "But they seem to enjoy the opportunity to work together to solve problems when they feel they have a stake in both the process and the outcome. To this end, rather than simply complain about it, which is easy for the nations of the world to ignore, once we figure out a workable idea for burden sharing, we will affirmatively invite them to discuss the situation and help come up with a solution that takes all interests into account, rather than just their own. And those nations who ignore us then will demonstrate that they have no interest in ending their polluting ways and we will more easily be able to identify those we can work with and those we never will."

To this end, the Chancellor said that the Empress has directed all embassy and Consular staffs to reach out to their counterparts in their host nation to pass the word up the chain that Kalistan is interested in developing a climate summit to come up with a workable solution to air and water pollution, and a global climate regime aimed at neutralizing and reversing the destruction that unlimited exploitation and burning of fossil fuel has caused. "The goal would be to get nations to take their own steps to resolve for themselves this situation," said Lady Alvarez-McLinn. "Nobody wants another international organization telling others what to do. But we want serious solutions, solutions that move the world away from oil dependence once and for all. We can have a clean world, and we can bring everyone along."

She added that just because Kalistan doesn't rely on petro-chemicals for much outside of some industrial solvents and aircraft fuels, this doesn't mean that the Empire will sit back and tell others to just do it. "We will definitely put a credible commitment on the table during the conference. What that commitment looks like will depend on the direction that the conference takes, but this is a global problem and Kalistan is part of the community, so Kalistan must be a part of the solution."

The Chancellor compared profiting from pollution to profiting from other forms of crime, implicitly declaring pollution of Kalistan's air and water a crime in and of itself. "Just like we provide meaningful labor to individuals who might otherwise turn to selling drugs or mugging people. It is up to us all to address this systemic issue, and Kalistan, for one is ready to get to work. We have our act together. It's others who need to catch up to us. And we are willing to help. And if they don't want our help, we'll try to compel them some other, less mutually beneficial way. But we are no longer going to just sit here and wait for people to do what they are supposed to be doing."

There are some who may find Kalistan's position to be condescending, the Chancellor said. "These nations may look at us and say it appears that we are judging them. It shouldn't merely appear that way: We are judging them. They are doing wicked, selfish, and destructive things. Just as we do not let vandals spray paint our house, we should also not let other nations pollute our atmosphere and Oceans. Because it is wrong for them to do so. I don't particularly care if oil DOES provide some income for their nation. That income comes at everyone else's expense. And it should be up to the world to help them find substitutions for socially undesirable activities."

The Chancellor finished up her speech with the following: "Let's be clear: The Conference is Her Imperial Majesty's idea. I personally have nothing but contempt for nations who profit at Kalistan's expense. But the Empress, for her part, believes there are still honest people outside of this nation. So she will get her way, and I will do what I can to support her vision of cooperation with people who have shown no inclination to date to cooperate with us. She still believes in them."

The speech today came at the end of a series of bills providing funds to Her Imperial Majesty's Ministries of the Interior and of Infrastructure to begin identifying and cleaning up the industrial waste sites from Kalistan's national industries. The package is called the Princess Jennifer Ananto-Rosenfeld Omnibus, named in honor of the Minor Princess Jennifer-Erika Rebecca Ananto-Rosenfeld, who made an impassioned call upon the nation to clean up its act with regard to industrial waste and pollution here at home. The speech animated the Nationalists, who took the matter up as a cause aiming to revitalize the legislative agenda for the National Assembly.

A separate set of initiatives is scheduled for May to direct the Regular Military to begin policing its training areas, including the temporary closure of Bozo River Combined Arms Training Center's Maneuver Area, the largest such designated live fire area in the world, for expended ordinance removal. And then in June the Deputies will take up bills to create measures to make Kalistan 100 percent Carbon Neutral within 30 years.

"When the Princess is hitting her prime," said the Chancellor last February, "Kalistan will have the most stringent and enforced environmental protection laws in the world, where we not only use our resources responsibly, but look constantly to how we can do something cleaner, more efficiently, and in a way which preserves our nation for her seven greats grandchildren. The Environment of Terra has no greater champion than the Minor Princess."

In joining the fight for a clean environment, the Minor Princess joins a proud tradition of conservationism stretching back to the Princess of the Empire Michelle Ananto-Sandoval, who took up the cause of restoration of the ecosystem of the Ananto Strait as a cause of her entire life. It was followed by Empress Mary, who was responsible for planting untold millions of redwood trees which grace the northern slopes of Vrassa, Ananto and Odufaray now covering millions of acres that had been stripped clear centuries ago and down through Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto, who launched the Green Terra Initiative to give other nations an option to explore alternative, sustainable and clean energy options to knee cap petroleum demand in Terra.

This major push for environmentalism at the National Policy level is a first in recent Kalistani history, and is supported by Nationalists, who see it as a matter of protecting Kalistan, moderates who view it as a positive step for the government to be taking for something positive in the Nation, and socialists who argue that a clean environment is necessary for a healthy workforce, helping to ease the burden on the medical services throughout the nation while providing steady, good, skilled work for tens of thousands of Kalistan's workers. Needless to say the Omnibus passed the National Assembly with no serious opposition.

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