Greening California, by Initiative : Environment: The reality is that our state has been bombarded by pollution. If our leaders won’t act, the voters can.

There are hazardous chemicals in our food. There is a hole in the sky. Our wetlands are dying or disappearing. Our bays are repositories of toxic waste and untreated sewage and our beaches are fouled. The planet is growing warmer from climatic changes caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.

Unnecessary fear-mongering? No, this is the reality of our times, the result of decades of environmental neglect and degradation by our industrial society.

--Each year in California alone, about 500 million pounds of pesticides are added to our environment. Sixty-six of these chemicals allowed in the food supply have now been found by the government to cause tumors in animals with “potential” to cause cancer in humans. Pesticides have been found in more than 3,000 drinking-water wells and in our lakes, rivers, streams and soil as well.

--More than 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are dumped into the state’s bay and coastal waters each year. An additional 2.18 billion gallons of sewage is discharged into these waters daily.

--Last fall, the ozone-depleted hole in the atmosphere above Antarctica was measured at about about 25 million square kilometers, or roughly three times the size of the continental United States.

--Since 1950, the incidence of cancer has climbed 36.6%. The incidence of cancer in children under 14 increased 21.5% during that period.

In the face of this assault, where is Washington? Debating, deliberating, considering, pretending, worrying--but not acting.

Comprehensive legislation to reduce the health risks of pesticides in the food chain remains dormant in House and Senate committees. Legislation addressing global warming remains “under consideration.” Existing laws, such as the Clean Water Act, go unenforced or, worse, waivers are granted allowing inadequately treated sewage and hazardous wastes to be dumped into California’s bays and coastal waters.

In California, it is much the same. Opinion polls consistently indicate unparallelled support for true environmental reform. Yet, because of the dearth of leadership from the governor and the power of special interests, the Legislature remains unresponsive.

Seeking a quantum leap in environmental protection, the Environmental Protection Initiative of 1990 is being readied for the November ballot. This measure, dubbed by the media “the big green,” is designed to attack pollution of California’s environment at the source. Its reforms would include:

--Any pesticide already determined by the governor or EPA to cause cancer or reproductive harm would be phased out over five years. The sale of food containing residues of these products prohibited. Standards would be established for all pesticides in food to protect children, and substantial research funds would be provided to develop safe alternatives.

--CFCs, the principal cause of ozone depletion, would be phased out in California by the year 1997. The California Energy Commission, together with the Air Resources Control Board, would be charged with developing a plan for reducing carbon dioxide emissions--a primary cause of global warming--in the state by 20% by the year 2000 and by 40% by 2010.

--All public sewage treatment plants would be required to meet federal Clean Water Act standards by 2000, permitting no further waivers and including at least secondary treatment for all sewage discharged into state waters. Additional oil drilling off the coast in state waters would be prohibited and an oil spill prevention and cleanup fund established.

--To ensure that both industry and government agencies obey the terms of the initiative and other environmental laws, a statewide elected Office of Environmental Advocate would be established.

A well-financed industry misinformation campaign is likely. The pesticide chemical industry, aided by powerful agribusiness leaders, has already put forward an alternative “safe food” initiative (“the big brown”) that, if enacted, would accomplish little in pesticide regulation but is intended to preempt the pesticide part of the Environmental Protection Initiative.

But the environmental initiative has already garnered the support of gubernatorial candidate John Van de Kamp. The endorsement by the other candidates for governor, Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Pete Wilson, is being sought, as well it should be, since the environment is not a partisan issue--all of us need food free of toxic chemicals, pure drinking water, a safe and well-protected coast and planet.