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| Tax Breaks for Trees 
As trees are one of the most efficient "carbon-storers", lowering the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and thereby helping to prevent a global climate catastrophe, federal, state and local governments should give tax breaks to those who either plant and/or conserve trees on their properties. This could come in the form of reduced taxes; perhaps a reduced property tax for homeowners whose property has a certain minimum density of trees per 1/4 acre, and reduced taxes (or even subsidies) to businesses or organizations which own and conserve forested land or grow trees which produce food (fruit, nuts, maple syrup, etc.).Reward: none nec. 
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| Pollution Tracking Device
I have an idea about pollution that may really stop industries and the gov't from dumping trash in our backyards! There are countless examples of companies dumping their trash, usually on the poor side of town.I think that all companies and individuals should be ranked by how much trash/waste they produce. This could be done by producing trash cans & dumpsters with sensors that count the amount of mass in the container per week. For liquid waste (which many companies dump liberally into streams & oceans), a mandatory tracking device on all pipes shows how much waste is being released, and with what chemical makeup. People and companies have a moderate waste allowance per year, and a tally is kept automatically in a central system monitored by local citizens.Here's the deal... the more you pollute (as shown by the tracking device), the closer city planners put local dumps to your location. So trash is not kept in one huge location out-of-town, but in small pockets near you. If you produce huge wasteful amounts of waste or small toxic ones, the community is notified and you get a nice plaque with a garbage can, presented by the mayor, at a ceremony before the town. Then you get trash from the community that you polluted. The dump would ideally be located near where the president or board of directors of the pollution company live. Brimming recycling cans or ecologically safe liquid waste would be balanced against your trash and reflected in your total account. To introduce this idea to a largely wasteful public, perhaps less waste could be tied to property tax benefits the first couple years (since it would cut down on city costs). I think that these tracking devices would not be hard to create (I welcome your messages), but real struggle is getting the gov't to agree.So as a clause to the idea, if a huge polluter doesn't get the point of all this after a year, garbage is sent from the local dump to be buried in a special congressional dump for each representative of your community, who didn't crack down on the polluter in the first place.Reward: Some credit, and a cleaner stream to swim in...
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