Comment Log Display

To whom it may concern at the California Air Resources Board:

California has the unique opportunity to provide leadership on the
climate crisis for the nation and the world.  It depends on the
courage and the integrity of our elected officials, upon whom we
the people are depending to make the right decision.  The stakes
could not be higher: California's choice in how AB 32 is
implemented sets the course for the preservation or the destruction
of life as we know it on our planet.

I write to urge the Air Resources Board to use your power for good,
and implement AB 32 with alternatives to Cap and Trade.  Cap and
trade as implemented in Europe, not only produced windfall profits
to carbon traders and carbon-based polluters, it also increased
overall greenhouse gas emissions.  Hardly the success story that
Californians can be proud of!

Greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources should be capped
locally, period.  Environmental justice communities located near to
polluting facilities already experience significantly higher levels
of asthma, respiratory illnesses, cancer, shorter life spans, and
greater infant mortality due to the disproportionate location of
such facilities in low-income communities of color.  Cap and trade
could permit such polluting facilities to purchase carbon credits
elsewhere, thus giving the local community no relief from the toxic
assault.  Human health harming co-pollutants aside, carbon dioxide
on its own has been shown to significantly impact human health and
cause greater mortality, known as the Jacobson Effect (Mark Z
Jacobson is a Stanford University engineering professor who has
testified on the subject before U.S. Congress).

Polluters should not be allowed to trade credits or buy credits
from supposed greenhouse gas mitigation projects in other parts of
the state, country, or world.  Such projects are easily
falsifiable, and could lead to unprecedented greenwashing and even
overall INCREASES in carbon emissions.

I urge the California Air Resources Board to stand by your
conscience and heed the recommendations made by Communities for a
Better Environment and the coalition of Environmental Justice
Organizations advocating for alternatives to cap and trade.

You will be remembered by future generations for your role in
either assuring certain catastrophe, or setting the world on a sane
course for sustainability, equity, and justice.  It's up to you to
decide.