Good afternoon members of the board,
My name is Yanely Martinez. I am a resident of
the city of Greenfield, the beautiful "Heart of The Valley." A
place that is beautiful but constantly targeted by pesticides. As a
mother of four and council member my family and community are
constant targets. A community of those who have been underserved
and with a population of over 93% Latinos.
I would like to ask the following to be
including:
1. Keep all the language in the current
Scoping Plan draft that supports safer,more sustainable pest
management and support for organic farming.
2. I ask the CARB Board to increase the
organic agriculture target to 30% of all agricultural acreage being
organically-framed by 2030. The Scoping Plan's current target
of 20% of all agricultural lands organically-farmed by 2045 is
insufficient and does not even keep up with current market trends
as more and more consumers purchase organic produce.
3. I ask that the CARB Board instruct staff to
remove all language from the Scoping Plan that identifies any form
of pesticide use (including herbicide use) as a climate-smart or
climate-friendly management strategy. The Scoping Plan currently
identifies herbicide use on grasslands, scrublands and forests as
an acceptable "climate-smart strategy " to eliminate invasive plant
species, identifying any kind of pesticide use as a "climate-smart
strategy" is unacceptable and there are other, non-toxic ways of
dealing with invasive species.
4. I ask the CARB Board to include a
measurable target of reducing synthetic pesticide use by 50% by
2030 and highly hazardous pesticide use by 90% by 2050. We have
heard pretty consistently that a pesticide reduction goal is not
going to be put in the Scoping Plan since CalEPA has spoken out
against it so many times, but it doesn't mean we can't make
it clear how much public support there is for pesticide reduction
targets.