First Name | Tara |
---|---|
Last Name | Hansen |
Email Address | t_hansen@comcast.net |
Affiliation | Save Our Sandhill Cranes |
Subject | CARB AB 32 Scoping Plan |
Comment | Reducing the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming is one of the critical challenges of our time. California must learn to live sustainably, and not continue to capitalize the resources needed for future generations, particularly its land resources. Since 1990, more than 500,000 acres of land has been urbanized in California (Edward Thompson Jr., 2007), and the rate of development has increased exponentially. This is a trend that simply cannot continue. Farmland not only provides food and serves as habitat for wintering waterfowl and other wildlife species, it acts as a carbon sink to offset the emissions generated with other land uses (Sloan et al, 2005). CARB has an important opportunity to recognize the devastating effects of past land use practices in California that have resulted in sprawl - low density, auto dependent communities located far away from job centers that have increased our dependency on automobiles, increased the cost to taxpayers of maintaining road and service infrastructure, negatively impacted family and community life with long commutes, eliminated wildlife habitat, permanently reduced our available supply of food production resources, and increased the amount of carbon emissions released into our shared atmosphere from vehicle miles traveled. A shift in the way we plan and build communities in California needs to happen. This shift can be accomplished in ways that create economic opportunity, but it won’t come about with out clear direction from the State that current land use and development practices need to change. Increasing the target emission reduction for land uses from a paltry 5 MMT to at least 11-14 MMT will send a strong signal to local communities to make the important shift to a more condensed land use model that makes better use of infill opportunities, public transportation alternatives to private automobile use, reduces infrastructure costs, and ultimately achieves a better quality of life for all Californians while substantially reducing the carbon emissions that are contributing to the climate change problem. Please increase the emission reduction requirements in the land use sector of the AB 32 Scoping Plan to 11-14 MMT to send the signal that our shared environment depends on making significant changes in the way we design and develop communities. |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2008-12-09 09:38:43 |
If you have any questions or comments please contact Clerk of the Board at (916) 322-5594.