First Name: | George |
---|---|
Last Name: | Naugles |
Email Address: | NauglesRCE@gmail.com |
Affiliation | Balance2thrive(R) |
Subject | Agricultural emissions |
Comment |
Dear CalEPA, Maureen Hand, and Jordan Ramalingam, Thank you for your effort to moderate this important discussion. Our Ventura County agriculture involves very little meat production, but lots of citrus, avocado, row crop, and berry production. My comments are as follows: 1)I think meat production and the embodied energy in feed sources used have very different green house gas generation profiles. Can you please consider differentiating more clearly between meat or protein production versus other agriculture that may be less GHG-emissive. I would like to see California require all labeled foods produced in our state to include a carbon or Greenhouse-gas footprint score plus a formula based on distance between zip codes. The score would need to include direct emissions related to farm equipment plus indirect emissions related to plowing, fertilizer production emissions, fertilizer off-gassing of GHGs where applicable, and pumping energy inputs. To address farmers' extra work, I wonder if providing a tax exemption for farmers who first begin to provide this information could be a motivated pathway to achieve a critical mass of farmers' participation. Also relevant was the question of wildfire-related GreenHouse Gas emissions. I believe wildfire events change weather, ocean fertilization, and future rainfall. Can the state please fund research to better understand how we may be able to break drought-associated high pressure ridges, seed storm cloud formation over the ocean with smoke particulates, and provide more rainfall on regions that tend to import their water with infrastructure that has significant operational and embeded Greenhouse Gas footprint. For example if Southern California farmers and cities receive rain from wildfire-smoke-seeded storms that may have efficiencies on par with pumps, concrete, dams, and aqueducts used to build and maintain Oroville dam on Feather River and move water to Pyramid Lake and southward. Of course there is also the additional impact of Salmon fisheries, which may arguably be a more efficient way to produce healthy lipid-, protein-, and mineral-rich foods. Embodied energy and positive/negative synergies are significant and were recognized as important to achieving the 100% carbon neutral conditions. Can CalEPA also do more to assess what companies like Harrison are doing when they pick up our green waste, and either bury it in landfill or deliver it to companies like Agromin, where it is chipped up, composted, and sold as soil amendment. How effective is a combustion fuel transported greenwaste collection system that landfills or recycles landscape and agricultural wastes ...largely using fossil fuels to run machinery for transport and processing? Additionally, can you please require water districts to assess and disclose a carbon footprint per unit of water delivered that reflects their actual reliance on imported water and pumped water? Encouraging them to also make an effort to help consumers figure out what urban tree watering is cost effective to reduce urban heat island effects and also carbon sequestration in biomass? ...or hire me to help you answer those questions? Sincerely, George Naugles, RCE, M.Ed., BRE, MBA, GISP G@Balance2thrive.com |
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Original File Name:
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2019-08-15 15:21:10 |
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