Like any parent, I try my best to plan for a future of my kids and someday I hope to have grandchildren. It’s unfair that many of the wonders of the world are changing before our very eyes due to impacts of global warning and climate change that may prove to be irreversible. By acknowledging this reality and planning for it we fulfill our obligation of good stewardship to the land, air and water of Ohio.
Solar and Wind
- In February of 2018 a well pad explosion at a fracking site in Belmont Ohio released an estimated 50,000 tons of Methane (one of the worst greenhouse gases) after it was discovered by satellites from space. The worst such release on record. We need to recognize the true cost of events like this.
- Rather than subsidizing expensive, polluting and dangerous carbon burning and nuclear sources, we should encourage investment in new, well paid jobs in sustainable, renewable energy industries which minimize our carbon footprint.
- Not only will this reduce greenhouse gases that are causing climate change, but coupled with a shift to electric vehicles, we will have much less particulate matter in the air we breathe.
Green Agriculture
- Algae blooms are caused when rainfall washes fertilizer and manure spread on large farm fields into streams that flow into rivers and estuaries.
- In July 2019, one of the worst algae blooms on record spread across the western half of Lake Erie. On July 29 2019, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported unsafe toxin concentrations in Lake Erie and later advised people to stay away from scum forming on the water surface which can cause liver damage, numbness, dizziness, and vomiting.
- We need to make industrial agriculture responsible for the true cost of their activity.