The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutINDIVIDUAL COMMENT EMAIL - 128997Mori, Ashley From: Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 5:02 PM To: General Plan Subject: Re: Notes and comments on General plan 3 { Attachments: New General Plan Climate Mitigation.pdf Also here are my notes on the Climate Mitigation and Climate Smart Agriculture section... Mahalo! On Thursday, October 31, 2019, 4:59:16 PM HST, wrote: Aloha! I highlighted and added notes/questions to the editable pdf of the General Plan, attached below, sorry if confusing just hope to get in before the deadline, mahalo! 2.3 r cc, en 128997 Mitigating Climate Change Sustainability Objective: A just transition to a carbon drawdown economy that creates quality jobs and equitable solutions ending all net greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible and no later than 2050. Policy: Implement a program to ensure restoration of a safe climate via a County lead collaboration with community, stewardship groups, local stakeholders and intergovernmental agencies that prioritizes equitable policies and strategies to reduce total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 50% in all economic sectors by 2030 and 100% by 2050, while working to draw down existing atmospheric global GHG levels to below 350ppm as soon as possible. Consider Hawaii County's potential as a carbon sink for the State of Hawaii in prioritizing action areas to meet or exceed GHG reduction targets, including the most efficient pathways to meet these objectives, such as 100% reduction in GHG emissions in transport and energy sectors by 2030. Complete the Hawai'i Island Climate Action plan to coordinate, at a County-wide level, all climate and resilience responses, including emergency response to climate change effects, mitigation, resilience, adaptation, engagement, education, advocacy, research and development programs. 99) Support the development of carbon-emission standards and an incentive program aimed at achieving County carbon-emission goals. Action: STOP further GHG emissions increases: Coordinate a climate emergency public education and stakeholder outreach process to create community awareness and participation in policy development. Create the Community Climate Commission (CCC) including local climate experts, community groups, and randomly selected community to help guide the Hawaii Island Climate Action plan implementation supporting ongoing climate action and accountability, based upon an annual reporting timeline and process for identifying progress in meeting 4he implementation plan goals, including review of questions of Culture and Equity. Add a Climate Impacts section to all County departmental reports that provides meaningful information on how proposed actions will impact GHG reduction efforts, (95) including the useful life of infrastructure and the cost savings related to reduced energy needs in Capital Improvement Projects. Discourage any further public or private investment in projects that will make the climate emergency worse (in the 20yr time scale covered by this County General Plan) such as coal, oil, gas, and whole tree woody biomass. Remove subsidies, including but not limited to tax breaks, to industries such as coal and other fossil fuels that fail to substantially decrease greenhouse gas emissions towards stated county objectives within stated objective timelines outlined above; Redirect and channel subsidies and facilitate investment towards equitable, clean, renewable energy projects including Solar, Wind, and Wave, distributed microgrid systems and climate friendly workforce retraining, 94)Prioritize energy efficient designs, energy efficient systems, and waste reduction/reuse at County Facilities, and early intervention in planning for resilience such as localized, self sufficient economies to prevent costly and lengthy rebuilding of communities and livelihoods and minimize displacement and relocation, including infrastructure development and repair that helps mitigate negative climate impacts. DROP Greenhouse Gas Levels: Evaluate approaches to promote rapid transition to carbon drawdown thru localized, regenerative economy, including fees on Carbon intensive goods and services, such as imports and tourism, and incentives such as tax breaks to promote small scale local businesses and products, energy efficiency, and food self sufficiency. Adopt planning policies for Climate-smart resilient community development, including energy efficiency, food self sufficiency, affordable housing and walkable or transit-oriented development to reduce emissions related to transportation. 98) Evaluate the need and opportunities to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT), such as offering a range of transportation choices in new development or redevelopment projects; incentivizing connectivity between differing modes of transportation to increase modal split and linking residential and employment center land uses to reduce the need for single vehicle trips. 96) Partner with County, State, and private entities to develop comprehensive and coordinated strategies promoting energy and water conservation to strive for climate change resilience Facilitate clean fleet transitions for the County; car share programs; increased mass transit routes and schedules, and the development and deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure, Incentivize electric vehicles and clean energy sources for the general public. Promote and Incentivize Climate-friendly and Culturally appropriate land use including reforestation, afforestation, watershed restoration along Ahupua'a systems that include Mauka to Makai access, protection of biodiversity, open space, and carbon sinks. 97) Consider values of natural areas for sequestering carbon and providing climate adaptation and mitigation strategies in evaluating public investments, including acquisition, siting, and design. Support CCC & community groups in working for rapid reforestation and carbon sink development & protection on appropriate County and private lands. Remove barriers to and incentivize agricultural food production in community spaces by creating a program to "Green & Grow" County Parks and CCC identified community spaces. Promote Climate-Smart Agriculture to improve retention of water and carbon sequestration through education, application assistance, financial incentives, and a county seed repository and sharing system. Possible methods include cover crops, no-till, mulching, composting and other planting practices proven to increase carbon sequestration ROLL out additional measures as needed Periodically update the Hawaii County Climate Action plan to maintain scientific relevance and goals consistent with UN IPCC reports and targets, and updating initiatives to mobilize the required resources for effective action at the necessary scale and speed, as possible, for a safe climate. accelerating adaptation and resilience strategies in preparation for intensifying climate impacts, encouraging all other County, State, Federal and other governments around the world to take these same actions. 1.72 Adopt policies and strategies across al County departments to reduce GHGEs and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, including establishing video conferencing capabilities to allow residents and employees to participate in meetings without having to drive long distances; evaluating the feasibility for continued installation of renewable energy systems on County owned facilities; and increasing the use of alternatively fueled vehicles (Code) Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Systems 1. Conduct assessments of the vulnerability of agriculture to climate change and identify: implications for food security and livelihoods from projected changes in production, population and urbanisation prioritise agricultural adaptations to minimise threats and maximise opportunities. 2. Implement priority adaptations based on: projected food needs of rural and urban populations natural and human capital for producing agricultural and fisheries products existing production methods and capacity, including traditional knowledge, and maximum carbon sequestration projected effects of climate change on food systems previous research that can be used to help improve resilience of food systems. 3. Strengthen food systems research and development for the region by: creating effective partnerships between county, state, university and extension agencies, farmers' networks, non-governmental organisations and scientific institutions to improve capacity to carry out research and implementation of effective agricultural strategies implementing innovative approaches to overcome constraints to sharing knowledge and implementation with farmers and fishing communities such as social media and events providing farmers and fishing communities with climate guidance and support for their investments and activities in carbon sequestering agricultural methods seed repository for emergencies/lost crops, permaculture, shared clean energy tools (tractors, trucks, etc)