Petition on Clean Energy Resolution to Floyd Board of Supervisors

Petition on Clean Energy Resolution

THEREFORE,
we, the undersigned, do petition
the Floyd County Board of Supervisors
to immediately adopt the attached
"Resolution Supporting Clean Energy
Through Local and Regional Efforts:"

WHEREAS: Scientific, economic, religious, academic,
governmental, business, citizen and political leaders
warn us that drastic steps must be taken to limit
global warming by the end of the century
to avoid worsening catastrophes from the
unavoidable effects of climate change, and

WHEREAS: The findings that climate chaos is already
happening are supported by an overwhelming
scientific consensus of credentialed climate scientists
and scientists in related fields; we are already
experiencing disturbing changes across the globe
due to human greenhouse gas production, and

WHEREAS: Leading economists, policy experts,
and business leaders conclude that transitioning
to a clean energy economy available for all
would create millions of green jobs, improve
our living standards, and boost economic growth
in coming years; jobs will be created
in the transition to renewable energy,
the deployment of energy efficiency technology,
and the development and installation
of energy generation projects in a variety
of industries, including business, manufacturing,
engineering, and construction; and

WHEREAS: In striving toward near zero
emissions, we must also strive toward zero
waste goals that will reduce carbon emissions
and create local jobs by reducing the amount
of waste we generate and by recycling
or composting the waste we can’t avoid; and

WHEREAS: An increase in the global average
temperature, if not stopped, will increasingly
have major adverse impacts on both the natural
and human-made environments due to longer,
more intense heat waves, prolonged droughts,
rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and more
intense and frequent extreme weather events; and

WHEREAS: Public health experts have documented
the health impacts of climate change, including
the spread of infectious diseases, risks to worldwide
food and water supplies, an increase in rates
of asthma and other respiratory conditions,
increased human suffering and loss of life
due to more frequent and more intense
heat waves, flooding, droughts, wildfires,
crop failures, famines, and other severe
weather events; and

WHEREAS: Floyd County, Virginia,
the United States and North America
have been endowed by spiritual, moral
and ethical urgency to be guardians
of the air we breathe, protectors of the water
we drink and stewards of the earth
which sustains us, given that they provide us
with an ability to prosper such that,
when combined with the economic
and personal freedoms guaranteed us
by the U. S. Constitution, allow us share
that responsibility and privilege with the world,
that many religious leaders and organizations
in the United States and worldwide
have stated that we all have a moral
and ethical obligation to be good stewards
of the Earth and that there is a moral
and ethical imperative for bold action
on climate change; and

WHEREAS: We should as a matter of local,
regional, national and global interest
continue independent, private and government
research and development of alternative
forms of energy as well as engaging
in immediate, robust development
of conservation efforts within energy utilization,
wilderness preservation and personal
ecologies and economies; so

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT,
The Floyd County Board of Supervisors,
in the interest of all the people of Floyd County,
does hereby adopt the following Resolution
in order to protect the ecology, economy,
health, safety, freedom and values of said population:

1. The policy of the Floyd County government
shall be to work for viable, cost-effective,
clean and reliable energy resources
and to conduct itself in such a manner
as to protect the freedoms of and encourage
responsibility for Floyd County citizens
to continue to have access to ample
and accessible clean energy
as they may individually desire.

2. To support policies which provide incentives
for public utility companies to transition
to renewable energy sources and expand service
to all areas of the county with a goal
of increasing access and lowering costs
to our community.

3. To promote a business climate
which will encourage the development
of more clean and renewable energy production,
but also technology, fair-trade manufacturing,
retail and other sustainable development
in the county with the goal of increasing
entrepreneurial and employment opportunities.

4. To continue the acknowledgment
on all levels, of the basic property rights
of our citizens as to the customary use
and distribution of their lands, and to protect
their ability to provide, without undue regulation,
sustenance and protection for their families
and the land which they steward
within the bounds of Local, State and Federal Law.

5. To ensure universal access to clean energy
for moderate and low-income families
by taking advantage of realistic available
opportunities for commercially driven
and philanthropic stimulus programs
that are designed to assist eligible citizens
to transition without increasing monthly household
expense, transitional financial assistance, promote
educational job training programs and local job
opportunities for fossil fuel industry workers
displaced due to the inevitable transition
away from diminishing fossil fuels infrastructure
to a renewable energy based economy;

6. To continue those policies which modernize
the County’s infrastructure; maintain a focus
on the health, protection, prosperity and freedom
of the community; work towards a goal
of 80% renewable energy by 2030 and 100%
renewable energy by 2050; and allow us to grow
economically without compromising our ecology
so as to pass along to our descendants
a better place to live and to always be aware
of the footprint we're leaving behind.