Thursday, January 19, 2006

Today at 1:30, a coalition of local environmental groups officially presented a united eco-action plan "Environmental Imperatives for the Commonwealth of Virginia" to Mayor David Brown and Councilor Kendra Hamilton of Charlottesville and Chairman Dennis Rooker and Supervisor Sally Thomas of Albemarle County. The three-page document outlines environmental priorities for action at the state level.
The imperatives include a Biodiversity Action Plan, stricter guidelines for logging, air quality monitoring throughout the state, reducing per capita power use by 50%, better growth control tools, improved funding for car alternatives, and prohibiting the energy industry from making Political Action Committee campaign contributions.
Seventeen groups participated in creating the document:
Sierra Club, People's Alliance for Clean Energy, Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, Alternatives to Paving, Virginia Forest Watch, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, Citizens for Albemarle, Energy Justice Network, Coal River Mountain Watch, Public Citizen, Wildlaw, Voices for Animals, American Lung Association, Southern Energy Network, Nature Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Some of these seem like a long shot. Like the PAC business. But the air quality monitoring seems reasonable enough as does better growth control tools, such as sufficient infrastructure legislation.
One of my clients, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, is looking for a new Executive Director. I definitely recommend the position to anyone interested in sustainability and growth in the Charlottesville region. And you get the extra special privelege of being my boss.