State Leadership Fuels Carbon Reduction, Clean Energy Booms
(Solutions from the Land) … The swelling momentum of state leadership pushing forward climate issues and solutions, as well as growing engagement with the challenges of climate change on Capitol Hill, shows there is a surging opportunity for stakeholders from the ag and forestry sectors, which are among the biggest industries and power users in many states, to impress upon their elected representatives of the need for policies that support their role in addressing climate change. That includes programs and funding mechanisms that promote the production of biofuels that have been shown to be much lower in GHG emissions than petroleum-based fuels, land management practices that sequester carbon in the soil, the capture of methane from livestock operations for conversion to renewable natural gas, forest management practices that enhance production while sequestering carbon, and greater implementation of on-farm clean, renewable energy installations that, according to the latest U.S. agriculture census, doubled to more than 130,000 farms between 2012 and 2017.
Proper policy and regulatory and financial drivers can enable farmers, ranchers and forestland owners to be a significant force in the delivery of low-cost, near-term sustainability solutions that can provide economic and environmental benefits across our nation. Call on Congress and your state legislators to give those stakeholders the opportunity to deliver those benefits. READ MORE