Going into the meeting I had to pass a table with agendas, info packets and annual reports on it. The literature was all free, so I picked it up and started browsing while I waited for them to get down to business. Here is a page that explained the group:

The reason we were there was to watch them pass this resolution:

I really like the "reduce GHG emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and develop specific performance objectives to track progress in achieving that goal" part. Wow!

When the issue finally came up a number of people spoke in favor of the thing.

        

I remember the Sierra Club talking about the 2,000 emails each and every member of the board had gotten from fans of the resolution. Someone mentioned that Supervisor Avalos (right picture above) was the guiding force behind the thing.

To make a long story short, the board talked about it for a while. Several of them called it a "revolutionary" goal. One of them said something like "art and science meet in this issue." Maybe they made a change or two. In the end all of them who were there voted for the initiative.

Then they moved on to discussing the winter wood burning issue. I've no interest in that so I thought about what I'd heard and seen. Clearly the BAAQMD isn't responsible for cars, that's the personal responsibility of the drivers and/or owners of those vehicles. Yet somehow there needs to be a way to "get us on the same page". I'd heard one of them use the term "personal responsibility", so I decided to make a comment. At the end of the agenda there was a spot for members of the public to address the board on matters not on the agenda. I submitted a comment card and patiently waited my turn. When it came up I said something like this:

"My name is Tian Harter and I've been a grass roots activist on this topic for many years. Thank you so much for passing that wonderful resolution calling for dramatic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. I've been a fan of 'think globally, act locally type solutions for many years, and more so since I found a book that defined the American dream as 'a shared national vision that makes practical sense at the local level.'  I'm a big fan of economists like Herman Daily who think of buying something as the economic equivalent of eating or inhaling it. In that vein defecating is the same thing as throwing away a used up asset or exhaling it."

"I want to mention one social media viral campaign I learned of on the one year anniversary of super storm Sandy in Palo Alto. This woman and her young son are spreading the word that CO2 is worse than poo because they figured out that every gallon of gasoline burns into 18 lbs. of CO2."

At that point several of suits rocked back in their seats as if that idea had socked them.

"I also like to tell people 'STOP VOTING FOR OIL COMPANIES AT THE GAS PUMP.'"

At that point the light went on and started blinking in front of me, so I thanked them for their time and sat down. The idea of cutting way back on our carbon dioxide emissions still makes me very happy. Lets go for it!