Environmental Justice & Public Health

The Coal Train

Make no mistake, I view the proposed coal pipeline through ours and our neighboring cities to be an act of domestic terrorism using biological weapons from the Trump administration and fossil fuel industry. This is open war against the Bay Area, and we must defend ourselves from such an existential threat.

I pledge to do everything in my power to stop coal from rolling through our city, and to aid neighboring cities in that mission.

If we fail to do so, I pledge to work to mitigate the harms done, seek justice for those affected, and make it as unprofitable as possible for the industries involved. Please support AB 40: Protecting Californians from Trump’s Plan to Boost Dirty Coal and Tell California legislators: We need an environmental review for coal in West Oakland.

No Data Centers in Emeryville

In case my stances on AI and Surveillance aren’t already clear…

I am against data centers anywhere, especially in our city.

The environmental impacts of data centers are getting a lot of press, and they definitely factor into my opposition. The amount of water they use and pollute, the massive energy drain, and the polluting products they support are more than enough reason to hate them.

These facts are well-researched and advocated:

• Data Centers, Urban Heat, and AI Growth (Yale School of the Environment)
• From Energy Use to Air Quality, the Many Ways Data Centers Affect US Communities (World Resources Institute)
• What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town? (University of Michigan)

Again, all of my Issues are connected.

Why I Don’t Attack Primarily from This Angle

If, hypothetically, data centers found ways to be entirely solar-powered, stopped using and polluting our water and air, and funded whatever offsets they could trick local governments into accepting, I’d still hate them. They would still harm our environment and public health.

Because of this, I attack data centers at their core purpose in my rhetoric. Data centers shouldn’t exist because they:

• Store data mined mostly in secret, without consent, or under duress.
• Sell data to the worst people on earth on an unregulated market.
• Train heinous “AI” tools that pollute, kill jobs, drive lonely people to horrific acts, and aid billionaires in extracting wealth from people struggling to feed their families.

None of these purposes are in the public interest. This is why data centers shouldn’t exist.

Environmental Protection

Environmental Reviews for Housing Development

Environmental reviews should not be compromised to build more housing.

We all want to build more housing, faster, cheaper. I want more affordable housing too. The abundance movement in centrist Democrat circles has pushed for deregulation to help developers push through projects faster.

There are better ways to speed up building that don’t endanger public health. In today’s age of federal pressure to reduce restrictions on pollution-belching corporations, holding our standards firm here is more necessary than ever.

Social and Environmental Justice

As with most issues of Environmental Justice, the negative impacts of our inaction or recklessness hit our most vulnerable residents hardest.

• My wife has asthma and has to wear a mask or simply can’t go outside when air quality is bad.
• Many of my older neighbors take similar precautions.
• One of our stated goals as a city is to attract and retain more families as permanent residents. Safety for children is a necessary baseline to start from in achieving that goal.

I will not sacrifice lower-income, disabled, or otherwise marginalized people’s health for the sake of progress.

If you haven’t heard the story of Ella Roberta and her mother Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah yet, I recommend learning about them:

• The Ella Roberta Foundation
• Breathing air, breathing justice with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah (Black Earth Podcast)
• How Toxic Is the Air You Breathe? (Science Vs Podcast)

Conserving Water

Reducing water use was one of my big objectives when I joined my HOA’s landscaping committee a few years ago. We transformed our overgrown, thirsty mix of mismatched plants into a beautiful native, drought-resistant, courtyard that people and pollinators all love.

You can even see part of this project in front of Bridgewater condos main office. We took a leaky, problematic fountain into a bed of native plants and succulents. We shut down the pipes beneath, reduced our water use, and have called our plumbers less frequently.

Taking care of our natural resources is good for everyone, even our bottom line. When we think about sustainability, today’s pains (HOA dues, taxes, bonds, etc.) turn into tomorrow’s savings. We should invest in using less water and using it responsibly when we do.

Preparing for Sea Level Rise

Emeryville has a huge stake in sea level rise. By 2050, scientists predict we’ll face an accelerating sea level rise that’ll directly and indirectly impact our residents.

Because of this, I stand with The Sierra Club and other local environmental groups in aiming for “nature-based adaptation” to build up our resilience to these impacts. These interventions include protecting and restoring wetlands, oyster beds, and beaches. These investments will help us build a more sustainable ecosystem at our coastline that’ll be cheaper long-term than crisis response later.