| 1 | | - | Enrolled July 05, 2023 Passed IN Senate July 03, 2023 Amended IN Senate June 08, 2023 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20232024 REGULAR SESSION Senate Resolution No. 34Introduced by Senator CorteseMay 02, 2023Relative to climate restoration. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSR 34, Cortese. Digest KeyBill TextWHEREAS, Humanity has an obligation to future generations to restore and maintain a safe climate that ensures long-term survival; andWHEREAS, The human species has never before lived with a sustained atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration above 300 parts per million (ppm); andWHEREAS, Todays atmospheric CO2 concentration is approximately 420 ppm, 40 percent higher than in preindustrial times, resulting in serious and worsening impacts on climate, agriculture, and business; andWHEREAS, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 stated that the ultimate objective of the convention was to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system; andWHEREAS, At that time, the atmospheric CO2 concentration was 350 ppm, which is the maximum level theorized to sustain the ecosystems to which humanity is adapted; andWHEREAS, Climate restoration refers to the climate change goal and associated actions to restore atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to historic levels in which humans have survived long-term; andWHEREAS, Restoring the atmospheric CO2 concentration to a safe level, below 300 ppm, will require removing approximately one trillion tons of legacy CO2 from the atmosphere; andWHEREAS, Nature has removed roughly one trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere 10 times in the last 1,000,000 years, with two of natures major methods for removing geologic amounts of atmospheric CO2 being photosynthesis in the ocean and by forming limestone; andWHEREAS, Scientists and technologists have developed and demonstrated methods, including ways to replicate and accelerate these natural processes, that have the potential to be implemented and scaled; andWHEREAS, Climate justice requires climate restoration because low-income communities are the first and most impacted by climate change; andWHEREAS, Climate restoration will benefit the people of the State of California by reducing losses and damage from wildfires, while producing positive effects on human and ecosystem health, industry, and jobs in agriculture and other sectors; now, therefore, be itResolved by the Senate of the State of California, That the Senate formally recognizes the obligation to future generations to restore a safe climate, and declares climate restoration, along with achieving net-zero and net-negative CO2 emissions, a climate policy priority; and be it furtherResolved, That the Senate calls on the State Air Resources Board to engage necessary federal entities as appropriate to urge the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to propose a climate treaty that would restore and stabilize GHG levels as our common climate goal; and be it furtherResolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the State Air Resources Board. |
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| 1 | + | Amended IN Senate June 08, 2023 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20232024 REGULAR SESSION Senate Resolution No. 34Introduced by Senator CorteseMay 02, 2023Relative to climate restoration. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSR 34, as amended, Cortese. Digest KeyBill TextWHEREAS, Humanity has an obligation to future generations to restore and maintain a safe climate that ensures long-term survival; andWHEREAS, The human species has never before lived with a sustained atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration above 300 parts per million (ppm); andWHEREAS, Todays atmospheric CO2 concentration is approximately 420 ppm, 40 percent higher than in preindustrial times, resulting in serious and worsening impacts on climate, agriculture, and business; andWHEREAS, The United Nations set its climate goal to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in 1992, when the atmospheric CO2 concentration was 350 ppm, which is the maximum level theorized to sustain the ecosystems to which humanity is adapted; andWHEREAS, Achieving the 2015 Paris Agreements target of net zero by 2050 would result in an atmospheric CO2 concentration above 450 ppm, which is more than 50 percent higher than has proven safe for humans historically; andWHEREAS, An atmospheric CO2 concentration of 450 ppm would correspond to a global average temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius; andWHEREAS, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 stated that the ultimate objective of the convention was to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system; andWHEREAS, At that time, the atmospheric CO2 concentration was 350 ppm, which is the maximum level theorized to sustain the ecosystems to which humanity is adapted; andWHEREAS, Climate restoration refers to the climate change goal and associated actions to restore atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to historic levels in which humans have survived long-term; andWHEREAS, Restoring the atmospheric CO2 concentration to a safe level, below 300 ppm, by 2050 ppm, will require removing approximately one trillion tons of legacy CO2 from the atmosphere, or 50 billion tons of CO2 per year for 20 years; and atmosphere; andWHEREAS, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has told the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that, A livable planet now relies on removing up to a trillion tons of carbon already in our atmosphere; andWHEREAS, Nature has removed roughly one trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere 10 times in the last 1,000,000 years, with each incidence preceding an ice age, and with two of natures major methods for removing geologic amounts of atmospheric CO2 being photosynthesis in the ocean and by forming limestone; andWHEREAS, Scientists and technologists have developed and demonstrated methods, including ways to replicate and accelerate these natural processes, that can have the potential to be implemented and scaled; andWHEREAS, Climate justice requires climate restoration because low-income communities are the first and most impacted by climate change; andWHEREAS, Climate restoration will benefit the people of the State of California by reducing losses and damage from wildfires, while producing positive effects on human and ecosystem health, industry, and jobs in agriculture and other sectors; now, therefore, be itResolved by the Senate of the State of California, That the Senate formally recognizes the obligation to future generations to restore a safe climate, and declares climate restoration, along with achieving net-zero and net-negative CO2 emissions, a climate policy priority; and be it furtherResolved, That the Senate calls on the people and the State Air Resources Board to engage necessary federal entities as appropriate to urge the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to propose a climate treaty that would restore and stabilize GHG levels as our common climate goal; and be it furtherResolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the State Air Resources Board and to the mayor of each city and town in California. Board. |
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