What are the issues and what are solutions that will create greater opportunity
Economy
Issues:
- California, the eighth largest economy in the world, has been hard hit in the current financial crisis. An economic slow down means job losses for all sectors.
- What happened to skills training for the emerging work force? School children are tested with increasing frequency in order to verify progress in core academic areas. But, is this all we want our students to have learned by the time they graduate from high school?
- Greed, corruption and naïveté have left our economy, and many of our most vulnerable, open to exploitation. It seems that many in society and in government have abandoned all sense of responsibility to the greater community.
Solutions:
- We need leaders who understand the critical link between a trained work force and a vibrant economy. Science and technology have been key economic drivers in this country since its inception as evidenced by the growth of the auto industry in the early 1900's and the computer industry in the second half of the 1900's. Job creation in our region will be reinvigorated by investments in research and development and the education of our workforce.
- Too much emphasis on core academic subjects, to the exclusion of hands-on training, is leaving many children poorly prepared for life after high school graduation. For many, textbook knowledge only makes sense when applied to a concrete situation. Vocational and occupational programs provide an incentive for students to learn math and other academic subjects while preparing students for the work world. All students deserve access to such programs.
- We must hold true to our fundamental values as Americans, values that cross ethnic and cultural lines. It is vital that those in positions of authority are held accountable for adhering to those values. Effective regulations, designed to protect our economy from corruption and greed, must be adopted and enforced.
Environment
Issues:
- Climate change is here. Rates of animal and plant extinctions are accelerating faster than we can track them. Irreversible changes in the global ecosystem loom ahead. Can we muster the courage to make the changes that will lessen the impact on the planet that our children and grandchildren will inherit?
- Carbon dioxide continues to be released into the atmosphere in ever increasing amounts. Greenhouse gas emissions affect growing seasons and precipitation patterns. Critical marine and terrestrial ecosystems are being damaged.
- Our supply of clean, freshwater is in jeopardy. We must avoid the mistakes made in the past. Draining lakes and rivers dry devastates local ecosystems while failing to solve our long-term water issues.
- Significant tracts in this district are devoted to agricultural purposes. Agriculture, industry, and residential developments compete for common resources. In Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, we are losing prime agricultural lands to real estate development.
Solutions:
- All life is interdependent, so loss of species from a habitat impacts more than just the local ecosystem. Ultimately, we are looking at issues related to quality of life for all of us. Conservation efforts are important to our efforts to sustain the global ecosystem.
- It is imperative that we enact a national energy policy mandating significant reduction of carbon dioxide and other green house gas emissions. The development of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and solar-thermal energy will generate new jobs while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.
- The water needs of our cities, our farms and our natural environment must be balanced. Because water is a resource that flows across state borders, the federal government needs to ensure that states cooperate in developing policies relating to water use and acquisition.
- We need to develop a long-range vision for land use. Development, whether industrial, commercial, or residential, is an important part of our future but we need to begin with a conversation about how we want the district to look in 20 and 50 years. The discussions that SOAR is holding throughout Ventura County are a good step toward this objective.
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