Hawaii-2024-SCR105-Introduced

WHEREAS, climate change is a serious danger which threatens to have a significant impact on the State, the United States, and the world; and

WHEREAS, climate change is caused by the accumulation of carbon within the atmosphere, which is substantially worsened by the consumption of fossil fuels; and

WHEREAS, many people recognize the threats posed by climate change and wish to minimize their personal contribution to the buildup of carbon in the atmosphere; and

WHEREAS, though a single person's actions make only a small difference in the matter of global warming, the total of actions taken by many people makes a significant difference; and

WHEREAS, it is not always intuitive or obvious which actions a person or group of people can take to reduce their carbon footprint; and

WHEREAS, the executive director of Project Drawdown, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that advances effective, science-based climate solutions and strategies; fosters bold, new climate leadership; and promotes new narratives and new voices to help the world stop climate change, has said that there have been efforts from industry to mislead customers about what is most effective at mitigating climate change; and

WHEREAS, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland (Post-UMD) poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans believe that recycling will have a lot or some impact on climate change, while a study led by a University of Leeds researcher found that the climate change impact of recycling is second-to-last among more than fifty actions; and

WHEREAS, according to the same Post-UMD poll, only twenty-four percent of Americans believe that not eating meat will have a lot or some impact on climate change, while Project Drawdown estimates that three-quarters of people around the world adopting a plant-rich diet by 2050 could avoid the release of more than one hundred gigatons of emissions; and

WHEREAS, according to the same Post-UMD poll, only thirty-one percent of Americans believe that living in a smaller house or apartment will have a lot or some impact on climate change, while the director of Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, an interdisciplinary research lab that supports environmental research, has stated that a home's carbon footprint is often proportionate to its size; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission is requested to conduct an educational program regarding the activities of individuals that contribute to climate change; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the educational program is requested to:

(1) Inform people of which personal activities, habits, and lifestyle choices create the greatest contribution to an individual's carbon footprint; and

(2) Make use of printed fliers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission is requested to coordinate with the Department of Health in the implementation of the educational program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the co-chairs and members of the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; Department of Health; Educational Program

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	105
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII