Top 3 Priorities
- Education-An educated populace is the highest priority. It’s an investment in the future prosperity of our entire planet. An investment in education is paramount to investing in anything else.
- Energy– The future moves us away from centralized non-renewable sources and towards community driven diverse portfolios of clean renewable energy. Renewable energy is free from the earth and more than just a modern convenience to be capitalized on.
- Economy– We need to diversify our foundation. Attract industries that seek social, environmental as well as economic profits. Leaping beyond the carbon economy unlocks a plethora of opportunity for a profitable future.
In 3 years we can put in play a 5 year plan that accomplishes the goal of lowering the cost of living and raises the quality of life for all. Along with the role the Fairbanks North Star Borough will play in moving Alaska from the end of the line to a global hub of culture and commerce.
Year/step 1: Take all municipal buildings off the GVEA grid. Utilize PACE and other incentives to assist other major consumers to become their own producers and this will make it affordable to residents to make the switch from central authority to decentralized citizen power. Subsidize back up power and geothermal as the tipping point of transition.
Year/step 2: map out how the state achieves 80% food production in 10 years and the role the Fairbanks North Star Borough plays in leading the way forward. Partnering with churches, restaurants, and local institutions develop a plan of community food sovereignty as the ultimate means of security.
Year/step 3: Map out the conversion of all the transfer stations into reclamation center/transitional housing/vertical farms. We can do all this without raising taxes or taking on generational debt by engaging private equity investors through P3 partnerships and eliminating the waste in how things are done now
Working with Nature as a profitable business partner, instead of viewing her as just another cost of doing business make it possible to reorganize our energy priorities so we can revitalize our economy and light the way forward.
- Solar energy is the low hanging fruit to bring new revenue streams into the budget. It won’t solve the energy challenge but it will frame the conversation.
- Hydrogen is affordable, reliable, and the key facilitator for transportation, manufacturing, as well as heat and power.
- Our garbage is a resource to create heat, energy, and build new industries.60% of the garbage is organic. Combined with hemp, we can make heating fuel pellets for consumers large and small.
- Hemp can stimulate the growth of local building materials to provide affordable homes, jobs, and an economically viable carbon capture plan.
- We have ample geothermal resources here in the Tanana Valley as a viable district heating solution.
- Incentives exist that can work in a class 2 borough to help residents and businesses fund efficiency upgrades to lower energy costs.
A three-year term, as the first Permaculture Mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, is the latest evolution of a lifetime of service intended to position Alaska as a prosperous global center of culture and commerce. I will work for bipartisan solutions that move us all forward without further burden to future generations.
I will be working to forward principles proven in nature, and policies that voluntarily move our economic system into alignment with those natural systems. Tackling root issues of zero waste, energy independence, and food security are profitable opportunities to bring new revenue for services without the need for more taxes. This will allow the Golden Heart of Alaska to make the just transition from scarcity toward generational prosperity.
Preserving the freedom to choose is arguably the purpose of military strength and repeated failures to give people all the information so they can make choices beyond the “bi-partisan” resolution, is why people have lost faith in the institution of government. The key to preserving the core of our democracy and the foundation for our way of life is for the government to have faith in her people and share the burden of power.
Additionally Important Issue
High Speed Transit– Transportation accounts for a majority of the energy we consume and the impact we have on the environment. Beyond the traditional notion of plane, train, and automobile, the future of safe, affordable, and clean transportation is tubular.
Equality– As in Nature, celebrating our diversity is the greatest strength we have and ensuring equity for all is protecting the freedom for all life.
Air Quality– Clean air cannot be regulated. It requires a reboot of our energy infrastructure. Rethinking waste is how some communities meet this need.
Crime– For many, criminal activity is an act of economic desperation. Addiction is driven by despair and education is the greatest deterrent.
Government Reform– A government for the people and by the people must be made up of educated people. Voting is the beginning of civic duty, not the end.
Food Security– We import 95% of our food and have at best a 3-day reserve. Food sovereignty is an issue of national security as well as public health.
Fiscal Responsibility– I believe we can meet the responsibilities of lean government with a lower mill rate and without a sales or income tax. We do so by providing incentives to tech companies to locate to Fairbanks.
Waste– Zero- waste is a successful business model in Nature and the foundation of a thriving generational resource-based economy. When you throw away trash you’re throwing away money.
Values– Spirituality is daily nurturing the “God” inside us and instill the values of personal responsibility and ethical action in all good people.
Animal Care In the Interior– Looking at how licenses, fees from enhanced enforcement of existing laws, and value added services can pay for not just a modern, no-kill shelter, but can foster the greater community of animal care for the health and benefit of all.