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From: Nicholas Johnson <br />To: Council -Ian Bain; Council -Diane Howard; Council-Giselle Hale; Council -Alicia Aguirre; Council -Janet Borgens; <br />Council -Shelly Masur; Council -Diana Reddv <br />Subject: Support for the Reach Natural Gas Codes <br />Date: Monday, September 21, 2020 11:38:48 AM <br />Dear Council Members, <br />As a resident of Redwood City, and a small business owner in Redwood City, who has built a <br />successful career proving we can be fossil fuel independent and live better lives in the future <br />by transition quickly to sustainable practices. Not doing so will have disastrous consequences <br />for many generations, and is an experiment I hope you don't want to see run its havoc. I <br />implore you to have the courage to stay the course with the reach codes and electrification of <br />our community. I recognize that making decisions that not everyone in the community may <br />support is not always easy, but I firmly know we need to be thinking about a sustainable future <br />and a clean environment for our community. Many of our residents have made their wealth - <br />building solutions that improve our standards of life while going carbon neutral. Sadly there is <br />no good way to 'transition' and frankly, delaying the move to renewables means continuing to <br />damage our micro and macro ecosystems that we are so fortunate to enjoy. If the last few <br />weeks of fires, heavy smoke, and increasing air pollution are not address Redwood City and <br />many more communities in the world will lose residence seeking nicer places to live. <br />I believe that without action to accelerate sustainable alternatives, and create reforms that <br />incentives better choices for others the incumbents will keep pushing us backward for their <br />own profits. Like all change, there are those who have gained power and influence from the <br />previous methods of the world, while new better once have to flight to displace their <br />dominance. Redwood City is a community with many people who want to fight that good fight <br />and spur alternatives and create a cleaner, sustainable, and more pleasant community. <br />haps://www.propublica. org/article/climate-change-will-force-a-new-american-migration <br />Methane (natural gas) is a super pollutant, being shown in many peer-reviewed studies to be <br />80x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas AND it is terrible for our health. It is <br />considered a leading cause of pet and childhood leukemia and it triggers asthma for those who <br />have it; it emits formaldehyde, nitrous oxides as well as carbon monoxide when it burns. The <br />reason cities mandate carbon monoxide detectors in our homes is that we are pumping a <br />highly combustible, volatile, odorless gas into our homes all day long (in earthquake <br />country)! We cannot pretend that natural gas is in any way natural or good for the <br />community. <br />