Letter to legislature 3

Some suggestions I hope you will find interesting and strongly consider:

1. We need to grow industrial hemp; everyone knows it's superior to cotton, the oil is quite useful. Let's also use hemp for biofuels and additionally help stop global warming. It has so many uses. Hemp can also be used as an excellent source of food. It's an inexpensive, easy to grow crop. Stand up to the cotton, oil and prison guard lobby groups. Why is it the rest of the world seems to understand this?

2. Let's establish an official fund for EMT's; it will get more attention for donations that way. This money can be applied to families of those killed on duty or for EMTs in need of medical help or counseling. The police departments and fire departments already have a fund for this.

3. If it's not already a requirement, let's require a minimum of 30 hours of high school students to volunteer in some capacity to help the homeless whether it be in shelters, food programs or helping to get grants as a requirement for graduation. Love, skills and awareness toward rebuilding our future will be side benefits. Consider also www.nationalhomeless.org and www.hud.gov.

4. Again, we need to develop worker projects for restoration of infrastructure, and to just put people back to work. Do we really have to wait for the cost of oil (for freighters and shipping, etc.) to get so high that it finally becomes profitable to restore industry back on our soil? Let's act sooner than later. Let's continue developing programs for teaching people on how to get grants for aiding students, non profits, schools, libraries, etc. Let's make such training more widely available.

5. No more incandescent bulbs. Let's phase them out of the market. Let's make compact fluorescent bulbs a requirement as soon as possible. Where possible, let's make full spectrum lighting a requirement for long fluorescent tube lighting needs. Full spectrum lighting is far healthier for workers and for patients in hospitals.

6. Let's ban unnecessary plastic where possible. For example, plastic lids for to go disposeable coffee cups (which are also unnecessary). In other words, maybe bring your own mugs and tumblers. Minimize unnecessary use of plastic bags. Plastic is not very economical to recycle either. We have continent/s of plastic pollution floating in our oceans...

7. As a new right of passage, let's require students to plant at least one tree before being allowed to graduate. Maybe require some time in organic gardening/ developing p patches--learning about natural growth of food and in a sense reconnecting with the soil. As industry continues to "massacre" rainforests, forests of any kind, we can do our part to continue beautifying and restoring oxygen to our futures.

Thank you for listening,

Aaron Crosetto