David Trumble

“Our natural beauty is one of the greatest attractions we have in NH. As a forty-year certified organic farmer, I am committed to protecting our environment. Clean air, water, and soil are essential to life. We need to maintain protection of our rivers, lakes, and groundwater. People need places to go where they can experience the wonders of nature. It is important to have open land and trails for people to enjoy in their cities and towns, as well as our state and national parks. We need to support our parks and the environment for people’s well-being and for the substantial economic benefits, including through tourism, recreation, forestry management, and farming.”

KEYWORDS: Protect our environment

“Vaccines provide good preventative health care and as such are a foundation of good public health policy. Vaccines have played a critical role in reducing the number of cases and severity of many diseases. These diseases can lead to serious health impacts – hospitalization, damage to the lungs, heart, and liver, loss of hearing, paralysis, and even death. Vaccines are safe and effective and must go through years of testing before they are available to the public. The rate of MMR vaccination for children in childcare facilities is high, and we should work to maintain that. The state has an obligation to provide public health information, based on science, to the public. Vaccines have saved over 150 million lives worldwide. They are mostly young children under the age of 5. Policymakers should listen to the scientific evidence when making policy.”

KEYWORDS: Vaccines save lives

“The scientific consensus is that climate change is real and is mainly caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels. 99.9% of peer-reviewed climate studies support this conclusion. We need to look at ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels as a first step. As to mitigation of the impact of climate change and natural disasters, there are many steps we can take. Some examples are: Agriculture. Support climate resilience programs that encourage the use of cover crops and reduced tillage. This will protect soils from large storms that cause huge soil erosion. Forests. Protect our old-growth forests, support thoughtful timber stand improvement, and oppose the elimination of the Roadless Rule. Infrastructure. Fund important work on roads, bridges and culverts. Repairs are important, as is making sure the work helps to prevent the impact of any future floods on roads. Cities. Promote green spaces which help with reducing temperatures in the city and help reduce the runoff from large storms.

Natural barriers. Promote grasslands and marshes (inland marshes and along the saltwater areas) as natural barriers to flooding and storm damage.”

KEYWORDS: Agriculture, Infrastructure, Marshes

“Are we ready for the changes that are coming due to AI? Our understanding of how AI will change life, and our social, economic and ethical preparation for these changes is not keeping pace with the technology. We are behind the curve. What is to be gained from AI? Is it mostly for the financial profit of a few people? What social goods will benefit everyone? Who will control AI in the future? Should AI be open source for the use of the public? If not, should the financial benefits of AI be set aside for the public to offset the costs of AI in terms of lost jobs and wages? We need to ask these questions now. Large data centers have significant impact on local communities. Water is drained from aquifers making nearby homes unlivable, noise exceeds healthy levels making life a constant source of stress, high use of electricity raises utility bills, the use of large on-site diesel generators to supplement energy needs creates local pollution and jeopardizes the health of people in the community. Local communities should have a say in whether they support a large data center in their town.”

KEYWORDS: Pollution, Local Control

“The cheapest, cleanest and easiest source of electricity in the world is solar. We should encourage adoption of solar and offshore wind for NH. Solar is winning. Solar energy was 75% of new energy in the world last year, and 50% in the US (with batteries making up an additional 30%). NH gets only 1% of its electricity from solar, while surrounding states get over 15% and climbing. Every day in New England, we get 5x as much energy from solar as from the Seabrook power plant for most of the day. NH is far behind the region. Solar is inexpensive. Why is the world adopting solar? Solar is much cheaper than the lowest fossil fuel prices. Its cost has dropped over 90% in the last 15 years and continues to drop. The remaining barriers are “soft costs” which we can address. The cost of batteries has dropped over 80%. California releases almost as much electricity from batteries after sundown than is used in all New England. It is easy. Solar can be installed in a range of places, reducing the demand on the grid, the expense of upgrading the grid, and could create thousands of local jobs.”

KEYWORDS: Solar clean, inexpensive