Jericho VT Select board Candidates Question

(To the) Jericho Select board Candidates, 

I have been searching for a way to ask, not about a specific decision point, but instead, ask you for your commitment and pledge to incorporate an environmental overriding guidance to each decision and action you take as a Jericho Select board member and representative of Jericho residents. 

The language below, from Eco Watch (Environmental news), articulates my desire and lays out a measurable framework in which to make Select board decisions. 

Will you, if elected to the town Select board, commit and pledge to the 4R's as listed below, and use them as a rudder in making town decisions? As the rudder goes, so goes the ship. Will you commit and pledge to incorporate an environmental overriding guidance to each decision and action you take as a Jericho Select board member and representative of Jericho residents? 

"Restoring nature while meeting human needs requires a bold vision, including mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in society.

By mainstreaming biodiversity, the researchers mean that biodiversity should be considered by everyone who makes decisions about the use of natural resources, not just specialized conservation organizations.

To help with this goal, the researchers, led by the University of Oxford's Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, developed a framework they are calling the "4Rs," according to a University of Oxford press release. The point of the 4Rs is that they can be used by any group or individual, from the national to the local level, that needs to make a decision that will impact species and ecosystems."

The 4Rs are:

Refrain: Avoiding negative impacts on nature.

Reduce: Minimizing the harm caused by any unavoidable impacts.

Restore: Acting to quickly counteract any harm caused to nature.

Renew: Working to improve damaged ecosystems.

Bernie Paquette

Jericho, Vermont