WHEREAS, there is nothing more essential to human life than pure and healthy air, and
WHEREAS, as our planet becomes more crowded and more energy, food and other products are required to supply the necessities and conveniences of life, air, the most fundamental of our natural resources, receives the brunt of the byproduct pollution of supplying that “prosperity”, and
WHEREAS, the impacts of air pollution on weather, climate and atmospheric processes are not fully understood, and often seem too large and remote for one person or community to address, but when you can’t breathe the air outside your own home, the issue becomes “up close and personal”, and
WHEREAS, traditional harvest or cultural practices for sugar cane includes burning which, under certain weather and wind conditions, results in nuisance and health-threatening smoke that contaminates the airspace of residences and neighborhoods, and
WHEREAS, citizens have a fundamental right to breathe air that does not impair their health or the enjoyment of their homes and neighborhoods, and
WHEREAS, it should be the responsibility and the obligation of the members of the agricultural community to insure that their on-farm practices do not impair their neighbors’ health and their neighbors’ enjoyment of their property.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Wildlife Federation urges the sugar cane industry of Louisiana, with the assistance of state and federal departments of agriculture, the LSU AgCenter and other appropriate institutions, to research and apply innovative methods to minimize and ultimately eliminate the generation of nuisance and health-threatening smoke from the field burning of sugar cane.
Adopted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation in convention assembled, 62nd Annual Meeting, March 4, 2001 in Many, Louisiana.