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Page 1 of 1 <br />~) 33 <br />Tom Altieri <br />From: Tom Grizzle [griz@mindspring.com] <br />Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 12:32 PM <br />To: CompPlanUpdate <br />Subject: Comments on Orange County Plan <br />To whom it may concern, <br />I was born in Chapel Hill in 1958 and have lived here for most of my life. I currently reside in Chapel <br />Hill where I own and operate a small business (Toxicology Services, Inc.) as a toxicology consultant. <br />My main concerns for the future growth and development of Orange county are general, and relate to <br />an ever increasing minimization of the consumption of energy (both direct and indirect) and activities <br />that consume energy. This is because... <br />1) I believe that "Peak Oil" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak oil) is upon us and there will only <br />be higher and higher oil prices and so conservation/minimization and changing to another <br />energy source for essential activities has to be the umbrella under which EVERYTHING is <br />considered, and .:. <br />2) Global climate change, brought about by human activities like burning hydrocarbons, will <br />gradually transform Orange County into a different place, probably a hotter and dryer place, but <br />that's not yet known. These two events are utterly transformative and, like it or not, MUST be <br />fully and completely taken into account when ALL future growth and development are <br />considered. <br />The current paradigm for growth and development no longer applies. We not only need to think outside <br />the box, we have to recycle said box! This 20 year plan is already obsolete. Great emphasis needs to <br />be placed on things like (not a comprehensive listing)... <br />• obtaining food locally and supporting those engaged in this. activity (the 18-wheelers will stop <br />magically appearing to resupply Harris Teeter) <br />• creating and encouraging local sources of essential goods <br />• converting power sources for essential services to "off the grid" and non-C02 emitting <br />(OWASA, for example) <br />making everything bicycle friendly, including building out planned greenways and dramatically <br />expanding current and new greenways as bike and foot paths <br />Either we consider and aggressively respond to these issues now, while there is still a limited window of <br />time to react, or actions/reactions will be forced upon us at much greater societal and financial costs. <br />Thanks for the opportunity to comment. <br />Sincerely, <br />Tom Grizzle <br />919.967.5199 <br />7/11/2008 <br />