A new initiative to combat climate change has been launched in California, pushed by a coalition of public and private entities hoping to transfer carbon from the air into the soil. In order to pay for the plan aimed at creating "a renewable food system," organizers are asking restaurants in the state to start charging an additional 1 percent fee to their customers.
What are the details?
The Perennial Farming Initiative wants restaurateurs to sign up for passing the "optional" surcharge along to their patrons, so the funds can be funneled to the California Air Resource Board and "spent on implementing carbon plans on farms and ranches across California."
According to a report from KOVR-TV, the idea is being met with mixed reviews.
"Well I live in California and I don't know if you know this or not it's pretty freaking expensive here," resident Mike Mattingly told the outlet. "One percent to somebody who doesn't make that much money ain't a lot but it's a lot more than they have."
An unnamed passerby in Sacramento told KOVR of the plan, "I wouldn't be interested in doing that. Leave the climate alone."
But resident John Peters argued, "We're not asking our fixed-income people to pay that on their property tax. We're asking that of someone who had made a choice to go out and spend money."
The initiative is set to launch in the fall, and advocates say it could rake in a lot of dough to be used for carbon sequestration efforts.
Restaurant owner Christopher Barnum-Dann noted, "There's 78,7000 restaurants in California, so if half of them join on that's almost 40,000, so that's a decent chunk of money"
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