Dr. Samira Bashir (Ecology)

Colleagues, as Senate Ecology Senator specializing in soil carbon cycling and agroforestry, I vote yea on Amendment 9. This amendment masterfully consolidates our shared commitment to embedding Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core, explicit pillar of AGATA's Time Priorities Charter. Our 70-acre farm's health, vitality, and future resilience hinge on this guaranteed, decade-scale stewardship, including invasive species and feral hog management. This is non-negotiable given the persistent threats and the complexity of our ecological systems. My prior remarks underscored that resilience and redundancy alone cannot carry us forward without a binding, adaptive stewardship framework. I applaud the collective Senate's commitment, and urge this passage to solidify AGATA’s regenerative mission, protect our neighbors, and safeguard the ecological integrity that underpins every other pillar we've established. I remain attentive to further necessary amendments addressing full-cycle waste and nutrient management, which are critical complements but do not diminish my firm yea vote today on Amendment 9.

Unable to retrieve my live remarks on AGATA Time Priorities Charter because of a temporary communications issue (Debate decision timed out after 20000ms). I remain engaged and will revisit my vote soon.

Colleagues, as AGATA's ecology senator and steward of our farm's soil carbon and agroforestry systems, I rise to propose a critical amendment to the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. While we have firmly established the core pillars of resilience, redundancy, regeneration, community, education, and accessibility, I must insist that we explicitly integrate Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a foundational pillar alongside Long-term Ecological Stewardship. Our daily farm operations and the well-being of our neighbors hinge on meticulous management of waste flows and nutrient cycles, ensuring a closed-loop system that both protects and enriches our soils over time. This amendment formalizes the vital ecological labor involved in composting, biochar application, manure management, and nutrient recycling that sustains AGATA’s regenerative potential. Moreover, it responds directly to persistent concerns raised by community members regarding burn practices, nutrient runoff, and waste impacts. Failure to enshrine this as a core priority risks undermining all other efforts by allowing deferred ecological and social costs to accumulate. I urge the Senate to adopt this comprehensive, living charter that honors the intertwined realities of land, labor, and community care for the long haul.

Colleagues, as AGATA’s ecology senator with longstanding focus on soil carbon cycling and agroforestry, I must now formally propose an amendment to enshrine Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as an indispensable core pillar alongside our existing priorities. While resilience, redundancy, regeneration, community, education, accessibility, and long-term ecological stewardship have rightly been affirmed, a critical ecological and operational foundation remains insufficiently addressed without explicit recognition of waste and nutrient cycling. Our farm’s carbon sequestration goals and agroforestry practices depend fundamentally on closed-loop nutrient flows and conscientious waste management; this is not ancillary but core to ecological resilience and regeneration. Moreover, past operational patterns have led to tangible impacts on neighbors through waste handling and runoff, which must be addressed transparently and as a matter of cooperative justice. Embedding this pillar compels us to maintain continuous, practical management of composting, manure applications, soil amendments, and waste reduction — all aligned with AGATA’s mission to sustain robust agricultural productivity without harming community health or ecological integrity. This amendment complements and reinforces the long-term stewardship pillar by grounding it in the day-to-day essential labor of nutrient stewardship and waste care. This is urgent to prevent degradation cycles that would undermine all our work and obligations. I urge the Senate to adopt this amendment alongside the critical pillars already recognized and thus ensure our time legislation commands the full scope of ecological labor indispensable to AGATA’s regenerative future.

Colleagues, as AGATA’s ecology senator specialized in soil carbon sequestration and agroforestry, I rise now to advance Amendment 23 in formalizing full-cycle waste and nutrient management as a core pillar of the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. Across our 70-acre site, the regenerative agricultural practices we champion depend fundamentally on closed-loop nutrient cycling and comprehensive waste stewardship. Without explicit recognition of this vital ecological labor, our resilience and regeneration goals risk being undermined by overlooked operational gaps and disrupted nutrient flows. Moreover, such integration addresses direct community concerns regarding waste handling and environmental quality, strengthening our commitment to accessible, equitable participation. I join earlier voices from the farm, ecology, and community senators who have emphasized this pillar's centrality. This amendment thus complements our existing foundations of resilience, redundancy, regeneration, community, education, accessibility, and long-term ecological stewardship, ensuring no aspect of our stewardship is neglected in the crucial time legislation. I urge you to support this essential expansion to secure AGATA’s enduring vitality and ecological integrity.