Kahoolawe June 24-27

Today Kahoolawe is a barren wasteland populated mostly by thorny kiawe trees, the soil just dust and sand or hard packed earth. The mountains bear gaping craters ala the Grand Canyon with incipient hoodoo formations like those at Bryce Canyon. The rare green plant on Kahoolawe is a miracle and a testament to the tenacity of life if given a fighting chance.

Most people, however, don’t know that Kahoolawe has an acquifer (now cracked and rendering the water slightly brackish) with at least one well in the same area that once supported a “thriving Hawaiian community” back in the 1600’s. Areas that are just dry earth today are called “lua mahiko” (mosquito pit) because they were once lush and wet.

Most people know that the military used the island for bombing practice for fifty years (they’re the ones who cracked the acquifer) but most people don’t know—I didn’t know—that it was the goats, allowed to roam free on the island for a hundred years before them—that did the major damage. Goats—those tenacious eaters who don’t graze the surface as cattle do but dig deep for the roots and render the earth lifeless as they go—were the ones who made Kahoolawe what it is today.

The overgrazing created a vicious cycle: the lack of greenery brought less cloud cover to Kahoolawe which in turn contributed to the desertification of the island so that when the rain does come, the island is no longer able to capture and store the precious fresh water. Rather, the water runs down the island straight into the ocean, creating those gaping craters as it goes and contributing to the erosion that defines the landscape. It is the water ironically that erodes the island more than anything else today.

This weekend, we went to Kahoolawe as part of a Protect Kahoolawe Ohana monthly access trip. We harvested mulch and planted bags of the stuff along the coast high atop the island where they would potentially get some rainfall and germinate, but there is very little chance those plantings are going to get any rainfall; there is very little chance that any of those plantings will survive.

There is a catchment near the top of the island siphoning water along tubes to gardens. This area is definitely greener than other parts of the island but even here there are plants withered on the stem, frozen in mid-growth right where the sprinkler outlets.
Even the catchment does not provide enough water to nourish the few plants there.

It’s sad that we think of Kahoolawe simply as “the bombing island” as if the eleven-mile long and seven-mile wide island was disposable. Kahoolawe was (and is) an important navigational site to Hawaiians. At its highest point (almost 1500 feet) there sits an ancient “navigational chair” which offers a bird’s eye view of all of the channels between Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolawe; ancient Hawaiian navigators stopped here to assess the winds and waters and plan their journey. It is from Kahoolawe that one gets the finest view of Haleakala (the House of the Sun), where on summer solstice, one can see the sun rise at the tip of Haleakala before it slowly makes its way down the right hand side of the mountain throughout the summer and fall months and makes it way back up the mountain during the winter and spring, as if Kanaloa placed these two islands there for time-keeping purposes. But we don’t remember these attributes of Kahoolawe; we remember the red dirt.

Kahoolawe for me is a cautionary tale, an example of what can happen to our resources if we don’t malama aina. We can—humans can, goats can—change our environment dramatically and if we aren’t smart about our actions, we can waste our resources—dig up all the greenery, crack our last acquifer—to the point where the land is no longer able to sustain us.

Fuel by Josh Tickell

We went to go see the Oahu premiere of Fuel,  a film directed by Josh Tickell about his life-long quest to reduce fossil-fuel use in America. Told in the style of a Michael Moore documentary, the film covers much territory that many are now well-familiar with: that the U.S. is creating 50% of the earth's green house gases while comprising only 5% of the population, that consumer demand for large cars in the U.S. has been largely manufactured by the auto industry, that the Iraq War was largely manufactured by the likes of Cheney and Wolfowitz to secure oil interests abroad, that as a planet we are quickly reaching peak oil, that the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is melting our polar ice caps, yada yada. 

 To this, Tickell adds his own personal story about growing up in the beautiful wilderness of Australia only to move back to his mother's hometown in Louisiana with its polluted streams and toxic sites that were a byproduct of the oil refineries there. As a young adult, Tickell toured the country in his "Veggie Van", a van fueled completely by vegetable oil and over the years has worked tirelessly to spread the word on the wonders of biodiesel. 

It is not until mid-way through that the film addresses the media backlash against biodiesel, which hit the newsstands last summer. The argument went that the production of biodiesel causes deforestation,  increases food prices, and uses fossil fuels anyway, so what was the point. The film makes the argument that gallon for gallon, biodiesel still uses less energy than regular old oil, so despite all its deficiencies is still a better alternative. Sadly, it was only in the Q & A with Tickell and his fiancé after the showing that he mentioned that the source for this media firestorm was a PR firm that was funded by a petroleum company. Why this detail didn't make it into the film I'm not sure.

At the heart of the film was Tickell's love for diesel and biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum gasoline. And I think the film might've been stronger if it had focused a little bit on this conceit. As it is, the film casts a very wide net, got a little boring toward the end with its endless list of "Things you can do NOW!"  Apparently, everyone told him he should cut another 20 minutes and I have to say I'd agree. 

Still, the tidbits on diesel and biodiesel make this film an important one, one that adds to the conversations started by other like-minded films including Why we Fight, The Corporation, Who killed the electric car?, and An Inconvenient Truth.  

The film is currently slated to open nationwide in September. Hawaii is not currently on the roster of cities where the film will be opening. 

 

Bottle Redemption Fees to rise

I was horrified to read in the Advertiser today that the redemption rate for our bottles and cans will be going up from 6 cents/bottle to 6.5 cents/bottle.

This was horrifying for two reason: 1) Since when have the HI-5c redemption fees been 6 cents?! And 2) they're going to raise it even more!

Brian had to calm the pake in me down and remind me that the fact that Hawaii is recycling over 70% of its bottles is good thing. It's better that things are being recycled than ending up in a landfill. True, true. But is the state going to be forced to continue raising its redemption rate to 9 cent/bottle?!

If I'm upset about the rate increase, chances are those who were anti-the-bottle-bill-in-the-first-place are far more upset than me. It'll be interesting to see where these increases take the state in terms of its recycling habits. At 7 cents/bottle or, god forbid, 9 cents/bottle, and the economy continuing its decline, redemption rates could very well close in on 100%. Which would be great! If it weren't for the fact that it costs so damn much to live in Hawaii.

I understand there are significant costs incurred to recycle. But I wonder if there's any way that the state could streamline the program to make the redemption program cheaper and more efficient.

At this time, Oahu does not have its own recycling plant. Perhaps it would make sense to build one here. Or perhaps we could start by utilizing the recycling plant already in operation on the Big Island? Surely the raw materials could be used by some local businesses. This would make more sense than sending our once-used bottles 5,000 miles to China.

Re-using our islands' materials

Was glad to read about these local businesses who are hoping to capitalize upon the high commodities prices of late and reduce landfill waste by encouraging the re-use of existing building materials on Oahu. 

Re-use Hawaii

Currently located behind the John Burns School of Medicine in Kaka'ako, Re-use Hawaii helps their clients "deconstruct" (rather than demolish) their old buildings and salvage re-usable building material for future use. Clients receive a tax credit for their charitable donation. And Re-use Hawaii resells the good building material back into the community.   http://www.reusehawaii.org/welcome.html

Freecycle Hawaii

Part of the nationwide network freecycle.org, Freecycle Hawaii offers a site where people can give away stuff they don’t want and get stuff for free. Kind of like craigslist except even cheaper!  http://www.freecycle.org/group/US/Hawaii

Letter to the Editor re: Superferry (Unabridged)

I am writing in response to Jay Fidell’s column on the state Supreme Court’s decision barring the Superferry in Hawaii (Sun., Apr. 5). While I understand that many in Hawaii are unhappy with the decision, I am concerned with some of the oversimplifications made in this column.

He writes that the Superferry was killed by a “handful of activists whose motivations were not necessarily environmental”. Those opposed to the Superferry were concerned not only with invasive species and whales but also with plain old traffic. I recall individuals being concerned with retaining the culture of their particular island—in other words, they didn’t want the neighbor islands to become an extension of trafficky, over-developed Honolulu. While this might not be explicitly “environmental”, the grievance is still valid and if those opposed can find that the Superferry was not in compliance with existing laws, then they deserved their day in court. There seemed to be many different groups, some concerned with the environment, some not explicitly, so to say that it was only opposed by a “handful of activists” is a misrepresentation.

He quotes Jeff Mikulina of the Sierra Club as saying, “We stop things.” Well, I wasn’t privy to the interview but it seems clear that Fidell is grossly simplifying what Mikulina might have been trying to say. The quote is taken completely out of context.

Yes, it is difficult to do business in Hawaii. It is an awfully expensive state and in some cases businesses even need to jump through hurdles such as the EIS. But Hawaii needs to be careful to balance welcoming businesses to our islands and preserving the natural environment which of course is our greatest asset.

I agree that the Environmental Impact Statement is arcane and laborious. Perhaps the EIS process might be revamped to be quicker , less-expensive and more meaningful to the average citizen. However, the fact that the state required an EIS is a good thing in that it protects against over-development and in the long run is the best interest of our state.

Here's a copy of Jay Fidell's full column: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904050338

Oahu to start shipping trash by July

In contrast to the heated debate over the continued use of the Waimanalo Gulch landfill, the news of the city's plan to start shipping our garbage to Washington by July seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps this is because shipping our garbage doesn't appear to hurt anyone. But the fact is that the increased costs associated with shipping our garbage will come to bite us in the butt via increased taxes. Because unlike the bottomless coffee cup that our federal government purports to be, the city needs to actually balance its budget. 

Originally projected to cost about $70-$75/ton, the latest bid from Hawaiian Waste will charge the City and County of Honolulu $99/ton to ship via barge to a landfill in Washington state. The cost to maintain our garbage at Waimanalo Gulch landfill, in contrast, runs about $30/ton. The city plans to ship 2,050 tons per week which represents less than 6% of our garbage!  

Lawmakers seem to agree that this is a temporary measure while they determine the fate of Waimanalo Gulch landfill and try to come up with another alternative. Hm, I wonder what that alternative could be. 

Let me think. Mmm. 

Oh, I'm thinking really hard. 

Oh, I think my brains hurting a little. 

What could that alternative be?  Could we reduce our waste? No, that's a silly idea. How in the world could we ever do that? 

Currently the City and County of Honolulu does not charge for garbage pick-up.  This will certainly change in the near future.  

Military Bans Plastic Bags

It's ironic that the military would be the first to ban the use of plastic bags in Hawaii, because, well, the military has not had a great track record for prioritizing our aina. 

While the legislature is still in session deliberating SB 584 which would ban plastic shopping bags by 2011, Colonel Robert Rice, the commanding office of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, had the authority to ban them and he did. According to the report in the Advertiser, Rice banned the use of plastic shopping bags on his Mokapu base. Businesses have been allowed to use their remaining inventory of plastic bags but once used, families will be encouraged to switch to reusable cloth shopping bags. 

All I can say is: Colonel Rice, you're awesome! 

How do we change the habits of hundreds of thousands of people?

On the PBS round table discussion (discussed below), Senator Mike Gabbard asked this rhetorical question: "How we change the habits of hundreds of thousands of people?" The key is education, he said, and the place to begin to educate our citizens is in our schools. 

As an educator, his statement got me excited. But then after a couple days of mulling it over, I have to say, I'm not sure if I agree that education is the key. 

I don't teach environmental issues explicitly in my classroom, and yet the issue comes up. I've shown my students "The Story of Stuff"(they loved it)  they've weighed their lunchtime trash as part of National Green Week (didn't love it). When asked how they would change the world or what we need to do to make the world a better place, many often cite the problem of garbage--perhaps because this is something tangible that they do deal with every day in their own lives. They've done research on self-selected issues in their community as part of Project Citizen, many invariably choosing environmental issues including the problem of Oahu's overflowing landfills, and yet when it comes time to throw away their trash, I've seen the best and brightest and most earnest of my students throw their plastic bottles into the trash can. Why? 

I posed this question to my students on Friday and they whined emphatically that the recycling bins were too far away, and yet every day I see the numerous recycling bins on our campus stand there with just one or two bottles in them while the students continue to deposit their plastic bottles in the trash cans right to the recycling bin. 

The only answer I can think of is: habit.  Or perhaps: culture? Certainly other schools do a better job of encouraging recycling than our school seems to. If education is the key, how do we educate? How do we change the habits of hundreds of thousands of people?

PBS Hawaii: Alternative Energy Part Two

Last Thursday, PBS's round table with Dan Boylan centered around energy policy in Hawaii. Guests included Robert Alm, Executive VP of Hawaiian Electric; Theodore Peck, State Energy Administrator of DBEDT; Senator Mike Gabbard, Chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee; and Carlito Caliboso, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission sharing their commentary.  The discussion was great. It hit upon a lot of the issues which have been percolating on this blog but the optimism exhibited by these policy makers was exciting. It's a shame that even a snippet of the discussion could not be a part of the morning television or radio programs, which get more of an audience than PBS. 

Boylan got the discussion started by asking why solar panels weren't on the roofs of every home and business in Hawaii. The panel speakers responded by saying solar is the easiest and cheapest way to wean our island off fossil fuels tomorrow. One speaker said, "Talk about '[Keep it] simple stupid'." Another called solar panels a "no brainer".  Despite the fact that solar panels eventually pay for themselves and end up saving home owners' money in the long run, the panelists acknowledged the modest capital investment required is a deterrent for many home owners.  Solar water heaters, all agreed, was the no brainerest no brainer of them all, paying itself off after just two years!  

The issue of our outdated grid seemed to be one of the the biggest issues of the day. Currently, the grid is centralized and home owners producing renewable energy in their own homes are unable to sell excess energy back into the grid, thereby wasting perfectly good energy. Alm commented that this was not a problem unique to Hawai, that all states are dealing with this same issue right now, and that some of the Obama Stimulus Package may be used to modernize our grid. 

I was delighted to hear one of the panelists state simply that Hawaii has abundant agricultural land that it is lying fallow because it is simply not profitable farmers. No solution offered on that one. 

It was Mike Gabbard who mentioned that he had actually met Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, who he described as "salivating" at the prospect of Hawaii becoming a model of sustainability. Nelson was salivating presumably because it is sooo possible here, with the multiple modes of alternative energy (solar, wind, geothermal, ocean thermal) available here and our desperate need to be sustainable given that we live on an island 2,500 from anywhere. "The world is watching," Gabbard said.  

All of the speakers kept coming back to the possibility that we will repeat the mistake made in the 1970s--of forgetting about all of this once gas prices go down again.  "$140 barrels of oil does not work," Alm said. Energy prices are back down as a result of the global economic downturn, but he encouraged everyone to take out their electricity bills from a couple months ago and put it up  on their refrigerator as a reminder of what will surely come again. 

Lingle Addresses Green Initiatives in Her 2009 State of the State Address

Everyone watched Lingle's State of the State Address this year with baited breath, because it was reported that this was the speech where she would announce the cuts. Alas, no specifics, just a lot of positives on what the state has done and caution with regard to the future. In the speech, Lingle alluded to the Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) which hopes to have 70% of Hawaii's energy for clean sources by 2030. OK!

She also addressed the problem of Hawaii's importing 85% of our food, an issue discussed at length in an earlier blog entry. Again, Lingle didn't get into any specifics saying simply, "If we replace just 10 percent of the food we currently import, it would create more than $300 million in economic activity, generate $6 million in taxes, and create 2,300 new jobs. I will be asking state agencies such as schools, prisons and hospitals to take the lead by purchasing locally grown fruits, vegetables, poultry, eggs and meat. Under new rules, Hawai‘i farmers will receive a 15 percent price preference when placing their bids for state purchases."

Climate Change in the News

I was surprised to see the Star-Bulletin run a couple of articles on "Global Warming" in their Sunday issue this past week. I was surprised by the articles because within the last year they were running columns by Charles Memminger explaining how global warming was a media hoax.

One blurb from the Associated Press reported that 2008 was the 8th warmest year ever. This ran above a longer article on the warming in Antarctica specifically. It's frustrating that these articles accept the simplification of climate change as merely "warming" and overlook the other changes caused by the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, namely the changes to ocean currents, desertification, and ocean acidication, among other issues.

The Advertiser followed up a couple days later with an article from the L.A. Times on a recent study reporting that it will take 1,000 years or longer to reverse the changes already made to the climate. This article at least alluded to the complexity of the positive feedback loop caused by the increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

Also this week, NPR broadcast an Oxford-style debate on whether major reductions in carbon emissions would be worth the money. Sadly, after viewing the debates, the audience was swayed in favor of the affirmative who argued that the carbon reductions would NOT be worth the money. Note: the debate was not on the reality of climate but rather over whether reductions would be worth the cost; debaters on both side made this clear.

Meanwhile over in Washington, Obama is busy trying to persuade House and Senate Republicans to vote for his enormous bailout package which (if he follows through on his campaign promises) would include major green iniatives.

Electrical Storm Causes Power Outage on Oahu

We were in the middle of eating a Chinese banquet dinner--lobster, crab, fried oysters, and a whole Peking duck--when the lights in the restaurant flickered. There had been some type of thunder, what sounded like loud drums coming from Waikiki. But no rain. And only the briefest flash of light in the sky--if that. Barely noticably really. The lights in the restaurant flickered, but the moment of darkness passed and all of us were back to devouring our messy dinner in civility. We paid the check, I went to go use the bathroom, and it wasn't until we recovened outside the restaurant that the blackout took hold. The restaurant went down, as did the shopping center, as did all of the surrouding area, as did--we would find out later--almost all of Oahu except for Waianae, which would go down a little later. We looked across at all of the high rises and everything was out except for the occasional emergency lights of stairwells.

We weren't sure how long it was going to last so decided to avoid the traffic for a while and walked over to Waikiki where each of us got our own discounted Mondo Gelato in a sweet stage of melting. The gas-lit tiki torches along Kalakaua were the only street light along our walk as cars waited patiently for the masses of pedestrians to cross, each side painfully taking turns to go, and always hesitating because neither could never be sure what kind of rules the other drivers were going by.

Meanwhile, my sister had a plane to catch that night back to San Francisco.

We all hiked the 19 floors up to my apartment to fetch my sister's suitcase, the light of Brian's cell phone provided a great flashlight when the occasional emergency light was out.

Despite KSSK reports of hellacious traffic, the drive to the airport from town was not bad. We parked illegally near the elevator and went to see what our options were. The airport, somewhat operational, was a bit of a zoo. Teens were recharging their ipods in the airport's electrical plugs. No one was yelling (yet) but there was a long line for TSA--you know, those people that ask you to take off your shoes because we had one shoe bomber once. The line snaked around the whole entry area. No one seemed to be sure which line they were in. Or rather, people disagreed on which line they were in. One fellow shared that a woman had been waiting in line for some time only to get to the front and be told she was had been in the wrong line. She needed to get to the back of the other line--over on the other side.

My sister was able to rebook her ticket with American only because the delay would have resulted in her missing her connecting flight. Her new ticket was set to depart the next afternoon.

We all hiked back up the 19 stories--it was a little harder and slower this time. Were not able to shower and had to brush teeth with bottled water. (The building uses a water pump to get water to all of its residents.) But were of course wired and sleepless by that point though tired.

The next morning we biked down to Ala Moana Beach Park to shower in our swimsuits. It was a nice cold invigorating shower in the sun. I used Dr. Bronner, supposedly biodegradable, but suspect because it leaves water cloudy. By this time, the power was already up in many parts of the island, 60% of the island reports said today. Street lights and businesses were up all around us while our building one block away remained lifeless.

We returned to the apartment, climbing the 19 stories for the third and last time, grabbed some things and made our way to the airport where we dropped off my sister and breathed a sigh of relief.

Based on the traffic into Waikele, Honoluluans were back to their regularly programmed schedule and completing their after-Christmas shopping by midday. The generators on sale Costco (coupons available in this week's mailings) will probably be sold out shortly.

The story of Oahu's little black-out is making national news only because Obama is here. Reports on HECO's, the city's and Obama's handling of it are pretty hilarious. Wanting to be the gracious host, HECO sent a generator to the Obama's vacation home, but Obama declined because he already had three! The mayor tried to contact him to make sure he was doing okay. But Obama apparently did not speak to him (he was probably trying to put his daughters to bed) and just relayed the message that they were doing fine. Yahoo reports that in the end the Obamas ended up not even using the back-up generators that they had; they spent the evening in the dark with the rest of us.