Category Archives: Education

Education, Geothermal, Lowering Electric Rates, Schools

How To Dramatically Increase Big Island School Budgets

Richard Ha writes:

Because the Big Island pays 25 percent more for its electricity than O‘ahu does, it follows that Big Island schools have 25 percent less of their budgets available to pay teachers than O‘ahu’s schools. Did you ever think about it this way?

Some Big Island school complexes (an area’s elementary, middle and high school) are paying around $1 million/year just for electricity. As compared with O‘ahu, that’s around $250,000/year that isn’t going toward teachers and other education services. At $70K per teacher, that could be three full time-teachers, for instance.

On top of the Big Island having paid 25 percent more for its electricity than O‘ahu for as long as anyone can remember, our Puna district has one of the lowest median family incomes in the state.

And what’s the best predictor of family income? Level of education. Therefore, one of many benefits of cheaper electricity is that a lot more of our schools’ money would go toward educating our children. Lowering the cost of electricity would allow Puna schools more resources to focus on teachers and learning, and it follows that this could lead to increased median family incomes.

Geothermal done in a responsible manner can lower the cost of electricity. But we all must work together. It’s great that HELCO is moving forward with low-cost alternatives, such as calling for requests for proposals for expanding geothermal production.

There are a thousand reasons why NO CAN. We only need to find the one reason why CAN!

Education, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil

Let’s Fight Rising Electric Rates, Not Teachers

Richard Ha writes:

Today we find ourselves fighting against our teachers. But it’s rising electricity costs that is putting the pressure on school budgets.

We should be fighting against rising electricity rates, not our teachers.

The main problem with the proposed HECO/Aina Koa Pono (AKP) biofuel project is that its $200/barrel cost would raise Big Islanders’ electricity rates.

It proposes to supply liquid fuel for the Keahole plant, which represents 60 percent of base electrical power on the Big Island. Most of the increase to our Big Island electricity bills would be due to liquid fuel pass through. So AKP’s $200/barrel biofuel cost would have a significant, negative impact on Big Islanders’ electricity bills.

Hawai‘i’s poor already have the highest tax burden in the nation, according to a front page headline in Thursday’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Let’s not increase the burden; let’s lessen it.

We can. Check out the Big Island Community Coalition, which is working toward lowest cost electricity for the Big Island.

Instead of the Aina Koa Pono project, we should support HELCO’s ­22MW Hu Honua biomass/firewood project, as well as the 50MW geothermal project. If we include the present 38MW geothermal project, of which the old 25 MW contract is being renegotiated right now, it will result in 110MWs of stable, affordable electricity. More than 60 percent of our electricity would come from stable, affordable sources.

This is what will protect us from rising world oil prices. And as the price of oil rises, which it will, Big Island electricity rates would stay stable. Our electricity rates would actually become the lowest in the state.

Can you even imagine the changes that will happen when the Big Island has the lowest electricity rates in the state? We have become so accustomed to electricity bills that are 25 percent higher that we have a hard time imagining anything different.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

There will be a paradigm shift when our electricity costs are the lowest in the state. We will be able to protect some of the most defenseless among us, without having to raise the tax rates.

When people have spending money, they spend that money. They
boost economic activity. Farmers can make money and even manufacture food products for the O‘ahu market. This would increase our food security.

Our County government will be able to maintain services without having to raise taxes.

Let’s all support each other as we work toward lowest cost electricity for all Big Islanders. Not, no can. CAN!

Community, Education

UH’s Greenwood Holds Positive ‘Listening Session’ at UHH

Richard Ha writes:

President M.R.C. Greenwood of the University of Hawai‘i just had another of her listening sessions; this one at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

MRC Greenwood with other UH, UHH and HCC heads

Left to right: Joni Onishi, Hawai‘i Community College Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Don Straney, Chancellor, UH Hilo; Linda Johnrud, Provost, UH System; M.R.C. Greenwood, President, UH; Carl Carlson, UH Regent; Barry Mizuno, UH Regent. (Not pictured: Noreen Yamane, Chancellor of HCC, who arrived shortly after photo was taken)
This picture illustrates the collaborative style that tells the community this is about all of us. UH Hilo and Hawaii Community College are being treated as part of the whole University of Hawai‘i system. Students are moving seamlessly from HCC to UHH and UH Manoa. Comments from the audience reinforced what was being said in the front of the room.

I came away with a really good feeling. The things taking place on the ground that affect our community are moving in the right direction.

Education

Speaking & Sweating

I just gave a speech to the toughest audience I’ve faced in a long time.

Several weeks ago, Ted Peck, President of Ku‘oko‘a, asked if I was willing to speak to a student group for no more than 10 minutes about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Of course, I accepted.

On Friday evening, I flew to Honolulu from the Big Island, picked up Ted, who was flying in from Chicago, and we arrived at Fern Elementary School just in time for the beginning of the program.

I heard that the Blue Planet Foundation had a display up, but they were not going to speak. There were several University of Hawai‘i instructors there, wearing matching t-shirts. I asked, “You folks speaking?” but they said no.

I asked who else was speaking, and the woman replied, “Just you.” I started to sweat.

She made introductions and then introduced Ted, who took a few minutes to introduce me as the Chairman of Ku‘oko‘a. Then he said, “Please welcome Richard Ha.”

After walking in, I took the microphone and looked out at the audience. There were maybe 70 students, from kindergarten to 5th grade, and a smattering of parents. I sweated some more.

I had to think fast. What could I say to these youngsters that they could understand and take away? Did they even understand what Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are? Surely they had no idea what Ku‘oko‘a was, let alone “Mr. Chairman.”

I decided to tell them what my Pop told me when I was their age. I told them about impossible odds, and pointed in the air and said, “Not, no can. CAN!” I looked out at the kids and could see in their faces that they were listening.

I said, “Get thousand reasons why ‘No can.’ I’m just look for the one reason why ‘CAN!!’”  They were with me.

Then I told them: “For every problem, find three answers. Then think of one more, just in case.”

I said that if some of them felt they were not as smart as some of the others, to remember: “If someone is twice as smart as you, but you work four times as hard, then you can become twice as smart.”

“You can make up for everything by hard work.” I was on a roll.

I asked them what they would do if an earthquake came and everybody was falling down. They didn’t know. I told them my Pop told me to jump in the air and do a half turn. If you are not touching the ground when it shakes, you won’t fall down. And after two jumps you would have spun all the way around and seen everything.

Remember: “Not, no can. CAN!!”

Whew. That was a tough audience. I liked it, though. I love talking to small kids.

Awards, Education

Richard Wins Distinguished Alumni Award

Richard was honored recently as a 2011 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Hawai‘i.

“This award was less about me and really about all of us,” he told me. “I was pleased to be able to acknowledge June’s contributions, as well as my family’s – especially Mom and Pop.”

He was happy, too, that he had a chance to talk about the “common sense” value of using geothermal energy here in Hawai‘i.

He said it was hard to follow Chef Alan Wong and Dr. Henry Yang. “They are both very, very special individuals,” he said.

“Something like this award was beyond my wildest imagination when I flunked out of UH the first time around,” he said. “It just goes to show: Not ‘no can.’ ‘CAN!’”

Education, Peak Oil

We are Teaching Our Economics Students Wrong

In economics, we teach everyone that Land, Labor and Capital are the elements of production. Along the line, we forgot that energy from cheap oil is what made deploying Capital so important. We started to believe that growth was automatic. And we taught that to millions of students.

The U.S. Department of Education shows 4,861 colleges and universities with 18,248,128 students in 2007. We are teaching these students wrong. Millions of students are being taught that finite resources are not important.

The cover of the July 4th edition of Barron’s magazine says Get Ready for $150 Oil:

…As oil producers’ spare capacity gradually declines to worrisome levels, the average monthly price could reach a record $150 per barrel by next spring, with spikes to $165 or $170. With this, $4.50-a-gallon gasoline will become the norm. That will put a huge dent in consumer wallets, while ramping up the desirability of fuel-efficient cars.

Read the rest

Why is this a surprise?

We’ve known about Peak Oil for at least 20 years. How come our whole country was not warned, so we could be preparing?

Maybe this complex society we have built from cheap oil has become too complex to understand?

To look back: In the 1600s, those who owned lots of land were wealthy. The energy that made things grow was the sun. So the more land you had, the more sun energy was working for you. Makes sense.

Then in the 1700s, we started to use metal tools to produce more food and so we had extra people floating around. We organized the extra people in factories, and with steam engines we produced wealth. Okay, that’s understandable. The Industrial Revolution came about and Labor was an important factor of production. So far, so good.

Then in the mid-1800s we started to use cheap oil, and over the next 150 years we built a very complex society. We needed to keep score and deploy resources and so we described that as Capital. And things became very complex.

So what happens as oil starts to decline? It seems to me that the total amount of work the people of the world can do will also decline. Let’s say that instead of a full four quarts of gas, you are sent out to cut down trees with your chainsaw and only three quarts of gas. You will probably produce fewer logs and be less productive.

Hall_murphy_change-in-gdp

I think that is what we can expect to happen to the world economy.

I truly believe that the social science of economics has lost its way.

This is Part One of a three part discussion. See Part Two here.

Awards, Community, Education

Supporting Kids’ Financial Literacy

I recently attended a reception for Richard Henderson, who had just been inducted into Junior Achievement of Hawaii’s “Business Hall of Fame.” It was a nice evening at the Naniloa Hotel in Hilo, and a nice tribute to him.

From the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald:

Henderson was born in Hilo in 1928 and graduated from Punahou High School in 1946. Armed with a degree in business from Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, Henderson returned to Hilo in 1951. He joined The Realty Investment Co., which became his springboard for launching and managing a number of Big Island businesses, including nine theaters, an insurance agency, a wireless phone company, several car dealerships, Comtec Cable Co., KPUA and KWXX radio stations.

In addition, Henderson served for 15 years in the state Senate, often in leadership positions. Over the years he has also supported and served in key roles with many non-profit organizations on Hawaii Island.

It was also interesting to hear more about Junior Achievement (JA). What a terrific organization. I already knew that, but it was interesting to hear that, just here in Hilo and Puna last year, more than 100 of our local business people volunteered several hours each in 116 K-6 classrooms, and reached 2800 students. JA also meet with middle school and high school students.

Junior Achievement’s purpose is to “educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise so they can improve the quality of their lives and their communities.”

Its high school Company Program pairs business leaders with high school kids who create a business and learn how to write a business plan, research their market, efficiently manufacture their products, promote and sell their goods, keep the employees happy and keep the books straight.

Lee Wilson, president of JA on the Big Island, said, “This year, the six companies amassed revenues of nearly $50,000 in a shortened sales window of just over 8 weeks. What recession? I think Mr. Henderson would have been thrilled if a few of his startups had generated that type of volume right out of the gate.”

I think so.

Adopt-a-Class, Community, Education

Adopt-A-Class, Year 4!

It’s the start of a new school year, and we are kicking off our fourth annual Adopt-A-Class project. This is where we ask if you’ll give a little bit to help students at Keaukaha Elementary School take field trips.

Why Keaukaha Elementary? Early on, when Richard became interested in the Thirty Meter Telescope, at that time “possibly slated” for Mauna Kea, he noted that the multi-million dollar telescopes atop the mountain sacred to many Hawaiians were not benefiting the Hawaiian community at all.

He focused in on Keaukaha as one of our most Hawaiian communities. He learned that students at the elementary school there only took walking field trips to sites near their school, due to lack of funding. He and his friend Duane Kanuha decided to ask the community to help.

***
It’s been four years since then, and truly amazing things are happening at Keaukaha Elementary School these days.

For a very long time, it was near the bottom of the list in all rankings and achievement. And when the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program started, Keaukaha Elementary was one of the first in the state to be put on corrective action – after what its principal Lehua Veincent describes as “years of struggling to meet state standards.”

Under his leadership and during his first two years as principal, the school met federal standards in 2007 and 2008, and in 2008 it was one of seven schools in the state to exit restructuring status under NCLB.

Kumu Lehua has had a phenomenal impact on Keaukaha. (If you know him, you won’t be surprised to hear that he’s quick to acknowledge the importance of his “dedicated and committed faculty and staff, and the collaboration with community and business partners”).

To Kumu Lehua, though, this whole topic is about so much more than merely academics. He talks about the change in behaviors and attitudes – social aspects that are not accounted for under NCLB.

“When we see 550 people come to our Open House, as they did two weeks ago, that’s powerful,” he says. “When we have 15 kupunas that come and have our children go and sit on lauhala mats and listen to our stories of Keaukaha, that’s powerful. When we’re able to take the entire school, 350 students, and have them chant and hula in unison, that’s powerful. Those are the things that set us apart from everyone else. They are our uniqueness, our spirit.”

He said they always have to remember the school’s mission: “That our children are proud of who they are and where they come from.”

***

In 2007, we did our first Adopt-A-Class campaign, and met our goal of raising enough for every class at the school to take one field trip both semesters. The cost per field trip per class is about $600 (that’s for bus, admissions, etc.); classes sometimes find ways to use that amount to take more than one field trip per semester.

Students have taken their huaka‘i, their field trips, to Hamakua Springs Country Farms, Waipi‘o Valley, Mauna Kea, ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and more. “Our 4th graders went up to Mo‘okini Heiau and spent a whole day there,” says Kumu Lehua, “learning the whole historical perspective of why it exists. It was a wonderful day for them.” See the links above for some past stories we’ve done about the kids’ excursions. Here are some of the students’ thank you notes.

Kumu Lehua says what’s important about the Adopt-A-Class program is taking the learning into other places where some of the skills and concepts they learn about in class are more easily visible, in a setting that has been discussed, learned about. “That’s where the application becomes a little more real,” he says. “Everything is so focused on reading and math, but not necessarily making connections between those skills and the outside.”

He says that Adopt-A-Class has brought about a lot of other opportunities for the school.

“People hear about Adopt-A-Class and they donate,” he says. “They tell other people, and people tell people, and you have a slew of people wanting to help, whether it’s with snacks, events, opportunities.”

***

These days the school philosophy centers on “Maoli Keaukaha,” the spirit of Keaukaha. Everything they do, explains Kumu Lehua, ties into one of five key points that make up the spirit and uniqueness of Keaukaha – genealogy, history, place, language and traditional practices.

“It’s the spirit of Keaukaha,” he says. “It’s what you cannot find anywhere else.”

***

Can you adopt a class? You or your company can donate $100 toward the adoption of one class (it gets grouped with other donations), or $600 supports the whole class. Your donation is tax-deductible and 100 percent goes to the school.

See the Hamakua Springs website for more details and how to donate.

Mahalo.

Community, Education, Hawaiian Role Models

Dawn Chang as Candidate for Kamehameha Schools Trustee

Dawn Chang is one of three candidates for a position as Trustee for Kamehameha Schools.

I have written about Dawn here before, recently when she was a consultant working on the Comprehensive Management Plan for Mauna Kea.

That was a controversial and very difficult situation, with extraordinarily strong feelings on both sides, and she really impressed me under fire. She did not falter. She just focused on pono and let the chips fall where they may. She even endured someone cursing her children’s future kids.

But, nevertheless, by the end of the long process, some of the most skeptical folks – the ones who were strongly against the Thirty Meter Telescope – called her “Sistah.” This is why we became friends for life.

The Court required candidates to demonstrate expertise in one or more of the following areas:
•    Business administration
•    Finance and investment
•    Strategic planning and policy setting
•    General areas of interest including education, law or governance

As well as possess the following:
•    A recognized reputation of integrity and good character
•    The capacity to fulfill the responsibilities of a fiduciary under trust law
•    Respect for and from the community

•    Consistent and active leadership in the community with specific emphasis on issues impacting the well-being of the people of Hawaii

•    A formal education

•    Outstanding personal traits including Hawaiian values

I have no reservations at all in supporting Dawn for the position as Kamehameha Schools Trustee and I’m sending in my written support. If any of you that know Dawn’s work, character and integrity would like to do the same, written comments and/or expressions of support must be received by 4 p.m. on September 14, 2010.

Mail to: Kamehameha Schools Trustee Screening Committee
c/o Inkinen & Associates
1003 Bishop Street
Pauahi Tower, Suite 477
Honolulu, HI 96813
email: jobs@inkinen.com