Category Archives: Sustainability

Community, Sustainability

Still Time to Get Involved in E Malama ‘Aina Festival

The E Malama ‘Aina festival is coming up on November 7th and 8th.

A project of the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce, the EMAF is a 2-day family festival taking place Nov. 7 & 8 at Hilo’s Mo‘oheau Park. Full of family fun, interactive activities, and a strong commitment to a traditional Hawaiian perspective on sustainability, the event will offer consumers and businesses a firsthand look at Hawai’i Island innovations and best practices aimed at sustainable, environmentally progressive living.

Here is the official website.

Booths are still available in the Alternative Energy “village,” the Building & Construction village and the Recycling & Composting one.

Call Richard at 960-1057 if you are interested in having a booth in one of these categories.

The Villages

The E Mālama ‘Āina Festival will be physically designed as a series of small “villages,” within which participating groups will be showcased. Each village is available for sponsorship, enabling businesses and community groups the opportunity to actively engage in the activity.

Event organizers have developed the following areas:

1.    Global Sponsor (Presenting Sponsor)
2.    Entertainment Bandstand
3.    Hawaiian Culture / Ahupua‘a
4.    Alternative Energy Village  Booths available
5.    The Learning Hui
6.    Food Production Village
7.    Farming & Agriculture Village
8.    Building & Construction Village Booths available
9.    Transportation Village
10.    Keiki Play Village
11.    Recycling/Composting Village  Booths available
12.    The E Mālama ‘Āina Festival Talk Story & Digital Film Fest @ the Palace

In addition, Vendor Booths (tables) will be available within respective Villages for a nominal fee.

The E Mālama ‘Āina Talk Story & Digital Film Fest

The E Mālama ‘Āina Talk Story & Digital Film Fest is an evening designed to engage the public in an exciting mix of activities taking place throughout Hawai’i Island aimed at a sustainable island lifestyle. Held in Hilo on Friday evening, Nov. 7, 2008, EMAF organizers are traveling throughout the island to meet, and film, innovators of sustainability — folks working to make a difference. These stories will be brought to life at E Mālama ‘Āina TALK STORY & DIGITAL FILM FEST, including a Q&A session with the short film subjects.

Also, soon we’ll be putting out an official “Call For Entries” to Hawai‘i filmmakers interested in sharing their digital short film on the subject of Sustainability In Hawai’i. Films received will be posted on the internet, and made available for the public to view, be inspired, and vote on the Film Fest competition. Films will be judged in 2 categories – a “People’s Choice Award” and an overall award as judged by our esteemed panel of judges.

Keep tuned in to the website for upcoming details.

Eating Locally, Peak Oil, Sustainability

Wave of the (Post-Oil) Future

We’ve had a series of lunch meetings with our fertilizer distributor over the last several months.

Back in May, we discussed the news that fertilizer prices were rising faster and higher than usual. Knowing that this was related to energy prices rising at an accelerating rate, we knew things were going to get tough. He told us that he was worried for his small farmers, and that some were actually dipping into their savings to buy fertilizer. We knew was very bad news.

In June, we had lunch and learned that fertilizer prices were going even higher. Our distributor expressed very strong concern for papaya farmers and other small farmers. His fertilizer sales were dropping, he said, and he wasn’t sure it was due to dry weather, which is expected, or to farmers dropping out of farming due to high fertilizer costs and low returns. He suspected the worst. But because of the extremely dry weather right then he wasn’t sure.

A few weeks ago, the rains came back. I gave it some time and then called him to ask if, with the change in weather, farmers had resumed buying fertilizer.

His answer was NO! That many farmers did not return to order fertilizer. Small farmers who have no capital investment can just drop out and then drop back in when the economic climate is right. These farmers, he told us — who were squeezed by rising costs on one side and shrinking margins from distributors and retailers on the other — have quit farming.

There are other farmers, though, who sell at Farmers Markets and to retailers like KTA and Foodland, which sticks with their farmers through thick and thin. Those farmers are doing okay. And now Whole Foods is coming into the market, and all indications are that they, too, will work with farmers through thick and thin.

This type of relationship is the wave of the future. I’m convinced that very soon, Hawai‘i’s people will realize how important it is that we all support local farmers.

They are the ones who will feed all of us when the “ships not going come.”

Peak Oil, Sustainability

Steps Forward

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I wrote recently that Matt Simmons, one of the world’s leading experts on Peak Oil, sounded pretty pessimistic in a recent CNBC interview. View it here
 if you haven’t seen it.

It’s one more in a long series of reminders that we here in Hawai‘i (as well as those elsewhere) need to figure out how we can be sustainable. Many people are already taking action and making changes. We can each do our small part.

We all need to look at things differently than we have been. I
 attended the Peak Oil conference this past October, so the events of today 
do not surprise me.

I’ve also had some time to think about all this. Here’s what I think is most important, and they are steps everyone can move toward:

•  Support your local farmers.

•  Learn how to grow your own food.

•  Support education. The young ones need to have the tools to solve 
the problems of tomorrow. We must help them now so they will be prepared.

•  Diversify our economy. We need to expand and cannot depend too much on tourism. If done in a sustainable way, the Thirty Meter Telescope coming to Mauna Kea can help us with
 education and diversification.

•  Avoid petroleum costs whenever you can.

Another thing you can do, of course, is to check out the E Malama ‘Aina
 Festival coming up November 7th and 8th.

Community, Sustainability

Woe is Not Us!

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The reason we decided to do our E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival was in order to plan for the worse case.

• Matt Simmons at The Oil Drum is sounding even more worried than usual.

• What happens if the ship does not come? Fuel Shortage Stops Water Supply in Rotuma, Fiji. Could it happen to us?

• T. Boone Pickens is saying that our country needs to do something now. He is going to build a massive windfarm in order to help the country get off foreign oil.

• Since we started planning the E Malama ‘Aina Festival several months ago, David Murdoch, the president of Dole Foods, has even requested that our Governor declare a state of emergency because of Hawaii’s vulnerability to fossil fuel shortages.

Well, we’re not sitting around saying, “Woe is me.” We’ve decided to do something about it.

We are asking people who are doing sustainable things to join us, by putting up a booth and showing people what they do.

Such as a local kid who lives in Hakalau. Using water from the river, he makes electricity and with that electricity he makes hydrogen. The hydrogen runs a hydrogen scooter.

This is just a proof of concept; they are planning much bigger things. Big enough that the legislature authorized a bond float of $50 million to help them develop the process into transportation fuel for Hawai‘i.

For quite a long time now, traditional farmer Jerry Konanui has been very concerned about our ability to feed ourselves.

“There are a lot more people becoming increasingly aware of our future,” he said, “and the demand for food production knowledge as well as seeds and plant materials are increasing at a higher rate than in the past. I’ve personally been called upon lately for workshops and as a source of plant materials a lot more than in the past.”

Jerry will talk about kalo, making poi and how things were done in the old days. And also, why these practices are still valid today.

We are putting on the E Malama ‘Aina festival to show people that they are not alone. That, working together, we can do this. And we are going to have fun doing it.

Roland Torres, producer of Kama’aina Backroads on OC 16, is helping us put on the festival. He knows all the Hoku award-winning entertainers and he is the festival’s Entertainment Chairperson.

There will be a keiki village.

The Master Gardeners will have a booth where they will give away plants and talk to people about how to make their own gardens.

Charlotte and Rodrigo Romo will have a booth adjoining our Hamakua Springs hydroponic vegetable booth, where they will talk about their time living in the Biosphere 2 and what they learned there about sustainability.

Bernie Kratky will show how to grow plants in his novel system of non-circulating hydroponics, where the plants grow in water.

Nancy Redfeather and friends from the School Garden Network will show what they do.

Manu Meyer will demonstrate “Got Epistemology? A Hawaiian Way of at Looking at Sustainability.”  Something like that.

The car dealers will bring out their most fuel-efficient vehicles.

And someone will show how he made an electric bike.

Let us know if you have something sustainable to share. Otherwise, please mark your calendar for November 7th and 8th and meet us at Mo‘oheau Park in downtown Hilo.

Sustainability

Coming Soon!

We are in the process of putting together a series of posts showing how we can all become more food self-sufficient. We’ll run one or two of these posts here each month.

Whether you live on the Big Island and have some land to put in a small (or large) garden, or live on O‘ahu in a condo without one inch of dirt to your name – or if you live somewhere else entirely – we are going to show you how to get some food growing.

Our mission is to:

• draw from both old ways and new ones

• keep it simple, with materials that are cheap (or free) and easy to find

• show you how to garden with minimal fertilizers or pesticides.

Some of the posts, complete with short video, will feature Macario, this blog’s photographer (and my husband) who comes from a long line of farmers. He will use our yard to demonstrate how to start, and maintain, plant foods traditional to this area that are also nutritionally useful and tasty.

Richard’s episodes will demonstrate how to grow plants when you don’t have any ground to put them in.

We might bring in some guest experts, too.

Mostly we hope that our mini-lessons will be accessible – easy to follow and useful for anybody, with or without gardening experience

The idea came about after Richard watched this YouTube video, entitled “Urban Food Growing in Havana, Cuba.”

It describes how Cubans were forced to suddenly become self-sufficient, starting in 1991 during what they call the Special Period.

From Wikipedia:

The Special Period “was defined primarily by the severe shortages of hydrocarbon energy resources in the form of gasoline, diesel, and other oil derivatives that occurred upon the implosion of economic agreements between the oil-rich Soviet Union and Cuba. The period radically transformed Cuban society and the economy, as it necessitated the successful introduction of sustainable agriculture, decreased use of automobiles, and overhauled industry, health, and diet countrywide.”

It was, of course, a very difficult time in Cuba. Many Cubans left the country, and, according to the above, those who stayed lost an average of 20 lbs. as lifestyles changed drastically and food became scarce.

It is interesting to watch that video and see a little bit about how they adapted and especially how they returned to sustainable agriculture. We can all start doing some of that now, pre-crisis. That’s what our new series of occasional posts is designed for.

Stay tuned for our first episode: How to get your compost going. After all, you’re going to have to feed all those plants.

Community, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Festival Update

The Malama ‘Aina Festival is starting to get traction.

Roland Torres, executive producer of Kama‘aina Backroads, will be working with us. When I told him that the festival will focus on Hawaiian culture and then, in that context, alternate energy, food producing, recycling and waste management methods, he told me this aligned with his personal philosophy and that he wanted to get involved.

We cannot be more happy that he has agreed to join us. His Kama‘aina Backroads program on OC 16 is uniquely local Hawaiian style.

Since the Hawai‘i Island energy forum this past Friday, I’ve had many calls from people with alternative energy projects. One interesting wind energy project involves a wind energy machine that spins like a top.

I talked to the H2-technologies people yesterday and in addition to producing hydrogen for transportation, they can produce ammonia for fertilizer. If this works, it will be a big deal for agriculture in Hawai‘i. This will help some of us to continually produce food intensively.

We will be asking auto companies with alternative energy cars and trucks to come and put some on display. One car company committed to display and even volunteered to become a sponsor.

Roland Torres has a mock-up website he will use to keep everyone up to speed on the festival as November 7th and 8th approach.  We’ll keep you posted here, too.

Sustainability

Energy Forum

Friday was the Hawai‘i Island Energy Forum, sponsored by the Kohala Center in partnership with the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board and the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce.

It is my opinion that the Hawai‘i Island Energy Forum is a warning
that serious things are taking place and that we need to pay
attention.

I feel that the average Big Island citizen, because of what is
happening to their living expenses, is acutely in tune to what is
going on. But I think that many public officials still do not get it.
And they are blissfully ignorant at their own peril.

Tell us what you think.

I gave the welcome talk at the Energy Forum, and thought I’d share it with you here:

***

Aloha everyone, and welcome to the Hawai‘i Island Energy Forum, sponsored by the Kohala Center in partnership with the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board and the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce.

I am Richard Ha. We farm 600 fee simple acres of bananas and hydroponic vegetables. You may be asking: “Why are you here opening up this conference?”  It’s because farming inputs are largely dependent on petroleum-based products. Farming is kind of like the canary in the coal mine.

Farmers get advance warning when oil prices rise because most of our inputs are oil related.

Five years ago we diversified into hydroponics. Oil was then $35 per barrel. And everyone knew that China was going to use up a lot of that oil. So, we set out to make our operation as energy efficient as possible.

Two years ago, my wife June told me to take a look at the supply costs. They were rising steadily. That’s when I realized how closely our farming costs were tied to oil costs.

This past October, when attending the Produce Marketing Association tradeshow, which we go to every year, I noticed that the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference was being held in the same hotel the next day. I had heard of that non-partisan organization that is dedicated to the study of world oil supplies and sharing that knowledge with as many as possible.

At the ASPO conference, which was on Oct 17-21st, I learned that world oil supplies, because of geological, economical and geopolitical reasons, are not likely to keep up with the demand for that oil. The logical conclusion is that oil prices are going to increase at an accelerating rate. And due to rising input cost, there was going to be a bad effect on our farm.

One thing that caught my attention during the discussion of the airline industry was that the airline association predicted accelerating growth far into the future.  But we all knew that with declining supplies of oil would come increasing cost of gasoline, causing their customers to travel less and their own fuel costs to rise. Instead of accelerating growth it was more reasonable to expect negative growth. Seven months later airlines are going out of business. It is not surprising to those of us who attended the ASPO conference.

Coming back from that conference we renewed our self-sufficiency plan. We have a hydro electric plant in the works. It will supply all our electricity needs. And we are working on a small, farm-scale biodiesel maker. We hope to be largely energy self-sufficient within two years.

The world is changing in ways we have not seen and can only imagine. Oil jumped back to $134 today. The future price of oil had always been cheaper than the present price. But a few weeks ago, future oil price was no longer cheaper than the present. That is unnerving. We must challenge all of our fundamental assumptions. Prepare for the worse and hope for the best. The status quo is not safe any more. Actually the status quo is a very risky bet.

One hundred fifty years ago, 700 whaling ships were calling at Hawai‘i ports. If we had a forum then, perhaps some would be calling for increased production of harpoons. But the 800-pound gorilla in that room would have been that oil had just been discovered in Pennsylvania and the world was about to change.

Fast forward to today. The world is changing again. This time the 800-pound gorilla in this room is the fact that we have come to rely on oil for our lifestyle. But the supply of that oil cannot keep up with demand.

The world is changing in ways we don’t even want to imagine. But with great adversity comes great opportunity. This is a scary time. But it is also an exciting time. Betting on our people and their ability to innovate is a safe bet. Betting on making more harpoons is a very risky bet.

Not, no can. CAN!! We can do this. And that is what this forum is all about.

***

This online Energy Forum newsletter has some related articles, as well as a link to the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald article about the conference. (click on the link at the third article). I thought that the Tribune-Herald did a good job of reporting the essence of the conference.

Peak Oil, Sustainability

An 800-Pound Gorilla

I spent all day Tuesday and all of Wednesday morning at the Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center (PBARC) for a stakeholders’ workshop and program-visioning conference.

We were asked:

• “What do you see PBARC doing in 10 years?” and,
• “Where can PBARC provide support in furtherance of its mission?”

Our exercise seemed similar to what might have happened had Hawai‘i’s whaling industry held a conference soon after oil was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.

In 1846, more than 700 whaling ships were calling in Hawaii. Some of the conferees may have asked for research on potatoes so they could supply the ships, or for aggressive marketing and promotion of fish and poi to the sailors. Or for studying how whale harpoons could be mass-produced in a factory. Others, thinking ahead, may have asked for the study of sugar cane cultivation.

Back then, the 800-pound gorilla in the room was the discovery of oil. Now, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the fact that we are running out of oil.

This meeting I attended was an important one. Andy Hammond, the Area Director of USDA, ARS, Pacific West Area, was there. There were administrators and staff from the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, both the UH Manoa and UH Hilo’s Colleges of Agriculture as well as representatives from other supporting agencies. Most of the Hawaii agricultural industry’s representatives were there, too.

Dennis Gonsalves is the director of the Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center. He had an illustrious career at Cornell University (he is the person who developed the Rainbow Papaya, which saved Hawai‘i’s papaya industry) and then came back home to Hawai‘i after making it big on the national scene. In all his years away he did not lose any of his local sensibilities, and that’s a big reason he is so effective in his job. We need more of these “local sensibilities” when choosing our leaders!

Let me define these two organizations for you:  Agriculture Research Service’s (ARS) mission, which applies to Food, Feed, Fuel and Fiber, is to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems, and support research needs of action agencies.

PBARC’s mission is to support aquaculture, plants, genetic resources, plant biological and molecular processes, as well as crop protection and quarantine.

In answer to the questions we were asked to consider (“What do you see PBARC doing in 10 years?” and, “Where can PBARC provide support in furtherance of its mission?”) industry people in normal years would just recite the priorities of their individual industries, and if the need crossed multiple lines so much the better.

But this year, there is that 800-pound “oil shortage” gorilla in the room. We hear people on the news talking about $200-250 per barrel of oil in the next couple of years. This was unimaginable to most people just eight months ago.

So it made our job a little more difficult. We were instructed to come up with action items that were of “utmost importance,” “very important” and “important.”

Some felt that generalities were nice but they wanted action. For example, the coffee industry representative did not want to waste time—he wanted specific things done for the industry. He was very effective, listing seven or eight items for consideration. All were of the “utmost importance.” Most of the other people had two to four items that were of “utmost importance.”

In the end, it turned out well because the people who were concerned about world oil shortage issues brought out points that applied across the board, so those items were adopted. And the people with specific action items for particular commodities had their issues heard as well.

By the way, I ran across a definition of sustainability that I like. It’s a German term that was coined by the Prussian Forest Administration back in 1790 or so, and it means that one should never take more wood out of the forest than can re-grow between two harvesting periods. That means we leave nature intact and just live from nature’s interest rates.

(to be continued)

Sustainability

Malama ‘Aina Festival

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I have been asked to co-chair an event that, for the last three years, has been called the Ag & Energy Expo and held in the Prince Kuhio Mall. Steve Shropshire has chaired this event from the beginning.

Steve decided to take it outside this year and expand it to a two-day event. He was thinking of calling it the Lono Festival and have it celebrate the Makahiki.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked if I would help and co-chair the event. After the first meeting, I ran the idea of the Lono Festival and the Makahiki by Kale Gumapac, Alakai of the Kanaka Council. It became apparent to me that there were serious religious implications, and I suggested to the Chamber of Commerce committee that we change the name.

So we renamed it the Malama ‘Aina Festival. We envision an event that will show sustainability in its widest application – from local-grown food to alternate energy and from cultural activities to recycling. In a sense, it will demonstrate the vision of the Sustainability 2050 plan, chaired by Senator Russell Kokubun.

It will take place on Nov 7th and 8th. Friday the 7th in downtown Hilo is Black and White Night, which is sponsored by the Downtown Improvement Association (DIA). Plans for our festival are not complete yet, but we are picturing people walking around sampling dishes made with locally produced food, and maybe even wine tasting. Is that possible?

On Saturday, events will take place in tents under the trees at Mo‘oheau Park and bandstand. We plan to team up with the Hilo Farmers Market and have booths displaying all kinds of sustainability projects.

We are still brainstorming. But here are some of the people we have contacted:

Guy Toyama has agreed to demonstrate his hydrogen-powered scooter. The hydrogen is developed from water and energy derived from a hydro plant at Hakalau.

Gene Kelley, who has just signed a contract with the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), has invented what he calls the WindWing. It works like when you are riding in a car, stick your arm out the window and feel the wind pushing against your arm. In the same way, his device generates electricity by capturing wind energy using something like a venetian blind. He says that a windmill is approximately six percent efficient, while his WindWing is 40 to 60 percent efficient. He is game to demonstrate his invention at the festival.

Bernie Kratky has agreed to demonstrate his non-circulatory hydroponics.

Mike Tanabe, Professor at the University of Hawai‘i College of Agricultlure, is game to demonstrate tissue-cultured taro in its various tissue-culture growth stages.

The Hawai‘i Seal of Quality program will participate.

Hamakua Springs Country Farms will have a booth and demonstrate hydroponic methods of growing food.

We are looking for people who can demonstrate various kinds of composting.

We hope to have the Master Gardeners, the Hawai‘i Organic Farmers Association, HELCO and Puna Geothermal Ventures.

We are also asking people to accommodate tours of their actual operation during that week. Puna Geothermal has agreed to do an excursion to the Puna Geothermal well site, and Hamakua Springs will offer a farm tour. Guy Toyama has agreed to show how his people generate electricity from running water and then make hydrogen for use in running equipment.We have extended an invitation to Pacific Bio diesel and its partners, who will be growing and selling jatropha plants for biodiesel oil use.

This is just the beginning. More and more people are asking to participate. The Malama ‘Aina festival is very appropriate for the changing times ahead and we think that this is going to be lots of fun.

Sustainability

Hawaii Island Energy Forum

If you attend one forum this year, I highly recommend it be this one.

We’ve been positioning our farm for the future for a while now, and we know that things are moving fast on the energy front. What is the future likely to be? This forum will give valuable information so you can plan for the future.

Gail Tverberg, the featured speaker, is extremely knowledgeable and highly credible. She is in the top tier of writers about energy issues.

Her professional job is as an actuary. She advises insurance companies on risk and rewards. She speaks the language of business in a clear and common sense way. Of all the energy writers out there, I find her approach to be the most balanced.

Here’s the forum information:

Hawaii Island Energy Forum
Business Challenges, Business Opportunities, and the New Energy Reality
9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ∙ June 6, 2008 ∙ Hilo Hawaiian Hotel

REGISTER NOW!
ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED

Individual consumers and local businesses are feeling the “crunch” of rising fuel costs. For some of us, our employees are telling us that they can barely afford the gas money to come to work. What do we have to know and what can we do to preserve prosperity in the face of rapidly changing circumstances?

At the request of private and public sector leaders, The Kohala Center has designed this one-day session to explore critical business issues with energy experts and economists, as we all confront the new energy reality. This session is designed specifically for the Hawaii Island business community and is co-sponsored by the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce, and the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board. Members of each of our organizations are invited to attend.

Talks and panel discussions with national and local experts will cover the following topics:

9:30 am – Welcome, opening speakers Mayor Harry Kim and County Council Chairman Pete Hoffman

10 am – Economic implications of the rising prices and diminishing supplies of liquid fossil fuel: Gail Tverberg, Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries

10:45 am – Economic implications for Hawaii: Makena Coffman, Ph.D., Department of Economics, UH Manoa

11:30 am – Technical challenges and opportunities for increasing renewable energy resource use on Hawaii Island; the importance of acting quickly and collaboratively: Maurice Kaya, former Chief Technology Officer at DBEDT and Jay Ignacio, CEO of Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO)

1 pm – Regulatory barriers and potential solutions to deploying renewable energy: Jim Lazar, Regulatory Assistance Project; Carl Freedman, Haiku Analysis and Design

2:15 pm – Transport challenges and opportunities in the public and private sectors: Tom Brown, County of Hawaii Transit Agency; and Maria Tome, Energy Engineer at DBEDT

3:30 pm – Business opportunities and investments to take advantage of the new energy reality: Miles Kubo, Energy Industries, and Riley Saito, SunPower Corporation.

4:30 pm – Wrap-up with Maurice Kaya and Richard Ha, Hamakua Springs Country Farms

Additional speakers are confirming their participation. For more information and to register for this forum, please contact The Kohala Center at 808.887.6411 or email assist@kohalacenter.org. A registration form is available for download at  www.kohalacenter.org. The cost is $60.