Education, Schools, Sustainability

Punahou Project Citizen: We Are In Good Hands

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Remember that Punahou School 8th-grade student who’d heard local farmers are having a tough time and  decided to do something about it?

I received an invitation to attend her class’ final Project Citizen presentations.

I felt that I should go and represent Hawai‘i’s farmers. After all, if they made such a commitment, the least I could do was go on behalf of local farmers.

 Aloha,

I would like to invite you to attend my class’ final Project Citizen presentations so you can be able to see what we’ve been working on for the past year. Our presentations will be on Friday, April 23, 2010 in Miyawaki Building #8-102 in Case Middles School at Punahou School from 12:30 to 1:00. Attached is a document with more details and information about the presentations. I hope you will be able to attend!

Thanks,
L-

I did attend, and told the students how proud I was of them, and that I feel Hawai‘i is in good hands with them as representatives of their generation. I told them that other farmers would be very appreciative of their efforts, too, and that I would tell as many of them as I could.

 

I explained that they can make a great difference just by asking produce managers at their local supermarket to carry local products. I told them that the management keep track of inquiries and that is responsive to its customers’ wants. Retail stores do not want to lose customers to their competition down the road.

 

Afterward, I heard again from the student L.:

I’m so happy you came to see our presentations, it was nice to meet you. Here’s my description:

Every year Punahou School has a Sustainability Fair outside, on Middle Field, which is open to everyone, the public, parents, and students. People from different environmental organizations come and have their own booths to teach people about different environmental problems and solutions. Also, there is a local farmers market where local farmers can sell their fresh produce, and artists can sell things like recycled caprisun bags out of recycled products. Students also sell recycled art that they’ve made like bracelets and earrings. Students, like my class, have their own booths, like how my class did. At our booth, we had a contract where people could sign to pledge to buy local at least once a week, and then they would get a green wristband that said “Buy Local!” to remind them to always try to buy local as much as possible to support Hawaii’s local farmers. We got over 450 signatures, which really helped. We got so many signatures, because so many people showed up and wanted to make a difference in the world and for our local farmers.

One of the highlights of our presentations was that we knew that we were making a big difference for local farmers and for us, and that we were reaching out to them. We knew that just with our presentations, we were giving local farmers hope in these tough economic times and letting them know that they are very important to Hawaii’s culture, and if we loss them, then we would loose a part of Hawaii. With the presentations, we were doing good, not just for the local farmers but for us, making us a more self-sufficient state. With the presentations, we were reminding ourselves of the importance of buying local and how it can make a big difference in our economy, the state, and for local farmers.

I hope this helps, and thank you again for coming to our presentation and representing Hawaii’s local farmers, it meant a lot to us knowing you were there.

I flew to O‘ahu just to attend the presentation, and I was so glad I did. It was great to see the students’ determination to support local farmers because it is a matter of survival for all those who call Hawai‘i home. They are very aware that we are vulnerable living out here in the middle of the ocean, and it is nice to know that they know.

A lot of the time, farmers don’t know if anyone cares. From attending Project Citizens at Punahou School, I can tell you that these young people absolutely do care.

I thank them all on behalf of all Hawai‘i’s farmers. And thank you, L., for asking me to participate.

Current Affairs, Government, Renewable Energy Sources

Electric Car Plant Coming to Oahu

Did you see this article in the Honolulu Advertiser on Friday?

Hawaii chosen as manufacturing site for electric mini-cars
S. Korea automaker to build, sell vehicles here, bringing up to 400 jobs

By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer

A South Korea-based company has committed to build a $200 million assembly plant on O’ahu that would turn out two-seat electric cars and other vehicles and employ as many as 400 people.

CT&T Co. said it has narrowed its search to four sites on which to build a 100,000-square-foot plant from which it would also sell its elfin vehicles, which are mostly targeted at short jaunts on city and neighborhood streets.

The company and state officials announced the plans yesterday flanked by a dozen of the cars at the state Capitol. Later they signed an agreement pledging to cooperate on meeting each other’s goals….(Click here to read more)

Biofuel, Hamakua Coast, Renewable Energy Sources

Generating Electricity Is Not Hu Honua’s Biggest Challenge

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From the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (5/7/10):

Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC wants to take over the 1985 special management area or SMA permit that allowed the former Hilo Coast Processing Co. to operate a coal-burning power plant near the ocean….

…Eucalyptus trees growing along the Hamakua Coast will be harvested for fuel during the plant’s first decade of operation, according to Hu Honua’s application. The company would then look to obtain trees from private landowners clearing their properties, and also is working with the University of Hawaii at Hilo to develop a “sustainable biomass farming plan.”

On Friday, I went to the Windward Planning Commission meeting in support of Hu Honua. From the company’s website:

Hu Honua Bioenergy, LLC is a Hawaii-based company created to meet local electricity needs using renewable resources. The facility is located in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, on a 25.57-acre site on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I am supporting Hu Honua because the company says it will use biomass to generate “base power” in HELCO’s grid.  Base power is a steady, dependable source of electricity. More than 85 percent of HELCO’s electricity usage is base power.

The Hu Honua project has the potential of replacing fossil fuels in HELCO’s grid with biomass.

From my own farming experience, I feel that Hu Honua will face some challenges in sourcing its feedstock. Several years ago, when the land around the Hu Honua power plant was subdivided and put up for sale, we were informed that C. Brewer wanted to sell the land on three sides of our banana packing house. We were growing bananas there on a short term lease and were told we needed to move our bananas to a different location. When we completed that move, instead of our packing house being in the middle of our banana growing operation, it was stuck way out on one side of the farm.

In order to maintain the same amount of production, we needed to acquire more land that was even further to one side of our farm, and this made our operation inefficient. And because our packing house was no longer centered in our fields, our labor and maintenance costs went way up, to the point that we had to downsize and reorganize our entire farming operation.

Similarly, Hu Honua’s generation plant would have benefitted from being sited in the middle of its production supply. This is not possible, though, since it is bordered by the ocean on one side and subdivisions on the other. Consequently, labor and fossil fuel costs will be a larger part of their operation than would have been optimum.

When they try to grow their own sustainable biocrop in 10 years, they’ll have the same problem we did. I’ve tried to guess where the large land parcel supporting five to six trucks of biomass per hour will be located, and I don’t know where that place will be.

For 10 miles in either direction, rainfall averages approximately 120 inches per year. Our farm, just a couple of miles up the road, has an average rainfall of 140 inches per year. High rainfall, deep soil and steep terrain make for a challenging agricultural environment.

I do support Hu Honua, but I worry they may not be successful in developing a “sustainable biomass farming plan.”

Sustainability, Web/Tech

There’s ‘Aina’ in ‘Sust-aina-ble’

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I’ve been hearing about this interesting Facebook page called Abundance – Hawaiian Sust_AINA_ble lifestyle. You might consider joining it. (If you cannot get that link, search the page’s name at Facebook).

Here’s the page’s description:

E komo mai (Welcome!) Join us as we find the best markets, farms, food and sustainable life in Hawai’i Island aka The Big Island of Hawai’i.

There are great articles, videos, notes about “green” things happening on the Big Island, and a real sense of community is forming there, too. I’m going to follow along. See you there!

Company News

Korean Natural Farming in Pepeekeo

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Master Cho Han Kyu is the founder of “Korean Natural Farming,” a farming method that uses no imported fertilizers or chemicals. He visited our farm today and pointed out alternate methods that I could use to control white flies and increase fruit set, as well as yields. They will write out instructions for us on how to implement Korean Natural Farming techniques.

MasterChoOrganic Ginger Grower Dean Pinner points out his farm site to Master Cho, the founder of Korean Natural Farming

A reent Hawaii Tribune-Herald article discussed Korean Natural Farming, and Master Cho’s visit to Hawai‘i:

Farmers in Korea use less water, no chemical fertilizer and yet increase production. The system’s beneficial byproducts include healthier soil conditions, reduced water pollution and other environmental pluses, healthier diets and a stronger agriculture economy.

Natural farming focuses on living soil and indigenous micro-organisms that convert organic material into the inorganic minerals and nutrients plants can utilize. Read more here.

I’m going to be working on a controlled trial with University of Hawai‘i extension agents to see if I can get positive results. I’ll report here periodically on how things are progressing.

Peak Oil

Staying Current On Peak Oil

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By now, most people realize that oil prices are going to
keep rising due to declining world oil supplies.

Information confirming what I’ve been saying here all
these months is starting to come in so fast and furious that I’m having trouble keeping up with it anymore.

So I’ve decided to provide links to the energy articles and blogs I find most useful in keeping track of these topics. They’ll also be posted soon on the sidebar on this blog.

• Gail Tverberg is one of the editors of The Oil Drum, and I find her to be one of the most credible writers on energy. When The Kohala Center brought her to the Big Island to be the featured speaker in an energy forum, I took her to give a talk to the Kanaka Council. She was extremely well received by them.

• Robert Rapier cuts through the spin and hype relating to biofuels. His responses to comments are very informative.

• Subscribe to daily Peak Oil news to stay current on energy
topics. Soon you will be as current on energy news as anybody.

• This Chris Martenson video on Peak Oil explains
what’s going on very clearly. I strongly recommend you look at the rest of the “chapters,” too.

• I recommend this Jeff Rubin YouTube video. Rubin is a Canadian economist and author, and a former chief economist at CIBC World Markets. From the video:

“How much longer can the world pretend that it won’t soon
be facing another energy shock, one every bit as challenging as the one it faced two years ago? Whether we are talking about supply or demand, there is nothing on the horizon to prevent the imminent return of the very same oil prices that put us into the deepest postwar recession yet in the first place.”

• Subscribe to The Energy Bulletin. This is an excellent Energy Bulletin article by Chris Nelder: “Officials wake up to peak oil, part 2:”

“…Estimates on the timing of the peak have narrowed
dramatically, and now center on the 2012-2015 time frame. The range of estimates on the peak rate of production remain a bit broader and shrouded in caveats, but they are rapidly drawing closer to 90 mbpd. And the globally
averaged, post-peak annual decline rates are settling in around 2%.

In other words, industry and governments appear to be
coming around to what my call has been all along — 2012, at 90 mbpd or less, then declining at about 2.5% per year.

Now we know that the oil and gas industry, and the world’s
governments, are not only aware of the peak oil threat but they are deeply worried about it. Worried enough to huddle behind closed doors, away from the press. Worried enough to formulate plans to control price volatility. Worried enough to agitate for more transparent data. Worried enough to begin planning for a future of relentlessly declining energy.

But not worried enough to tell the American people the
truth—not just yet.”

Geothermal, Peak Oil

Richard on ‘Geothermal & Peak Oil’ Today

Richard will be speaking at a Sierra Club meeting today.

From Big Island Chronicle:

Richard Ha will speak about “Geothermal and Peak Oil” at a Sierra Club meeting Wednesday, April 28, 2010, at the Ola’a Community Center in Kea’au (across from McDonalds). A potluck at 5:30 p.m. will precede the meeting slated for 6 p.m. Ha had the large banana farm in the Kea’au area before becoming the Hamakua tomato farm producer he is today….(read more)

If you’ve read this blog before, you know that geothermal and peak oil are topics Richard feels strongly about and has been concerned about for a long time.

“I happen to believe  the world has changed and that we need to make the right energy choices for future generations,” he said. “Geothermal is proven technology, it does not depend on subsidies to make it work, it’s cheap, it doesn’t emit greenhouse gases and it is a resource for the people of Hawai‘i.”

Biofuel, Community, Eating Locally, Food Security, Mauna Kea, Renewable Energy Sources, Schools, Science, Water

It Takes A Community

It’s been a busy few days.

Last Wednesday evening, Don Thomas, a geologist from UH Hilo, accompanied me to a meeting of the Keaukaha Community Association where he described two drilling projects. The first was a 3,000 ft. or so pilot hole sunk by the Hilo breakwater. It was a test to see if the concept of drilling to acquire a profile of the land was feasible. The second was a much deeper hole on the National Guard side of the Hilo airport. This was a part of a National Science Foundation-funded study. It was meant to gather information on the formation of the Big Island by studying the layers of lava as the hole was drilled deeper and deeper.

The background as I understand it: In eartlier days, only the Kohala Mountain range, Hualalai and Mauna Kea protruded above the ocean. Then Mauna Loa erupted and the Hilo side of Mauna Kea was covered by Mauna Loa’s lava.

Core samples showed that there was Mauna Loa lava atop soil from Mauna Kea, much like the kind of material you see on the Hilo/Hamakua coast. Then, as the drill went deeper, they found fresh water at 160 lbs. of pressure in the Mauna Kea lava, way below the surface of the ocean. This is what’s called an artesian well, and is when you get water shooting out under pressure from the surface of the land. That means that this water is under pressure from water that is pushing against it.

As I understand it, drill deep enough and water will just shoot out of the ground. I’ll ask Don what all this means and report back here.

I saw Luana Kawelu at the Keaukaha Community Association meeting Wednesday night. Kumu Lehua calls her one of the “Gang of Three” (with Patrick Kahawaiola‘a) — the folks who together help to make Keaukaha Elementary School the excellent school that it is. She is also the driving force behind the Merrie Monarch Festival. She has never let marketing and dreams of bigger and better things cloud her judgment. She just focuses on the pono thing. I cannot imagine how the Merrie Monarch Festival could be done better. “Pono” is way good enough.

Thursday, I flew to Maui to visit supermarkets as part of my marketing involvement with the new organic farm at Kapalua called WeFarm@Kapalua. This organic farm is on former Maui Pineapple Company lands and consists of approximately 158 acres. David Cole, the former CEO of Maui Land and Pine, started the organic farm awhile ago. When MLP got out of pineapple, the Ulupono Initiative submitted a bid to take over the former organic farm. From the Ulupono Initiative website:

Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Ulupono Initiative, announced today that it would be assuming operations of Kapalua Farms, an organic farming and agriculture research facility located near the entry of the Kapalua Resort in West Maui.  Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., owners of the 158-acre agricultural parcel, successfully reached an agreement with Ulupono earlier this month, with the transition of the property already underway.
 
“We are pleased to partner with Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development as they assume operations of Kapalua Farms,” said Warren H. Haruki, chairman and interim CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.  “Our desire was to find an operational partner that would be able to continue organic farming operations and to maintain Kapalua Farms as a community resource, employer, and provider.  Ulupono is an exemplary organization committed to preserving our agricultural land, and we look forward to working together.”

I am especially pleased to be working with the Ulupono Initiative and WeFarm@Kapalua because I watched Jeff Alvord put this initiative together over the last several years. Jeff would call when he was in town and we would talk about the larger picture of a sustainable Hawai‘i. I knew from early on that the Omidyar Group had the best interest of Hawai‘i at heart. I’m very happy to be closely involved with this new organic farming initiative.

Later, when I made my way to the Maui airport, I ran into Stevie Whalen, the President of the Hawai‘i Ag Research Center, which is the modern-day iteration of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association’s research arm.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in
Hawaii, has become an internationally recognized research center. Its name change in 1996 to Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) reflects its expanding scope to encompass research in forestry, coffee, forage, vegetable crops, tropical fruits, and many other diversified crops in addition to sugarcane. HARC is a private, non-profit 501c5 organization.

HARC specializes in horticultural crop research including agronomy and plant nutrition, plant physiology, breeding, genetic engineering and tissue culture, and control of diseases and pests through integrated pest management. HARC also performs pesticide registration work; training in areas such as pesticide application and environmental compliance; ground water monitoring; and technical
literature searches.

Stevie was on Maui to help provide research info about new biocrop possibilities that could possibly be the base feedstock that would provide the U.S. Navy the kind of second and third generation fuel that it could use to fly its jet planes and run its ships. Liquid transportation fuel is very important for us living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It will take a huge research effort to develop high-yielding bio feedstock. It will not just happen miraculously, out of the blue. I have the utmost confidence in Stevie and her HARC crew, as well as Andy Hashimoto and the CTAHR crew.

Stevie told me that it’s becoming evident that biofuel production will need to use the added value of co-products to make it an economically viable form of energy. There is no doubt that we want to develop a biofuel that will eventually be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. I am very aware that much more work needs to be done.

Then, on the plane back to Hilo, I ended up sitting next to Arnold Hara, extension entomologist for UH Manoa. He was on Maui as part of a project to intensively inspect imported produce coming from the mainland and foreign countries. He was very concerned about the amount of invasive species insects that are being found on imported organic produce. He called imported organic produce “dirty.” He meant that there are lots of hitchhikers on organic produce. It is very worrisome.

I’ll call him tomorrow and ask what varieties of organic produce we should grow to replace imported organic produce. I’m very happy to be associated with WeFarm@Kapalua, where we can help to protect Hawai‘i from invasive species.

Community, Web/Tech

Check Out Honolulu’s Civil Beat

Do you know about Pierre Omidyar’s new online news organization out of Honolulu? It’s called Civil Beat, and it just went online this week.

It’s a whole different approach to news, and it’s really interesting. From Editor John Temple’s introductory remarks:

A New Approach to Journalism

By John Temple

 (photo: Randy Ching & Mark Quezada/Civil Beat)

Welcome to Civil Beat. We’re glad you decided to join us.

I’d like to tell you about the journalism you can expect to find here
from our team of reporter-hosts. It’s different. And I’m excited to
begin talking with you about it before we start
publishing articles on May 4.

We start this news service with the belief that we’re here to serve
you. That means our daily work is to ask the important questions
citizens might have in the face of the complex issues facing our
community. And to answer them in a way that helps members reach an
informed opinion, based on our reporting and the discussion that will
take place as we together create the new civic
square.

You’ll find that our initial coverage is centered around five
fundamental beats: Hawaii, Honolulu, Education, Land and Money. For each
of these coverage areas, we have identified critical issues – and now
that you’re here we hope you’ll help us sharpen our focus.

…

How will we do this to best serve you? First, you’ll be part of the
process. You might have noticed that we’ve opened the doors to this new civic square without putting up any news articles. That’s different – a news service without news, at least initially. It’s intentional. We want to begin by talking with you about what we’re doing, to hear what you want from us and what you think we should be asking. We believe
conversation and civil debate with our reporter-hosts and with other
members is central to what will make Civil Beat valuable. And we want
you to see that the core of our service isn’t the article itself. Of
course, incisive news reporting soon will be an important part of what
we offer. But at the heart of our service are pages dedicated to
providing you context and understanding about the issues you need to
know about. These “topic pages” are living pages. They’ll grow over
time, with your help. We know you’re busy and that our job is to help
make it easy for you to learn about and truly understand what’s going
on, and what you might be able to do about it. With our approach, you
should be able to find the background you need when you want it, without having to surf thousands of pages of documents or make numerous phone calls to unearth what should be readily available to you. (Read more)

I love that they are thinking differently, and providing “topic pages” that lay out background and context about the issues they then report about, and that there will be conversation.

How will they make money? It’s by membership. Anyone can roam around the site, but to delve more deeply into the content you’ll need to be a member. Right now they are offering a discount on the first month’s membership. Normally it’s $19.99/month, but if you sign up now you get the first month for $4.99. I’m going to join.

Community, Eating Locally

Big Island Farmers Markets, CSAs & Community Gardens

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Sonia Martinez, of Sonia Tastes Hawai‘i, has put together a great resource over at the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network — it’s a list of the 30 or so farmers markets on the Big Island as well as CSAs and community gardens.

CSAs are Community Supported Agriculture, a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.

Her very thorough list of Farmers Markets and CSAs is here.