Pahoa Speaks

June 19, 2009 Richard Ha

RLast night was the Thirty Meter Telescope Environmental Impact Statement meeting in Pahoa.

Respected labor and community leader Wallace Ishibashi spoke and said that, as a native Hawaiian, he was okay with the TMT. He said that he respected everyone’s point of view. It was a very heartfelt, eloquent speech. He made people feel comfortable, whether they were speaking for or against the TMT.

There was a healthy difference of opinion, but everyone was very respectful of each other. Many people expressed the idea that we need to work in cooperation with each other. It felt really good.

Photo by Damon Tucker

I spoke about the TMT’s annual $1 million community benefit package, which will be used for education. I said that the world has changed and it is no longer about us, but rather the keiki and next generations. “One day the boat not going come.” This contribution to education will help us prepare.

Palikapu Dedman, a member of the Kanaka Council, spoke last night as well. He is determined and articulate, and he always voices his opposition in a booming voice. He boomed: “If not in Hawai‘i, where can Hawaiians be Hawaiians?”

Palikapu owns 70 acres of farmland that he purchased and farms himself. He is self-made, and does not rely on government subsidies. He walks the talk.

At the Hilo meeting, outside of the Hilo High School cafeteria, I had a long, heated and respectful discussion with him. We agreed to disagree. I respect him a lot.

I also had a strong discussion with Tom Anthony outside of the Hilo High cafeteria. Tom is very smart, very articulate, and even more “in your face” than Palikapu. He, too, is a member of the Kanaka Council. We also agreed to disagree.

Kale Gumapac is the alaka‘i (leader) of the Kanaka Council. At the Pahoa meeting, he offered strong opposition to things that diminish Hawaiians’ ability to be Hawaiians.

The mostly Puna-centered Kanaka Council is a coalition of groups with the most passionate, loud and angry voices. Many people are afraid of them, but they are my friends and I like and respect them.

Dr. Henry Yang, Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara and President of the Thirty Meter Telescope corporation, and Dr. Jean Lou Chameau, President of Cal Tech, went to meet with them. After that meeting, where the members expressed their views candidly, Henry told me that it was one of their most valuable meetings.

At the time, some felt that I should not have exposed Henry and Jean Lou to the Kanaka Council and to risk. I knew that though it would be passionate, and maybe unconventional, it would not be risky.

In retrospect, it shows how serious the TMT folks are about trying to understand how people here truly feel.

***

Stunning Shift in Hawaii’s Astronomy is an interesting blog post about the TMT from the Hilo Living blog.

Mauna Kea

Waimea EIS Meeting

June 17, 2009 Richard Ha

Last night I drove back to Hilo from a TMT Environmental Impact Statement meeting that was held at the Waimea Elementary School cafeteria.

I listened to music on my iPhone—from Jimi Hendrix/Purple Haze to Barry White with Earl Klugh and Brudda Iz in between. It never sounded so good. I was in a great mood.

The meeting had gone really well. Penny Keli‘i Vredenberg welcomed everyone, and made everyone feel so comfortable. It felt like we were all in her backyard instead of in a cafeteria.

I talked about the background of how the $1 million community benefit education package came about. I explained that Henry Yang impressed me—he listened. He did not dismiss my advice just because I wore shorts and t-shirts. My advice was for them to go listen to the community.

Henry and Jean Lou flew into Hilo maybe 15 times, and I took them to meet community folks. By last month, they had seen Kumu Lehua and Patrick Kahawaiola four times. At the end, they were old friends.

I told how we advised them a year ago that education for the keiki is the most important thing they could do for the community. Henry committed to this idea.

For nearly a year now, we’ve been working on this on a handshake and it’s very gratifying to now see this in print. But we had no doubt that Henry would make it happen. I’ve said before that Henry is someone I can do business with on a handshake.

I left the meeting feeling really happy. There were people there who were very passionate about their positions. But they, and we, conducted ourselves in a very respectful way.

That’s what I was so happy about. Facing an uncertain future, we need to have a strong sense of community and we need to make more friends and stay closer to our families. And we are doing it right now. It’s all I need to smile.

Mauna Kea

Support for the TMT

June 15, 2009 Richard Ha

It was a coalition of folks from all sectors of the population that came to wave signs the other day.

It’s about the keiki. Kumiko S. Usuda, Outreach Scientist (Astronomer) at the Subaru Telescope, and her children.

June Ha and Dina

It’s not about us. It’s about future generations. This is Suzy Dill and her future generation.

Pete Lindsey and the boys

Waiakea High School Robotics club

UH Hilo Astronomy/Physics Professor Marianne Takamiya and family

left, Barbara Hastings, Outgoing President of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce; center, Incoming President Mary Begier

It is not about us anymore. Now it is about the keiki and future generations. It was very gratifying to see high school students, young kids, a hapai mom – the next generations.

The Labor Union and business folks were there, too. Jobs are about families and the here and now.

The Big Island Labor Alliance played an important role. The labor folks tell me that there are by far more Hawaiian workers on the bench now than all the people who testified on both sides of the issue at the Comprehensive Management Plan hearing recently. They wonder why their voices are not heard.

There were educators there, too, who think about the value of new learning.

It was uplifting to hear all the people blowing their horns in support. It was louder this time than last. All kinds of different sounds, especially raucous were the big rigs and their air horns!

Several days ago, University of Hawai‘i President David McClain issued this statement:

After discussions with academic and community leaders on the Big Island, and review with the Board of Regents, I can say that should TMT come to Mauna Kea, the Hawaiian community and community-at-large will benefit through an annual $1 million community benefit package, which will provide funding for locally chosen and managed educational programs on Hawai‘i Island. This will begin once all permits for the project have been received.  The compensation to the University of Hawai‘i, which is expected to begin at “first light,” will be split equitably between a higher education package to be used for selected initiatives of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College on Hawai‘i Island, and observing time for University of Hawai‘i scientists.  David McClain 
President , University of Hawai‘i

We cannot just assume the TMT is coming here, because Chile is trying very hard to attract the TMT.

Please show up to voice your concerns or show your support at one of the EIS hearings, which are coming up and scheduled all around the island. You can look at the draft EIS at the TMT website.

The first round of meetings, referred to as Public Scoping Meetings, were conducted between October 6 and 16, 2008. Now, these Draft EIS meetings will be held during the 45-day Draft EIS comment period as follows:

Tuesday, June 16 Waimea / Kamuela Waimea Elementary School Cafeteria 5-8pm
Wednesday, June 17 Hilo Hilo High School Cafeteria 4-8pm
Thursday, June 18 Pāhoa / Puna Pāhoa High School Cafeteria 5-8pm
Monday, June 22 Ka‘ū Ka’u High/Pāhala Elementary School Cafeteria 5-8pm
Tuesday , June 23 Hāwī / Kohala Kohala Cultural Center 5-8pm
Wednesday, June 24 Kona Kealakehe Elementary School Cafeteria 5-8pm
Thursday, June 25 Honolulu Farrington High School Cafeteria 5-8pm

These public meetings will consist of the following general components:

First hour – Open House, a question and answer period with project representatives around poster displays
Presentations by project representatives for half an hour
Facilitated public discussion period thereafter

Community, Education, Mauna Kea, Sustainability

Money For Education

June 12, 2009 Richard Ha

This afternoon, University of Hawai‘i President David McClain issued this statement:

After discussions with academic and community leaders on the Big Island, and review with the Board of Regents, I can say that should TMT come to Mauna Kea, the Hawaiian community and community-at-large will benefit through an annual $1 million community benefit package, which will provide funding for locally chosen and managed educational programs on Hawai‘i Island. This will begin once all permits for the project have been received.

The compensation to the University of Hawai‘i, which is expected to begin at “first light,” will be split equitably between a higher education package to be used for selected initiatives of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College on Hawai‘i Island, and observing time for University of Hawai‘i scientists.

David McClain
President, University of Hawai‘i

What catches my attention is the part about an annual amount of $1 million for locally chosen and managed educational programs on Hawai‘i Island.

I know how important early education is. My Pop was the greatest influence on me. I learned the most important things, which lasted through my entire life, when I was 10 years old.

If we teach our keiki the values they need to make a society that is successful and thriving “when the boat no come,” we will have done our jobs. This $1 million that will be dedicated to keiki education annually is key to the survival of future generations. It is no longer about us – it is about the future generations.

We must learn and perpetuate what it was that allowed Hawaiians to survive for hundreds of years out in the middle of the ocean without boats coming in every day with goods from someplace else.

In the future, our values will need to revolve around aloha. We will need to assume responsibility—kuleana. We need to make more friends and stay closer to our families.

We live in the modern world, so how do we use what we have and meld it with the values that worked? We need to have a balance of science and culture in order for all of us to do what we do to help our greater society.

My Pop told me: “There are a thousand reasons why ‘No can.’ I only looking for one reason why ‘Can.’”

***

Yesterday was King Kamehameha Day. I think of King Kamehameha as a doer, not a talker. He took what was available to him and used it to the best advantage.

Since we are going to do a sign waving in support of the Thirty Meter Telescope today, in front of the King Kamehameha statue, I thought that I would go take pictures.

Over the last couple of weeks many of us did radio spots in support of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Running throughout the spots is the word “pono.” Those ads started running today.

Download HCU_Keawe_Wallace
Download HCU_Richard_Dale
Download HCU_Rockne_Penny
Download HCU_William_Penny

We will have more soon.

***

I went on three live radio programs yesterday morning. First with Kat and Keala at KWXX, then a few minutes with DC at Da Beat, and then on with Ken Hupp at KPUA.

I talked about how I volunteered to be on the TMT committee of the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board when I first heard that the TMT was considering coming to Hawai‘i. I felt strongly that if it was to be done, it needed to be done right. I talked about going to Keaukaha Elementary School to see its principal Lehua Veincent and asking where they go on excursions.

He told me the bus was too expensive so they walked around the community. I was shocked. How was it possible that in the shadows of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of telescopes on Mauna Kea, Keaukaha Elementary School did not have enough money to go on excursions?

My friends Duane Kanuha, Leslie, Macario and I said, “This no can,” and we decided to do something about it. We went out in the community and told the story. We said that for $600 people could adopt a class at Keaukaha Elementary School, so they could rent a bus and pay entry fees to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center or another destination.

The idea is to inspire the kids. My Pop inspired me when I was in the fourth grade and his effect lasted a lifetime. I think the same can result from ‘Imiloa.

The Moores, a large funder of the TMT, found out about the Adopt-A-Class project and liked it. They adopted all the students of the Big Island.

I told the audience about the $1 million dollar fund that will be used for the education of our keiki. We are relying on the people we appoint to administer the fund. We want to appoint people to the Board based on their passion for taking care of the community for the long run.

Mauna Kea

TMT is Pono

June 10, 2009 Richard Ha 2 Comments

Yesterday I joined a group of community folks who came together to create some radio ads that articulate why the Thirty Meter Telescope is beneficial to us living here on the Big Island. Nobody had an agenda, other than their belief that the TMT is good for people. The ads will run in a few days.

In the final analysis, it is about respect for each other and concern for the future.

I keep coming back to the word “pono” as best describing what we are trying to do. Chicken skin!

From ulukau.org, the Hawaiian language dictionary (and more) on the web:

Pono: nvs. Goodness, uprightness, morality, moral qualities, correct or proper procedure, excellence, well-being, prosperity, welfare, benefit, behalf, equity, sake, true condition or nature, duty; moral, fitting, proper, righteous, right, upright, just, virtuous, fair, beneficial, successful, in perfect order, accurate, correct, eased, relieved; should, ought, must, necessary.

I’ll post the audio of the complete radio session in a few days; in the meantime, here is my own 20-second spot:

Aloha Everyone,

My name is Richard Ha. I’m president of Hamakua Springs Country Farms. I support the Thirty Meter Telescope. It is no longer about us; now, it is about the keiki and future generations.

The Thirty Meter Telescope will be the biggest and best in the world. The officers of the TMT come from humble beginnings themselves, so they can relate to our people. They understand when we say, We need to plan for our keiki and future generations.

This is an opportunity for all of us to respect, cooperate and collaborate with each other for the good of future generations.

My dad told me when I was a small kid: “There are a thousand reasons why ‘No can;’ I only looking for one reason why ‘Can.’” For the sake of the keiki and future generations, we need to figure out how CAN!

Water

Clearing the Flume

June 8, 2009 Richard Ha

My friend John Cross and I worked on the flume at the farm today, clearing some roots from a rose apple tree that had grown into the flume channel. The root mass looked like a huge hapu‘u tree lying in the channel, and it diverted quite a lot of water out of the flume. This is the flume running after the root had been removed.

Here’s how much water was spillling over before we removed the roots. In that first photo, John was walking on the exact spot where all the water spilled out. They are “before and after” pictures.

Full flow downstream

This is where we will pick up the water in a pipe. It is about 200 feet downstream from the head works, where the flume originates.

The original concrete flume turns into a natural channel before reaching a concrete works downflume. The bottom is made up of ‘ili‘ili, small river rock.

We needed to find out what was causing the obstruction in the flume, which is why I called my friend John Cross. No one knows more about flumes that John. He managed the Hilo Coast plantations for C. Brewer and knew every flume on the Hilo Coast. He was in charge of making sure they were all in good repair.

We thought clearing our flume was going to be a big job. John went up there and took a look, and the following day he brought some 2 x 12s and a large sheet of plastic. The first thing he did was to cut one of the 2 x 12s the width of the flume. Then he cut the bottom of the board to fit the contour of the flume channel bottom. He cut a second board the width of the channel and then a third one.

He then set a 2 x 4 on the sides vertically, to hold the boards in place when the flow of the river would press the boards up against the 2 x 4s. He cut a piece of plastic that was a little larger than the boards. The water pressing against the plastic would make a nice seal.

When he put all those pieces in place, they stopped the flume flow and the water spilled off into a side channel. Now I know why it was slightly lower than the regular flume. I would have not known that it was a spillway, had John not actually used it.

John told me that when he put everything in place, the flume dried up. And in a short bit, an army of prawns started marching upstream toward him. That, and the river ‘opae started making their way upstream in the little rivulet, around and over the ‘ili‘ili on the bottom of the flume.

While he was watching the prawns make their way upstream, he heard a flap of wings above his head and saw an ‘io dive down, grab a prawn and fly on down the channel. It flew around a bend, went through a tunnel of overhanging trees and disappeared. John said it was a surreal moment.

Last week I spent several hours cutting the rose apple roots out, and today John and I took the rest out. It is surprising how much water flows through that flume.

Renewable Energy Sources

Algae as Biofuel?

June 5, 2009 Richard Ha 1 Comment

Whatever happened to algae as a biofuel?

It turns out that there are many more practical problems than one would assume. For example, algae gets energy from the sun in order to grow. At more than six inches deep, algae cannot get enough light to grow. So in order to maximize space, some people run algae water through clear pipes, which maximizes sunlight exposure.

The problem is that the pipes are petroleum-based. So the higher oil prices go, the higher the cost of construction becomes, and one can never catch up. It is not rocket science.

Why will biofuels from palm oil, kukui nuts and jatropha not succeed? Farmers look at the equation in a very straightforward way. How much could a farmer expect to make when oil is $200/barrel? Oil weighs approximately 6.8 lbs. per gallon, and there are 42 gallons in a barrel, so each pound of oil is worth approximately 70 cents.

How many pounds of nuts will it take to squeeze out one pound of oil? One could guesstimate that it would take at least four pounds of nuts to squeeze out one pound of oil. That means a farmer could expect to get no more than 18 cents for each pound of raw product.

No farmer would farm palm oil, kukui nuts or jatropha for 18 cents. Not rocket science.

Check out this article about algae and biodiesel.

…Getting the whole thing to run smoothly, though, was tougher than expected. GreenFuel could grow algae. The problem was controlling it. In 2007, a project to grow algae in an Arizona greenhouse went awry when the algae grew faster than they could be harvested and died off. The company also found its system would cost more than twice its target.

It is that latter part of the paragraph that is the more telling. When folk first consider using algae as a future fuel source, it is often because, when tabulated, algae can produce more fuel per acre per year, than any other crop.

However, getting what has been achieved in the short term into a production mode that sustains the same yield for year after year is not that easy….

Peak Oil

Peak Oil Review

June 3, 2009 Richard Ha

Oil demand has not yet started to rise. Every possible place there is to store oil is being used, and the world oil supply is relatively steady right now.

Yet oil prices are rising with the stock market, on hopes that the world economy will start to become stronger.

If this keeps up, rising oil prices could potentially kill any serious economic recovery. And then the cycle will repeat itself.

To get good information on world oil supply issues, subscribe to the weekly Peak Oil Review.

The June 2, 2009 Peak Oil Review starts like this:

1. Production and Prices
Oil prices surged to a six-month high above $66 a barrel last week, despite protests from most observers that fundamentals of supply and demand did not support such a move. A combination of factors was behind the sudden rise. Most important was the fall of the US dollar to a recent low of $1.41 against the Euro, sending traders into commodities for protection. An unexpectedly large drop in the US crude inventory of 5.4 million barrels and statements by the Saudi Oil minister that demand for oil from Asia was picking up contributed to the increase. Other drivers behind the move were an increase in consumer confidence in the US; a 5.8 percent growth in India’s GDP in the first quarter; a 5.2 percent increase in Japan’s industrial production; and a statement from OPEC’s Secretary General that oil prices may reach $70 to $75 by the end of the year.

Read the rest here.

Renewable Energy Sources

Electric Cars

June 1, 2009 Richard Ha 2 Comments

Here on the Big Island, we are fortunate that we have access to geothermal power. Its base power characteristics will help to stabilize the grid, and will allow more and varied renewable sources of energy to be brought onto the electric grid. Here is an interesting article about electric cars:

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Electric Car: Part II
By Tom Whipple

Unless we have an economic depression far worse than most currently believe is likely, the chances are good that within the next five years a combination of emissions restrictions and falling oil supplies is going to make gasoline too expensive for routine use in private automobiles.

The manufacturers recognize this and are rushing to produce pure electric or plug-in hybrid cars that will draw most of their energy consumption from the electric grid. The following is the second part of a discussion of a recent announcement by Nissan that they will be introducing the first full size electric sedan in the U.S. late next year.…

Read the rest of the article.

Education, Mauna Kea

Loud & Important Voices

May 29, 2009 Richard Ha 1 Comment

I’ve written a lot about the educational benefits to our keiki, young people and future generations if the Thirty Meter Telescope folks decide to come to Hawai‘i instead of going to Chile.

Now it’s time to recognize and aloha those folks who have been in the forefront, raising their voices in protest about how much needed to be done to make things pono.

Aloha to Kealoha Pisciotta, Paul Neves, Ku Ching, Hanalei Fergerstrom, the Kanaka Council and others for helping us come as far as we have.

It is because of their tireless efforts that Mauna Kea is now under the control of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. They won a lawsuit, and Judge Hara ruled that a Comprehensive Management Plan needed to be made before any further development could proceed. That Plan has been developed and accepted with conditions by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

I’ve written here before that I volunteered nearly three years ago for a newly formed Thirty Meter Telescope committee at the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board. I came to learn a lot about the issues the loud voices were raising, and I was hugely influenced by them.

For example, it struck me that at that time there was hardly any benefit to the Keaukaha community from the multi-million dollar astronomy industry. That’s why we formed the Adopt-a-Class project to send Keaukaha kids on excursion.

The people supporting the Adopt-a-Class project were regular folks, and local business people including the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board (HIEDB). They did it for no other reason than that it was the pono thing to do.

At the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board, we approached the Mauna Kea issue from the perspective of “What is pono?” Not once did we put economic interests as top priority. I am proud to be a part of this organization.

More than a year ago, Dr. Henry Yang, Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara and the new president of the Thirty Meter Telescope corporation, and Dr. Jean Lou Chameau, President of Cal Tech, came to the Big Island to see for themselves.

At that point, the general consensus of the TMT board was probably that the TMT was going to Chile.

When I first met Henry Yang, I got the feeling he was someone who would truly listen to regular folks’ concerns. After he left, I called my brother Kenneth and told him I was optimistic that things could work out right. I felt then that Henry was someone I could do business with on a handshake. I still feel that way.

Since then, I think they have visited Hilo more than 15 times. Their objective is always to listen and develop relationships. They fly in and out quietly and don’t try to get publicity. And they actually prefer to meet regular people. They visited Keaukaha Elementary School at least four times. And they visited the Kanaka Council, Hank Fergerstrom, the litigants, as well as Hawaiian students and teachers from UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College.

We suggested to Henry early on that there must be a community benefit package centering on education for our keiki. He agreed, and for nearly a year the HIEDB has been working on a framework that ensures the money would be spent in a wise and effective way, free of self-interest, solely for the benefit of the keiki.

Now it’s starting to look like millions of dollars in educational benefits can come to the Big Island, free of charge. The rail project on O‘ahu is financed by taxing the people and when they use the rail system the people will pay again. By contrast, if the TMT chooses Hawai‘i instead of Chile, it will put millions of dollars annually into education for the Big Island’s keiki.

The world has changed. Finite resources are facing an increasing population. Programs for the most needy among us are being cut. Education programs are being cut. Out here on our island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we are vulnerable. Now, it is no longer about us. It’s about future generations.

We have an opportunity now to get millions of dollars for the education of our keiki and future generations.

Are we wise enough to look to the future and dream of what can be? Let’s all go there together.