Motivation

Richard Ha writes:

What is it that motivates me to support the Thirty Meter Telescope, Geothermal energy and the E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival? 

Those three subjects, I firmly believe, give us some transition time as we deal with Peak Oil – a scenario in which global oil production has peaked and every barrel of crude oil drawn from the earth from that point forth is more difficult and more expensive to extract than the barrel before it. This will have enormous, detrimental effects on being able to provide people with cheap food.

I believe we have time to adjust, but, for the sake of our people, we just cannot afford to waste the opportunities available to us.

I am no doom-and-gloomer, but I do believe in being smart about it. For example, when oil was first discovered in Pennsylvania in the 1850s, it would have been foolish to invest in the old technology – a harpoon factory in Lahaina. 

Hanalei Fergerstrom and I are both very concerned about “Peak Oil” and its implications. I am a farmer whose kuleana is feeding people. Hanalei belongs to the House of Lono. Lono is one of the four major Hawaiian gods; he ruled agriculture, harvests, weather, sports, and medicine.

Palikapu Dedman and Tom Anthony were distressed the other night because they thought that I was anti-Hawaiian, but nothing could be further from the truth. I am concerned about Hawaiians; I am concerned about all of us.

It is about giving ourselves “transition” time toward a better, more sustainable future. It certainly is not about selling more tomatoes, and I don’t get paid from anything having to do with the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Here is an interesting article about “Peak Oil” and transition.  I think that it is a bit overstated, but the general ideas are valid:

...Fridley, like a few other thinkers, activists and pessimists, could talk all night about "peak oil." This catch phrase describes a scenario, perhaps already unfurling, in which the easy days of oil-based society are over, a scenario in which global oil production has peaked and in which every barrel of crude oil drawn from the earth from that point forth is more difficult to extract than the barrel before it. According to peak oil theory, the time is approaching when the effort and cost of extraction will no longer be worth the oil itself, leaving us without the fuel to power our transportation, factories, farms, society and the very essence of our oil-dependent lives. Fridley believes the change will be very unpleasant for many people. 

"If you are a typical American and have expectations of increasing income, cheap food, nondiscretionary spending, leisure time and vacations in Hawaii, then the change we expect soon could be what you would consider 'doom,'" he says soberly, "because your life is going to fall apart….”

Read the whole article here.