The Board of Agriculture recently held its monthly meeting on Maui, and after the meeting we visited several farms in upcountry Maui. It was really good to see the successful farm operations.
Last week I got a call to meet with a group of young folks at Starbucks. They are very aware of the effects of world population growth running into finite resources. They appealed to me saying they want to help move Hawai‘i off fossil fuels and onto indigenous resources. And they want to move now, not tomorrow!
They told me that their generation has no hope in Hawai‘i. They said they have no hope of ever owning their own homes. Jobs are hard to come by. Even if one graduates from college, what then? They understand the connection of oil prices to recession and expansion. They know that it is the cost of energy that is affecting our economy.
This meeting really hit me hard. I was talking to people who are actually being affected by the consequences of finite resources. Yet they are absolutely determined to help make a better future for future generations. They are about more than just me; they are about all of us. I am so hopeful for the next generation.
Reflecting on what they told me, I thought about Law Professor and current U.S. Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren. Watch this clip, about which the Washington Monthly says: "First-time candidates don't usually articulate a progressive economical message quite this well."
A quote from the clip:
“You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.
“Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
Some of her points: In the 1970s, a married couple with two kids had one parent in the workforce and saved 11 percent of their income. To get into the middle class, their kids needed to get a high school diploma and to be willing to work hard. That 12 years of education that their children needed, to get into the middle class, was free.
Warren says that the most important thing that happened in the first two-thirds of the 20th century was that women entered the work force.
In the 2000s, a similar married couple with two kids must have two people in the work force – because, she says using numbers adjusted for inflation, median mortgage payments in 2005 are 76 percent higher than they were in 1970. Health insurance – in a healthy family with employee-sponsored health insurance – costs the family 74 percent more. Childcare costs have increased 100 percent, and as compared to the 1970s family a 2000s family has the expense of a second car because of that second person in the workforce, and because of that second income their tax rate is up by 25 percent.
In comparable dollars, the 2005 family is actually spending much less on clothes, food, appliances and cars than the 1970s family did; it’s the non-flexible, big ticket and important expenses that have increased so dramatically and that require that second income.
So a comparable married couple with two kids in 2005 has no savings (compared to the 1970s couple, who saved 11 percent of their earnings), and 15 percent of their income is in credit card debt as they try to keep up.
To launch their kids into the middle class requires 16 years of schooling, and the 2005 family has to pay for the first two years (preschool) and the last four years (college) themselves.
So much happened in just one generation, 30 years, and we didn’t even notice it. And change is coming even quicker today. What's happening in the world now makes me think that Elizabeth Warren's 30 years is being compressed into 10 years or less now. We can see it all around us.
We are already in the middle of it, and many folks are so busy running on the treadmill that they don't notice it. We do not have the time luxury of acting on wrong information.
That is why I am encouraging folks in important decision-making positions to attend the Association for the Study of Peak Oil conference. Its theme is Truth in Energy.
I am so happy that young people see it and want to do something about it.
Jeff Rubin, former Chief Economist for CIBC Bank of Canada, says it’s not about oil supply, but it is more about oil we can afford to burn. I like him because his reasoning makes common sense. If we cannot afford the renewable energy solution, what is the point?
Mark Glick was just appointed head of the Energy Division of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Back when I was supporting the Thirty-Meter Telescope, Mark was President of the Sierra Club, and I had an issue with them.
I pointed out that the Sierra Club is anti-Hawaiian in carrying out its policies. I made clear that I was not against the people who belonged to the Sierra Club – I was a member, and the folks were my friends. I just called its policy anti-Hawaiian.
By all indications, Mark is very well-qualified for his new position. But he needs to keep in mind that when choosing renewable alternatives, people have to be able to afford it. The Energy Department’s policies will have a huge effect on Hawai‘i’s economy. Some people, like me, believe it will have the largest effect.
It’s the folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder that get their lights turned off first. Too often, they will be Hawaiians.
Energy policy must balance distributed generation, so we do not end up with the “haves” leaving the grid, and the “have nots” and small businesses being left to pay for the grid.
If we use proven-technology, indigenous, low-cost energy – such as geothermal – we will become more competitive with the rest of the world. This will stimulate economic activity.
Hawaii is blessed with abundant natural energy resources. We must maximize our resources. But we also need to prioritize wisely.
Choosing low-cost energy will benefit everyone; not only the rubbah slippah folks.
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.
Yesterday I gave a talk at the Sheraton Outrigger in Keauhou. The talk was for the Water Works Association of Hawaii, which is the umbrella association of all of Hawai‘i's water departments.
I talked about the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) operating with one hand tied behind its back. HECO has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders and so it cannot do all the things it might want to do to help Hawai‘i’s people. For instance, it would have a difficult time lowering Hawai‘i’s electricity rates – by closing its oil-fired plants and bringing on significant amounts of geothermal – without hurting its shareholders’ stock price.
HECO is under much pressure lately. Ku‘oko‘a wants to untie HECO's hand so it can be the utility all its people want it to be. We don't want to take HECO over; we want to empower HECO for the benefit of Hawai‘i's people.
The main point I tried to make in my talk was that time is getting short. And that there is more than enough evidence to show that oil prices will rise in the future. It is not about whether or not one particular theory is right or wrong. The evidence we see all around us is compelling enough.
The reason I know about this is that I have attended three Peak Oil Conferences, and this subject has been on my radar for more than five years now.
We know that the peak of oil discovery was in the 1960s. For the last 20 years, we have been using twice as much oil as we have been finding.
We also know that all oil fields decline eventually. In fact, the natural decline rate of all the oil fields put together requires us to find a Saudi Arabia every two to three years. Clearly we have not been doing this.
Oil exporting countries will use more and more of their own oil. This means less for the rest of us. They must do this, in order to keep their people happy, or the dictators will get thrown out of office.
China and India use much less oil per person than we do, yet their economies keep on growing. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser points out that our electricity rates are approaching the high point of 2008. Our people are suffering, and yet China and India can pay this oil price while their economies keep growing.
And we have not even passed the peak of oil supply. Trying to be safe by doing nothing is no longer safe. We need to think different.
You can learn about this and other important liquid fuel subjects at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference, which will be held November 2 - 5 in Washington, D.C. I highly recommend decision makers send people to this conference.
I'll be representing the County of Hawai‘i at this year's conference, my fourth time attending. Mahalo to Mayor Billy Kenoi. He knows what is going on.
The recent PUC decision denying a HECO/Aina Koa Pono biofuel contract was a landmark decision. Kudos to the PUC for understanding precisely what was at stake. Very impressive!!
The process was not transparent, and people had a difficult time understanding the issues.
Cellulosic biofuels is not proven technology, so it’s high risk.
Filling oil tanks with long term biofuel contracts would block cheaper alternatives, like geothermal, from gaining critical mass.
Ratepayers would have financed the risk. And ratepayers are not venture capitalists.
Businesses would have seen their electricity rates go higher than they were with electricity generated by oil, making their products even less competitive to mainland competition. And food security would have suffered.
Social consequences would have included fewer government services, less charitable giving and more working homeless. It would have put stress on our spirit of aloha.
We can and must do better for our future generations. As Steve Jobs always said, “We need to think different!”
I've been thinking about the trips we've taken in the past to the Carmel Tomato Fest, which hasn't been offered for awhile now.
Those Tomato Fests were terrific. Where else could you taste 200 varieties of heirloom tomatoes? Or watch the faces of kids trying them, and based on their reactions say, "Let's grow that one?"
I wrote about the 2007 Tomato Fest here on the blog. In Carmel that year, we went south down the Pacific Coast Highway to visit our friend Judy Lundberg at Babe Farms in Santa Maria. I told June about when I was stationed at Fort Ord and how I loved to fly down that road when I was young and invincible.
HONOLULU, Hawaii: In a decision that was handed down today, the Hawaii Public Utility Commission voted to deny the HECO companies’ application for approval of the biodiesel supply contract with Aina Koa Pono, rendering moot the application to establish a biofuel surcharge to help cover costs.Read the rest
Farmers take the commonsense approach - We look for others that have solved the technical problems, and just copy. Save money, less risk.
