A Lanai Wind Farm
Community Contributed by Robin Kaye, Friends of Lanai
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Sustainability
1 CommentsThrowing Away Our Future
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Community Contributed By Jill Ross
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Building healthy soil takes less effort then a trip to the dump, literally. Your used coffee grounds, paper/yard waste and food scraps are soil waiting to happen. By stuffing them into a plastic bag and driving them to the dump you’re interfering with the natural decomposition process, adding to our island’s looming rubbish pile, and wasting gas.
Every household, school and business could use more healthy soil. You don’t need a green thumb to properly apply compost. Each tree and plant in your yard will benefit from simply scattering your finished compost on the ground around them. Feeding our aina rather than our dump creates a sustainable future for generations to come, and it’s a really easy. There are many methods for composting. My family uses the static or passive method.
Start by gathering your kitchen waste every time you prepare food. We use a plastic Folgers’ canister with a lid. My family of four fills and dumps our canister daily (actually the kids do). Larger families can use five-gallon buckets or any container with a lid.
Collect all the paper and cardboard waste your household accumulates and set it aside or add it directly to your kitchen scraps, this will add carbon to the compost, helping things to break down.
Find a place in your yard to create a compost pile. No need for fancy composting bins – placing your pile directly onto the ground allows worms and insects access to the pile. Dump your kitchen waste, and cover with your paper and yard waste. Composting paperwork with you personal information on it eliminates the need for shredding. If you keep chickens or rabbits, adding their manure to your compost will speed up the process (any non-carnivorous manure will do). Keep adding to the same pile. Water your compost pile to keep it moist. No need to turn the pile, dig into it and you’ll find the bottom is converted into dark, worm-filled soil.
In as little as a month, you’ll have a pile of rich, healthy soil to put in your garden or on your trees/plants. If that sounds like too much work, then simply plant seeds into your pile once your compost is ready. You may also unknowingly create a garden: our compost is currently supporting a huge tomato plant that sprouted independently from an unfinished salad.
By composting all of our kitchen scraps and paper/yard waste, my household has reduced our non-recyclable garbage to three grocery-sized bags a month. Our garbage doesn’t stink or leak. We’re building soil, not landfills. Waste materials are resources. We can drive them to the dump and throw away a sustainable future for our children, or we can manage our waste at home and create soil that will sustain life for generations to come. The choice is yours.
A Molokai Wind Farm
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Community Contributed
By Steve Morgan
Unlike Molokai, land on Lanai has already been designated for the purpose of the wind farm. As a result, the process on Lanai has progressed further than that on our island. Referencing Lanai issues will hopefully help us in making evaluations for our own island.
How much land will the Lanai wind farm require?
According to Castle and Cooke, majority landowner of Lanai, the maximum amount of land that will be used will be 12,800 acres.
What benefits are being offered to the people of Lanai in return for the construction of a wind farm on their island?
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- Make Lanai utility rates the same as Oahu rates
- Make Lanai electric grid 100 percent green by 2020
- Maintain public access for hunting and fishing
- Infuse money into weakened tourist industry in order to maintain jobs
- Improve existing water infrastructure including $500,000 annual investment for improvements
- $250,000 annual investment into watershed preservation
- 1 percent gross revenue to establish community benefit fund for broad range of community projects, as decided by the community
- $100,000 annual investment to Lanai Cultural and Heritage Center
- Road Improvements
According to Mr. Saunders, these benefits would be included in a Purchase Power Agreement (PPA) making these benefits legally binding.
What is the response of the Lanai community?
According to “Lanaians for Sensitive Growth” (LSG), a 25-year-old community advocacy organization, complete support for the wind farm project is found only within a small percentage of Lanai residents. Combining dozens of small group sessions, and a random survey of approximately 400 homes in Lanai covering a broad demographic spectrum, the survey by LSG determined the following statistics:
- 7 percent in complete support
- 23 percent support with reservation
- 21 percent opposed
- 36 percent need more information
- 13 percent other
The official statement made by LSG at this time is, “We do not feel that the potential benefits outweigh the environmental, cultural, social and economic impacts to Lanai and the community.” At the Jan. 11 Senate hearing, Reynold Gima, president of LSG, requested that the senators at the meeting engage more fully with the Lanai community, concluding “Do with us, don’t do to us!”
Is there a Lanai governing body that will be involved in the decision making process on Lanai?
No, currently there is no such governing body. Using the county process, the intention of LSG is to designate land in the area of the proposed windmills to the zoning categories of “Open Space One and Open Space Two.” According to LSG, through such a designation, the Lanai Planning Commission would have jurisdiction over some areas of the wind farm.
For more info in regard to opposition of the Lanai wind farm go to friendsoflanai.org
Back to Business
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Nancy McPherson, the recently reinstalled Molokai planner, has returned to ensure projects are done correctly to Molokai standards – and efficiently.
She is knowledgeable about permits, zoning, flood maps, and Special Area Management (SMA), McPherson said.
“Our natural resources are our natural capital, so we have to protect it,” McPherson said.
McPherson’s first stint as the island’s planner began in 2006 and came to an end in 2008 when she was promoted as Maui County planner..jpg)
A Plan for Efficiency
McPherson returned to her Molokai position in mid-January, and said she is enthusiastic about being back in the position. She would like to be able to allow people to begin their projects as soon as possible.
“I plan on trying to make the SMA permitting process more streamline. I want to make it more efficient,” McPherson said.
Lori Buchanan, a Molokai Planning Commission member, said she is happy to have McPherson back on board. “I have always been impressed with McPherson’s experience and academia,” she said.
“I thought we got lucky. I honestly thought she was overqualified. She has a great heart,” Buchanan added.
Sometimes permitting may seem like a daunting task, but McPherson said she wants to assure residents that she is trying to make it less confusing.
Buchanan said she trusts McPherson’s experience as a long-range planner on Maui, and “her ability to see the long-term effects of projects.”
"It’s difficult to balance current projects and long-term projects on Molokai. People want to build now.” Buchanan said.
McPherson said she is planning more cultural assessments of Molokai to ensure nothing is overlooked when permits are handed out for building projects.
Before McPherson began tackling Molokai’s projects in January, the planner position on Molokai was left vacant for four months. Previous planner Mikal Torgerson left in September 2010. The county would not comment on the nature of his departure.
A History of Planning
McPherson has lived in Hawaii off and on since the age of 10. Her family moved to Oahu when her father got a job as a hydraulics engineer for sugar and pineapple plantations. She moved back to her home state of California when she was 19 to further her studies. She said she had always wanted to preserve the land, and decided to study planning.
She attended Sonoma State University, and earned a double-bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Development and Economic.
She later worked as an urban planner in Novato, California, where she helped implement a new permit tracking system for the city.
Since returning to Hawaii in 2000, McPherson has consulted with farmers on Oahu’s North Shore, in order to provide locational data that is essential to urban planning.
She began a master’s in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawaii Manoa in 2003. While she was there, she came with a team of eleven people to do cultural research of ancient burial sites at sand dunes on Papohaku Beach. She also did cultural research at Malama Beach Park on Molokai.
Her master’s research includes extensive studies on ahapua`a in North Kohala, Hawai`i Island, including King Kamehameha I’s birth site. They also compiled information for the Office of Hawaiin Affairs. That information has been further utilized to create community plans for North Kohala, she said.
Putting Water in Local Hands
In the midst of a water permit acquisition and an important-agricultural land designation request by Molokai Properties Ltd (MPL), there are many questions remaining for homesteaders who feel bound to Molokai’s water.
Malia Akutagawa is president of Sust `ainable Molokai, a grassroots organization that educates the public on sustainability through traditional as well as modern methods.
Lately, Akutagawa has been teaching homesteaders about their rights to Molokai’s water. “Why are they [MPL] trying to get a permit to draw the water without a permit to pump it,” Akutagawa asked an audience of about 20 Ho`olehua homesteader s at Lanikeha last Wednesday.
Save Your Energy
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Molokai faces the highest electricity rates in the state, if not the country, and many residents are at a loss for how to cut down on their bill. While the state tries for big-picture projects like wind farms, local companies are giving residents simple solutions.
“Molokai is a lot more innovative than you’d think it’d be,” said Kalono Ferreira of Pono-Solutions.
Pono-Solutions, a subsidiary organization of the state rebate program Hawaii Energy, is now available on Molokai to help people get the most out of their energy systems by taking advantage of these rebates.
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Energy education is available to those are interested in an education on how to be energy efficient. Pono-Solutions work with customers to make homes and businesses more energy efficient – from light bulbs, to air conditioners, to refrigerators and water heaters.
Pono-Solutions will also hook customers up with a local contractor to service their needs.
Dennis Turner, owner of Outpost Natural Foods store in Kaunakakai, wants to stop paying for energy all together.
“We have a goal to get off the grid,” Turner said.
He has built his own custom-lighting to cut down on costs and has advice for others who are interested in saving energy.
“People should keep the condensers clean on their refrigerators. That will allow air to circulate more effectively and not let heat build up,” he said.
Ferreira and his colleagues came from Oahu last week to help audit people’s lighting systems and give advice on how to be energy-efficient.
Lighting the Way
Ferreira said its great more people are using solar; however, before installing solar panels, other energy-suckers need to be changed first, such as incandescent light bulbs.
“Lighting is the first step. It’s cheap to replace and you get a return on your investment,” said Jason Aiana, a Pono-Solutions representative on Molokai. “There’s a huge difference on electric bills when people make their lighting systems more efficient.”
A simple change of a light bulb can decrease electricity bills dramatically. For example, a T12 florescent bulb may cost a little less, but uses anywhere from 40-90 kilowatts per hour. A T8 bulb uses only 25-32 watts per hour.
Residents can take advantage various rebates as well. Solar water heaters can cost $1,500-2000, but the annual savings are around $500, according to Hawaiienergy.com. Rebates of $750 could be granted for this kind of system.
Energy-efficient appliances such as washing machines, ceiling fans and air conditioners also have rebates, up to about $110, and compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs) often have instant rebates in stores.
Aianai is confident that sustainability can’t be done alone.
“It’s a kakou thing!” he said, meaning, “We’re all in this together!”
To learn more on how to make your home more energy-efficient and save on energy bills, contact Jason Aiana at 479-9618 or visit www.pono-solutions.com. For more information about energy use in Hawaii and to take advantage of rebates, visit www.hawaiienergy.com.
Molokai Wind Farm
By Steve Morgan
A quick disclaimer – I currently do not represent a position of support or opposition in regard to the proposed wind farm. My only intention of this series is to help our community in getting a basic understanding of this project.
Why is the state actively seeking to build windmills on Molokai?
The urgency to build a wind farm on Molokai originates with State Bill HRS 269-92, which mandates that the state of Hawaii replace 40 percent of its oil consumption by the year 2030 with renewable energy. Mandated intervals also require a 10 percent reduction in oil consumption by 2010, which has been met. By 2015, renewable energy must reach the 15 percent level and by 2020 a 25 percent level must be reached.
Make Your Own Fertilizer
Community Contributed
By Joe Kennedy
Will the price of fertilizer continue to go up? Is importing fertilizers bad for the environment? Yes! Importing fertilizer from thousands of miles away pollutes the environment, and we can make our own. Here are nine ways to make your own fertilizer.
1. Put sticks and branches parallel in piles to attract geckos, worms, and spiders. All animals and insects make manure.
2. Make habitat for birds by building perches and roosts, and bird baths.
3. Attract insects by mulching with newspaper and cardboard.
4. Find things that hold water and raise toads, fish and water plants. The mulch on the bottom makes great fertilizer.
Audubon Christmas Bird Count
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Community Contributed
By Arleone Dibben-Young
The 111th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count will take place on Molokai on Thursday, Dec. 23. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is a nationwide count that takes place in established areas during the same time period in the month of December. The information compiled over time provides a useful tool indicating population trends of bird species.
Molokai residents are encouraged to participate – no age is too young to learn about birds and no experience is necessary. The topside Molokai count extends 6.5 miles out from a point near Kualapu`u and is divided into three locations. Seabirds, shorebirds and waterfowl are counted via a route that includes cliffs on Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Molokai Irrigation System’s Kualapu`u Reservoir. Forest birds are typically counted at the Waikolu Lookout and The Nature Conservancy’s Kamakou Preserve (weather permitting). Waders and waterfowl are surveyed along the south shore. The Kalaupapa Peninsula is the fourth route in the count circle and individuals must perform the topside count in order to participate in this location, which is limited to 10 participants and must be permitted one week before the count date.
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Reservations are requested for the count, which begins at 7 a.m. at the residence of organizer Arleone Dibben, located exactly at mile marker four in Kawela. A $5 donation benefits the National Audubon Society for count compilation, and participants are published in American Birds. Participants are asked to bring water, snacks and a lunch. For more information contact the organizer Arleone Dibben at 553-5992.
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