Running on empty - Oil is depleting n but does anybody care? Panelists up the volume on environment
by Nathan Eagle - THE GARDEN ISLAND
Gas-guzzling trucks release tons of carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. Climate change causes more severe storms.
Burning fossil fuels can kill.
It’s based on that premise that people worldwide are starting an engine for change.
Guest speakers, a diverse panel and more than 150 residents discussed these views and ways to create a sustainable future here during the Locally Engaging Global Solutions conference yesterday at Kaua‘i Community College Performing Arts Center.
“The debate is over. This is real,” said Adam Asquith, Ph.D., a local farmer and biologist who shared information with the audience on the urgency of the issues surrounding global oil depletion.
Asquith called on community members to examine their motivations, such as convenience and choice. The power of people to choose could unlock the answer to creating a sustainable future.
The Sierra Club’s Hawai‘i Chapter Director Jeff Mikulina suggested to the crowd simple ways to make a collective difference: Changing old light bulbs to more efficient fluorescent varieties, installing solar water heaters, recycling and buying hybrid cars.
When the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2007 became law in Hawai‘i, the state grew the legal teeth necessary to enforce a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
To meet the requirements of the new law, each resident has 12 years to cut their carbon footprint by one-third, he said.
Improving energy efficiency at home and removing cars from the roads would take a big step in that direction.
To illustrate that point, Mikulina said if every vehicle in Hawai‘i were lined up bumper to bumper, the traffic jam would stretch from Hanalei to Denver.
County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who served on the discussion panel for the event, said she envisions Kaua‘i roads as bicycle pathways.
Yukimura, who is also developing a bill to mandate solar water heating systems on all new residential construction, said affecting change through policy decisions can be long and exhausting, but can often yield solid results.
Rep. Mina Morita, D-14th District, said solar water heating compared with other renewable energy options “gives us more bang for our buck right now.”
Producing models for pilot projects and then proving an idea works, Yukimura said, allows for expansion with less resistance.
Panelist Juan Wilson, a Hanapepe environmentalist, said designing buildings with proper ventilation and skylights removes the need for air conditioning and artificial light during the day — significantly reducing electricity consumption.
Yukimura encouraged residents to avoid feelings of despair and fear, but rather instead work together and develop creative strategies to address these serious issues.
“The solution is always embedded in the problem,” said Glenn Hontz, a local farmer and scholar who served on the panel.
Technology caused much of the crisis from which the world now suffers, he said, but technology may also hold the answer.
Another panelist, Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i, said residents should harness the power they have generated.
“The community needs to demand forward-thinking legislation,” he said. “You have the power. I ask you to take it and run with it.”
In between speakers, the conference screened a trailer for James Jandak Wood’s Crude Impact.
The film detailed the interconnection between human domination of the planet and the discovery and use of oil, exposing a deep-rooted dependency on the availability of fossil fuel energy and examining the dire implications of the pending threat of global peak oil.
The lie is more stuff makes a person happier, a narrator in the film says. But research shows despite tripling consumption in recent decades, people are about as happy now as they were years ago.
Crude Impact encouraged viewers to take an inventory of their lives and examine how much energy they use and how much could be cut — which included buying food locally instead of having it shipped thousands of miles.
Asquith encouraged residents to take advantage of the island’s farmer’s markets, noting that 80 percent of Kaua‘i’s food comes from elsewhere.
Gordon LaBedz, an environmentalist who founded the national Surfrider Foundation, said it comes down to living more simply.
He recommended a vegetarian diet, living closer to work and controlling fertility. Having only one child per couple, he said, would help reduce the impact humans have on the world.
Ben Sullivan, who chairs Apollo Kaua‘i and moderated the conference, called the situation is “a scary thing and a hopeful thing.”
New technologies and creative ideas for a sustainable future exist, panelists said, but it comes down to motivating the change.
“Nobody marched on Washington because of a pie chart,” Mikulina said.
The facts are the starting point. Passing barriers and implementing solutions come next, he said.
To reach people, Mikulina said, it’s important to first “tap into their emotions.”
Normalizing sustainable behavior — “making it sexy” — helps put plans into full force, he added.
For more information, visit www.eco2balance.com, www.risingtidehawaii.com or www.apollokauai.org.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
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