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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0363.015 1996-1998 ADVf~NCE~~ INTEGf~ATED f~ESOUf~CES Energy Efficient Lighting Analysis - Renewable Energy Systems - Planning for Sustainability RECEIVED ~ Choosing The Best Option for Hamakua's Future nme..._.....__.._.__ By..____ By Kenneth Boche, Permaculture Designer D°'a----------------------------•- ~ounfy Council What has been missing in all the discussions about how to best utilize the public's State and County-owned lands is any focus on the methodology by which these decisions will be made. In a democratic society, the public's needs and desires should be of primary importance when decisions are made about how to utilize the public lands, especially when 55 year commitments are being proposed. Up until now, the mayor and some on the County Council are pursuing industrial recruitment of the paper pulp industry as the main solution to Hamakua's economic decline and to gaining revenues from our public lands. Meanwhile, other solutions which may be more profitable and more environmentally friendly, and which create more jobs and healthier communities are not being fully considered. The State and County need to fund an independent study of the true costs and multiple benefits of all possible options over the long term. After all, many of the greatest profits made on other possible solutions may be gained after 40 or more years when koa and other high-value hardwoods planted now will be maturing and will be available for harvest. Included in the true costs of the paper pulp industry must be all of the corporate welfare and other subsidies which the mayor and his supporters are proposing: the costs of our citizens' health care that results from spraying of herbicides and the subsequent burning of the fields; the impacts on our roads and traffic from the transportation of wood through the Waimea area; the costs of the noise of the 24 hour per day chipping plant in Kawaihae on the resorts, restaurants, and retirement people located in the area; other impacts on ambiance of the visitor industry; the costs of degraded soils on our public lands compared to sustainable proposals which will restore degraded soils and enhance their productivity. Any managers who commit thousands of acres and millions of dollars of assets to a 55 year scheme based on a single crop without doing a proper economic analysis would be considered foolish and negligent in the corporate world. They would be summarily fired. Why is there no proper accounting or accountability in our State and County governments' decision-making processes? To those who want a paper pulp industry here on Hawaii Island, let it be done only on the private lands of Bishop Estate, Parker Ranch and the other private landowners who want this destructive kind of land-use. There is ample land for their desire. (I'm surprised that these business-wise landowners have not established a P.O. Box 981 Kapa'au, HI 96755 - E-Mail: isf@aloha.net - Phone/Fax: (808) 889-5906 0 3l~~-tS Comm. Atte. 3 tp 3 .15 rile No. R E S Ret. ?oa Presented tiYiEDG Rei. Date JUL 2 2 1997 true-cost methodology similar to that described here to determine the best uses of their own lands.) The major alternative to leasing all of our public lands to a single industrial lessee is to lease each parcel to various groups; businesses or individuals, so that their ideas, talents, and energies can be focused on providing long-term, profitable ventures for themselves, their neighbors, and their communities. These leases should not be auctioned off to the highest bidder (the richest people). We need to be certain that we are taking care of those who are least able to pay high lease rents. Reasonable lease terms should be established. Then the various proposals should be evaluated in terms of their total true costs and benefits. The proposals with the greatest long-term viability and overall benefits should be awarded the leases. To those who claim that the people of Hamakua do not have the resources to plan and implement their own visions for their community's future, let us utilize funds that have already been appropriated for their use and the programs already in place to provide the training and capital necessary to establish viable agriculture and forestry operations on our public lands. But without the public lands available for their use, our communities will not have the one resource on which they can build their future. to all of these deliberations, we must also keep in mind that growth and development are not equivalent. The Rocky Mountain Institute's Director of Economic Renewal, Michael Kinsley, persuasively points out the differences between growth and economic development: growth is increased size; development is increased business activity. But the two are not directly linked, and he shows how growth can degrade the quality of life while increasing the cost of living. He also shows how, "...a community can develop itself without growth. It can create housing and jobs, expand cultural and educational opportunities, improve health, and protect the public safety." One design strategy for creating development while limiting growth is to design the large tracts of land in Hamakua (and elsewhere) as a series of sustainable village- style enterprises. Each could have a different or a complimentary theme with different business, employment, and educational opportunities. The plantings on each site could produce raw materials for products related to each village's theme. Businesses and employment based on products derived from a local resource base would provide value-added revenues based on sales of locally produced goods. Educational opportunities based on the village theme could bring in revenues and increase our local knowledge and skills. The design of the villages could be guided by permaculture principles for efficiency, diversity, and viability. Optimization, not maximization would be the goal. Each village would be designed and implemented in phases: Design, plant, maintain, and manage; then build when necessary and feasible and only where appropriate. Each village would be designed toward: • Food self-sufficiency. This may never be achieved, people's tastes and food preferences being what they are. However, gardens and edible landscaping would be included in each village's design. And there are many opportunities for food-processing and other cottage industries that add value to locally grown products. • Housing and all buildings would be made from low impact building materials. The first phases of the a village's construction might need to utilize off-island material sources. However, plantings in each village's agro-forestry areas would provide for locally derived building materials that could be utilized for subsequent phases and tong-term replacement. Alternatively, any construction activities might wait until building materials are available from on-site sources. • Energy~fflctency and self-sufficiency. All designs would utilize state of the art energy-efficient systems. Where utility power is available, it could be utilized although other options are fast becoming competitive. Where it's not available, energy would be generated on-site from renewable sources. This will defer the need for new fossil-fuel based powerplarrts and thus keep every HELCO ratepayer's rates down and improve economic conditions overall. • On-site recycling of wastes. Household, agricultural, and forestry wastes would be mulched and composted on-site. "Re-use, reduce, and recycle" concepts would be practiced community wide. Many wastes can be converted into usable products: "Turn a problem into a resource." No toxic wastes would be allowed to contaminate the soil, air, or water; that is not the case with the proposed wood chip proposals. • Soit enrichment practlces. Utilizing natural fertilizers, nitrogen-fixing trees, mulching and composting practices will rebuild depleted soils after decades of degradation by sugar growing practices. This will add nutrients and organic matter to the soil rather than accelerate its depletion. Thus, the soil will be worth more in dollar value rather than diminishing its value as would happen under the wood pulp plan. Village Examples: A Health and Healing Village. This might include wellness, cooking, & gardening programs, combined with neutriceuticals, essential oils, and organic food production based on tropical species. Ayurvedic, Chinese, Euro-American, and Indo- Polynesian traditions could be integrated. These are rapidly growing global markets that we can fill. Aerial herbicide spraying and large-scale burning of fields precludes this kind of entrepreneurial activity. A Woodworkers Village. High value hardwoods would be grown for long-term harvesting, interplanted with species, such as coffee and bamboo, that have shorter- term products and income streams. Educational and research opportunities on value-added tropical wood and bamboo products would be tapped. Hardwoods will provide along-term supply for timber and craftwood for a variety of housing, furniture, and other high-value products. A Hawaiian Cultural Village. This could be a living Hawaiian ethnobotanical garden, set up on the Hawaiian ahupua'a model of settlement. Hawaiian Cultural Village gardens could emphasize Polynesian introduced species. Perhaps the Wai'anae Diet would be a theme in the community's eating habits and their educational programs, helping to improve the health of residents and visitors alike. Reforestation with native Hawaiian forest species incorporated into a diverse agro- forestry system could be done in some areas. Experiments at Hawaiian native eco- system restoration could also be conducted. Affordable Residential and Agricultural Village. This could address community needs such as the retraining of agricultural workers and affordable housing needs. A variety of agricultural products from processed fruit to honey-bee products could be produced. Oits derived from plant and animal sources can form the feedstocks for a wide variety of household, personal, and industrial products. Aquaculture can be well integrated into such a village. Eco-Campground Village. Here a diversity of activities including hiking, fishing, hunting, swimming, mountain-biking, and other activities would provide recreation for visitors and residents alike. Education would include Hawaiian natural history, astronomy, oceanography, whale behavior, etc. This so-called "eco-tourism" is the fastest growing market segment of the tourist industry. And it is NOT compatible with aerial herbicide spraying, large-scale burning of fields or the presence of paper pulp mills and their associated toxic aerosols and effluents. Bamboo Research and Village. The planting and growing of bamboo species could be incorporated into a program of building and furniture design and testing as well as bamboo processing into wood, paper, and edible products. Kenaf might be another suitable plant for paper or other fiber product production. Appropriate Technology and Renewable Energy Village. Here research on emerging efficiency and renewable energy technologies could be assembled into working, integrated models that could be utilized to help our island meet its future energy needs. The point here is not to describe all the possible themes one could devise nor outline details of species, products, revenues, etc. Rather, it is to show that a wide variety of opportunities are available to utilize Hamakua lands in profitable and productive ways. It is also to point out that a complete economic analysis and comparisons of various options have not been done. Total cost accounting methods need to be utilized when comparing different investment options. When the total societal, economic, and environmental costs and benefits are tallied, a network of villages-style enterprises will be far more profitable for far more people here in Hawaii than any short-rotation monocrop plan. References: "Sustainable Development: Prosperity Without Growth" by Michael Kinsley (Questions the assumptions that growth is needed for prosperity and that recruiting outside industries is a viable solution to declining communities' needs.) "Permaculture Design Methodology-Options for Hawaii" By Kenneth Boche (A few examples of how permaculture design strategies can be applied to village developments.) "What is a Sustainable Development?" By Kenneth Boche (An overview of steps and issues to consider when planning a development project.) Anyone wishing more information can contact Kenneth Boche by voice or fax at (808) 889-5906 or by a-mail at isf~aloha.net.