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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0842.001 2010-2012 Testimony on Resolution 302-12 October 2nd 2012 SUSTAINABLE LIVING RESEARCH SITES Graham Ellis Chair,Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance www.hawaiisustainablecommunity.org I'm here today as the Board Chairman representing the Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance. Our non profit organization has existed for two years and currently has over 460 members. We have been researching sustainable living practices island wide, nation wide and world wide. Our current focus is on promoting legislation that supports sustainable living for the benefit of the greater community. We are associated with similar organizations with identical goals on Maui, Oahu, and Kauai as well as in several other Counties across the USA. We were the authors of Resolution 167-11, titled Sustainable Habitat which passed this Council 7-0 and called upon the Dept of Public Works to "establish a Sustainable Habitat Building Code". We thank you for that support because it is now widely viewed by many of our elected and soon to be elected officials that an alternative building code promoting more sustainable and affordable homes is a high priority for our Govt. If 1 were to ask who in this room supports the Big Island having a more sustainable future 1 am sure that everyone would raise their hands. If I were to ask what activities are the best to promote a sustainable future for the Big Island 1 am also sure that there would be a host of suggestions and many differences of opinion. If 1 asked who is in favor of just doing what we have always done and sticking to business as usual I will assume that we all agree that business as usual is not an option. But what are the sustainable options. As a famous politician kind of said once ' there are things we know, there are things we don't know and there are things that we don't know we don't know." I am here today to ask you to be supportive of an initiative that will allow for residents of the Big Island to legally research sustainable living practices that are presently unknown, or known and not publicized or perhaps they are things we didn't know we knew because they are traditional but seldom practiced ways of living. Research and the education that comes with it has unknown potentials for helping us maintain our quality of life in a more sustainable manner. I myself am an example of a pioneer in sustainable living. For over 25 years 1 have helped reclaim and redevelop a former Hawaiian homestead. Approximately 75%-85% of the food I eat comes from the Big Island,much of it from the land 1 live on. My home is powered 100% by solar energy, my water comes from a catchment system and is heated by solar. My 2,000 sq ft Comm. No. t.f Z ' Ref.To: lA) P � Ref. Date t T 2 20 home was built with $40K and a heap of recycled lumber, recycled windows and other materials 1 gathered for cheap or free while living in a tent, a very nice Yurt tent. My profession is in non profit education and community development and 1 am not a building contractor but 1 have many neighborhood friends with many construction skills who,over ten years have worked on my house for free or for a small payment in the spirit of community building and volunteerism. I owe nothing on my home,never have done,l built it as 1 gathered the money and the resources over ten years. I have no fears of any bank foreclosing and evicting my family. My 8 year old daughter and I live well with all the conveniences we need for a quality life in the 21st century. My home has been visited by Mayor Billy Kenoi, Council Chairman Yagong and by at least 6 Council members over the last decade, there is consensus that it is a quality family dwelling. It is however, not incompliance with current code and cannot be legally permitted for several reasons. With food from my land and our SPACE farmers market, with no mortgage and utility payments limited to telephone,internet,a little propane and gas to drive my truck and because of my communal lifestyle 1 can live on a very, very small budget. A low overhead reduces the impacts that global or local economic turbulence will have on the quality of my life. I also have the benefits of a supportive community. I live in an ecovillage with nearly 30 people. Our chosen lifestyle may not be the one desired by the majority of residents on the Big Island but if sustainable living is an objective for the County of Hawaii then we, and individuals and other organizations like us,have much to offer. Our land is manicured by horses and not gas powered mowers or weedwhackers, our chickens are our bug controllers and fertilizers as well as egg producers. We make fertile, composted soil with worms and horse manure instead of importing chemical fertilizers,we drive solar powered golf carts instead of tractors, we build with lumber harvested from our own land, we share tools and equipment and appliances like washing machines,we dry our laundry in the wind, we never have to lock our doors and can leave our keys in our vehicles, we always have a neighbor to provide help when we need it,we have a village to raise our children. In 2007 we built a 6,000 sq ft community center that hosts a public Charter School, a Farmers market and a world reknown performance arts program, all for $300,000. About the same time it cost the County of Hawaii $150K to build a keiki playground down the road in Pohoiki. Our County needs models for more sustainable and affordable methods of infrastructure design and Y construction as we enter a period in history necessitating sustainable changes in our budgetary plans and our lifestyles. Here in the year 2012, if 1 were to ask every person in this room do they believe that it is a possibility or a probability that one day in the foreseeable future that commercial trade between the Big Island and the rest of the world will be seriously, maybe catastrophically disrupted, l believe that most of us believe that it is probable not just possible. If we believe that such an event is probable it behooves us, for the sake of our communities, for the sake of our families and for the sake of our children to prepare for such an eventuality. Our State legislature has recognized this in the passage of the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan. Recent history suggests that we may not have until 2050 to develop such a plan for our people. Now is the time to give the State and County vision of sustainability a life that is more than just words. We need to support all initiatives that explore new potentials for living more sustainably. The evolution of human society has proven that innovations and ideas that began with a few pioneers can lead to monumental, often life saving,improvements in the quality of human living. If we were to ask Hawaii Island residents if they want this for our Big Island community 1 believe there would be overwhelming support. I therefore ask your support for this Resolution today. Mahalo.