 To think tech on Spectrum OC16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Helen Dora Hayden. And I'm Arby Kelly. In our show this time, we'll cover the 14th annual energy briefing by the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum at the State Capitol. This is the 10th anniversary of Hawaii's Clean Energy Initiative and a good time to take stock of the intersection of energy, sustainability, and resilience. The Energy Policy Forum represents government, federal, state, and local, academia, utilities, oil and gas companies, labor, renewable energy trade associations, and environmental organizations. This year, the forum partnered with the State Office of Planning to look at how the state and counties are planning and should be planning for climate change, which as we all know is getting more severe. At the briefing, government leaders and community thinkers talked about what we are doing to plan for, prevent, and mitigate climate change impacts and the shocks and stressors that threaten our state. Good plans guide good actions, including actions that properly allocate our resources. Good plans need to include thoughtful re-evaluation, too. If we don't make plans with good follow-up, we'll be frittering away our state's precious resources, or worse, risking the life and safety of our community. So the forum asked the state and counties to tell us about the plans they have and hope to have that will minimize the dreadful risks of climate change and how we can bounce back when disaster strikes. Distraction and delay work against us. Short-term thinking is dangerous. And this year is not only an election year, it's an El Nino year, with exposure to some formidable, if not openly predictable, risks. The forum's briefing consisted of three panels, a panel of keynotes, a panel of state agencies, and a panel of county agencies. First, we had the keynote panel. We asked U.H. Law School Associate Dean Denise Antolini to look at how we can develop sound policies and plans that are feasible and will lead to effective action. I propose, I suggest, that DLNR, DOT, office of planning, all our friends who are working on these issues, if they have nature-based solutions, the legislature should double the budgets for those projects because in the long run, that investment is cheap. If instead, we continue with investments of hardening our infrastructure, I'll be a little controversial, investing in cable and big win instead of community solar, investing in bulldozers and hardening our coastlines or no parking signs or concrete barriers, those are just short-term fixes. They're not in sync with our values here in Hawaii or with what nature is telling us. So I'm going to conclude by saying, Hawaii has a unique opportunity. This is our zone. This is our lane. We can do it. We have the resources, the local knowledge. We also have an incredible ability to experiment and to have these experience replicated beyond the landscape level. So I suggest that the way to move forward is to really invest in some landscape-specific action plans that are nature-based solutions to our adaptation and energy-related issues. Then we heard from the state's chief planning officer, Leo Asansion, director of the state office of planning. How important is the Hawaii state planning app and the role it plays for, just Hawaii's future in general, right? And my response to that is, just look at history. Since statehood, we've had a general plan. Under Governor Burns in the 60s, he updated that general plan. And he looked at things like the planning process, the goals for planning, economic growth, population projections, land use, transportation, and public facilities, and even a plan for recreation. And that's in the 60s. It kind of fast-forward to really when planning took off in its heyday for the state in 1978 under Governor Arayoshi. And that was after 100, which was the Hawaii state planning app as we see it today. Then we turned to Chip Fletcher, associate dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, SOEST, to discuss the science of climate change. After all, it's only a matter of time until the next iniki, and that could strike Oahu with devastating results. So we are definitely headed on a path of two degrees C. What will the world look like? Reports from the National Academy of Sciences tells us that wildfires will increase 400 to 800% in size. Hurricanes will be two to 8% more intense. 20 to 30% of plant and animal species are at high risk of extinction. The Arctic keeps melting, losing 30% of its annual average ice cover. Crop yields in the US, India, and Africa will decrease 10 to 30%. Fresh water availability will decline 20%. Many regions will become unlivable with tens of millions of refugees, leading to socioeconomic and political turmoil. We're already seeing this happen as a result of Syrian refugees into Europe. We see many countries in Europe turning to nationalism and populism as they attempt to close their borders to Syrian refugees. Chip had been on our Hawaii state of clean energy talk show the week before to discuss the urgency of this issue. Then we heard from John Cole, former PUC commissioner and now senior policy analyst at HNEI, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at UH. The research agency that assesses renewable energy technologies to tell us what they're working on. Basically, I'm just going to talk about some of the programs that HNEI has been involved in that kind of go to this end and explain some of the technologies and other things that we've been working on. Three of the basic programs I wanted to mention is first our Hawaii Energy Systems Development Special Fund. And that's our special fund into which gets deposited our portion or HNEI's portion of the barrel tax, which is 10 cents of every dollar five that's charged per barrel of petroleum product imported into the state. And there's a whole statute with various things on how we use that. But at a high level, it's used for analyses, testing and evaluation of technologies. Then we had the state panel to find out what's happening in state government on these issues. From the Senate Committee on Transportation and Energy, Vice Chair Willis Sparrow gave us the Senate's perspective on achieving a sustainable Hawaii. State energy office is not doing its job. Now, this just came out and I really haven't had a chance to look into it and see if it's valid or not, but elected officials, government leaders, business leaders, we need to be held accountable. We need to set benchmarks. We need to set goals. And if those goals are not being achieved, the people need to know and the people need to understand why and why not. Then came Representative Chris Lee, Chair of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee. At a certain point, we just have to start based on what you know to the best of your knowledge is going to be the case and make that commitment. I think that's partially where we're at right now. We've got the best high resolution science and impact analysis of anywhere on the planet looking at how climate change and its effects are going to impact us here, both in the near term and in the long term. But it's also a worst case scenario that we have that data because now we know what we have to do. We know the minimum I guess we should have to do, which is well above what we're doing today. And it's not going to be easy by any stretch and everybody being drawn on about that. But I think the fact of the matter is this, when we talk about how we as a state begin to prepare ourselves for this, one, it's coordination. You've got to start talking. I think which is the value in our climate initiative, which has now become the climate commission, where you have representatives of all the different agencies and levels of government talking. Suzanne Case, chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, DLNR, also spoke. DLNR is leading the new commission on climate change adaptation and mitigation and has the huge responsibility for stewarding our land, environment and coastline. A job as big as all outdoors. Water we can't do without in Hawaii for our lifestyle and for our visitor industry, our coastlines to create our surf, they protect our coastal properties, our fish, people like to eat fish, look at fish, and all of those are very, very basic to our lifestyle and our ability to survive. So those are the things that sustain us. And then what makes them resilient is in the face of what is, you know, a present and increasing real threat to our global existence. It's a very existential threat. Are those resources, are we managing them in a way that will, that they will be able to survive and thrive so that we can in turn survive and thrive? So that's our focus. Then we moved on to the State Department of Transportation, an agency that uses energy in moving people and goods around our state and among our islands. David Rodriguez, special assistant to the director, shared the department's plan for sustainable clean transportation. On the ground transportation side, we're actually looking into how we do project selection and design that's aligned with the governors and with the sustainability goals. This recruit like land use planning, better land use planning, intermodal options. And so talking about intermodal options, I mean, recently we just submitted a ferry study, you know, there's, there's, you know, people would like to use the ferry, I think, but, you know, is it going to be a viable system, you know, a ferry system would require high subsidies. And so, you know, and that's what the report kind of says. But it helps us with the vision statement, helps us decide what types of studies we move forward with. Then we heard from the third panel, the county panel. The counties are critical to sustainability. They make the plans work at the community level. We started with Mike DeHealig, director of planning for Kauai County. Kauai and KIUC have been forging ahead in clean energy with some ambitious energy efficiency and multimodal transportation planning. Part of the goal of what we try to do when we pose problems or issues to the community before we get to a community-based strategy is to look at trying to explain what the issue is and say, here are the options. Let them be empowered, feel empowered and have the information to actually make that, make that decision. What we see a lot is that people don't necessarily want to accept that. They think it's fake news. They think that a tweet is a cool counterbalance to what you're reading from a professor or somebody that studies this field. So how we get people to accept what is happening is part of our goal as planners in trying to move them towards a goal. And that's why in as much as we would like to have a lot of our strategies push us and turn a dime, part of our goal is to actually look at it over the long term. Then we heard from Ron Whitmore, deputy director of Hawaii County's Department of Development and Research. He told us how the Big Island is building sustainability into its plans. In Kauai County, with the time being, sustainability leadership is coming out of the Department of Research and Development. It's a bit of a unique department. We inform policymaking and programming with good data and research and basically help the rest of the county operate in a sustainable way, working across agencies on big issues like sustainability, like resilience. We house the energy program and several economic development programs as well. Just as an aside, I spent nine years of my professional life as a long range planner for that county. And so that helps me tremendously in this work, because I understand both that that planning perspective and that planning side and how that relates to the adaptation element of climate planning. And then from the R&D side, looking at the energy and greenhouse gas mitigation side. We also heard from Fred Rodel, Maui County's energy commissioner. He recently took think tech on a tour of the energy facilities on Maui and Molokai Islands. The county of Maui has been interested in energy constantly has taken an active role in how it affects our citizens, how the cost of energy affects our citizens, any matter with respect to energy. It's something that the mayor has been actively involved in for a while. So as you may know, in the past few years, the county even commissioned a study looking at utility ownership and regulatory models very limited study, not as big as the study that the state is currently undertaking or it's not as largely funded. But that was to look at, you know, how can we do better? What can the county learn about a greener future and better future for our citizens with respect to energy? So with that, of course, as we see at the moment, our utility has a rape case in a proposal to increase the rate by almost 10%. This is, you know, going to affect our citizens. It doesn't matter whether it's a result of the general cost of doing business, whether it's with respect to trying to meet the renewable portfolio standard, it's going to have or create, you know, an impact and you have perhaps negative unintended consequences. The newest office in the city and county is the office of climate change, resilience and sustainability. It has funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and clear support from the community. Josh Stanbro is the director. This is the new office that Jay is talking about that has been in existence. I was hired May 1st. So we're relatively new on the scene. The other four, the other three counties had sustainability directors that were dedicated long before when we did. So we're sort of late arrivals. But with some of the support that Jay was talking about, we've been able to sort of get the ground running and try to ramp up quickly. This is really, I mean, the numbers are impressive. I don't think we should be distracted, you know, when we get together like this and, you know, it's a small room and there's a few people. The awareness and what is in front of us is shared by folks out in the community. This office passed with, you know, 16 18% margin, which is a landslide in today's elections, establishing office of climate change with that with that right up in the title, which is not to be replicated. There's no other city or county in this nation that we found so far that has an office that's dedicated to climate change. So I think we shouldn't lose fact that as we propose some of these things, we should be, we should push our ambitions a little bit harder and further because the folks that live close to the land in an island environment know exactly what they're up against. And I think in some ways are more willing to accept some of those sacrifices and some of the advantages that both Mike and Fred put out there. After these three panels, we had some final advice from Colin Moore, director of the university's public policy center. Any good plan of talking about sustainability plan really has to be about politics. We have to recognize the political opportunities and risks and planning for many of you work for the state. This really does involve a lot of public trust. So what I wanted to just leave you with is this brand new pilot survey that my center insurance center did to pull the white public. We actually know extraordinarily little in this state about what people think about politics. We've done a very little pull. And so this is the national average, not so surprising, right? 1958 to 2015. Do you think the federal government is right just about always or most of the time? The results are pretty grim, right? It used to be, you know, really quite remarkably positive in the early 60s. Now it's about 19%. But my question for you is, do you think we do better or worse than this federal survey for the federal government? Or worse? And actually, this is remarkable because usually state and local governments pull better in, for most states in the federal government, we pull worse. So it's 17% here at Hawaii. That's 2% of points lower than the federal level. We asked them, do you think the state government's run by a few big interests or run for the benefit of all people? You know, we're a remarkably cynical group here. People really do think the state is run by a few big interests. We hope the legislature and the public will be alert to these issues. If we don't make and implement good plans, the risks will be catastrophic. Now is the time to get our house together, not later. Carpe diem for government and for all of us. And now let's check out our ThinkTech scheduled events going forward. ThinkTech broadcasted stock shows live on the internet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekends. If you missed a show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, they're all archived on demand on ThinkTechHawaii.com and YouTube. For our audio stream, go to ThinkTechHawaii.com slash audio. And we post all our shows as podcasts on iTunes. Visit ThinkTechHawaii.com for our weekly calendar and live stream and YouTube links. Or better yet, sign up on our email list and get our daily email advisories. ThinkTech has a high-tech green screen studio at Pioneer Plaza. If you want to see it or be part of our live audience or if you want to participate in our shows, contact shows at ThinkTechHawaii.com. If you want to pose a question or make a comment during a show, call 808-374-2014 and help us raise public awareness on ThinkTech. More than ever, ThinkTech lives on the internet and on mobile devices. We're now streaming live on our Facebook page. And we're building an app for Apple and Android devices that will let you view our videos live and through the night and let you search and view our 7500 videos on demand. Stand by and we'll let you know when it's available for download. Yes, we take calls during our live shows or any time day or night. Leave us a question or a commentary to say what's on your mind. If it's not abusive, we'll play it. You can leave your name or be anonymous. Speak up, speak out, speak your mind on ThinkTech and make yourself heard. Or, if you would prefer, we'll call you. We want to include you and engage you in our conversations. So don't be surprised if we call to say yes. We'll be calling you live on one of our shows. Stand by for that call. Go ahead, give us a thumbs up on YouTube or send us a tweet at ThinkTechHI. We'd like to know how you feel about the issues and events that affect our lives in these islands and in this country. We want to stay in touch with you and we'd like you to stay in touch with us. Let's think together. And now here's this week's ThinkTech commentary. When the Washington Post published critical excerpts from 4,000 of the 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers, the Nixon administration took it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nixon had already beat down the New York Times over a smaller leak, and because the Washington Post had used the same mole as the New York Times, the Second Battle brought the two competing papers together on one team. Arguably more than ever in American history, the First Amendment was at stake. Can a private entity inform the public about its government's scrapes at the core of free speech? Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, a demur meryl Streep in the film, and editor Bed and Bradley, played by a suave Tom Hanks, stood to plummet from the heights of esteem to the depths of abject ruin, including jail time if nine Supreme Court judges ruled against them. Graham's family business, her pride and joy and all that remained of her late fathers and husband's legacies would be lost. Free press had everything on the line. Acting is all we've come to expect from the likes of Streep and Hanks, and the revelational history behind the plot told clearly and concisely generates all the momentum we need. Pacing is swift and we even get an interesting glimpse at the inner workings of 1970s lino-type technology of the day. Some might cringe at the melodramatic soundtrack, but John Williams's instrumental chords were quiet enough. Set design and lighting, especially the gilded parlors and libraries marking Washington D.C. elite society, conjures a powerful sense of place. The post is well done. Once upon a time, American aristocracy was all one and the same. A big, familiar country club dotted with gowns and martinis. Bradley and Graham had both been close friends of Kennedy and Johnson, whose generosity had been instrumental to their own professional rises. One of Graham's dearest confidants was none other than Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, a principal culprit behind the cover-up. And then Bradley had practically been family to the Kennedys. He was there for Jackie on the night of JFK's assassination. He recalls how his wife Tony hugged the grieving widow when she got home, still wearing that infamous pink jacket covered in her late husband's blood. A photograph of the two Bradleys and the two Kennedys sits on the Bradley mantelpiece, harkening back to a bygone golden age. The post does draw a line between Nixon and his predecessors, but just to say he was rooted to the press. Overall, it clusters the presidents together as fellow colluders in keeping the Pentagon Papers under wraps. Still, to understand why shifts occurred, why hostility broke out in both directions with spies and threats, we must understand that Nixon was fundamentally something new. Now flash forward to the president, snatching his election with rallies to, quote, drain the swamp, President Donald Trump is once again an outsider. And as in 1968, snarling mouths are frothing like mad. Trump has repeatedly declared the mainstream media an enemy of the American people, echoing Nixon's earlier cries. Whoever may be the aggressor, today's, quote, fake news and war on the press, has never been more shrill. Never before have the battle cries been more incessant between president and press. The post arrives timely as could be and prompts us to weigh questions of free speech, morale, and public safety that will surely prove indispensable for many years to come. We'll be right back to wrap up this week's edition of Think Tech, but first we want to thank our underwriters. The Atherton Family Foundation, Castle and Cook, Hawaii, the Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, collateral analytics, the Cook Foundation, the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, Hawaii Energy, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Hawaiian Electric Companies, the High Tech Development Cooperation, Galen Ho of BAE Systems, Integrated Security Technologies, Kameha Meha Schools, Dwayne Kurisu, Calamon Lee, and the Friends of Think Tech, MW Group Limited, the Shidler Family Foundation, the Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, the Volo Foundation, Urico J. Sugimura. Okay, RB, that wraps up this week's edition of Think Tech. Remember, you can watch Think Tech on Spectrum OC16 several times every week. Can't get enough of it, just like RB does. For additional times, check out oc16.tv. For lots more Think Tech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on Think Tech, visit thinktechkawaii.com. Be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern, and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks so much for being part of our Think Tech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy, diversification, and global awareness in Hawaii. And of course, the ongoing search for innovation, wherever we can find it. You can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode. I'm Helen Dora Hayden. And I'm RB Kelly. Aloha everyone.