 Hello, and welcome to another edition of Power Up Hawaii, where Hawaii comes together to walk towards a clean, renewable, and just energy future. I am your host, Raya Salter. I'm an energy attorney, clean energy advocate, and community outreach specialist. I'm also the principal attorney of Imagine Power LLC. So we're going to go ahead and talk about some of the news that's been happening on the islands regarding energy news and policy this week. And then I want to make a special announcement about a show that I'm going to be working on that we're going to take these ideas about energy and environment in the islands even further, hopefully to even bigger audience. So one of the first things that I think is important that happened this week is the Hawaii State Energy Office named a new chief. So Carolyn Shone, who for 17 years has been head of the state energy offices energy efficiency programs, is now going to be tapped to head the entire agency. So this is, I think, exciting. I think Carolyn is great. Energy efficiency is always the first go-to and one of the best things we can do in terms of clean and renewable energy and saving money. So somebody who's really deep in energy efficiency, heading the state energy office, I think, is a fantastic development. And she is going to be taking over for the gap that's been. We had Brian Glick, who for several years was the Hawaii State Energy Office director. He left. We had a great Terry Searles, was a great interim director, so it looks like we're going to have a permanent director now in an insider and a long-time energy efficiency expert and champion in Carolyn Shone. So congratulations to Carolyn, and we look forward to seeing what new directions you are going to take the Hawaii State Energy Office. So now I wanted to spend some time. I said I was going to have an announcement. So I, as Raya Salter, have partnered up with local television station K5 to produce a show about energy and the environment and Hawaii. I'm very excited to talk about this show. We'll talk more about what it can mean. I'll have more updates on this show and what we're doing with the show later. But I wanted to start outlining sort of what it is that we're doing and why. So what is this show going to be about and why? Well, I think I'll talk a little bit about the why before I even get into the reasoning for the show. So, broadly, I think that there is so much that's happening here in Hawaii. When we think about climate change and we think about climate mitigation, a lot of us think about coal plants, burning coal, burning carbon, pipelines going around the world carrying oil under the sea, over the land, and we think about the need to stop these emissions happening so that we can avert catastrophic climate change. And this is incredibly important. And of course, really the big part or the main focus of what it is that I've been working to do in my role and in my life as an environmental advocate. So clearly extremely important. Query, however, what that means for Hawaii. I think that there is a huge focus on mitigation and that is extremely important, a huge focus on what big emitters, what the states, what states like New York, Connecticut, what huge cities who are some of the biggest emitters, what Beijing and others need to do about climate change. Yet, what about us here in Hawaii? We are not emitting greenhouse gas emissions at any significant level. The Hawaii's contribution to the forces that are causing catastrophic climate change are basically nil. However, the effects of catastrophic climate change are hitting Hawaii and other islands absolutely first. And we're beginning to see this all over the islands already with rising temperatures. That's the reason now we've got hot schools in Hawaii when we didn't before, rising temperatures. We know we're going to have rising level, sea level rise. That is going to threaten the entire, all of the islands in Hawaii, other islands in the Pacific. Islands in the Indian Ocean. Islands in the Caribbean are going to deal with coastal flooding, coastal erosion, and rising seas, but also of extreme significance, increased incidents of severe weather events. And we all know with the oil that we ship in from thousands of miles away that being battered with more and more hurricanes and gale force winds and tsunami force waves which have not been an issue in Hawaii before pose a tremendous threat. We're all aware of the 14-day scenario needing to be ready for what happens if for some reason there's a catastrophic storm and the ports don't work and the airports are not able to come in and out as we are used to, as we are typically used to. So writ large, we are extremely vulnerable here to the effects of climate change. We do basically nothing to contribute to that catastrophic climate change. So this is really sort of the issue of climate justice and sheer relief. What kind of conversation do we need to have here? And I think that we should engage folks who are developing solutions and community members on that exact conversation. There is a lot of cutting edge work being done in Hawaii to fight climate change, to both mitigate, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but that's part of the resilience story. So resilience on the grid meaning we want to have energy from the sun and the waves and not be dependent on the energy that's shipped in from 4,000 miles away. And what is happening here to try and save the coral reefs, to try and save endangered animals, endangered species, to have more sustainable fishing? What is happening here with clean energy, clean and renewable energy projects? A lot of cutting edge stuff. And I think it's a mix between having to deal with these issues in the here and the now and just having some great people, some great organizations and some fantastic communities that are really digging in to find solutions and partnering with others, be it on the mainland, be there on other islands, to see these solutions come to life. So when we talk about Hawaii as island earth, you know, what are the innovations and solutions that can happen here that can inform the rest of the world? So that is a big piece of sort of why have a show that can really dig in and highlight what's going on in terms of energy, climate, sustainability and stuff that's happening here. I'll tell you another one of reasons of the why is kind of personal, but I also think that it's really important. As an environmental advocate, I feel like I have been doing this type of advocacy, part of why I do this show is to try and bring out news that can hopefully stimulate conversation and inform about what are some of the nitty-gritty issues that are happening in the state with regards to energy specifically. But you know what, when I was at the Natural Resources Defense Council and when I was at the Environmental Defense Fund as well, there was a real need to figure out how can we do a better way of communicating with people about these topics. I think that there is a real barrier that is created and I think that greenies are seen often as being really elitist in a way that is sometimes fair and sometimes unfair. But I do think that there's this idea that you've got these folks wearing Patagonia vests who look like they've just come from a hiked off the top of the Sierra Mountains, coming down and somehow saying to you, this is good medicine for you, this is what you should be doing, this is what you need to do if you're going to save the planet. Or just like I was saying, 14 days, we're all going to die. What is your post-apocalyptic plan? And I get it. We're trying to get it across to people like look, this is what's happening. I want this information to come from me to you. We really do have eminent dangers and eminent problems that are happening. What can we do? However, I think that more often than not that message has seemed partisan, sometimes elitist in a way that's been unhelpful and frankly, boring. So what can we do to make this kind of programming more accessible, more fun? How can we put the information and the power into the hands of actual folks on the ground to go ahead and tell these stories that could potentially save the world? How can we do a better job of communicating this stuff? And I think that that's what the challenge is and I think the only answer that I can really come up with for that is to hand the microphone to other folks, hand the microphone to people who are doing this work. And by that, I don't just mean the people who are, you know, we're talking about the people who are doing the actual conservation and environmental work, but we're also talking about the people who make films here, who write here, who act here, who tell stories about themselves, who tell stories about Hawaii every day. And I just think that the best way to start getting these messages out, and that's in addition to the people who write music here, the people who perform music here, there are a lot of people who have a lot of stuff to say. And I just think that the best way to tell this particular story about the survival of the islands, the survival of the Aina as a postcard from the edge that could potentially inform the entire world on how to face climate change is best told by giving the microphone to the people who are doing it and the people who are telling those stories. So that is really the idea behind the show. It will be a half hour show. It will be fun, interesting. It will have musical guests. It will have artists. It will have conservationists and others. And we will see what comes to life, what can we do that's lively, interesting, and fun that will be, and I'm saying I'm a lot, but just unfortunately, that will hopefully be an inspiration to the folks and the support to the folks doing the work of interest to people in the state who can access the channel of interest to them, informative. And I will talk one more thing about empowerment. That's I think the technology has changed so that there's more and more that people can actually do to lower their carbon footprint to be more sustainable and their folks that they can team up with to do that. So I think it will be exciting to highlight those things. So we're about to take a break and we'll be right back with more Power Up Hawaii. She said, what are you doing? Research says reading from birth accelerates our baby's brain. Read aloud 15 minutes. Every child, every parent, every day. Aloha and Richard conception, the host of Hispanic Hawaii. You can watch my show every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. We will bring you entertainment, educational, and also we tell you what is happening right here within our community. And take Hawaii Aloha and welcome back to Power Up Hawaii, where Hawaii comes together to walk towards a clean, renewable and just energy future. I'm your host, Raya Salter. I'm a clean energy attorney, clean energy advocate and community outreach specialist. I've been talking today, we talked a little bit about the exciting news of Carolyn Shone leading the Hawaii State Energy Office. I've also been talking with you about a new show that I have in development that is going to be about Hawaii energy and the environment as seen from the lens of the people and culture of Hawaii and the work being done here to preserve the aina in the face of catastrophic climate change. So I think there are a lot, we'll see a lot more coming from that. I'm going to be excited to talk more and more about that as times go on. And I wanted to also talk a little bit more about the power that folks, I think, more and more have in their hands when it comes to working towards a clean and renewable and more just and sustainable society. So as it used to be, I think, that when folks would talk about, gosh, we have all these huge environmental problems, what the heck are we going to do? And the idea was, oh, well, you can perhaps take a shorter shower, or there seem to be these little things that you could do that, however, kind of made you feel kind of powerless, made you feel like there's no sort of real way that one can participate that will actually have an impact. And I think that that is, I think, coming to a, that era is coming to an end. Because in truth, working towards having, making for your own life, the life of your family, the life of your neighborhood, broader community and work. The idea of making those spaces more sustainable, more environmentally friendly, it really just ties into making them more resilient in the face of catastrophic climate change. So I think there's a real nexus of interest coming together. It makes sense for all of us to think about, you know, as the, especially on Oahu, as the island becomes more and more built out. And with those buildings and with the construction and with the folks coming in, that means, of course, a lot more use of resources be they water, waste, sewage, electricity, you know, trash collection, roads, all of the infrastructure here is becoming more and more taxed. And I think there's less and less when you even say when my building does not recycle, and it's unfortunate, but it's true. And every time I discard something, you know, I think there's a less and less sort of reason or excuse to not understand sort of where that stuff is going and where it's ending up and why it's becoming more and more of a problem for all of us. In fact, the next story I was going to talk about a bit is a study that came out of Georgia that actually says that the world's plastic waste, much of it that of course is in the ocean, is now, it's now enough to actually bury the island of Manhattan two miles deep. That's a lot of plastic waste. And that if you can understand that what we have to do with plastic waste here, being it what we can bury, what we can ship off, it's, it becomes a real problem. But it's not far away. I think there are very few of us who live in neighborhoods where you can drive or take the bus or walk from whatever end of the island you live on into town to the other side, perhaps go to the beach, perhaps do some shopping without passing some form of infrastructure that's causing either, you know, some type of problem with odor that makes one wonder, gosh, look all that new stuff going up. What is going to be the impact of that? Or doesn't sort of, you know, it's having an extreme impact on the, on the landscape. So I think it's really, really noticeable and really in order for self-preservation and the preservation of the islands in the community, it makes all the sense in the world to start taking a look at our own lives and thinking, gosh, what can we do? What can we do to help make this a better and safer place for all of us? I think one of the baseline things we can do, of course, is figure out how to be ready for the 14-day scenario, how, what is it that we need to have on hand and how can we prepare? And then when you think about that, though, you know, I think there are, I think there is very little way to assure, you know, any one person's help or safety in that scenario. I think we're too interconnected. So you can think at first, OK, basic food and water for me, for my kids, but then it gets kind of complicated. You know, what about grandma? What about my auntie? What about my uncle? What about, you know, just folks that are in different places? People could have different health, you know, scenarios where they need to visit physicians, they need to get to hospitals, they need to understand what's going on. And I think that we think about the resilience, we think about what are we going to be able to do to help each other? And part of what we're going to need to do is to be able to live more with less. So I think thinking about that without getting freaked out or scared is one of the first things that we can do when we think about, gosh, what does this mean for us? What does this mean in terms of the amount of energy we'll be able to use, the amount of water we'll be able to use, the amount of food that we may or may not need? So that's one lens to think of it through. And another, of course, is, again, through that sort of daily life lens as we walk through or ride through neighborhoods and we look at different pieces of infrastructure and think about how it is serving or not serving us and what is our part in that. And then, of course, with energy there are more and more renewable energy options for all of us. So it's just a little bit of conversation about why it's so important for us to be thinking about energy and sustainability and what it means for our daily lives, especially everywhere but especially here in Hawaii. And with that, thank you so much for joining me and for another edition of Power Up Hawaii. We'll be back next week with Delving More into Specific News. Thank you so much and aloha.