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Sustainability
The Benefits to the State of Hawaii and
Maui from increasing local food and renewable energy production
would include:
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In a time of war it is important to have reliable
supply lines in place. The most reliable food,
fuel, energy, and other supplies are those that
can be grown and developed on our own island.
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The ARGUMENT that it is always cheaper to ship in
food to Hawaii rather than grow it here seems
to ignore the basic problem that it is hard to depend
on a ship or an airplane across the ocean to deliver food,
fuel, and energy to our island in these times of global
conflict. The
most dependable supply line is having more of Hawaii and
Maui County’s
food and energy grown and developed on our Islands.
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Using MAUI as an example: There are substantial financial
benefits for Maui County from its AGRICULTURE & RENEWABLE
ENERGY industries. With the Hawaiian Islands alone
in the middle of the Pacific, in
this time of global instability, Maui must be able to protect
itself by being able to grow more
of its own produce, fruit, and meat. This will
also protect Maui's green space and tourist-attracting world
class views. Maui’s
Mayor Alan Arakawa, who is a farmer, appreciates and understands
the important vision of how Maui could be much more self-sustaining
in agriculture and energy. This could be
a lifesaver for Maui – isolated in the middle of the
Pacific – during these unusual times.
Dr. Hashimoto said:
“We anticipate shipping costs to rise as increased inspection
and other security measures are instituted. Knowing that our
supply lines can be disrupted and that bioterrorism
may be an increasing threat, we must act now to ensure
that we have an adequate, dependable, safe food supply for all
our citizens.
Continuing to use MAUI as an example of all the Hawaiian
Islands:
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Well thought out, sensible, tasteful, and sparing Development
of some kind is inevitable on Maui. But
it does NOT have to be new HOTELS, RESORTS, and luxury houses. As
Maui government leaders Charmaine Tavares and Jan Yagi Buen
have pointed out so well, Maui can develop the GREEN spaces
and agriculture that lure tourism. And, by doing that THOUSANDS
of construction workers can be employed to build and develop
Maui resources that REALLY need development: hospitals, youth
centers, senior centers, schools, parks, etc., and the projects
listed BELOW.
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Potentially THOUSANDS of new JOBS focusing on construction can
be created for Maui’s safety & security for
Maui's workers by increasing the agriculture food production & renewable
energy industries on Maui. In the event Maui started
growing significantly more of its own food for local consumption & creating
more of its own energy, then if there ever was a SECOND 9/11
type incident in the U.S. there would not be the significant
unemployment that happened on Maui after the first 9/11. This
would be BECAUSE thousands of people on Maui would be building and maintaining: the
substantial infrastructure needed for Maui’s expanded
renewable energy and agriculture industries including NEW industrial
roads, piping, electricity lines, water irrigation canals,
building structures, truck transportation of building supplies
and grown food, and maintenance for everything.
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PRESERVING THE GREEN SPACES can employ THOUSANDS
of construction workers and give developers better
alternative projects to work on that really help Maui. To
preserve the GREEN also means agricultural workers having
JOBS for new crops to replace sugar cane and pineapple
when they no longer become economically viable in the foreseeable
future.
“There is a myth that Hawaii's agriculture is
dying because of the decline of the sugar and pineapple
plantations. Diversified
agriculturehas more than doubled in the past
20 years.
“Hawaii is the only state in which the number
of farms is increasing and the average age of farmers is decreasing. Since
Sept. 11, there is widespread agreement that Hawaii's
economy must be diversified with a committed effort
to build on and strengthen Hawaii's agriculture industry.”
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