SUBHEAD: We'll have to tell our children they won’t be able to go to soccer practice because we can’t afford to pay for the gas.
Image above: Amish in horse drawn cart travel the strip in America's North East
From http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/Midwest/Michigan/Coldwater/photo850626.htm
By Juan Wilson on 10 January 2010 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2010/01/too-poor-to-chauffer-kids.html)
This Sunday, in the Garden Island News, there was a report on Thursday's meeting concerning the Kauai Energy Sustainability Plan (KESP). We reported that it was a weak gruel of less than radical steps that will not achieve energy sustainability.
Even that was too much for a community that feels rightfully pampered in the waning days of the American Empire. The community persists what can only be called magical-thinking about the energy future about to engulf us. Bottom line - a future with dwindling energy.
Community members blasted the idea of actually having to pay even 50 cents a gallon to invest in our childeren's futures. If oil commodity prices follow the most likely trajectory that 50 cents will be less then 10% of the cost of a gallon as prices hurtle past $100/barrel in the first quarter of 2010. The barrel price is now at $82 - double a year ago.
The sentence below (in red) is from the article and expresses the reaction of soccer-dad Scott Mijares to the idea of paying for the future. It points to America's failure to wake up and smell the coffee. Our blindness to the interconnectedness of Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Great Recession. The numbness of mind that the media has created by wrapping us in pop-bubbles of soothing corporate comfiness and our sense of American Exceptionalism.
This notion that we must pile our kids in an SUV in order to drive them to parent sponsored sporting events, instead of encouraging children to play outside on their own, within walking distance of our homes, is not sustainable. Well there is something we ought to be afraid of and that is millions of soccer-dads driving SUVs full of kids to soccer games all over the collapsing planetary ecosystem.
20-Year Sustainability Plan Unveiled
SUBHEAD: Public blasts 50¢ fuel tax, consultant defends ‘shock to the system’
Image above: The sacrifices made for sports. A soccer mom disgorges her SUV at playing field in Honolulu.
From http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jun/13/ln/FP606130345.html
By Coco Zickos on 10 January 2010 in The Garden Island News -
Weaning Kaua‘i from its addiction to imported oil could require dramatic measures, but some residents seem wary of one such plan to do just that.
Community members were not shy about vocalizing their opinions regarding a recently unveiled proposal for the county to levy an additional tax of 50 cents per gallon for gasoline, Thursday at a public presentation of the final draft of the long-awaited Kaua‘i Energy Sustainability Plan.
Telling our children they won’t be able to go to soccer practice anymore because their parents can’t afford to pay for the gas to get there is not going to fly, said Kilauea resident Scott Mijares, one of more than 50 concerned citizens at the presentation. “We know we’re going to feel the pain,” he said. “We already pay the highest prices in the county.” Fuel taxes in Hawai‘i are nothing new. The state already levies 17 cents per gallon in addition to a federal tax of around 18 cents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The 50th state is also one of only a handful which allows its counties to charge an additional tax.
Kaua‘i currently charges 13 cents per gallon. An additional 50-cent tax would push Kaua‘i close to the top of the nation’s gasoline tax price tag. Lower income households would have to bear the largest brunt in an already failing economy, several community members argued. Most of these individuals would not benefit from the $186 million 20-year funding program which would help incentivize the purchasing of hybrid electric vehicles. Prices average from around $20,000 to $30,000 for various models of the fuel-efficient Ford Fusion, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius.
But rather than focus on individual pocketbooks, consultant Douglas Hinrichs of Sentech Hawai‘i — who devised the plan after receiving input from “hundreds of people in the community” — said becoming more self-sufficient will require a “shock to the system.” “We would be creating a paradigm shift” with our children and grandchildren’s futures in mind, he said. The comprehensive plan proposes that by 2030 Kaua‘i could achieve 100 percent sustainability.
“If we do nothing, costs are just going to keep going up and up,” said Kaua‘i resident Ken Taylor, who has argued that Kaua‘i needs to change its course when it comes to energy consumption. Gas prices around the island averaged some $2.40 per gallon in January 2009 and reached $3.45 per gallon last week. Oil has also been rising from around $37 per barrel in January 2009 to around $82 last week.
“We’ve got an infrastructure we have to replace,” Taylor said. “Are we going to control expenditures or sit back and take what comes?” Mijares disagreed. “We’re being scared into the factor that oil is going to skyrocket in the future. I personally don’t believe that.” Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Board Member Carol Bain said the plan has “really good potential.” “We’ve already slowed down 10 miles per hour on Kuhio highway, we can do this too,” she said.
Whether or not the tax hike ever comes to fruition, the plan is something everyone can learn from, said one community member. “The real plan is to get ideas together and go home and make your own plan for conservation,” they said. Public comment will be accepted through Jan. 24.
For more information, visit www.kauaienergysustainabilityplan.com.
Image above: Amish in horse drawn cart travel the strip in America's North East
From http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/Midwest/Michigan/Coldwater/photo850626.htm
By Juan Wilson on 10 January 2010 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2010/01/too-poor-to-chauffer-kids.html)
This Sunday, in the Garden Island News, there was a report on Thursday's meeting concerning the Kauai Energy Sustainability Plan (KESP). We reported that it was a weak gruel of less than radical steps that will not achieve energy sustainability.
Even that was too much for a community that feels rightfully pampered in the waning days of the American Empire. The community persists what can only be called magical-thinking about the energy future about to engulf us. Bottom line - a future with dwindling energy.
Community members blasted the idea of actually having to pay even 50 cents a gallon to invest in our childeren's futures. If oil commodity prices follow the most likely trajectory that 50 cents will be less then 10% of the cost of a gallon as prices hurtle past $100/barrel in the first quarter of 2010. The barrel price is now at $82 - double a year ago.
The sentence below (in red) is from the article and expresses the reaction of soccer-dad Scott Mijares to the idea of paying for the future. It points to America's failure to wake up and smell the coffee. Our blindness to the interconnectedness of Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Great Recession. The numbness of mind that the media has created by wrapping us in pop-bubbles of soothing corporate comfiness and our sense of American Exceptionalism.
"Telling our children they won’t be able to go to soccer practice anymore because their parents can’t afford to pay for the gas to get there is not going to fly, said Kilauea resident Scott Mijares, one of more than 50 concerned citizens at the presentation."We'll be lucky if that's all we have to explain to our children after the sh*t hits the fan. The idea that Scott thinks we cannot accept even a scintilla of change in our lives to save the planet is unnerving. A 50 cent hike in gas prices to fund the future (our kids future) is too inconvenient and could actually disturb our non-negotiable American way of life.
This notion that we must pile our kids in an SUV in order to drive them to parent sponsored sporting events, instead of encouraging children to play outside on their own, within walking distance of our homes, is not sustainable. Well there is something we ought to be afraid of and that is millions of soccer-dads driving SUVs full of kids to soccer games all over the collapsing planetary ecosystem.
20-Year Sustainability Plan Unveiled
SUBHEAD: Public blasts 50¢ fuel tax, consultant defends ‘shock to the system’
Image above: The sacrifices made for sports. A soccer mom disgorges her SUV at playing field in Honolulu.
From http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jun/13/ln/FP606130345.html
By Coco Zickos on 10 January 2010 in The Garden Island News -
(http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2010/01/10/news/kauai_news/doc4b49852c5e979853372084.txt)
Weaning Kaua‘i from its addiction to imported oil could require dramatic measures, but some residents seem wary of one such plan to do just that.
Community members were not shy about vocalizing their opinions regarding a recently unveiled proposal for the county to levy an additional tax of 50 cents per gallon for gasoline, Thursday at a public presentation of the final draft of the long-awaited Kaua‘i Energy Sustainability Plan.
Telling our children they won’t be able to go to soccer practice anymore because their parents can’t afford to pay for the gas to get there is not going to fly, said Kilauea resident Scott Mijares, one of more than 50 concerned citizens at the presentation. “We know we’re going to feel the pain,” he said. “We already pay the highest prices in the county.” Fuel taxes in Hawai‘i are nothing new. The state already levies 17 cents per gallon in addition to a federal tax of around 18 cents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The 50th state is also one of only a handful which allows its counties to charge an additional tax.
Kaua‘i currently charges 13 cents per gallon. An additional 50-cent tax would push Kaua‘i close to the top of the nation’s gasoline tax price tag. Lower income households would have to bear the largest brunt in an already failing economy, several community members argued. Most of these individuals would not benefit from the $186 million 20-year funding program which would help incentivize the purchasing of hybrid electric vehicles. Prices average from around $20,000 to $30,000 for various models of the fuel-efficient Ford Fusion, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius.
But rather than focus on individual pocketbooks, consultant Douglas Hinrichs of Sentech Hawai‘i — who devised the plan after receiving input from “hundreds of people in the community” — said becoming more self-sufficient will require a “shock to the system.” “We would be creating a paradigm shift” with our children and grandchildren’s futures in mind, he said. The comprehensive plan proposes that by 2030 Kaua‘i could achieve 100 percent sustainability.
“If we do nothing, costs are just going to keep going up and up,” said Kaua‘i resident Ken Taylor, who has argued that Kaua‘i needs to change its course when it comes to energy consumption. Gas prices around the island averaged some $2.40 per gallon in January 2009 and reached $3.45 per gallon last week. Oil has also been rising from around $37 per barrel in January 2009 to around $82 last week.
“We’ve got an infrastructure we have to replace,” Taylor said. “Are we going to control expenditures or sit back and take what comes?” Mijares disagreed. “We’re being scared into the factor that oil is going to skyrocket in the future. I personally don’t believe that.” Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Board Member Carol Bain said the plan has “really good potential.” “We’ve already slowed down 10 miles per hour on Kuhio highway, we can do this too,” she said.
Whether or not the tax hike ever comes to fruition, the plan is something everyone can learn from, said one community member. “The real plan is to get ideas together and go home and make your own plan for conservation,” they said. Public comment will be accepted through Jan. 24.
For more information, visit www.kauaienergysustainabilityplan.com.
1 comment :
Dear Juan,
Mahalo for the feature article. I finally hit the big time. I didn't see you at the meeting so I will forgive you for running with the little snipit the Garden Isle offered up. What I said id that the cost of oil affects every aspect of our lives - our food, the goods and services we consume, and much more. "Who wants to tell their children they cant play soccer because it cost too much to drive them to practice"
I want to be clear that I believe that we should be pursuing alternative/renewable energy sources. What I disagree with is the idea that our county government is going to be execute a feasible plan with a .50 tax on gas.
I said, "If this plan is a good one then private money should be willing risk their capital to execute it. I've seen thousands of plans like this that look good on paper but very few of them ever are successful. Who is going to be left holding the bag if this one fails"?
My suggestion was to take a more measured approach without levying such a heavy tax on people who are already having a hard time economically.
I also asked Doug if any other community had implemented any of his recommendations and if so what were the results? His answer -- "Hell no, this is all new".
Why should we trust our government to do the right thing with more tax dollars when they have been so irresponsible with the budget they already manage?
This is the same government that has spent tens of millions of dollars on 4 miles of bike path in Kapaa, 13 million on a 102 ft. long bridge in Kilauea in, and millions of dollars on off island consultants to produce reports we never use. They can’t even keep our children in school long enough to meet their own requirements for graduation to the next grade.
Yes, we need to develop renewable energy but I think we all know we can’t count on our elected officials to make that happen.
What they need to do is create an environment that will incentivize private business to solve this urgent problem.
Scott Mijares
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