Kaua`i: The Retreat From Renewables Kaua`i is not the energy producer it used to be. It has a few hydro-electric power plants that support agriculture on the island’s west side, but the once abundant bagasse (sugar-cane waste) that used to … Continued
Hawai`i consumers pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, and it’s not just because fuel to fire our power plants is so expensive to import. Utilities here receive higher revenues for each kilowatt hour of electricity sold … Continued
The prediction that the reefs in Hawaiian waters may be among the world’s last to succumb to the effects of global warming is one reason the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands deserve special protection, say supporters of President Clinton’s executive order of … Continued
In 1997 and 1998, and again in the early part of 2000, large areas of coral reefs in tropical oceans around the world suffered devastating, and in many cases deadly, bleaching events. Scientists attribute the first round of major bleaching … Continued
“Why do we have to keep guessing? Why don’t you just tell us what you want? This, [proposal] I thought, made some sense.” Just a slight tone of exasperation crept into Tim Johns’ voice as he addressed Carl Christensen, attorney … Continued
This Year, Resolve to Volunteer, Hawai`i This marks my first-year anniversary of writing for Environment Hawai`i, so I thought I would do something special for this issue. As a columnist, I have written many times about my own experiences volunteering … Continued
Anthony Kauahi, irrigation superintendent for Kekaha Sugar Company, leads a small caravan through dusty backroads, between sugarcane fields to a storm ravine. As members of the state Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) pile out of their trucks, Kauahi shows them that … Continued
Since before the time of human contact and for centuries thereafter, the coastal plain between Kekaha and Mana on Kaua`i’s western shore has been a wetland. But as state agencies and private parties discuss what to do in the wake … Continued
Steve Case. Benny Agbayani. Konishiki and Akebono. To this list of distinguished sons of Hawai`i soil, we would add that of Peter Vitousek. Vitousek, son of Betty and the late Roy Vitousek of Honolulu, is one of the world’s leading … Continued
Ah, the perils of the Golden Triangle. No, not that Golden Triangle, the dark confluence of Burma, Laos, and Thailand notorious for its phenomenal production of opium. We’re referring to Hawai`i’s own 1,100-acre GT in the `Ewa area of O`ahu. … Continued