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Originally posted by gypsy69I have not seen anyone tear down a geothermal plant and deem it ready to grow anything yet?. Time is on our side until we know other wise, so why not let other places be the ginnie-pigs. We may not be getting or asking for a rail system here yet, but the state certainly has made tourism the main economy?. So the quicker we get off this Gmo and Geothermal crap that nobody wants to visit or see the better.
I find that to be a very myopic view. If you step back and look at the bigger picture, Hawai'i is extremely vulnerable in several key ways that impinge on county planning, and geothermal energy and GMO crops can both be valuable contributions to the whole.
1) An economy based on tourist trade is highly vulnerable to global economy fluctuations. In general the Big Island has NOT recovered our tourist traffic as fast as the other island have. And overall tourist traffic to the state fell in October. So guess which island's economy hasn't fully recovered and is lagging behind the others? Point being, we really need to diversify our island's economy so it's less boom and bust. Growth of the agriculture segment would help. The seed business alone, all on the other islands so far, is already a $123 million annual business. We've got a LOT of fallow land here that could be used for this purpose.
2) Our "food security" situation is tenuous and scary. State surveys show the state has, at any given time, only 7 days worth of perishables on hand, and 30 days worth of all food, total. Any interruption of the 2,500 mile supply chain that brings something like 93% of our food to us is problematic. We could easily raise a LOT more of the food consumed in the state.
3) Our energy security situation is improving... HELCO reported in July that a little over 40% of the electricity they sell is already coming from completely renewable sources... geothermal, hydro, solar, winds, etc. The flip side is that we are still burning irreplaceable, dirty fossil fuels for 60% of our needs, and again, those are wholly dependent on a 2,500+ mile supply chain. Only 30 mW are currently being produced at the geothermal plant, but the projections are the geothermal potential on the Big Island is 750 mW, enough to fulfil ALL our current needs and then some. And since we seem to have the highest penetration of renewable energy sources in the country, from more diverse sources than anywhere else, I can see this easily being developed as an area of expertise to be marketed on the mainland.
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Puna is looking like it wants to sell out to industrialization, and we are in need of a face lift.
I disagree with your characterization. I don't see any hulking factories with belching smokestacks in our future, nor any major capital investments to cause that to happen. What I do see is a rapidly growing population, not from big developments, but simply from one family at a time moving in, having kids, etc. despite all the obvious limitations, like having the worst stretch of highway in the state being the only connector between Puna and Hilo. According to US Census figures Puna is on track to exceed Hilo's population in about 2 more years, and is increasing ever more quickly. And those people all need jobs and food and energy. And they have a severely substandard infrastructure... roads, water, sewer, services... which deserves a major upgrade. And that takes money. And that takes a healthy economy.
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ANY ideas??? Beaches, snorkeling areas, hikes, Bike Trails, Deep Fishing, walk and pick gardens and farms. More Bed and breakfast places, a nice resort with jobs on some 400 acres in poihiki with daily surf lessons. I know I am getting carried away so I will stop and ask Why not?
If the tourist economy can support it, sure, where it can. but I don't see any deep pockets around to dip into for building much more than we have already. And truth be known, a lot of tourist-based businesses have closed over the last few years, and we're still not out of the weeds yet. Besides, tourist activities are, by nature, fringe activities, something that is mostly concentrated at the prettiest of edges, for the prettiest of people, or at least people at their leisure, whilst in between them people still need to pull up their britches and go to work every day. They can be sustained quite well without the locals all living in huts and wearing grass skirts. And don't forget, things they don't have at home like papaya farms and coffee farms and macadamia nut farms ARE tourist attractions for many folks.
Nobody is planning any high-rise condos for Puna, as far as I am aware, and people won't change their tourist destinations if we pave our side roads, so what exactly is the real fear? Loss of rural character? That's happening anyway, inexorably, and ever more rapidly.
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Why Gmo?
Because it is a phenomenally useful technology for dealing with fast changing agricultural conditions globally. It saved the Hawaiian papaya industry. It could save the global banana industry. It has the potential to rid not just the islands, but the whole world of avian malaria and malaria and dengue fever. It might be the only thing that can save the orange growing industry, which is on cliff right now, teetering right on the very edge of global collapse due to the "greening" disease. OJ may be a thing of the past my grandchildren can only reminisce about. I'd hate to see that happen, and GMOs could help turn the tide.
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Why geothermal here.
Because this is where the energy is found naturally. It's an extraordinary local resource for obtaining renewable energy that is continuous... a required baseline for using solar and wind power, which are intermittent and non-continuous. And though it is not without issues and yes, some waste, it is a far cleaner energy source than burning fossil fuels, which is still the leading source in our market.
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When technology finds steam elsewhere? No cane, no Buds, no tourism, no railroad, but we get the pesticides, fumagations, papaya and geothermal wastes.
Oh and let's not forget we have the one program that really does work and serve needing folks out here and that's Welfare.. Forever?? P.s papaya and geo waste is what we are getting not the fruits or lower rates.
Now you're just ranting. Welfare has had limits for many years now. I love my papayas. Geo waste is more manageable, and ultimately kinder for the planet than fossil fuels. Every argument you make has a logical rebuttal. And sorry to say, you can't stop change. What Puna used to be is past, and we can't go back, or even stop where we are now. Those are simply not viable options, though a lot of residents don't seem to have gotten the memo. We simply have to be smart about how we move forward.
