Hawaii Learning Pitfalls of renewable energy
Evenwel v Abbott Could Affect Hawaii Reapportionment
Sen Ted Cruz Backs Airline Deregulation for American Samoa
Report: Meth use among older Hawaii adults nearly doubles
Obamacare Waiver: Ige Plans Statewide Hearings
DoE Outlines Heat abatement program at public schools
Remembering September 11 Attack
Solar has a Carbon Footprint
SA: ...there is a steady chorus claiming that the production of photovoltaic panels has its own dangerous carbon footprint. Does it?
It turns out that PV does have a carbon footprint ... there are multiple steps to the process that create opportunities not only to curb global warming, but also to be socially and environmentally responsible … or not.
The guts of a PV panel come from mining quartz, which is then refined to silicon dioxide. Mining, one of the oldest professions in the world, is subject to a robust safety industry in modern countries but can be frightfully lax in developing nations. Silicosis, a lung disease that comes from breathing silicon dust, is more common in such countries. The process that turns silicon into a solar panel also requires the use of multiple chemicals that may or may not be recycled and/or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
In fact, before 2008, PV manufacturing occurred primarily in Europe, Japan and the United States. Today the majority of panels come from China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines....
The good news is, technology is rapidly advancing, and there always seems to be a better solution around the corner.... ("Always around the corner")
Moving forward, it will be important to use a comprehensive, balanced scorecard and responsibly evaluate social, environmental and financial factors associated with potential sources of energy. As technologies continue to evolve, statisticians and marketing consultants alike will continue to find new ways of putting lipstick on a pig....
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition evaluates solar panels using a broad range of metrics, including emissions transparency, chemical reduction plans, workers’ rights, health and safety, modular toxicity, recycling and greenhouse gas emissions....
read ... Toxics
Strengthen government ethics rules
SA: It’s been a common thread in stories of late: Lobbyists sway government officials. Government officials approve funding for high-stakes projects. Taxpayers foot the hefty bill.
The troubling scenarios shine a light on the seedier side of politics, and they underscore the necessity of ethics and campaign spending laws — and an even greater need to strengthen them....
The state’s existing lobbyist laws focus on the influence lobbyists have on legislators, but stop short of department administrators and the executive branch. The 2016 Legislature should pursue changes to close the loopholes....
The public should not accept sloppy — or worse, dark — politics as the norm. We should insist on strengthening good-government laws, and actively enforcing them, to shed as much light as possible on our money trails.
read ... Strengthen government ethics rules
Activists Promote Gay Sex Ed to Trans-Form Kids
SA: “The main difference between us and the (next target, the) DOE (Department of Education) is we’re going to be much more family-oriented; we’re insisting that the parents participate … because we believe very strongly that parents are the most important sexuality educators. … The question is whether the parents will have the 'right' information,” said church spokeswoman Nancy Kleiber, who plans to serve as one of the program’s trained teachers.
(Translation: If the parents seem to be going along with this, the kids' resistance will be dramatically lowered thus enhancing availability for recruitment.)
Classes for students and parents will run concurrently and in separate rooms (so the parents won't react to what their kids are being told) while intimate subject matter is discussed, said Kleiber, a retired religious educator and anthropologist specializing in women’s health care. She maintains that both teens and parents will feel less awkward in such groupings, noting, “There are a great many parents who would have trouble saying the word ‘penis’ — it’s still not something that’s out there in an intergenerational context.” (Meanwhile your son will learn to play dress-up in the next room--and will think you approve, thus multiplying the effect.)
“This is a way for parents to (be conned into seeming to share) share their (our) values with their children” and learn how to talk (a little) about sexuality with one another (while we chat up their kids a lot), Kleiber said. (Question: How dumb do you have to be to sign up for this brainwashing session?)
There will be some joint sessions, including potluck dinners. (Just enough to make it look good.) “They’re also going be together on the way home,” when they can compare notes on topics they might not otherwise discuss, Kleiber said. “Just saying the word ‘masturbation,’ now that’s radical.” (But its nothing compared with what they want to achieve.)
General topics up for discussion will include anatomy and physiology, sexual orientation and gender identity, (Actually this is what the entire class is about. The rest is window dressing.) ....
The curriculum is based on standards set by the National Guidelines Task Force, a group of leading health, education and sexuality professionals assembled by the (Gay) Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S....
(Now you know who developed these brain-washing techniques.)
As Explained Long Ago: The transsexual agenda for Hawaii schools
read ... About What They Want the DOE to Do
New Way to Cover Up Hawaii's Affordability Crisis
HB: This year, the annual conference of the Hawaii Economic Association will focus on how to expand other facets of prosperity, such as environmental well-being, sustainability and social quality of life. Everyone is invited.
Gross domestic product, or GDP, is the standard measure of prosperity, says John Knox, an HEA director at large and immediate past president. But there is much more to well-being.
“If there’s any place in the country where the question of whether and how environment and culture should be joined with economic ‘progress’ measures, it’s Hawaii,” Knox says. “Everyone wants a strong economy here, but few choose to live in this place for economic reasons alone....
The conference’s first panel will introduce the topic of well-being, define it in relation to prosperity and discuss how it can be measured for a particular society. The second panel will present ways Hawaii might change GDP measures, along with examples of how some people have approached this. The third will discuss the “triple bottom line” of financial profit, environmental health and social progress, including local experiences. The fourth will feature an economic forecast from the state’s top economists.
read ... Tell The Peasants to Accept It
Flag flap in Kapolei neighborhood
HNN: A strict homeowner's association policy in Kapolei has one Navy couple crying foul. They've been cited and could be fined $100 if they don't take the flag pole they installed on their front porch.
"It's freedom. It's what my husband and my father have fought for -- our freedom," said Tiffinie Lajoie, who says flying an American flag is her way of expressing gratitude for those in service to our country.
"Absolutely and it reminds me, especially today being 9/11 -- it reminds me of the sacrifices," said Lajoie.
The Lajoies bought their townhouse in the Awakea at Mehana community in Kapolei and moved in early last year. About four months ago, they installed a flag holder into the pole of their front lanai (porch).
"We put the flag up and a couple weeks after that I received a notice from the association saying that we cannot have a flag hanging from the house because it is attached to the lanai," said Jimmy Lajoie, who is stationed at Pearl Harbor....
read ... Flag flap in Kapolei neighborhood
Electric Car Not Quite Enough for Kauai Driving
KGI: “We live in the center of the island,” Paul said. “This means we can go either way and have enough charge to go and come back home on a charge. It’s a little harder on the Westside because of the limited number of charging stations, but on the Eastside, we can go to Princeville, charge for two hours at 50 cents an hour while having lunch, and have enough power to come home.”
read ... Can't Go Anywhere
Medical Marijuana Advocate Busted Allegedly Selling Drugs--Again
WHT: A 58-year-old Mountain View man is facing 31 charges for allegedly operating an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary out of his Fern Acres subdivision home.
Police executed a search warrant Thursday at the Pikake Street home of Michael Doyle Ruggles and confiscated 134 marijuana plants, 49.3 pounds of dried processed marijuana, 1.2 pounds and 357 capsules of suspected marijuana concentrate, 5.5 pounds of marijuana edibles, $1,846 in cash for forfeiture, a loaded pistol, a loaded shotgun and a 15-round magazine for a pistol.
On Friday afternoon, Ruggles was charged with five counts of commercial promotion of marijuana, seven counts promoting a harmful drug, four counts marijuana possession, 14 counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and one firearms charge....
read ... Busted Again
Solar Schemers a No-Show for their own Community Meeting
WHT: A community hall full of Ocean View residents were left without answers Friday evening as the developers of a massive commercial solar project failed to show for the meeting.
Two representatives for SPI Solar had reserved and paid for the hall, but one failed to make a flight and the other was deterred by flash flooding, said resident Ann Bosted, who has been coordinating with developers to try to get answers surrounding the prickly plan for 30,000 panels on 26 lots scattered in and around the Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos subdivision. The photovoltaic arrays would take up a combined 52 acres.
“I built my house to live in the rest of my life,” said Christine Gallagher, a Ranchos resident since 1979. “Solar panels will be on three sides of my property.”
The 2-acre lots would produce 250 kilowatts each, making them eligible for the Tier 2 Feed-In Tariff program. Under that initiative, SPI can sell the electricity to Hawaiian Electric Light Co. at a rate of 23.8 cents per kilowatt hour over a 20-year period.
The utility company is seeking to build a 69 killovolt transmission line and a $1.75 million substation to serve the arrays, paid for by the developer. The solar farms and transmission system are expected to be completed next year.
Residents have numerous concerns about the project, including worries about fire danger and impacts to views and property values. They also argue the Feed-In Tariff program was meant to foster smaller projects, not a 6.75 megawatt commercial project broken up into small generation units.
read ... Rate Hike Coming
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