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From Marti:

I was listening to this on the radio, and the topic of climate change and ocean resources got me thinking.

Effects being felt by islands in the Pacific are often mentioned in the discussion about the health of our oceans as “early indicators” of the affects of climate change. Bleaching and disease in fragile coral reefs supporting marine ecosystems caused by temperture changes. Sea level rise forcing relocations of island residents. Ocean acidification with unknown consequences. Climate change leaves these islands less able to fend off effects of catastrophic storm events by degrading protective reefs. They decimate an important ocean food resources, depriving islands of their ability to maintain food independence.

Instead of clamoring to make change, and make restitution to these people and places, the continents are instead holding up Pacific islands as”canaries in the mine shaft”–harbingers of things to come for other presumably more important places like the continental U.S. or Europe.

The widely publicized NCEAS map of human impacts to the world’s oceans splits the entire Pacific region, and Hawai`i is not shown at all. (To their credit, Hawaii is there–and can be viewed in the KML version of the map, viewable in GoogleEarth.)

As a lifelong resident of one of these “canaries,” I am extremely concerned that the rapid rise in sea level and sea temperature will mean the loss of our islands – our homes, our communities and our way of life. It is likely, if not inevitable, that the hundreds of unique indigenous cultures in the Pacific–which have existed and developed over millenia–will not be able to adapt to catastrophic environmental changes occuring over the space of 50 to 100 years.

What is most frustrating is these catastrophic changes are the product of unsustainable lifestyels and practices of industrialized nations like the U.S. and Europe, not the Pacific, where the impact isbeing the most directly experienced. This occurs in the context of the well-documented legacy of post-contact 19th and 20th century Pacific imperialsm–in which world powers fought for ownership and dominance of Pacific Islands with little or no concern for the people of these places. The effects of this legacy are still keenly felt throughout Oceania.

From the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific 2000:

• In 1994, elevated sea temperatures killed over 90% of the living corals of American Samoa from the intertidal zone to a depth of 10 meters and fishing catches declined drastically in the wake of the coral death.
• Climate Change will shift rainfall patterns causing prolonged droughts in some regions. Each El Niño event has resulted in water shortages and drought in Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Fiji. More frequent El Niño events also bring an increased risk of tropical cyclones, particularly for Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and French Polynesia.
• The potential socio-economic impacts of climate change on the smaller Pacific island countries were estimated in a series of vulnerability studies. Depending on the worst case scenario (one metre sea level rise), the studies suggest that sea level rise will have negative impacts on tourism, freshwater availability and quality, aquaculture, agriculture, human settlements, financial services and human health. Storm surges are likely to have a harmful impact on low-lying islands.

Their report concludes:

“The options for the Pacific islands, other than continuing to berate the industrial nations on their lack of concerted action, include migration, foreshore stablilisation, resettlement and decentralisation to adapt to the impacts of climate and sea-level changes.”

While global climate change is indeed, a global problem, it is a problem with consequences unequally shared.

Add your voice! Friends of the Earth has launched a Climate Equity Campaign, urging action to assist those most impacted by climate change. Check it out here.

Apparently HECO is coming up dry when it comes to their mainland supplier of so-called “green fuel”–Imperium–for their new $164-million dollar biodiesel power plant on Leeward Oahu.

Keep in mind that when they say “green fuel” and “biodiesel,” what they are actually talking about is palm oil. Yes, that stuff that is the most significant cause of rainforest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia, and associated with human rights violations and worker exploitation. THAT green fuel.

From Pacific Business News:

Hawaiian Electric Co. is seven months away from starting up Oahu’s first new power plant in nearly 20 years, but its “green” fuel supplier may not deliver.

The plant is on schedule to be fired up in August at Campbell Industrial Park. HECO had expected its first shipment of biodiesel to run the plant on Jan. 1.

But getting that clean-burning fuel — a requirement regulators had imposed in approving the project — is proving to be more difficult than expected.

Despite the original January delivery date, the state Public Utilities Commission has yet to approve HECO’s contract with Seattle-based Imperium Renewables to provide between five million and 12 million gallons of biodiesel annually through 2011.

Financial troubles that have hobbled Imperium over the past year are raising red flags at the PUC, which has asked HECO for a contingency plan should the deal fall through.

Meanwhile, a challenge by a local environmental advocacy group that questioned the supply contract is further prolonging the process.

But HECO is still moving forward with construction of the $164 million plant, where workers this week completed pouring the cement foundation. The huge 110-megawatt generator for the plant, which will act as a backup power source during peak hours or in the event of a power outage, has already been delivered to the site.

PUC Chairman Carlito Caliboso told PBN the commission is giving HECO until Jan. 30 to amend its biodiesel supply contract with Imperium, which originally planned to build a biodiesel production plant down the street from HECO’s new power station.

Now, Imperium will have to ship biodiesel from its plant in Grays Harbor, Wash., HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg said.

Although HECO stresses its confidence in Imperium to make good on the contract, Rosegg said the utility has alternative suppliers in mind.

“We know there are other potential suppliers,” he said. “For example, we recently received bid proposals for biodiesel for Maui Electric Co. to use in performing operational tests.”

Imperium spokesman John Williams declined to comment.

The utility obviously wants the plant to go online as scheduled since it has invested millions up front and cannot pass those costs on to customers until it is operational.

In a worst-case scenario, the new plant’s generators are “fuel flexible,” meaning they can run on traditional diesel, Rosegg said.

But the PUC said HECO would need to resubmit paperwork in order to run it on anything but clean-burning biofuel, and essentially start the approval process from scratch.

“The plant had been approved under the condition that it be 100 percent biofuel,” Caliboso said. “I know that physically it can be run on regular oil, but that was not part of the approval. HECO would need to ask for permission to run it on anything else.”

The supply contract challenge by environmental group Life of the Land, a frequent HECO critic that has opposed the plans for the Campbell plant from the beginning, was granted a hearing in October.

At that Oct. 6 hearing, Caliboso, PUC commissioner Leslie Kondo and its chief legal counsel, Stacey Djou, repeatedly questioned HECO executives about a contingency plan from Imperium.

“The fact that there is a missing contingency plan, technically Imperium is in default,” Djou said. “Without that, how do we know this contract is just, reasonable, and in the public interest?”

Caliboso said if HECO’s amendments to the supply contract are “significant,” the review process will take even longer.

“We haven’t seen the amendments, but at this stage in the proceeding, if there are significant contract amendments made, it likely will require further hearing on the case,” Caliboso said.

From Allison Winter, E&E reporter:

The Bush administration has failed to provide safeguards to protect more than a dozen stocks of marine mammals from injury or death in commercial fishing nets, congressional investigators said in a report released yesterday. The Government Accountability Office found that the National Marine Fisheries Service has failed to meet its legal obligation to guard whales, dolphins and other marine mammals from entanglement in fishing gear. The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act require that the agency establish “take reduction teams” for certain marine mammals to reduce accidental injuries or death in fishing gear. The agency failed to set up teams of experts to protect 14 of 30 different stocks of marine mammals that deserve protection, the report says. False killer whales off the Hawaiian Islands, bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and Steller sea lions in the eastern and western United States are among animals left without bycatch protection teams.

And for the rest of the stocks, NMFS lacked a “comprehensive strategy” to assess the effectiveness of its program and frequently missed deadlines to set up teams and create safety plans. For most stocks, the agency relies on incomplete, outdated or imprecise data on population size or mortality, GAO found. Federal fisheries officials told GAO they were aware of some of the limitations but did not have enough funding to implement plans or improve their data. For some marine mammal stocks, officials said a take-reduction team would be useless, since the threats to the marine mammals are not from fishing but from other sources, such as Navy sonar exercises. NMFS officials agreed with a recommendation from GAO that the agency develop a comprehensive strategy for assessing the effectiveness of the plans and the regulations. The report came as President George W. Bush this week declared three new national monuments in the Pacific Ocean — a move than won praise from environmental and marine conservation groups. Bush used the announcement as an opportunity to defend his environmental record — often praised for ocean conservation but widely criticized for its policies on public lands, endangered species and climate change.

“For an administration that is desperately trying to create a legacy of ocean stewardship before leaving office, it is disappointing to hear that they have dropped the ball on reducing incidental deaths of mammals due to commercial fishing,” said House Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), who requested the report. Rahall said the report would create a “solid road map for the tremendous work that lies ahead” and pledged to work with the incoming Obama administration to try to secure protections for whales and other marine species. The report recommends that Congress amend the existing law to specify that the teams are only required for marine mammals that interact with a fishery and change the law’s deadlines to make them easier for NMFS to comply. GAO also recommended that lawmakers require federal officials to report on progress in developing the teams and any limitations hindering the agency. “NMFS faces a very large, complex, and difficult task in trying to protect marine mammals from incidental mortality and serious injury during the course of commercial fishing operations,” the report states.

From yesterday’s Garden Isle News:

After many months of waiting, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was made available to the public today, revealing many impacts the Superferry could have on the four main Hawaiian islands if operation were to continue.

The EIS assesses the direct impacts the ferry could have to the islands caused by new construction needed to support a large-capacity ferry vessel, and indirect impacts, such as affects on Hawaiian waters and cultural practices.

The report declares that the cumulative effects of the Superferry would significantly and adversely affect traffic within the vicinity of Nawiliwili, Kahului, Kawaihae and Honolulu Harbors. The large-vessel ferry could potentially impact the number of endangered humpback whales, the dispersal of inter-island invasive species and the traditional cultural practices conducted on the islands, the EIS said.

The comprehensive report declares that cultural activities within the vicinity of West Harbor in Kahului would significantly and adversely be impacted due to “new harbor improvements.” New pier construction at Kawaihae Harbor would also result in significant and adverse impacts, including those to nearby Pu`ukohola Heiau National Historic Park, obstructing views and affecting not only the rock walls of the heiau, but ceremonial activities as well, due to noise and construction.

Indirect impacts noted in the report include activities such as fishing, surfing and diving, including the potential loss of natural resources as stated in the cultural impact analyses.

The only reportedly beneficial impact reviewed in the environmental draft is that the large-capacity ferry vessel would provide to all harbors a “superior” mode of transportation for disaster planning and emergency response. The statement concludes that the vessel would increase the capabilities and response times of first responders and relief efforts.

To view the EIS in its entirety and to leave comment, visit the Department of Transportation’s Web site, hawaii.gov/dot/harbors

From Erin Kiley, NRDC Films:

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is starting production and development on a 10-minute movie about ocean acidification, a largely unknown yet equally serious consequence of fossil fuel emissions.  We will produce this short film to introduce the problem of ocean acidification, discuss its consequences, and link the issue with policy solutions for both climate change and improving ocean health.

We’re currently seeking footage that will help us illustrate the chemical phenomenon of ocean acidification, as well as beautiful underwater footage of the organisms and ecosystems at risk.  ] We will gladly credit you or your organization for any footage provided and share copies of the film upon its completion.  We’re also happy to pay for tape and lab costs of outputting materials where necessary.

Footage in High Definition is even better than Standard Definition, but we happily and gratefully accept anything you have to offer.  Feel free to contact ekiley [at] nrdc.org.

From today’s Washington Post:

President Bush will create three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean Tuesday, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, designated areas that will span 195,280 square miles and protect some of the most ecologically-rich areas of the world’s oceans.

The decision to make the designations under the Antiquities Act, coming just two weeks before Bush leaves office, means that he will have protected more square miles of ocean than any person in history. In 2006 Bush created the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, an area of 138,000 square miles.

Two of the areas encompass a region known as the Line Islands, a relatively isolated and uninhabited string of islands in the central Pacific. The third area, in the western Pacific, includes the waters around a few islands in the northern Marianas chain and the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean canyon in the world.

Both regions boast enormous biodiversity: Kingman Reef and other islands in the central Pacific area teem with sharks and other top predators as well as vibrant, healthy corals; the Mariana Trench and its nearby islands are home to several species of rare beaked whales and the Micronesian megapode — an endangered bird that uses the heat from volcanic vents to incubate its eggs — and also boast mud volcanoes, pools of boiling sulfur and the greatest microbial diversity on Earth.

“The president’s actions will prevent the destruction and extraction of natural resources from these beautiful and biologically-diverse areas without conflicting with our military’s activities and freedom of navigation, which are vital to our national security,” Perino said. “And the public and future generations with benefit from science and knowledge. The President has a strong eight-year record of ocean conservation, and these new designated protected areas will comprise the largest area of ocean set aside as marine protected areas in the world.”

While not all areas within the designated monuments will be fully protected — slightly less than 60 percent of the total will be subject to prohibitions on fishing and other extractive activities — environmentalists praised Bush for the move.

“With the designation of these new marine monuments in the Marianas Islands, American Samoa and the western pacific, George Bush has ushered in a new era of ocean conservation in the United States and the world at large,” said Josh Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group. “It has taken 137 years, since the creation of America’s first national park in Yellowstone in 1872, to recognize that unique areas of the world’s oceans deserve the same kind of protection as we have afforded similar places on land. And none too soon.”

White House press briefing:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090105-6.html

From Bryna, some thoughts on this piece on “Genetically Modified Hawaii” in the Scientific American:

In the pursuit of responsible, meaningful, helpful science for the betterment of the communities and lands of Hawaii, we’ve gotten rather flustered and confused by the dangerous, expensive answers that GMOs offer our local communities.

What do we want for Hawaii? Something we can sink our teeth into.  As the article expounds, we have 3-4 growing seasons. So why are we growing corporate ag-fuel investments & experiments with laughable farm-to-fuel efficiency, short term profitability and long term, irreversible and uncalculable risks? We could be growing increasingly valuable organic seeds for export, and of course nutritious, delicious food to eat here!  GMO-corn & related chemicals make even pineapple seem more meaningful and safe for the nutritional and environmental needs of Hawaii.  Then again, pineapple didn’t make it past 2 generations, but heptachlor contamination will be around for centuries.

Better yet, why not grow alot of different food crops? Why is Hawaii still nurturing the mono-cash-crop plantation paradigm that keeps success and failure in the hands and whims of a few, offshore, high-risk moguls? Will they save us from starvation? Ask the Food Bank.

“But seed companies say and some scientists believe the benefits outweigh the risks of damage to the fragile ecosystem.”

Without any independent scientific review how can they make any honest claims of benefits?  By refusing  independent, longterm studies or public information about their projects, biotech corporatoins control the public perception of benefits, while having no factual basis in making such claims.

Isn’t it time we got something good to eat, and isn’t it time we returned the farmscape back to the care of the local people, local culture, local foods? It is a myth that we don’t have enough land. It is a myth that we can’t grow food to feed the local population. The problem is that the land that we have is becoming Iowa and plants they are growing could kill us…..

Read: “Genetically Modified Hawaii: New varieties of genetically engineered crops thrive in the world’s most isolated landmass” by  Robynne Boyd.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=genetically-modified-hawaii