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Shared belief in a better future is strong glue in our community, and together we’ve made some huge steps forward in 2008!

The threats are great, and the needs are huge, but no problem is impossible when we answer together. From all of us at KAHEA, a heartfelt mahalo for the difference you continue to make for Hawaii nei.

Mahalo for Taking Action!

As the year draws to a close, here’s a look back at 10 things that YOU made happen:

1. 40,000 signatures defending our right for free public access to public trust resources–mauka to makai, mountains to the ocean. Hundreds rally across Hawaii for their right to reach the beach!

2. 7,000 demand state legislators defend the sanctity and free right-to-grow taro from genetic modification and patenting.

3. GMO-taro and coffee banned on Hawaii Island! 1,200 people ask the Hawaii County Council to protect their communities from the harms and dangers of genetic modification and patenting. The Council listened and acted!

4. Over two-hundred write in support of protecting more critical habitat for the planet’s remaining 1,200 Hawaiian monk seals.

5. Hawaii County Council calls for a halt to live-fire exercises at DU-contaminated Pohakuloa Training Area! 300 people write in support!

6. In a historic decision, a court-appointed hearing officer affirms KAHEA’s standing to participate in first-ever enforcement action for irresponsible coral disease research violations in the pristine and fragile Northwestern Hawaiian Island. Thanks to KAHEA intervention, the enforcement action is upheld!

7. Over 1,000 demand the Navy follow Hawaii’s environmental laws and protect our unique ocean resources!

8. Hundreds write to demand the restoration of water to the streams of East Maui! In a historic decision, the Water Commission requires a portion of the water be returned.

9. Unique tropical alpine ecosystem of Mauna Kea protected from uncontrolled telescope development by the University of Hawaii. Over 550 write to demand the land-giveway on Mauna Kea be stopped! 3 court cases won, construction of 2 telescopes halted.

10. Full conservation of one of the last intact, large-scale coral reef ecosysytems on the planet! 5.6 million people represented in the call for a true pu’uhonua (sanctuary) in the remote and fragile Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Mahalo for your Friendship!

It is people that are at the heart of this grassroots movement, people who make things happen. KAHEA represents an incredible ‘ohana of amazing individuals working to protect the things we all love about Hawaii. We were incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to party with so many of you at KAHEA’s Pau Hana! Mahalo to the incredible number of friends (new and old!) who joined us in Chinatown on Wednesday! A great time for talk story, enjoy good eats, good drinks, good music, good art, and good company! To all that were there, and all that were there in spirit, thank you for celebrating with us!

Mahalo for Volunteering !

Mahalo nunui to all the people who took time out of their busy days in 2008 to help in the fight to protect Hawaii nei!

You stuffed envelopes, folded brochures, gathered petition signatures, staffed the KAHEA booth at events, screened t-shirts, filmed hearings, entered data, helped at fundraisers, recruited your friends, and carried lots of heavy stuff! The victories acheived this year would not have been possible without your great energy and unwavering support!

Mahalo to the KAHEA volunteers! Renee M., Stephanie F., Dave R., La’akea L., Marion A., Steve T., Pauahi H., Pomaika’i F., Kamu E., Ikaika H., Kanoa N., Solomon E., Na Maka O Ka ‘Aina, Aunty Isobel, Elizabeth K., Hunter H., Vanesa F., Mina E., Lahela P., Aunty Penny, Daniel A., Anuenue P., Ko’iahi & Ma’aloa, Kealoha D. & ‘ohana, Kaipo’i K. & ‘ohana, Grace K., Uncle Woody, Uncle Glen, Aunty Noreen, Eric E., Don B., Uncle Charley, Uncle Sakae, Kevin C., Stephanie L., Talia Y., Oren T., Alohi A., Evan S., Mr. Tanaka, Keoki K. & ‘opio, Pono K., Jim C & ‘ohana, Mele J., Dar’ron C., Broc B., Serena S., Janice, Kamu E., Shanna B., ‘Olu’olu G., Maile S., ‘I’, Aunty Sharon, Meghan A., Aunty Nani, Aunty Moana, Breton F. and ‘ohana, Michelle M., Norman K., Kumu Malia, Aunty Meala & Uncle Danny, Kira D., See E., Uncle Jan, Hallie L., Richard P., Shannon W., Steve M., Meleanna M., Uncle Maka, Aunty Nancy, Uncle Jerry, Dr. Lorrin, Mele C., Kapaliku S., Chris & Dimi, Uncle Ed Greevy, Emily Y., Mahealani W.–and so many countless others!

Mahalo for Giving!

Countless numbers of you regularly give what you can to support KAHEA financially. Every dollar is put to work to make KAHEA an effective force for change! You keep the lights on here at the KAHEA office–the copier running, the printer going, the website up, and petitions coming in!

Mahalo nui for your support, and for investing in the work that is happening here at KAHEA. We do our fundraising grassroots-style–without corporate or federal dollars. Nothing we do here at KAHEA would be possible without your generous kokua!

When you give, you invest in a ecologically, socially sound future for Hawai’i nei. For those of you who have not given yet, we hope you will consider making a donation (whatever can!) by visiting www.KAHEA.org or sending a contribution to: PO Box 37368,
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96837, Honolulu, HI  96813. Every dollar you give is matched by the Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation.

From our ‘ohana to yours, we wish you all a peaceful and joyous holiday season! We have so much to celebrate and so much for which to be grateful.

Much love and heartfelt thanks from all of us guys at KAHEA!

From Marti:

Late in the day on December 23rd, the final version of the Monument management plan was quietly published on the Papahānaumokuākea website.  No press release. No email to the list serv.  Just a quick post on the eve of the Eve of Christmas, which just happened to get picked up in a google alert days later.

Given all the eco-mojo the Bush Administration has tried to squish out of this “blue asterisk,” you would expect a mighty deal be made of finally finishing the management plan two years later.  The fact that the release was so secretive has gotta make you wonder what’s actually in it.

On their website, James Connaugton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality is quoted as saying:

“When President Bush first designated the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in June 2006, his goal was to move beyond just thinking about conservation to carefully managing this important area.”

Yikes! What does the federal government mean exactly when it says “move beyond” conservation?

Well, from what we see in the plan it means:

• no limit on military activities affecting Monument resources (not even a discussion of what it would take to abide by the proclamation and “minimize and mitigate” half-pound pieces of fiery shrapnel hitting Nihoa).
• no ban on bioprospecting, which is the taking of public trust resources for exploitation and profit by corporations, academic institutions, and private individuals.
• no limit on the number of people that can access and/or take from this “no take” reserve.
• no assessment of the cumulative risks and impacts of past and anticipated human activity in the Monument.
• no public advisory council, which has been key in forcing transparent & accountable decisionmaking.

Over 50% of the proposed 355 million-dollar budget is for government operations and research, while a mere 12% goes to reducing existing threats, like clean-up of marine debris and legacy military contamination. The plan also fails to allocate sufficient resources for Native Hawaiian involvement in Monument decision-making, and leaves decision-making to a closed-door Monument Management Board.

The plan essentially abandons the “precautionary principle,” which was a hallmark of the State’s visionary pre-monument protections that required biological, cultural and historic resource integrity be favored when the impacts of any proposed activity were uncertain.

So while the revised vision, mission, and goals now commit to conservation as the purpose of the Monument, you can see that the actions to implement this plan remain largely unimproved over the weak draft released earlier this Spring.

When the draft version of this plan was released, the National Wildlife Federation, the Center for Biological Diversity and more than a dozen other organizations–representing well over 5 million people–joined KAHEA in strongly criticizing the management plan.  Despite two years of advocacy, and thousands of public letters and comments calling for a stronger, more protective plan, it is apparent that our united call for a true pu‘uhonua didn’t fit with the federal government’s vision for the future of “conservation” in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

So, here’s our take – a quote for the papers  – on the federal government’s attempt to “move beyond” conservation:

“This is conservation on paper, but not in practice. They have reshuffled the goals to say ‘full conservation’ but their proposed actions speak louder than their words. They are exempting increased military exercises proposed for this extremely delicate ocean habitat from management. They are proposing increased tourism, new construction, and extractive research without adequate public oversight and Native Hawaiian consultation,” said Marti Townsend, Program Director of KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance.

To learn more about this issue, including a detailed review of the draft plan, visit our website at: www.kahea.org

From guys at Roots of Change:

Friends:  Signing this petition is important if we are going to have sustainable and urban health leadership in the Department of Agriculture.  At the end are some of my thoughts why we need this.

Michael Dimock, president of Roots of Change http://www.rocfund.org/
reports that he was on a conference call with Obama’s transition team last week.
He says that the transition team is aware of the Food Democracy Now petition, and said that 25,000 endorsements would get their attention. Also that 50,000 could really influence Obama’s pick.

As of Monday, December 23, 10am HST the count is 58,862 . While the goal has been reached, more is always a stronger statement.

To reiterate: this petition has the attention of Obama’s team, and they are expected to make their choice public very soon.

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

From Kathryn Mathewson:

Some of my reasons why we need this: We need a leader in the Dept. of Agriculture who understands the relationship between healthy food and healthy soil.  We cannot continue to kill our soil and food health with pesticides.  Local urban agriculture will also improve health and reduce our oil consumption.   Also, agriculture is the biggest user of water.  Research shows that healthy soil without pesticides will reduce plant water needs by 50 to 75 percent.  This will help address our drought issues.  We need the discussion of soil biology and agriculture on every level of government (agriculture, HUD, EPA, Health, Commerce, International).  It is vital that a leader in the Dept. of Agriculture understands these issues.

From the Organic Consumer’s Association:

The announcement that former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, has been selected as the new Secretary of Agriculture sent a chill through the sustainable food and farming community who have been lobbying for a champion in the new administration.

“Vilsack’s nomination sends the message that dangerous, untested, unlabeled genetically engineered crops will be the norm in the Obama Administration,” said Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of Organic Consumers Association. “Our nation’s future depends on crafting a forward-thinking strategy to promote organic and sustainable food and farming, and address the related crises of climate change, diminishing energy supplies, deteriorating public health, and economic depression.”

The Department of Agriculture during the Bush Administration failed to promote a sustainable vision for food and farming and did not protect consumers from the chemical-intensive toxic practices inherent to industrial agriculture. While factory farms and junk food have been subsidized with billions of tax dollars, the U.S. industrial farm system has released massive amounts of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and increased our dependence on foreign oil.

The Secretary of Agriculture is responsible for directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its $97 billion annual budget, including the National Organic Program, food stamp and nutrition programs, agriculture subsidies, and the Forest Service.

While Vilsack has worked to restrain livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs, also known as factory farms). Vilsack’s support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.

“We fear that this signals Obama’s intentions to rely upon corporate solutions and biotech “quick fixes,” forcing farmers to continue on the pesticide treadmill, rather than creating food systems that nourish people, support family farmers and regenerate natural resources,” said Kathryn Gilje, Executive Director for the Pesticide Action Network. We oppose the confirmation of Tom Vilsack to this post, especially at a time when so much is at stake for the future of food and farming in America.”

Over the past month, Organic Consumers Association members have sent over 20,000 emails to President-Elect Obama¹s Transition Team, calling for the appointment of a Secretary of Agriculture who would develop and implement a plan that promotes family-scale farming, a safe and nutritious food system, and a sustainable and organic vision for the future.

“Obama’s choice for Secretary of Agriculture points to the continuation of agribusiness as usual, the failed policies of chemical- and energy-intensive, genetically engineered industrial agriculture,” said Cummins. “Americans were promised change, not just another shill for Monsanto and corporate agribusiness. Considering the challenges we collectively face as a nation, from climate change and rising energy costs to food insecurity, we need an administration that moves beyond business as usual to fundamental change before it’s too late,” concluded Cummins.

Vilsack’s business as usual positions have included the following:

· Vilsack has been a strong supporter of genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn.

· The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He is also the founder and former chair of the Governor’s Biotechnology Partnership.

· When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child for economic development was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.

· The undemocratic 2005 seed pre-emption bill was the Vilsack’s brainchild. The law strips local government¹s right to regulate genetically engineered seed.

· Vilsack is an ardent supporter of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more energy to produce as they generate and drive up world food prices, literally starving the poor.

Front page news: “Allowing ship to sail without EIS sets risky precedent, auditor says.” Nice to have it affirmed, but isn’t that what we all knew LAST year? Sigh.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081218/NEWS09/812180367

From todayʻs Washington Post, looks like Oregon Professor will be tapped to head up the National Ocean and Atospheric Administration. NOAA is one of three co-trustees (the other two are the Department of Interior and the State of Hawaii) entrusted with conservation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/18/lubchenco_will_helm_national_o.html

From Marti:
It was a surprise to me that there are still geothermal speculators on the Big Island. I thought the community ran them out of town long ago. And for good reason, too, according to this story.

Super offensive! And they did it more than once! Do they have a permit for this sort of thing?

Scientists disclose 2005 drill into Big Isle magma chamber

“A geothermal power company drilling a mile and a half deep on the Big Island of Hawai’i has for the first time encountered an undisturbed chamber of magma, or molten rock, scientists reported this week.

Before the discovery, which was made in 2005, the only access to magma had been on the Earth’s surface in the form of lava from volcanoes.”

Can also find the story here:
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013441071