Hearing: Maui Island Plan – South Maui – Tuesday, May 29, 9am
THIS MAY BE THE ONLY CHANCE FOR PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON SOUTH MAUI GROWTH
Where: Maui County Council Chambers, 200 High St Wailuku
If you can’t go, send comments to General Plan Committee: committee@mauicounty.us
Central Maui Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan for 2030 to be released Friday May 25
In June, 2010, the State Department of Health, Healthy Hawaii Initiative awarded a grant to Chris Hart & Partners and Berkeley, California-based Alta Planning & Design to prepare an active transportation plan for central Maui. After nearly two years of work, the consultant team and 16-member steering committee will release the plan entitled “Central Maui Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan for 2030″ to the public at a meeting to be held from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 25 in the Cameron Center auditorium. The event is sponsored by Hui No Ke Ola Pono and NPAC. Light pu-pu will be served.
Early on the consultant team and steering committee concluded that central Maui could become a world-class pedestrian and bicyclist community with a commitment to this common vision and renewed investment in supporting infrastructure. The steering committee set forth the following vision:
The people who live, work and play in central Maui desire a community in which bicycling and walking for health, transportation or enjoyment can be done safely and without physical barriers. Further, we desire a future where bicycling, walking and other non-motorized activities are accommodated in a safe, well-maintained, and easily accessible manner for the following reasons:
- -Promoting a healthier lifestyle
- -Creating more livable communities, and
- -Facilitating greater social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Please join us, meet the steering committee, and learn about the plan, the priorities identified by the steering committee and community, and perhaps volunteer to help move some of the projects forward!
This link is to the flyer—please download and circulate widely.
Mahalo!
Sandra McGuinness, Coordinator
N-PAC: Nutrition & Physical Activity Coalition of Maui County
A Project of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa
Office of Public Health Studies, John A. Burns School of Medicine
P.O. Box 769
Makawao, Maui, HI 96768
808.264.7895
sandramaui@aol.com or smcguinn@hawaii.edu
EPA Clean Air Act Public Hearings at UH Maui
May 31 in Kahului, June 1 in Hilo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be holding two public hearings on the proposed Clean Air Act Regional Haze Federal Implementation Plan for Hawaii, one in Kahului, Maui on May 31 and one in Hilo, Hawaii Island on June 1.
Regional haze is visibility impairment caused by the cumulative air pollutant emissions from numerous sources over a wide geographic area. This haze obscures the views of scenery at a distance, reducing the beauty of national parks. The EPA plan is designed to achieve progress toward achieving visibility goals at the Haleakala National Park and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the first planning period through 2018. The proposed plan would impose a cap on pollution from certain oil-fired electric generating units on the Big Island. It is likely that the Hawaii Electric Light Company could meet this cap through improvements in energy conservation and increased reliance on renewable energy already planned as part of Hawaii’s Clean Energy Initiative. The EPA is not planning to impose any other additional pollution controls as part of this stage of the Regional Haze Program.
The Clean Air Act requires states, in coordination with EPA, the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and other interested parties, to develop and implement air quality protection plans to reduce the pollution that causes visibility impairment in 156 national parks and wilderness areas. Agencies have been monitoring visibility in national parks and wilderness areas since 1988. In 1999, the EPA announced a major effort to improve air quality in national parks and wilderness areas through the Clean Air Act Regional Haze Rule.
The proposed plan for Hawaii is available on the following website: http://www.epa.gov/region9/air/actions/hawaii.html
Contact: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, higuchi.dean@epa.gov,
May 15 Public Meeting on Proposed Development In South Maui
| The Kihei Community Association Presents a Community Public Meeting on proposed development in south maui. The meeting will be held at the Kihei Charter School, 41 E. Lipoa St., Kihei (old Hapa’s location). 6:30pm / Doors open at 6:00pm for talk story and pupu. As much of our community expresses concern about proposed development in Kihei, an inquiry that repeatedly come up is “how was this approved?, and why didn’t we know about it?” In response, the Kihei Community Association (KCA) will devote their next two meetings to this general topic. The MAY 15th meeting will examine major development being proposed at the Kihei gateway along both sides of the Pi’ilani in South Puunene, WHILE IT IS STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION. DLNR District Land Agent, Daniel Ornellas, will join Maui Planning Department Director, Will Spence, and Senior Long Range Planner, David Yamashita, to offer an overview on what is currently being proposed along the northern section of the Kihei Makena Community Plan area. This section includes areas along the Mokulele Highway. The JUNE 19th meeting will address the Pi’ilani Promenade or Outlet Mall, which is proposed to extend ¾ mile mauka of the Pi’ilani Highway. Officers of Eclipse Development Group of California have been invited to participate, along with other guests. For more information on the KCA and their upcoming meetings please visit www.gokihei.org, or call 879-5390. |
May 16th – 10th Annual Ride of Silence for Bicycle Safety
May 16, 2012
Check with Danielle daniellelavigna@gmail.com for location and times.
Cyclists on Maui and worldwide join in a silent slow-paced ride (max. 12 mph/20 kph) in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.
UHMC SLIM Community Garden Blessing Invitation
The Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM) at UH Maui College invites you to join us this Thursday for the blessing of our groundbreaking UHMC community garden, supported by Community Work Day (CWD) and the Ulupono Initiative.
The garden blessing will be at 11:00 followed by a community work day of native planting. Participants will have the opportunity to take home vegetable or herb plant starts from Community Work Day’s nursery sponsored by Bioponic Phytoceuticals, the makers of Kona Red beverage.
Date: Thursday, May 10
Time: 11:00 (arrive at least 15 minutes early to secure a parking spot)
Location: Upper, North-West side of the main parking lot and the UHMC educational fields, directly across from the Maui Arts and Cultural Center
The community garden will be available to all students, faculty and staff members along with members of our community who enjoy growing their own food while socializing and interacting with others who share the same interests. Participants will be able to sign up for their own garden plot this coming fall semester through SLIM and EdVenture.
For more information about the garden or the May 10 work day and blessing, please contact Tracy Tarlow via email at tracytarlow@gmail.com.
Wind Turbine Makes 1,000 Liters of Clean Water a Day in the Desert
Marc Parent, founder of Eloe Water, has developed a wind turbine that makes both electricity and condenses up to 1,000 liters of water out of desert air.
Sustainability Report on Maui Businesses
Sustainability at the Tipping Point:
New Survey Shows Maui Businesses Saving Money
through Sustainability Practices
Has Hawaii’s sustainability movement reached its tipping point? According to a March, 2012 MIT Sloan Management Review study of 3000 company executives worldwide this is the point at which “a substantial portion of companies are not only seeing the need for sustainable business practices, but are also deriving financial benefit from these activities”[1]. This MIT study seemed to think the tipping point has been reached with 70% of their respondents having put sustainability on their management agendas within the past 6 years, and a third having shown a profit by doing so.
With many supports already in place locally, at the state level and nationally, a recent survey of 124 Maui businesses and organizations was designed to see to what extent Maui businesses and organizations are players in this promising scenario.
Commissioned by the University of Hawaii Maui College’s (UH-MC) Office of Continuing Education and Training (OCET), and the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM) and funded by the State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP), the survey also explored the degree of interest by participating businesses in UH-MC’s Sustainability Training Program and Green Business Pau Hana Series and these programs current and future role in supporting businesses and non-profits in their sustainability efforts, while also promoting green job creation.
Using an in-depth survey by phone and in person, 36 business owners, 72 business managers and 16 non-profit organization directors were interviewed. Retail stores, hotels, resorts, restaurants, medical centers, golf courses, and property management companies, all with 10+ employees were among those surveyed.
Survey Findings
Ninety-four percent of participating businesses have taken recent steps to save money through sustainability improvements. Changes have included switching to CFL and LED lighting (80%), more efficient air conditioning and ventilation (52%), more efficient pumps and motors (23%), as well as conserving water (81%) and recycling (83%). The survey data also showed 21% (26) had added photovoltaics (PV) to their rooftops and an additional 23 (19%) had switched to solar hot water.Reported savings by the 25 businesses who consistently tracked their progress, totaled over $1.4 million, with an additional 8 businesses showing an average kilowatt hour electricity use reduction of 20%. Interestingly, many survey participants showed a keen interest in learning more about how to track savings through sustainability improvements. When asked how willing they were to develop a “continuous improvement plan that tracks savings over time”, 75 (60%) said they were ‘somewhat’ to ‘very willing’.
An encouraging discovery from the survey was just how many managers and owners were interested in exploring future changes. Sixty-nine out of 124 surveyed (56%) wished to explore solar options, over half wanted to further improve in areas of energy efficiency such as switching to LED lighting, more efficient air conditioning, motors, pumps, insulating for heat reduction and reducing phantom load which can come from such things as leaving computers on. Eighty-seven (70%) respondents said they would like to improve on their water conservation efforts, and 60% (74) wanted to better manage their waste streams.
The Role of the College in Supporting Businesses
A 2010 random sample of 4008 Hawaii business worksites by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR)[2] showed that “community colleges and trade schools are said to fulfill 62% of the education and training requirements for reported green jobs in the state[3].”
The survey results are a positive indication that Maui’s business community might further benefit from Maui College’s extensive sustainable science and technology programs. Through its Sustainable Sciences and Sustainable Construction degree programs, and SLIM and OCET’s non-credit Green Technologies Training Program, classes have and will continue to be offered in PV design and installation, in commercial and residential energy management, in water conservation, and in green building, including a Building Operator’s Certification program. These classes are available to both incumbent workers and those seeking employment in green technology. SLIM has also offered a pau hana sustainable practice series for businesses on the campus this past year, a series that 93 (75%) of survey respondents expressed interest in attending.
When asked if the businesses were interested in the expertise coming from these classes to help them with their future sustainability needs, 66% said ‘yes’ to a sustainability assessment by a qualified, supervised intern. Nearly 60% of respondents have hired an independent specialist to help with their past changes and 20% said they would consider hiring a new employee trained in green assessment and improvement technologies that could provide ongoing improvements to their facility.
Finally, when asked if they would benefit from being seen as “green” by their current and future customers, 88% (97) said ‘yes’, indicating that sustainability can be a marketable business asset, while simultaneously protecting fragile island resources.
Read the full report – Supporting Maui’s Businesses and Organizations in their Sustainability Efforts: A Survey Report of their Practices and Needs
Vertical Garden With Recycled PET Bottles
Interesting Brazillian design that recycles, decorates and provides food.
