Wanted: People power to sustain city's sustainability plan
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It's tough to argue with the general environmentalist wisdom behind Mayor Mufi Hannemann's new sustainability plan. As long as it has the shelf life to survive for its full 10-year term, it's another stated commitment, studded with specific goals and initiatives, to wise management of our resources.
That shelf-life issue, however, is the burning question.
As we all recall, each successive mayor has made commitments that, upon their departure, soon get relegated to the back burner. Some of that is inevitable: Politics is all about having the power to set one's own plans into motion.
But one would hope that some ideas and specific projects with merit get fulfilled, even when their originators move on.
There is reason to hope that they can in this case.
First, the plan itself. There's a lot to like about a blueprint that surveys the technology and embraces it as a means to recapture a traditional ethic: the ahupua'a concept of sustenance. Every ahupua'a, or mountain-to-sea land division of ancient Hawai'i, was managed as if it was self-reliant. Produce your own food, take care of your own waste.
The goals and benchmarks of this plan attempt to do the same, but within an islandwide setting. Just a few of the highlights:
The plan also includes provisions for watershed protection, soil conservation and reforestation. It can be read through the "21st Century Ahupua'a" link on the mayor's Web site (http://honolulu.gov/mayor/).
That link also leads you to a site, currently under development, that will be dedicated to the city sustainability plan. The leaders of the task force — a coalition of professionals from various city departments — say the site will be a centerpiece in their effort to invite public comment and participation in the plan.
The plan was born in part out of a national movement by city governments to adopt such environmental blueprints. Development of this one began in 2005, after the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
It also bears some influence of the Hawai'i 2050 Sustainability Task Force, which included three of Hannemann's appointees.
The question: Will it live beyond 2010, which is the latest that Hannemann can remain in office?
City officials say it will. Many of its task force members are civil servants, not political appointees, so the hope is that their expertise will remain as the foundation for continued work.
A youth council also will be established so that the next generation will become vested in the sustainability campaign.
The statewide Sustainability Council, a component of the soon-to-be-released draft of the 2050 Plan, should be established by state law in the next legislative session. This body will include city participation and can help keep the Honolulu initiatives going.
However, it's a grassroots environmentalism, not any single government's push, that caused the resurgent interest in global warming and renewable energy at the national level. Once the ideas catch fire locally, it will be the politically foolish mayor of the future who would dare to snuff it out. In the final analysis, it will be citizen participation that provides the fuel sustaining all of the above.
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