Kekaha Community Garden

In recent weeks I’ve heard a number of people say how glad they are this year is almost over.  They’re ready for a New Year, with hopes for a stronger economy and more people back at work.   While both of those things are important to me as well, when I think back to this year I also think of the new collaborations and partnerships that were established, perhaps spawned by adversity but flourishing because a vision of a better Kauai spurs them to action. We see school, community and backyard gardens, more people taking the bus and leaving the car at home, people swapping energy conservation tips, more photovoltaic on roofs and new training at KCC for green jobs. The brand Kauai Grown was created, new farmer’s markets opened and more people recognized the importance of buying local products. The County Council passed a Complete Streets resolution to make streets more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists and an ordinance banning plastic bags at checkout to minimize roadside litter and their impact on the landfill. Around the island I see people taking charge of their future.

As a Samoan friend of mine says, “You can’t change the direction of the wind, you can only adjust the sail.”  For the New Year, how have you set your sail? – Diane Zachary, President & CEO, KPAA

In the past few years, the traditional business model -  especially when its emphasis is on profits at any cost – has been under fire and many people are still scratching their head about what the new model should look like.

The article “Big Business Matters”, published in the Fall 2010 Stanford Social Innovation Review, provides some thought-provoking ideas on those subjects.  The author, Judith Samuelson, who directs the Business and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, talks about how some businesses are reinventing themselves.  First, she says, they have to recognize that “realigning business purpose with the public good is a critical first step in integrating social impact or environmental sustainability as a business strategy.”

Second, she continues, businesses “need to unleash social intrapreneurs – change agents already working deep within business – and encourage the next generation of managers to find business opportunity in our most daunting challenges.”

Her final point is that there is a need in business schools for students “to give voice to their values” to ensure that business solutions provide long-term benefit not just short-term gain.

Ultimately, says Samuelson,  “global business is the most capable agent we have to solve important problems – from climate change to poverty.”

•  Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
•  Create Walkable Neighborhoods
•  Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
•  Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
•  Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
•  Mix Land Uses
•  Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
•  Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
•  Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities
•  Take Advantage of Compact Building Design

Those are great ideas, but it isn’t always easy to see how those principles relate to protecting rural environments like Kauai.  A new book, Conservation Development: Creating Value with Nature, Open Space and Agriculture, written by Edward T. McMahon of the Urban Land Institute, uses the term “conservation development” in describing the beneficial ways to both accommodate population growth and save land in outlying suburbs and rural areas.

The book defines conservation development as the process of planning, designing, building, and managing communities that preserve landscapes or other community resources that are considered valuable for their aesthetic, environmental, cultural, agricultural, and/or historic values. These concepts involve preserving large amojnts of land in perpetuity to prevent sprawl and focus growth in appropriate areas.

”When new development is balanced with plans for the permanent protection of open space, Americans are more likely to accept responsible development initiatives as reasonable and appropriate,” McMahon writes. ”The first principle of better development is figuring out where not to develop. This applies at every scale, from the individual site, to the neighborhood, to the region. Every community needs a long-range conservation plan…When citizens think all land is up for grabs, they are likely to oppose all new development everywhere.”

This way of looking at land use goes beyond zoning and could be useful for determining where we should and where we shouldn’t develop.

A recent edition of Smart Growth Online reported that between 1950 and 2004, the size of the average American home increased from 983 to 2,349 square feet.  But that trend seems to be changing as consumers are moving toward smaller houses again.   In many parts of the country there is a glut of McMansions.   In this new more sober economic era, and perhaps as we become more conscious of our finite resources, right-sizing is better.

Smart Growth Online reports, “A survey conducted in July 2010 by Harris Interactive for Trulia.com found that just 9 percent of respondents still believe the ideal home should have at least 3,200 square feet.  Thirteen percent endorse 3,200-2,600 square feet, 27 percent endorse 2,600-2,000 square feet, 28 percent endorse 2,000-1,400 square feet, and 9 percent endorse 1,400-800 square feet.”

Does Kauai have a glut of McMansions?  You decide.  A check today of the multiple listing service shows there are 39 homes for sale on the island over 4,000 square feet. Two are over 9,000 square feet; one of these single family homes has 16 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.

Obviously family size plays a role in determining your ideal home size, but the trend toward smaller homes is just one example of how people are re-evaluating their consumption patterns.

Have you made changes in your own life?  We’d like to hear from you.

Chevy Volt

You’ve probably heard about the Volt, the new electric car by Chevrolet that goes 40 miles on a single charge. If you can afford the $40-45,000 price tag, it’s a great way to reduce harmful emissions and save on the cost of gas.

Fortunately, not all options to become more sustainable are that pricey. You can create your own backyard garden for just a few dollars. If you typically drive to work, you can probably save money by taking the bus. Buying produce grown on the island supports local farmers and gives you fresher, healthier food. You can save money by buying products that last longer and by avoiding unneeded impulse purchases.

But what will produce the biggest impact in our quest for a more sustainable future? You’ve probably heard the term “ecological footprint,” which is the amount of land and ocean area required to sustain your consumption patterns and absorb your waste on an annual basis. You can take a simple quiz to find out what your footprint is; just go to www.myfootprint.org/. The results may surprise you.

Source: Kauaian Institute

At his recent talk to the Kapaa-Wailua Neighborhood Association, local sustainability guru Ken Stokes used a chart that showed that 30% of our footprint in the U.S. is for energy, 25% is for transport, 20% is for food, 15% goes for buildings, and 10% for goods and services. It’s pretty obvious that reducing our footprint – i.e., becoming more sustainable – in energy and transport will produce the biggest “savings” in terms of the land and ocean area needed to support us.

But what’s it going to take? Already more sustainable solutions are being launched in a variety of small projects around the island. What can be done to support development of enough of these projects to make a noticeable difference? How do we encourage innovations that will make it easier for us to live more sustainably? And perhaps most importantly, how do we change our own behaviors and encourage others to change to conserve and use resources more efficiently?

KPAA encourages your thoughts and suggestions on this topic. What’s it going to take?