256 Words

Living in a Yurt is a sure way to get in tune with the weather.  Because my walls and roof flap, not a gust of wind or drop of rain escapes my attention.  In a house it's easy to close the door and forget there's a storm outside.  But in a Yurt, it's impossible.  So, while it likely could be paranoia, or just a new sense of heightened awareness, I am scared shitless of the weather nowadays.  And when I'm cowering in my shaking home I generally think of all the world ending possibilities.  So, naturally, in a moment of despair I tried to write a high handed primer for saving Kaua'i in less than 250 words.  I didn't succeed.  But here it is: 

We, as inhabitants of Kaua’i, are in a unique position.  Our small population, geographic isolation, and global integration allow us each to shape the future we want to see.  The next century will be the most problematic and transformative in human history.  Recognition of the problems that we face can lead us to a framework for how to live our lives and control our future:

• Climate change is occurring and humans are causing it.  Extreme and unpredictable weather patterns will increase over time.  
• Any widespread attempt at capping carbon emissions will prove ruinous to the global economy.  Not capping emissions will prove ruinous to human civilization.
• Demand for oil will outpace supply.  Prices on everything will skyrocket.  Especially on Kaua'i.
• There is no renewable energy source that comes close to the work output of stored carbon (coal, oil, natural gas). 
• Infinite consumption is incompatible with finite resources.

Every decision that we make in our lives must be made with acknowledgement of those fundamental problems.  While the path will be hard, the decisions don’t need to be.

·      Support politicians who understand the problems and are willing to fight for solutions.  

·      Support alternative and mass transportation options.

·      Support local businesses, local agriculture, and local manufacturing

·      Consume less of everything. 

·      Drive less and make fuel efficiency a priority.

·      Start growing food.

·      Strive for zero population growth. 

Humanity’s problems are not insurmountable.  But we can't wait for others to solve them for us. 

Humanure saving the world!

Solar Water heaters part II

Here is the long version of a letter I just submitted to the Garden Island.  Fortunately, the G.I. has a 250 word limit, so I had to cut this in half.

The County Council’s decision last week to allow Kaua'i to continue to exploit a loophole in a state law which mandates solar water heaters on new homes is disappointing.  But the fact that we allowed this to happen is crushing.  The Kaua’i County Council is not serving the people of Kaua’i, but there is nobody to blame but ourselves.  Every Council member ran for office on a platform of sustainability.  But now they are not making the hard decisions that we voted for them to make.  The tragic part is that it’s easy to understand why.

            There would be an outcry from us, their constituents, if they made a move to mandate solar water heaters.  We’re all guilty of it.  We complain about the bike path and the price of the Kaua’i Bus, while at the same time bemoaning our lack of alternative forms of transportation.  We complain about GMOs and the inedible monocultured corn on our island, while at the same time purchasing produce at a local supermarket which carries everything imaginable except for local produce.  We complain about the high cost of electricity on Kaua’i, while doing everything we can to stop KIUC from pursuing renewable forms of electricity. 

We like to complain.  And the Council is very aware of that.  So they will do everything in their power to not take a stand.  As often as possible.  By the time it came time to vote on the solar water heater mandate at last weeks meeting, it had been proven that solar water heaters are significantly cheaper over time than the alternatives and that they cut down significantly on greenhouse gas emissions.  The mandate wouldn’t cost the people of Kaua’i or the County anything, yet it would reduce 1000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per family, per year.  Basically it was a no-brainer.  But only two supported it.  The rest said that they don’t want to limit personal choice.

Personal choice is what got us into this mess.  Free market capitalism is not working and Earth is facing unprecedented hurdles.  An exploding population which has already exceeded our planets finite resources.  And climate change is the specter in the air.  It’s tangible, but always just out of sight.  While we know that we can’t feed the world, that we’re running out of oil, and that water is going to become scarce.  We don’t know exactly what affects climate change will have on us.  Biblical floods, devastating fires, ocean acidification, sea level rise, collapsing grain and rice yields.  This is all happening right now.  And we are just beginning. 
            This will be the hardest century of humanity’s history.  For once, we can’t rely on someone else to fix the problem for us.  The Federal Government has become impotent.  Big business isn’t going to do it.  It’s up to local governments and individuals.  By ourselves our efforts will be insignificant.  But as an isolated island community, we not only can have an affect but we can be an example for the world.  And if we don’t solve this now, it’s game over. Not only for us, but for our kids, and every future generation. 

Let’s do this one step at a time.  Today, solar water heaters.  Tomorrow, food security and local agriculture.  Next week a carbon tax.  And in a decade we have transformed the world.  But it takes all of us working together.  There is nothing more important. 

 

Solar Water Heaters?

I just returned from testifying for my first time at a county council meeting.  I spoke in support of a measure that could ultimately result in forcing Kaua'i to comply with a Hawai'i state law which mandates a solar water heater on all new homes.  Homes that have other propane appliances or can prove that solar is not cost effective for them can receive a variance for a tankless propane system.  In a shortsighted move, the measure was voted down by the Kaua'i County Council.  The reason being that they don't want to restrict personal choice... which is good.  Because I was starting to think that wearing my seatbelt, not drinking and driving, and having to follow a so-called "speed-limit" were huge infractions on my personal liberty.  Oh yeah, and that huge hole in the ozone layer which is now closing... what is our world coming to when CFCs cannot be manufactured?  Let the kids deal with it, I want my Freon.   

I am speaking here for the first time.  I do not represent anyone.  Though I am a member of the younger generation whom everyone loves to speak for.  I am here to say I am disappointed in the council’s decision last week to reject councilwoman Yukimura’s proposal.  Nearly every council member at last week’s meeting claimed that we need to “get off of oil and be self sustaining,” right before saying that they don’t want to restrict personal choice.  I’m sorry, but you can’t have one without the other.  The seven of you are up there because the people of Kaua’I elected you to make the hard decisions for us.  Collectively, for a variety of reasons, it’s in our best interest to move beyond fossil fuels.  However, until we can attach the inherent negative externalities of fossil fuels to their price, it is rarely in our financial short term interest.

A few things stood out to me from last week’s presentations.  I am not an accountant nor an expert on gas, but as a member of the younger generation, I am pretty proficient with Google.  Councilwoman Yukimura claimed that a solar water heater is cheaper over time than the alternatives, and the Gas Company claimed the opposite. The Gas Company used a 4% interest rate on their cost of money calculations and Councilwoman Yukimura didn’t add in the cost of money. Which accounted for the huge discrepancy between councilwoman Yukimura’s numbers and their numbers.  When questioned on the 4% interest rate, the Gas Company said that they were just following federal guidelines. However, according to the Federal Office of Management and Budget, they should be using a more realistic 1.3% interest rate.  Which would eliminate much of the discrepancy between their numbers.

Further, any projections on the price of fossil fuels are going to be extremely subjective.  Propane is a byproduct of natural gas extraction.  The US produces 90% of its own natural gas, and most of the rest comes from Canada.  Despite a record number of new wells drilled every year, Canada’s natural gas production is declining at an average rate of 7.5%.  And it is widely expected to disappear completely by 2030.  In the US, there has been a 200% increase in new wells since 1991.  But production has only gone up 15%.  Even though we are drilling more wells, we are extracting less gas.  Meaning we are working exponentially harder for ever diminishing returns.  

An obvious conclusion is that the price of Propane is not going to be stable for long.  Which is not the same cheap and secure future that the Gas Company has outlined for us.

In the end though, the financial analyses are irrelevant.  You can’t put a price on climate stability or the environment.

As much as we’d all like to believe otherwise, climate change is occurring faster than any models have predicted and the affects will be devastating for Kaua’i and the world.  We can slow the trend, but it will take a heroic effort on everyone’s part.  Mandating solar water heaters on Kaua’i will just be a drop in a very large bucket, but it is one of a million necessary steps that we all have to take.   Each gallon of propane burned creates 12 pounds of Carbon Dioxide.  The average Kaua’i family would probably use somewhere around 5 gallons of propane per week with even the most efficient tankless propane water heater. That is 720 pounds of carbon emissions per year per family. Add in the liquefaction, gasification, and transportation of the propane to Hawai’i and it amounts to nearly 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per tankless propane water heater.  The numbers on a traditional gas water heater are 22% more.  There is no reason that we should be emitting that much carbon when alternatives exist.

To be honest, I just purchased a gas on demand water heater.  As I was shopping around for a photovoltaic system for my house, I asked multiple solar contractors for a quote on a solar water heater.  All of them flat out told me that they couldn’t compete against a tankless system.  So, with a limited budget and limited research, I went for the option with the cheaper up-front cost.  Now, three months later, I regret the decision.  I didn’t do the research that I should have done.  I didn’t understand the volatile and unpredictable nature of natural gas reserves.  And most of all, I didn’t understand that I would be contributing to the perpetuation of our unsustainable fossil fueled lifestyles.  As an individual it can seem hard to make a difference.  But as a community, we can have a real impact.  Not only on reducing our collective footprint, but by being an example for the rest of the world.  And if we forget that, it’s game over.  Please, for myself, for every other youth on this island, and for our future children, I beg you to make the hard decision. Not just this time around, but every time.  We won’t get a 2nd chance.   

Slaveland

We went to Tahiti for two weeks for our honeymoon.  Visited Bora Bora, Raiatea, Huahine, Moorea, and Tahiti-- in that order.  A pretty idyllic trip, except for one thing.  Sokchea and I are completely addicted to the internet.  Without access to email I drifted around in an anxious fuzz.  When you can physically feel that something's wrong, but can't pinpoint it.  When I was able to check my email in the morning and actually feel like I contributed at work, then I was able to enjoy my day.  If that's not bad enough, I was reading Walden Pond at the time.  It was like Thoreau was writing the book especially for me.  Or rather, like he was screaming at me to stop being my own slave.  So, even with a conscious effort at trying to enjoy the present of my honeymoon, to release "my bonds," to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life," I couldn't do it.  I realized that there is a barely invisible chain connecting me to the internet and my work.  And when I can't work, I don't function very well.    I am a perfect example of Thoreau's men who have become "tools of their tools."

Another point that struck me was Thoreau's description of building his house at Walden Pond.  I believe he said it took him six months to build his little hut, because he never forced himself to work. He wanted to live and enjoy life, while I have been going at a frantic pace without ever stopping to look around.  My only time for reflection is when I sit down and write on here.  But even that isn't true reflection because I have to force myself to write.  My 95 year old grandpa from New York stayed with us for six weeks before the wedding.  Most of this days he would sit on a lounge chair under a pop-up tent while we worked at a furious pace on the land.  It became his joke to refer to the land as Slaveland, because it had sucked us all in.

So, what did I learn after my anxiety wracked two week trip to Tahiti?   That it's not worth it to fight the urge to work.  That I am a slave to my job.  That I have trouble taking a breath and seeing where I'm at.  I have started working full time at Kamanu (at least remotely) since getting back, so I only have a couple of hours in the afternoon to put into the Yurt.  Which means I sit for 7 hours on my computer, then I go and work till dark on the Yurt (water catchment at the moment), then Sokchea and I set up at the inside of the Yurt at night, or I go to Home Depot, or I work a little more on my computer before falling asleep.  Basically filling every available second of my day with production.

But it feels good.  I love the sense of progress.  I like the sense that I'm creating a little haven for my future family.  When I'm sweating under the porch putting PVC together, I like to envision the day that we leisurely sit on the porch next to our fire pit watching the stars.  I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to stop long enough to do that, but I like to imagine it.

The good news, other than my discovery that I'm a neurotic fool, is that we've made some progress.

Bathroom is framed.
Composting toilet is set up and good to go (though I haven't had the nerve to "soil" it yet).
Refrigerator is in and working.
Water catchment filtration system is set up.
Tank foundation is done.
All 250 feet of piping up and down the hill is done.
Pump system is set up, just needs to get wired.
Gutter system to the rain barrel is nearly done.

But we just made the decision that we're not going to move in until it's 100%.  So that I can carry my wife over the threshold to our new life.  And not trip over boxes on the way in.

My Reason

After almost losing Luke in a tragic accident in the Moloka’i Hoe Canoe Race on October 10, 2010, I began to feel very vulnerable to the possibility of an “end.” While Luke spoke of his overwhelming feeling of love for everything in this world, I spiraled down a whirlpool of fear.  Since 10/10/10 I felt like I was moving at a pace just a few steps behind him, over analyzing every move, every thought, and every thing that was going on around us.  My actions and thoughts chased me during the days as I watched him relearn how to walk, sit, step, and regain his strength.  My nights were filled with haunting dreams of losing everything.

I agonized over my fears quietly, veiling a false strength to aid Luke in his recovery.  While I kept trying to be his rock through his pain and suffering, I felt like I was slowly breaking into pieces inside.  Every ache of the heart truly felt like an icy crack of my humanity.  I began to feel empty, almost lifeless.  But one thing saved me.  I read Luke’s post on “Love, Life, and Awareness.”  However, instead of finding beauty and clarity in the world, I began to feel hope.  Through rebuilding ourselves, we will be rebuilding our entire way of life.

We have grappled over the years to live our lives in a manner that is vital to the sustainability and recovery of our earth.  In no way have we succeeded in doing so.  After all that has happened, Luke and I are taking this goal and hitting it head on in 2011.  While we will be trying to live off the grid, I am hoping that the ups and downs of this journey will heal the scars of my humanity and allow me to be a rock for my family. 

While Luke will be fighting to make us completely self-sufficient, I will be trying to allow myself to open up and face fear straight on.

Sokchea

Day two and Whole Foods

Just about every seven seconds I think about our Yurt and our new path.  It's always in my mind.  But I had an insight today into how difficult it's going to be.  Not the actual clearing, building, and maintaining of the land (which I am already well aware of the difficulties and inadequacy of my ability), but the commitment to the idea of sustainability.  Every day I am a little more aware of my impact on the environment and every day I get a little better at minimizing that impact.  But often I fail miserably.

Today we went to Whole Foods.  I'll be working for the week on O'ahu while Sokchea is going back to Kaua'i tomorrow morning.  So we went to buy me some food to last the next four days.  I walked right through the local produce section and bought six frozen burritos, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and jelly.  Since I was at Whole Foods I let myself shop mindlessly.  I subconsciously justified my high impact foods because they were all organic.  It took a sarcastic comment about my pseudo-greeness from my friend Jeremy for me to realize how incredibly "unsustainable" my food choices were.  But even after thinking about how much energy it must have taken to create and preserve each of my processed foods, I still purchased them.

That is what I'm trying to tackle.  This can't be something that I do when I feel like it.  When it's easy.  I need to re-make my life.  And I have a really long way to go.

Luke

My Reason

I wrote this on a whim in early November, with the idea that I would turn it into a blog.  Rather than edit it and re-write it (which I am tempted to do), I have reposted it in its entirety to give any readers out there some insight into why I want to do this:

On 10/10/10 I was run over by a boat during the Moloka’i Hoe Canoe Race.  And it changed my life.  The prop went through my back in five spots.  Three deep lacerations ended up cutting off four spinal processes, splitting my pelvis, and severing my gluteal muscles.  I was extremely lucky.  One fractional difference in any direction and I would have been either dead or paralyzed.  The feeling of being hit doesn’t go away.  But neither does the euphoria of being alive.  I am alive when I should be dead.  

After being hit we had to drive back to Hale O Lono Harbor on Moloka’i.  I lay face down in the back of a fishing boat for an hour.  Based on the feeling in my body and the looks on everyone’s faces, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it back.  Other than the overwhelming desire to lay in a soft, clean, and warm hospital bed, all I could feel was how much I loved everyone around me.  I wasn’t scared to die, but I was sad to die.  I realized how much I love our beautiful world and everyone that is a part of it. I could literally feel a wave of love connecting me to everyone and everything.  Even though I was staring at the bottom of a boat, I felt as if it was the first time that I could really see.  I know that we always have that ability, I’d just buried it underneath the rest of my life.  But once everything else crashed down in the face of death, it’s all that was left.  It’s all that I wanted left and I was sad that I'd only just noticed.

It’s been one month now. As I build my life back up, I am starting to bury that feeling again. Sometimes the light playing across the ridges of the mountain outside my window (or across the face of my fiancée) pierces through the veil, but sometimes I look at it with sightless eyes.  Now that I understand the feeling, I am determined to hold on.   To not let the daily activities of my life bury the world. 

I need to become a full-time resident of this planet: to hold on completely to the awareness of my surroundings, to the awareness of myself, and to the awareness of love.  The only way I know how to do this, other than getting run over by a boat, is to strive consistently for the idea of sustainability.  Each step towards minimizing my footprint is a step towards awareness. 

I’ve been dabbling unsuccessfully for the last two years with some gardening.  The only real success I’ve had is a large basil plant that lasted a couple of months.  My efforts at real food (since apparently you can’t live off of basil) have been somewhat disastrous.  I bought a Sweet Potato from Foodland and did what the Internet told me.  I put it in a dark cabinet until it sprouted, then I put it in a cup of water until it had substantial roots.  Then I planted it.  And I watered it.  And I waited. It kept getting bushier and bushier and I couldn’t help visualizing the huge potatoes waiting underneath the dirt.  After six months I finally felt it was time to  “reap the fruits of my labor.”  I excitedly told Sokchea that we were going to barbecue my potato harvest.  I dug for half an hour looking for potatoes in the dirt, my excitement slowly diminishing.  Our barbecue ended up consisting of one Okinawan Sweet Potato the size of my thumb.  I had somehow produced less than what I started with. 

Now I’m going to do it right.  I’m sure that I’ll have a lot more failures, and that some of them will be significantly more disastrous than the Okinawan Sweet Potato.  But I need to do this.  Not because I think I’m going to save the planet, or money, or time.  I don't think I'll do any of those.  I am going to work towards producing my own food and handling my own waste.  To “going off the grid.”  And I am doing it for myself.  To remember what it feels like to be alive.  To be connected.  To be aware.

And I am going to write about it.  Every success and every failure will be recorded.  Not because I have anything to teach anyone, but because I have a lot to learn.

Luke

Day One

On this New Years day, Sokchea and I have made a resolution to blog about our journey towards understanding life, love, and awareness.  In other words, we're trying to give meaning to our desire to go "off-the-grid."  We want to take a step back and we want to record our experience.  But we're not sure what we're taking a step back from or why we're doing it.  This blog is our attempt to figure it out.

We don't have anything to teach anyone and we're definitely not trying to preach.  So if we ever get to close too either, please tell us to stop or at least feel free to roll your eyes.  

We've purchased an acre of land with a small river and have just made the largest purchase of our lives on an $11,000 Yurt.  However, before we can move in we have to clear the land, build a bridge over the river, build a platform for the yurt to sit on, construct the yurt, build a composting toilet, build a water catchment system, figure out the most effective source of electricity, and plant our food sources.  Then we have to sustain ourselves and the land.  Which we will record.  In detail.

I imagine that there will be a lot more failures than successes to report.  But that's the point of it.  Hopefully by writing in this format we won't feel the need to gloss over or polish any of our experiences.  Hopefully we can sit down at the computer while we're still covered in dirt (or humanure, depending on the task).  While the frustration or elation is still fresh.  And hopefully through this, we will be one step closer to understanding life.

Luke