Blog Action Day 2007: Responsibility for your Sense of Place

what this is all about

On October 15th - Blog Action Day, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind.

In its inaugural year, Blog Action Day will be co-ordinating bloggers to tackle the issue of the environment.

get personal with me

Here in Hawai‘i, windmills like these have been showing up on our mountainsides. They are huge, and they do not go unnoticed.

Some say they are blemishing the natural beauty of our islands. I say they are helping us be more responsible about protecting our Sense of Place for our future. I say that if the land could talk, it would say mahalo; thank you for helping me connect with my brother, the wind.

Place.
It’s a powerful word.
More than that, Sense of Place is a powerful instinct and kind of emotional intelligence.

~ From www.managingwithaloha.com

The windmills are a way we can tap into alternative energy, and personally, I like the thought of energy coming from nature this way, capturing the collective spirit and mana (divine power) we know to be swirling around our islands.

And then there are the plain, hard facts: Our Hawai‘i of today is not self-sustaining.

“Devoid of indigenous fossil fuels and nuclear installations, Hawaii depends on imported petroleum for about 78% of its energy needs; coal, hydroelectric power, natural gas, windmills, geothermal energy, and sugar cane wastes contribute the rest.”

~ City-data.com on Hawaii Energy and Power

This is a very real way we can harness the lessons we have been learning here on MWAC on Lōkahi (teaming and partnerships) and Kākou (togetherness): We must work together to reduce the dependence Hawai‘i has on imported oil. This is not just an issue for scientists and environmentalists; renewable energy means sustaining the  Hawai‘i we love. It is an issue for all of us, and I believe that getting personally involved is our Kuleana, our responsibility. Ultimately, the quality of our own lives holds us accountable.

I know you are not going to erect a windmill in your back yard (though with our Waikōloa winds I sure would love to! We live in the saddle of two massive mountains.) The windmills work on a much larger scale, and they are but one option.

Believing that “Innovation gives us the power to shape Hawaii’s energy future, integrating new and evolving technologies with the potential to increase the State’s energy self-sufficiency” the Hawaiian Electric Company sponsors a website called Hawaii’s Energy Future that is a great place to start learning all you can. There you can read more on;

• How do we power our future? and Why The Urgency?
• What are Biofuels? What is Biomass? What is Garbage-To-Energy?
• What are our current renewable energy sources, and which are we studying for the future?
• How do you Make a Difference in your community? What is being done at our schools?
• How do you Start at Home? (click on the Energy Tips)

The page I have bookmarked there is the one continuously updated with News & Resources; it is one of the ways I keep tabs on local business initiatives. For instance, I applaud Castle & Cooke’s vision and commitment to use clean, renewable solar power: Read Castle & Cooke to Build Hawai‘i's Largest Solar Farm on Lana‘i.

We cannot live in the past and ignore what innovation can do for us; we cannot afford to. According to Hawaiian Electric, “Hawai‘i has the potential to achieve 500 megawatts of added electricity from renewable sources in the next 5 to 10 years. That’s more than triple the amount we have now.”

Kuleana: Seize personal responsibility for the actions you CAN take with being a steward of the environment.

Mālama: care for our land, and protect your own Sense of Place.

aloha for sense of place:

• Managing with Aloha and Sense of Place
• Places, Feelings and Learning. Learning Serenity
• What's Your Design? A Sense of Place by Dave Rothacker

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Joanna Young of our Ho‘ohana Community has been championing Blog Action Day for us at Joyful Jubilant Learning:

• Learning how to ask great questions
• Learning to make it personal: the environment and you
• and to capture all the postings of our Ho‘ohana Community: How much can we learn in a day?

Blog Action Day is on the 15th October. With the special magic that is Joyful Jubilant Learning we're counting one day not as a 24 hour period - but the time it takes to move from the start of the 15th right through to its close, wherever in the world there's a joyful, jubilant learner. ~ Joanna Young

Blog Action Day 2007: Can we help you Get Involved?

Comments

[Joanna Young]

Rosa, the places that you and I live in are so very far apart and so very different - and yet we are blessed with the fortune of living on the same planet at the same time. (And one day hopefully in the same room!)

I share your belief that we can make a difference by learning how to take personal responsibility, by feeling and being inspired by our love for the land.

Thank you for your expression of that here.

Joanna

[Dave Lucas]

You've raised several issues. It's time we get citizens thinking, and I hope the BAD07 initiative will do it!
Heres' my contribution:
http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day-2007-salute-to-al-gore.html

[Rosa Say]

~ Mahalo nui Joanna for leading the way for our Ho‘ohana Community at JJL! As you have pointed out, we are now all over the world, our reach caring for many places that are unique, life-giving, and filled with aloha; collectively we CAN make a difference. It can be easy to unintentionally take these wonderful places for granted, and I love the initiative of this day ensuring we don’t make that mistake.

~ Thank you for stopping by and sharing your link with us Dave. This day is proving to be a terrific way for all of us to connect as well! You share a good topic: (Reducing Your Carbon Footprint via PC), for as you say, this keyboard I now write to you on has tons of potential, and we don’t normally think of it as a ‘green’ tool.

[Reg]

Your message should be embraced.
Are there no windmills that blend more into the natural appearance of the land?

[Rosa Say]

Reg, if you scroll through to the bottom of this page, you will see a pictures of several types:
http://www.hawaiisenergyfuture.com/Articles/Wind_Energy.html

The challenge is that they are pretty massive to work effectively as wind catchers, and thus don't blend in that well ... they remain startlingly man-made and obviously man-added. Still, I personally think it is a small price to pay, and there are a myriad of other kinds of land-scarring ugliness to turn our attentions to fixing!