We then traveled to Pali Momi to hear a panel discussion featuring Ben Godsey (PCF '09), President of ProService Hawaii (industry perspective); Hilton Raethel, Sr. Vice President, HMSA (insurance reform/health care perspective); and Chuck Sted, CEO/President, Hawaii Pacific Health (hospital service). The three different perspectives presented showed how deep some of the different interests run, but there was a general sense that each participant sought to find common ground in providing the best plans and care for Hawaii's residents.
Chuck Sted spoke of how health care is transitioning from a cottage industry to a systems-based industry. The goal is to connect all players (patients, doctors, families, clinics, billing) through electronic medical records systems (EPIC). This would take 32 different systems that are currently in use down to 1——> efficiency, cost effectiveness. he referenced the book Good to Great (Collins) to highlight crucial components of this transition:
1) prioritization and managing change well (take care of own physicians and their mental health— family, then community, then work)
2) position leadership
3) quality service, excellence
4) employee engagement
Ben Godsey mentioned how health care costs are currently 17% of GDP and those costs are rising at a rate of 8-10% per year. Hawaii's Pre-Paid Health Care plan (first enacted in 1975) provides a lot of benefits to Hawaii residents, but it also limits the possibilities for innovation. It is a fee for service program (which is a problem these days) but the resulting standard plans in Hawaii offer more than comprehensive plans on the mainland. In his view, the current Affordable Care Act places additional benefits on the Pre-Paid Health Care plans such as drug benefits and by eliminating lifetime limits it will cause costs to rise 13-15% in the first couple of years. Hawaii needs to be careful because its "platinum +" health care plans (pay 94-97% of all costs) may cause companies to move their jobs elsewhere to cut costs. ProService wants to roll out new plans that provide incentives such as going to primary care versus a specialist, preventive care to screen for expensive but more easily detected illness like prostate and colon cancer, and going to facilities that utilize electronic records and evidence-based care.
Hilton Raethel laid out a plan that seeks to:
— minimize duplication of service (communication between primary care physicians and specialists)
— minimize emergency room visits for non-life-threatening conditions (such as urinary tract infections)——> caused by physicians schedules being too packed due to their need to make so much money to cover their liability insurance or just to take advantage of the fee for service structure
— get recommended interventions (prevent conditions like diabetes from becoming life-threatening and thus very expensive; only 10% of diabetes patients in Hawaii get the required interventions)
— increase incentives for outcomes (versus fee for service)
Right now, according to Mr. Raethel, we have fragmentation of care that rewards volume over quality. We need to change the incentives to change the behaviors ——> connectivity, communication, more primary care. We then got a presentation from Dr. Donald Wilcox about how the EPIC system has revolutionized emergency care at his hospitals.
After a tour of the medical facilities to witness the tech advancements currently in use, we then traveled to Shriner's to see their new facilities.
—
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
PCF— Education Day, part 3
The last leg of our trip had us busing out to Nanakuli High and Intermediate to hear from their principal, Darren Pilialoha. There we learned that the school has 990 kids who the papers do not do justice to in their descriptions of what these have done and what they can do.
Mr. Pilialoha presented Nanakuli's New Tech Initiative/Network (funded by Kamehameha Schools for training). Their core beliefs:
• All students can learn.
• With support systems, all students can succeed.
• We have a moral purpose in educating the whole child.
He then asked, "Are we educating a bunch of test-takers or people?" Critical skills:
— communication
— collaboration
— critical thinking
— people skills
— creativity
— innovation
Vision:
— college and career ready
— educational environment includes 21st century skills, 1-to-1 laptop program for 9th graders
— learning and innovation
— life and career
— media and technology
— personalized
in the program they are rolling out for 9th graders, students will comprise a culture of caring, respect and responsibility through which they will engage in project-based learning that is relevant and current. They will utilize technology and follow a business model:
— send a memo (history of need, rubric)
— know and need to know (research)
— roles and responsibilities (w/penalties for not following through)
— presentation to a panel
The day concluded with a presentation by Leigh Kincaid of Teach for America. Ms. Kincaid indicated how 4th grade is clear indicator of how far behind these kids are falling. Of 100 Kindergartners in Hawaii public schools, 65 will graduate, 34 of those will go to college, 24 of those will graduate in four years. The proof points are that kids in lower income communities have a greater challenge, but they can learn and they can achieve.
Teach for America seeks to close the achievement gap by aggressively recruiting from top colleges and universities. This pipeline for talent looks for achievement and leadership. Only 10% are initially interested in education but 65% stay in education after their two year initial commitment.
This day was supposed to end with a tour of the After School All-Stars program run by Dawn Dunbar (PCF '07) but we ran out of time. Fortunately we got to see the program after our Health Care Day the next month. Dawn left a lucrative career in the banking and business world to heroically lead this very worthy and significant program.
Mr. Pilialoha presented Nanakuli's New Tech Initiative/Network (funded by Kamehameha Schools for training). Their core beliefs:
• All students can learn.
• With support systems, all students can succeed.
• We have a moral purpose in educating the whole child.
He then asked, "Are we educating a bunch of test-takers or people?" Critical skills:
— communication
— collaboration
— critical thinking
— people skills
— creativity
— innovation
Vision:
— college and career ready
— educational environment includes 21st century skills, 1-to-1 laptop program for 9th graders
— learning and innovation
— life and career
— media and technology
— personalized
in the program they are rolling out for 9th graders, students will comprise a culture of caring, respect and responsibility through which they will engage in project-based learning that is relevant and current. They will utilize technology and follow a business model:
— send a memo (history of need, rubric)
— know and need to know (research)
— roles and responsibilities (w/penalties for not following through)
— presentation to a panel
The day concluded with a presentation by Leigh Kincaid of Teach for America. Ms. Kincaid indicated how 4th grade is clear indicator of how far behind these kids are falling. Of 100 Kindergartners in Hawaii public schools, 65 will graduate, 34 of those will go to college, 24 of those will graduate in four years. The proof points are that kids in lower income communities have a greater challenge, but they can learn and they can achieve.
Teach for America seeks to close the achievement gap by aggressively recruiting from top colleges and universities. This pipeline for talent looks for achievement and leadership. Only 10% are initially interested in education but 65% stay in education after their two year initial commitment.
This day was supposed to end with a tour of the After School All-Stars program run by Dawn Dunbar (PCF '07) but we ran out of time. Fortunately we got to see the program after our Health Care Day the next month. Dawn left a lucrative career in the banking and business world to heroically lead this very worthy and significant program.
PCF— Education Day, part 2
The next part of our day was comprised by a panel of teachers and administrators from 'Iolani, Kamehameha, and Punahou discussing their respective schools' initiatives related to Private Schools with a Public Purpose. The panelists included:
• Carl Ackerman, Director of Punahou's PUEO program;
• Casey Agena, Director of Punahou Summer School program as well as a director of the PUEO program;
• Tony Lebron, Kamehameha Schools;
• Allison Ishii, Director of the Ka'i program;
• Hope Staab, Director of the Wo International Center;
• Diane Anderson, former Director of Instruction at Punahou, currently working with Academy 21 and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools.
Carl and Casey discussed the PUEO program and how it has 292 students from 50 schools, all on free or reduced lunch and scoring in the 25th-75th percentile on their standardized tests. The goal of this program is to encourage life-long learning and to get all PUEO scholars into college.
Tony spoke of Kamehameha's long-time and long-term commitment to community initiatives based on the Princess' legacy and her school's mission. They currently contribute $88 million for outreach and $104 million on-campus to go along with 36 partners in the community.
The Ka'i Program is modeled after LEAP in Seattle and PUEO in Hawai'i. Right now they have four student mentors working with 13 incoming seventh graders from Jarret Middle School in Palolo Valley, all in the middle range of skills and abilities, living at or below the poverty level. They expect to be working with 73 students when they are at full capacity.
Hope Staab spoke a little bit about the Student Global Leadership Program but since that only features kids from private schools she spoke mostly about the Wo Center's study abroad programs which are open to public school students.
Diane Anderson addressed the need to see the challenges facing schools through different lenses, both strategic and systemic. Schools are constantly changing and we need to keep moving towards inquiry-based, project-based learning to prepare our students for their futures as well as society's.
• Carl Ackerman, Director of Punahou's PUEO program;
• Casey Agena, Director of Punahou Summer School program as well as a director of the PUEO program;
• Tony Lebron, Kamehameha Schools;
• Allison Ishii, Director of the Ka'i program;
• Hope Staab, Director of the Wo International Center;
• Diane Anderson, former Director of Instruction at Punahou, currently working with Academy 21 and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools.
Carl and Casey discussed the PUEO program and how it has 292 students from 50 schools, all on free or reduced lunch and scoring in the 25th-75th percentile on their standardized tests. The goal of this program is to encourage life-long learning and to get all PUEO scholars into college.
Tony spoke of Kamehameha's long-time and long-term commitment to community initiatives based on the Princess' legacy and her school's mission. They currently contribute $88 million for outreach and $104 million on-campus to go along with 36 partners in the community.
The Ka'i Program is modeled after LEAP in Seattle and PUEO in Hawai'i. Right now they have four student mentors working with 13 incoming seventh graders from Jarret Middle School in Palolo Valley, all in the middle range of skills and abilities, living at or below the poverty level. They expect to be working with 73 students when they are at full capacity.
Hope Staab spoke a little bit about the Student Global Leadership Program but since that only features kids from private schools she spoke mostly about the Wo Center's study abroad programs which are open to public school students.
Diane Anderson addressed the need to see the challenges facing schools through different lenses, both strategic and systemic. Schools are constantly changing and we need to keep moving towards inquiry-based, project-based learning to prepare our students for their futures as well as society's.
Monday, December 6, 2010
PCF— Health Care Day, part 1
JABSOM— John A. Burns School of Medecine
Dean of Clinical Affairs Roy Magnussen highlighted the coming health care crisis (as if we're not in one already) due to a man-power shortage and the increasing health care costs. There will be shortages due to:
— health care reform
— baby boomers retiring (and doctors retiring too)
— survival rates of patients
— obesity/diabetes
— gender changes (female doctors not able to out in as many hours due to family constraints)
— tight budgets
— generational differences (younger doctors want a life outside of medecine)
There are currently 3,253 practicing physicians in the state, leaving us with a 500 doctor shortage, and that will double over the next decade. Doctors in Hawaii are older on average than their mainland counterparts.
JABSOM started in 1965 as a 2 year school and then became a full-fledged medical training facility in 1973. There are over 250 full time faculty and over 1,000 volunteer faculty. The school brings in over $42 million a year in grants to Hawaii, providing jobs, a biomedical industry, and spin-off companies.
They rely on a Problem Based Learning model (versus just lecturing) in which students are given a clinical problem and then they are tasked with finding information (collecting, analyzing, syntesizing), and working in teams to come up with a diagnosis and course of action. The school also offers a Masters in Public Health that focuses on specific populations and preventive care.
At JABSOM, 90% of the students are local; 50% of practicing physicians in Hawaii are JABSOM graduates. 58% of the graduates go into some ind of primary care.
Imi Ho'ola is a program that provides opportunities to twelve students from disadvantaged backgrounds each year. Chessa DeCambra, spoke about how the program prefers applicants that can demonstrate ties to Hawaii and the Pacific Basin, but that is not required. They look at applicants' economic, social, and educational backgrounds and their willingness to serve. Their first move is to assess any pukas in their knowledge level and then they work to get them up to speed so they can get into the regular program.
Dr. Magnussen showed the impact of the current health care reform:
— greater coverage (demand up)
— incentives for primary care (currently these physicians are paid approx. 1/3 less than specialists— students graduate with $100-120,000 in school debt)
— no new residency increases
Where will the money come from:
— Accountable Care Organizations (eg. Kaiser, insurance companies, hospital care)
— electronic health records
— Quality agenda (no reimbursement for poor results; stop paying for readmittance in 30 days due to infections or complications)
————> save $600 billion
Challenges:
— health care companies kick back 50% of all claims ——> high administration costs dealing with duplicate paper work as a result; not necessarily due to liability since Hawaii is way ahead in terms of coverage and access, they're just behind in reimbursements
Finally, Vanessa Wong, assistant professor at JABSOM, spoke to us about the Native Hawaiian Center for Excellence that promotes physical and mental health of native Hawaiians. Part of the program also develops a cultural competence component of the graduates. Chess DeCambra
Dean of Clinical Affairs Roy Magnussen highlighted the coming health care crisis (as if we're not in one already) due to a man-power shortage and the increasing health care costs. There will be shortages due to:
— health care reform
— baby boomers retiring (and doctors retiring too)
— survival rates of patients
— obesity/diabetes
— gender changes (female doctors not able to out in as many hours due to family constraints)
— tight budgets
— generational differences (younger doctors want a life outside of medecine)
There are currently 3,253 practicing physicians in the state, leaving us with a 500 doctor shortage, and that will double over the next decade. Doctors in Hawaii are older on average than their mainland counterparts.
JABSOM started in 1965 as a 2 year school and then became a full-fledged medical training facility in 1973. There are over 250 full time faculty and over 1,000 volunteer faculty. The school brings in over $42 million a year in grants to Hawaii, providing jobs, a biomedical industry, and spin-off companies.
They rely on a Problem Based Learning model (versus just lecturing) in which students are given a clinical problem and then they are tasked with finding information (collecting, analyzing, syntesizing), and working in teams to come up with a diagnosis and course of action. The school also offers a Masters in Public Health that focuses on specific populations and preventive care.
At JABSOM, 90% of the students are local; 50% of practicing physicians in Hawaii are JABSOM graduates. 58% of the graduates go into some ind of primary care.
Imi Ho'ola is a program that provides opportunities to twelve students from disadvantaged backgrounds each year. Chessa DeCambra, spoke about how the program prefers applicants that can demonstrate ties to Hawaii and the Pacific Basin, but that is not required. They look at applicants' economic, social, and educational backgrounds and their willingness to serve. Their first move is to assess any pukas in their knowledge level and then they work to get them up to speed so they can get into the regular program.
Dr. Magnussen showed the impact of the current health care reform:
— greater coverage (demand up)
— incentives for primary care (currently these physicians are paid approx. 1/3 less than specialists— students graduate with $100-120,000 in school debt)
— no new residency increases
Where will the money come from:
— Accountable Care Organizations (eg. Kaiser, insurance companies, hospital care)
— electronic health records
— Quality agenda (no reimbursement for poor results; stop paying for readmittance in 30 days due to infections or complications)
————> save $600 billion
Challenges:
— health care companies kick back 50% of all claims ——> high administration costs dealing with duplicate paper work as a result; not necessarily due to liability since Hawaii is way ahead in terms of coverage and access, they're just behind in reimbursements
Finally, Vanessa Wong, assistant professor at JABSOM, spoke to us about the Native Hawaiian Center for Excellence that promotes physical and mental health of native Hawaiians. Part of the program also develops a cultural competence component of the graduates. Chess DeCambra
PCF— Education Day, part I
The day began with a breakfast session at the Plaza Club to hear new DOE superintendent Kathy Matayoshi examine the challenges facing Hawai'i's public schools and her vision for the future. Ms. Matayoshi comes to the job with a wealth of experience in the private sector: Hawai'i Business Roundtable, Community Links, Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel, Hawaiian Electric, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, P-20 Council. Her lack of direct experience in education raised some flags amongst some DOE members, but others see that as a plus in that she will bring private sector management and leadership skills to a massive job.
The DOE is comprised of 178,000 students and 13,000 teachers and librarians all encompassed in a single district (the 10th largest in the US). That size enables the Hawaii DOE certain advantages such as scaling and buying power, but it also presents as many if not more difficulties. The centralized services and the administrative systems in place are old, highly inefficient, and non-responsive. However, there is only one teachers' union to negotiate with.
According to Ms. Matayoshi, the bottom line is student achievement. The current Race to the Top program awarded Hawaii (one of only eleven recipients and then only one west of the Mississippi) $75 million for education reforms; none of that money can go to the budget. Due to its unique conditions the US DOE is looking to Hawai'i as a model for other states to follow. The P-20 initiative seeks to have 55% of all Hawai'i public school graduates complete two or four years of college in six years. The implications for the future are huge as the level of college attainment nationwide is falling dramatically after the 44-54 year old demographic. Hawai'i ranks 10th in terms of job that require post-high school education.
The first step is to turn around struggling schools. Waianae and Nanakuli, two schools in areas with strong communities, are first in line to get the funding and reform programs. Kea'au, Pahoa, and Ka'u complexes on the Big Island are also among the first to participate. It is agreed amongst all people that ages 0-5 are the most important ages for educational attainment. Seat time is not necessarily the most important indicator of student achievement— learning needs to be exciting; great teachers, great leaders. Under No Child Left Behind, Adequate Yearly Progress is callibrated to standards, but every state is different so that could lead to fraud until their are national standards.
Charter schools are a possibility but they got off to a rocky start in Hawaii due to varied quality and lack of accountability. Nevertheless, Ms. Matayoshi like the idea of having the charter schools act as the innovative wing of the DOE to try out new methods and practices that they can then share with the broader school population.
Dealing with the unions should also be on a new path with Al Nagasako, former principal at Kapolei, as the new head of the HSTA. Rather than the previously contentious collective bargaining model, they will seek to change the model to get the HSTA and HGEA in the same room to engage in interest-based bargaining. That will most likely include a new teacher evaluation method that puts equal emphasis on student growth and other measures such as leadership and department approval.
The DOE is comprised of 178,000 students and 13,000 teachers and librarians all encompassed in a single district (the 10th largest in the US). That size enables the Hawaii DOE certain advantages such as scaling and buying power, but it also presents as many if not more difficulties. The centralized services and the administrative systems in place are old, highly inefficient, and non-responsive. However, there is only one teachers' union to negotiate with.
According to Ms. Matayoshi, the bottom line is student achievement. The current Race to the Top program awarded Hawaii (one of only eleven recipients and then only one west of the Mississippi) $75 million for education reforms; none of that money can go to the budget. Due to its unique conditions the US DOE is looking to Hawai'i as a model for other states to follow. The P-20 initiative seeks to have 55% of all Hawai'i public school graduates complete two or four years of college in six years. The implications for the future are huge as the level of college attainment nationwide is falling dramatically after the 44-54 year old demographic. Hawai'i ranks 10th in terms of job that require post-high school education.
The first step is to turn around struggling schools. Waianae and Nanakuli, two schools in areas with strong communities, are first in line to get the funding and reform programs. Kea'au, Pahoa, and Ka'u complexes on the Big Island are also among the first to participate. It is agreed amongst all people that ages 0-5 are the most important ages for educational attainment. Seat time is not necessarily the most important indicator of student achievement— learning needs to be exciting; great teachers, great leaders. Under No Child Left Behind, Adequate Yearly Progress is callibrated to standards, but every state is different so that could lead to fraud until their are national standards.
Charter schools are a possibility but they got off to a rocky start in Hawaii due to varied quality and lack of accountability. Nevertheless, Ms. Matayoshi like the idea of having the charter schools act as the innovative wing of the DOE to try out new methods and practices that they can then share with the broader school population.
Dealing with the unions should also be on a new path with Al Nagasako, former principal at Kapolei, as the new head of the HSTA. Rather than the previously contentious collective bargaining model, they will seek to change the model to get the HSTA and HGEA in the same room to engage in interest-based bargaining. That will most likely include a new teacher evaluation method that puts equal emphasis on student growth and other measures such as leadership and department approval.
Monday, September 27, 2010
PCF— Big Island retreat, part 3
Day 2 started with a long trip up to North Kohala to hear from Dave Fuertes and others about the Inter-generational Community Project sponsored by Partners in Development. There they seek to make Kohala a model for sustainability for the state by teaching kids four things:
— origin (kupuna)
— beliefs/values (preserve, protect, sustain)
— purpose (food energy resilience)
— destiny (schools, churches, natural farming, no drugs)
In the middle of the community they (i.e community volunteers) built a teen center and with the help of PID grants they assist in getting kids back onto the land, working on science projects, service projects, and writing basic business plans.
In the bigger plans they are planning on building the 700 acre Agricultural Resource Center of Ho'ea (ARCH) that will provide food processing centers: poi factory, certified kitchen, fertilizer production, meat processing, and educational facility. ARCH will be built on donated land from a German developer who bought it for the sole purpose of keeping it from being developed. They will use renewable energy (existing hydro as well as soon to be developed wind and solar sources) and are committed to being totally organic. The lifeblood of this entire project is the Kohala Ditch which pumps 6 million gallons/day and will be crucial to the project's success.
We also heard from Andrea Dean, a transplanted New Yorker who is full of ideas, energy, and passion for the idea of sustainable food. She is working closely with Kanu Hawaii and the Eat Local Challenge as they seek to grow farmers to supply the local food and also to inform the public to generate demand.
Our day ended at the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii (NELHA) where we heard a presentation by Guy Toyama, the executive director. NELHA was created in 1973 after the oil embargo of that year highlighted how tenuous our connection to that lifeline actually was. Gov. John Burns brought in Dr. John P. Craven to start developing this facility that has several goals:
— energy security
— food security
— health care
There are currently 35 tenants at NELHA that fully sustain all operations based on assive pumps bring in warm surface water and cold deep water to enable the wide variety of operations. They bring in 27,000 gallons/minute through a pipeline that cost $25 million. Some of the operation include:
— aquatic and marine technology
— wide temperature range of water allows them to grow a wide variety of food products such as Kona Coast Abalone, American lobster, breedstock shrimp, clams, and Kona Kampachi.
— microalgae
— nutriceuticals
— pharaceuticals
— bio-fuels
— deep ocean water
— bottled water
— salt
— bath and mineral salts
— heat transfer applications
— deep sea water air conditions (coming soon to downtown Honolulu)
— 80% cut in electricity consumption
— energy-related applictions
OTEC— Ocean Thermal energy Conversion
— bio-energy plant
— methane + CO2 = feed algae farm
We then toured Sopagy's test field, visited Kona Kampachi's operation, and spent time with the most content individual i think i have ever encountered. I don't remember his name (it was a long day) but he was genuinely stoked to test out new techniques to grow various kinds of fish eggs he either gathered himself or received from other people's gathering operations. His lab looked like the professor's from Gilligan's Island. He walked around in a tank top and slippers and a permanent smile on his face. One got the impression there was nowhere he would rather be and doing nothing else. I envy that guy.
All in all an amazing trip with a great group of people.
— origin (kupuna)
— beliefs/values (preserve, protect, sustain)
— purpose (food energy resilience)
— destiny (schools, churches, natural farming, no drugs)
In the middle of the community they (i.e community volunteers) built a teen center and with the help of PID grants they assist in getting kids back onto the land, working on science projects, service projects, and writing basic business plans.
In the bigger plans they are planning on building the 700 acre Agricultural Resource Center of Ho'ea (ARCH) that will provide food processing centers: poi factory, certified kitchen, fertilizer production, meat processing, and educational facility. ARCH will be built on donated land from a German developer who bought it for the sole purpose of keeping it from being developed. They will use renewable energy (existing hydro as well as soon to be developed wind and solar sources) and are committed to being totally organic. The lifeblood of this entire project is the Kohala Ditch which pumps 6 million gallons/day and will be crucial to the project's success.
We also heard from Andrea Dean, a transplanted New Yorker who is full of ideas, energy, and passion for the idea of sustainable food. She is working closely with Kanu Hawaii and the Eat Local Challenge as they seek to grow farmers to supply the local food and also to inform the public to generate demand.
Our day ended at the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii (NELHA) where we heard a presentation by Guy Toyama, the executive director. NELHA was created in 1973 after the oil embargo of that year highlighted how tenuous our connection to that lifeline actually was. Gov. John Burns brought in Dr. John P. Craven to start developing this facility that has several goals:
— energy security
— food security
— health care
There are currently 35 tenants at NELHA that fully sustain all operations based on assive pumps bring in warm surface water and cold deep water to enable the wide variety of operations. They bring in 27,000 gallons/minute through a pipeline that cost $25 million. Some of the operation include:
— aquatic and marine technology
— wide temperature range of water allows them to grow a wide variety of food products such as Kona Coast Abalone, American lobster, breedstock shrimp, clams, and Kona Kampachi.
— microalgae
— nutriceuticals
— pharaceuticals
— bio-fuels
— deep ocean water
— bottled water
— salt
— bath and mineral salts
— heat transfer applications
— deep sea water air conditions (coming soon to downtown Honolulu)
— 80% cut in electricity consumption
— energy-related applictions
OTEC— Ocean Thermal energy Conversion
— bio-energy plant
— methane + CO2 = feed algae farm
We then toured Sopagy's test field, visited Kona Kampachi's operation, and spent time with the most content individual i think i have ever encountered. I don't remember his name (it was a long day) but he was genuinely stoked to test out new techniques to grow various kinds of fish eggs he either gathered himself or received from other people's gathering operations. His lab looked like the professor's from Gilligan's Island. He walked around in a tank top and slippers and a permanent smile on his face. One got the impression there was nowhere he would rather be and doing nothing else. I envy that guy.
All in all an amazing trip with a great group of people.
PCF— Big Island retreat, part 2
We then traveled to the Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center to hear from Dr. Kevin Hughes about their initiatives. Their mission is to engender sustainable aquaculture, marine science, conservation biology, collaborative research, outreach and training. Hilo is an ideal location for this type of venture because it has all marine environments represented and a wide diversity of communities.
Most of their money comes from "soft" which Dr. Hopkins encourages because then they don't become complacent due to a guaranteed revenue stream and have to respond to a "customer" (i.e. those providing their grants).
Our next stop was at the Hawaiian charter school Ke Kula Mauli Ola Hawai'i 'O Nawahiokalani'opu'u. We were greeted with a traditional oli from the upper school students, presented with lei, and then given a tour of the facilities. One of the highlights was seeing the preschoolers and hearing them speak and sing their songs in Hawaiian. It was a really impressive display.
The day culminated with a lunch panel session at the "Imiloa Astronomy Center where we heard about the Mauna Kea Management plan. The cultural significance of this area had been neglected in the past so group of community leaders and representatives got together to create a master plan. Native Hawaiians see Maunakea (the preferred spelling by the UH-Hilo Language department) as the piko of Wakea, the creator of the Hawaiian people. It is a connection to history for them and must be respected and preserved accordingly. There is future development planned with the Thirty Meter Telescope but it is being pursued with heightened cultural and environmental sensitivity.
That evening we were hosted at a dinner reception back at 'Imiloa to honor PCF alumni from the Big Island, and community leaders. We were joined by our main benefactor Mufi Hannemann who was very gracious just a few days after his election defeat in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. He showed a lot of class and fed off Billy Kenoi's positive energy and humor to enliven the evening.
Most of their money comes from "soft" which Dr. Hopkins encourages because then they don't become complacent due to a guaranteed revenue stream and have to respond to a "customer" (i.e. those providing their grants).
Our next stop was at the Hawaiian charter school Ke Kula Mauli Ola Hawai'i 'O Nawahiokalani'opu'u. We were greeted with a traditional oli from the upper school students, presented with lei, and then given a tour of the facilities. One of the highlights was seeing the preschoolers and hearing them speak and sing their songs in Hawaiian. It was a really impressive display.
The day culminated with a lunch panel session at the "Imiloa Astronomy Center where we heard about the Mauna Kea Management plan. The cultural significance of this area had been neglected in the past so group of community leaders and representatives got together to create a master plan. Native Hawaiians see Maunakea (the preferred spelling by the UH-Hilo Language department) as the piko of Wakea, the creator of the Hawaiian people. It is a connection to history for them and must be respected and preserved accordingly. There is future development planned with the Thirty Meter Telescope but it is being pursued with heightened cultural and environmental sensitivity.
That evening we were hosted at a dinner reception back at 'Imiloa to honor PCF alumni from the Big Island, and community leaders. We were joined by our main benefactor Mufi Hannemann who was very gracious just a few days after his election defeat in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. He showed a lot of class and fed off Billy Kenoi's positive energy and humor to enliven the evening.
PCF— Big Island retreat, part 1
We started off two days on the Big Island with a Mayoral Breakfast at the Hawai'i Innovation Center located in downtown Hilo. The mayor was running a little late so we heard from three PCF alums who live in Hilo: Ka'iu Kimura, Kaloa Robertson, and Toby Fujitani.
When the mayor arrived he couldn't have been less like a mayor— we heard slippers slapping down the hall as jogged to the door and then he burst into the room in board shorts and a T-Shirt. He then proceeded to blow us away with his energetic, funny, thought-provoking insights of what leadership is all about. Some of the highlights:
He started out by lamenting how many people love to make outlines of ideas (such as people at conferences: "Great conference!" but where are the ideas?) but to get anything down it's about leadership.
His father told him once that to be effective you need to think, feel, and then speak. Then everything you say is from your heart and you know that ni matter what you've been honest. "Do it with aloha." ("Only be shame if you steal.")
His personal history was incredibly compelling: 1.8 GPA in high school, on a path to prison until his friend introduced him to a professor at UH-Hilo who thrust an application into his hand and said "I understand you belong here." He went on the graduate with Honors from UMass—Amherst and then went on to law school at UH— Manoa. he sought to use his considerable speaking talents to bring the gift of advocacy to people who didn't have a voice— worked for Legal Aid, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.
To Billy Kenoi, leadership is:
— take blame and give credit
— look at all the information then make a decision (the difficult decisions)
— avoid the paralysis of analysis
— be accountable, responsible
— surround yourself with excellence
He then broke it down to the 3 E's:
— education
— experience
— expertise
and the 3 C's:
— committed
— compassionate
— courageous
Move people, build people, inspire people; never break people, especially in public,
• research + preparation = success ("it is inexcusable to be unprepared or ill-informed when you are expected to be at your best.
• strategic analysis
talk story with as many people as possible— ask different people how to look at something; if you have more information than the other side you have the advantage
• execute
you gotta perform!
when you're positive and you "aloha" everybody then everything will work out (and it's free!)
When the mayor arrived he couldn't have been less like a mayor— we heard slippers slapping down the hall as jogged to the door and then he burst into the room in board shorts and a T-Shirt. He then proceeded to blow us away with his energetic, funny, thought-provoking insights of what leadership is all about. Some of the highlights:
He started out by lamenting how many people love to make outlines of ideas (such as people at conferences: "Great conference!" but where are the ideas?) but to get anything down it's about leadership.
His father told him once that to be effective you need to think, feel, and then speak. Then everything you say is from your heart and you know that ni matter what you've been honest. "Do it with aloha." ("Only be shame if you steal.")
His personal history was incredibly compelling: 1.8 GPA in high school, on a path to prison until his friend introduced him to a professor at UH-Hilo who thrust an application into his hand and said "I understand you belong here." He went on the graduate with Honors from UMass—Amherst and then went on to law school at UH— Manoa. he sought to use his considerable speaking talents to bring the gift of advocacy to people who didn't have a voice— worked for Legal Aid, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.
To Billy Kenoi, leadership is:
— take blame and give credit
— look at all the information then make a decision (the difficult decisions)
— avoid the paralysis of analysis
— be accountable, responsible
— surround yourself with excellence
He then broke it down to the 3 E's:
— education
— experience
— expertise
and the 3 C's:
— committed
— compassionate
— courageous
Move people, build people, inspire people; never break people, especially in public,
• research + preparation = success ("it is inexcusable to be unprepared or ill-informed when you are expected to be at your best.
• strategic analysis
talk story with as many people as possible— ask different people how to look at something; if you have more information than the other side you have the advantage
• execute
you gotta perform!
when you're positive and you "aloha" everybody then everything will work out (and it's free!)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
PCF— Environmental Sustainability Day
PART I
Our day began with a panel discussion with Hawaiian Electric Companies Robbie Alm, Executive Vice President; Colton Ching, Manager, Corporate Planning Dept.; Darcy Endo-Omoto, Vide President, Government and Community Affairs; and Scott Seu, Manager, Resource Acquisition Department.
Robbie Alm spoke of how Hawai'i is in a unique position to "get off of oil." The rest of the US is stuck on cheap energy from coal, whereas Hawai'i gets most of its electricity from burning petroleum whcih we all know is volatile and only going to go up in price. The break down of Mainland versus Hawai'i electricity generation:
Mainland:
coal— 48%
natural gas— 21%
nuclear— 20% (I was surprised it was so high)
hydro— 6%
petroleum— 2%
renewable— 3%
Hawai'i:
petroleum— 77%
coal— 15% (I was surprised that figure was so high)
renewable— 8%
hydro— 1%
With a Gross State Product of $63.8 billion (Colton Ching), Hawai'i spent $8.4 billion on energy with most of that ($7 billion) getting sent out of the state. 90% of the spending is on fossil fuels: jet fuel (34%), electricity (32%), gasoline/marine fuel (27%)
HECO, according to Mr. Alm has made a commitment to change its corporate philosophy to provide clean energy. Employees or managers who refuse to embrace that philosophy have been let go. The three goals for HECO heading into the future:
1) meet clean energy goals (renewable, greenhouse gas targets) while maintaining service
2) reliability, safety
3) reasonable costs
They are proposing a paradigm shift for energy:
— from economic drain to economic engine
— from energy insecurity to security
— from environmental harm to compatibility
— from price volatility to stability
To achieve those goals HECO will aggressively pursue all forms of renewables: solar, biomass, geothermal, OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion), wind, wave, biofuel, refuse (H-Power), and hydrogen. For now, the most viable commercially, available on a large scale in a five-year horizon, and with no fuel cost are solar and wind energy.
The large scale wind generation plan calls for putting wind farms on Moloka'i and Lana'i and then sending the electricity to O'ahu via an underwater cable. (The neighbor islands represent 322,922 people— roughly 38% of the state— but are much richer in renewables. The Big Island gets 29% of its peak load from wind, Lana'i 28%, and Maui 17% from wind.) The challenges of the underwater cable project:
— interisland connection
— effective integration of intermittent generation
— what to do with oil-burning plants?
— switch to sustainable biofuels?
— testing at Kahe and Ma'alaea
— new biofuel unit at Campbell Industrial Park
— customer role
— choices: efficiency, pricing options
The role of HECO is changing. The key word I heard was "decoupling:: eliminating the incentive of HECO to make more money when people consume more electricity. As a result it will set rates and revenues based on grid and investments in the new grid that are financially sound and reliable (two other key words repeated several times).
Resources:
hawaiienergyfuture.com
heco.com
hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org
hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy
Hawaii National Energy Institute
hawaiienergy.com
PART II
The next part of the day consisted of a presentations about the "State of the Industry: Hawai'i's Clean Energy Initiative" from representatives of the government and alternative energy industries.
Representing the government were Ted Peck, state energy adminstrator; Representative Hermina Morita, Chain, House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee; and Carlito Caliboso, Chairman, Public Utilities Commission.
Representative Morita started off discussing the importance of using the statutory power to implement energy policy. Long-term thinking is required connecting PUC, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, the legislature, and the gubernatorial administration.
Mr. Caliboso gave a brief history of the PUC: created by the legislature to regulate utilities, so that they are reliable (there's that word again), with fair rates, and provide a reasonable return. The latter two goals are in conflict with each other and that's where the challenge lies in working with a for-profit company like HECO. Policy objective include: energy security— reduce dependence on foreign oil, ensure supply, stable prices; and climate change.
Ted Peck showed how the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative— which seeks to generate 70% of Hawai'i's energy with renewables by 2030— shapes up in specific data.
Current (ha!) situation:
— 2,351 MW capacity
— 1,691 MW peak load
— 201 MW renewables
— 853 MW under development today
The near-term potential for renewables: $1.3 billion in revenue ($158 million in tax revenue) and 2,600 construction jobs; $220 million annual revenue ($12 million tax revenue) and 500 sustained jobs. To achieve this objective the state is focused on getting private money into the transformation. They need $16-20 million and so far they've received $220 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act passed in the spring of 2009.
The industry representatives were Wren Westcoatt from First Wind, Roy Starling from Hawai'i Energy, Riley Saito from Sun Power Corporation, and Joel Matsunaga from Hawai'i Bio Energy.
Wren Westcoatt spoke of how First Wind has 8 wind farms nationwide and 2 in Hawai'i (Kaheawa on Maui and Kahuku on O'ahu). He said it generally takes 3 years to build a project: 2 years for permitting and environmental assessments, and then 6-9 months for actual construction. Once built a project will run for 20 years. He also said they have a 8 MW battery by Xtreme Power, Inc. to store energy in case the wind dies down.
Roy Starling shared how Hawai'i Energy main mission is to uphold the conservation and efficiency part of the HCEI. Of the 70% alternative energy called for in HCEI, 30% will come from cutting down on waste in our current grid.
Riley Saito highlighted how progress is being made in photovoltaic (PV) technology due to federal subsidies, uncapping the tax credit, and a drop in PV prices. We are getting close to voided (?) costs.
Joel Matsunaga explained how Hawai'i Bio Energy has 6 partners: Grove Farm, Kamehameha Schools, Maui Land and Pineapple, Vinod Khosla, and Ohana Holdings (Pierre Omidyar). Farmers grow the crops to use as biofuels but they need land, water, technology, and the seeds. So far they've experimented with sorghum, eucalyptus, sweet beets, amd micro-algae. The latter is funded by the military. Phase 1 has called for Hawai'i Bio Energy to produce oil at $2 per gallon and jet fuel at $3 per gallon, which they have successfully achieved. Phase 2 calls for getting production costs of oil down to $1 per gallon. The goal is to have a "green fleet"— bio-fuel jet fuel by 2012.
The potential for alternative energy in Hawai'i is huge. Moloka'i and Lana'i wind farms can produce 10% of the state's energy needs. Solar heating is currently on 25% of houses-- why not more? Solar energy is the most intense in the US-- we currently generate 10/w per capita, we're on pace to double that every year, feed-in tariffs are under development, and the dept. of energy estimates we can generate 1 GW of energy from solar. Biofuels have the potential to send 5 million barrels per year to HECO for their biofuel plants. This could double agriculture in Hawai'i and displace 10% of the pertoleum to the state.
PART III
Our second stop was at the Gas Company where we heard from Tom Young, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Mike Kita, Director of Supply and Logistics; Stephanie Ackerman, Vice President, Sales and Customer Loyalty; Jill Tokunaga, Vice President, Marketing; and Vince Loo, SNG Plant Manager.
The Gas Company has 1,000 mile network on the south side of O'ahu. They boast an 89% efficiency rate in their production and transmission (versus 30% at HECO).
The Gas Company's renewable strategy starts with Act 234 which requires Hawai'i businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels by 2020. Hawai'i is unique in that we have no natural gas, so we must produce our own. TGS is the only US gas utility that produces its own syngas. Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) is a low carbon heat source. TGC seeks to produce 50% of their SNG from renewable sources by 2015. Their plant flexibility allows for renewable gas generation and experiments are under way utilizing various biofuels. They currently use naptha from the neighboring Tesoro plant. Its also conceivable that they might be able to use the spent algae use by Hawaii Bio Energy as a feedstock.
Hydrogen is a bi-product of the SNG process. This hydrogen can be used to develop hydrogen fuel cells for the future.
PART IV
Our next stop was at the H-Power plant where we heard from Robert Webster, Facility Manager; and Rodney Smith, Facility Business Manager. There we learned that the average US citizen produces 4.5 lbs. of waste per day, versus 6.8 lbs. in Hawai'i (include tourists).
Waste composition:
cardboard and paper— 31%
yard trimmings— 13.2%
food scraps— 12.7%
plastics— 12.0%
metals— 8.4%
rubber, leather, textiles— 7.9%
wood— 6.6%
glass— 4.9%
other— 3.3%
H-Power is managed by Covanta. They claim to be able to burn 80% of all municipal waste (excluding hazardous, medical, or sewage waste) and that once the third boilers is built they will be able to burn 100% of the waste and convert it into energy. 1 ton of trash burned equals 1 barrel of oil. They are able to generate 45 megawatts of renewable energy, or enough to power about 45,000 homes. They also are able to recycle the ferrous and non-ferrous metals that come out of the burning process. The left over ash is sent to the landfill.
This all sounded way too good to be true, and considering the source it probably is. They claim that there is virtually no emissions of hazardous gases into the environment and that the ash is not a problem. They seemed to suggest that recycling is a waste of time and resources because they can burn almost all of our solid waste. Because their bonuses are based on how much electricity they produce, it makes sense that they would want as much of our waste as possible.
PART V
Our long day ended at the Fed Ohrt Water Museum in Kalihi. We heard from Arthur Aiu, Community Relations Specialist, Honolulu Board of Water Supply; and Carolyn “Cat” Sawai, Internal Conservation Program Coordinator, Water Resources Division. They essentially told us that we have nothing to worry about when it comes to water (?!). Apparently we get approximately 5 billion gallons into the watershed each day but only pump about 150 million gallons. Nevertheless, they still gave us a packet about how to conserve water, which is nice. If we ever run into a water crisis in the future, there is already a well drilled into the caprock to allow for desalinization. that may be nice as well, but not the proper message in my view.
Our day began with a panel discussion with Hawaiian Electric Companies Robbie Alm, Executive Vice President; Colton Ching, Manager, Corporate Planning Dept.; Darcy Endo-Omoto, Vide President, Government and Community Affairs; and Scott Seu, Manager, Resource Acquisition Department.
Robbie Alm spoke of how Hawai'i is in a unique position to "get off of oil." The rest of the US is stuck on cheap energy from coal, whereas Hawai'i gets most of its electricity from burning petroleum whcih we all know is volatile and only going to go up in price. The break down of Mainland versus Hawai'i electricity generation:
Mainland:
coal— 48%
natural gas— 21%
nuclear— 20% (I was surprised it was so high)
hydro— 6%
petroleum— 2%
renewable— 3%
Hawai'i:
petroleum— 77%
coal— 15% (I was surprised that figure was so high)
renewable— 8%
hydro— 1%
With a Gross State Product of $63.8 billion (Colton Ching), Hawai'i spent $8.4 billion on energy with most of that ($7 billion) getting sent out of the state. 90% of the spending is on fossil fuels: jet fuel (34%), electricity (32%), gasoline/marine fuel (27%)
HECO, according to Mr. Alm has made a commitment to change its corporate philosophy to provide clean energy. Employees or managers who refuse to embrace that philosophy have been let go. The three goals for HECO heading into the future:
1) meet clean energy goals (renewable, greenhouse gas targets) while maintaining service
2) reliability, safety
3) reasonable costs
They are proposing a paradigm shift for energy:
— from economic drain to economic engine
— from energy insecurity to security
— from environmental harm to compatibility
— from price volatility to stability
To achieve those goals HECO will aggressively pursue all forms of renewables: solar, biomass, geothermal, OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion), wind, wave, biofuel, refuse (H-Power), and hydrogen. For now, the most viable commercially, available on a large scale in a five-year horizon, and with no fuel cost are solar and wind energy.
The large scale wind generation plan calls for putting wind farms on Moloka'i and Lana'i and then sending the electricity to O'ahu via an underwater cable. (The neighbor islands represent 322,922 people— roughly 38% of the state— but are much richer in renewables. The Big Island gets 29% of its peak load from wind, Lana'i 28%, and Maui 17% from wind.) The challenges of the underwater cable project:
— interisland connection
— effective integration of intermittent generation
— what to do with oil-burning plants?
— switch to sustainable biofuels?
— testing at Kahe and Ma'alaea
— new biofuel unit at Campbell Industrial Park
— customer role
— choices: efficiency, pricing options
The role of HECO is changing. The key word I heard was "decoupling:: eliminating the incentive of HECO to make more money when people consume more electricity. As a result it will set rates and revenues based on grid and investments in the new grid that are financially sound and reliable (two other key words repeated several times).
Resources:
hawaiienergyfuture.com
heco.com
hawaiicleanenergyinitiative.org
hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy
Hawaii National Energy Institute
hawaiienergy.com
PART II
The next part of the day consisted of a presentations about the "State of the Industry: Hawai'i's Clean Energy Initiative" from representatives of the government and alternative energy industries.
Representing the government were Ted Peck, state energy adminstrator; Representative Hermina Morita, Chain, House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee; and Carlito Caliboso, Chairman, Public Utilities Commission.
Representative Morita started off discussing the importance of using the statutory power to implement energy policy. Long-term thinking is required connecting PUC, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, the legislature, and the gubernatorial administration.
Mr. Caliboso gave a brief history of the PUC: created by the legislature to regulate utilities, so that they are reliable (there's that word again), with fair rates, and provide a reasonable return. The latter two goals are in conflict with each other and that's where the challenge lies in working with a for-profit company like HECO. Policy objective include: energy security— reduce dependence on foreign oil, ensure supply, stable prices; and climate change.
Ted Peck showed how the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative— which seeks to generate 70% of Hawai'i's energy with renewables by 2030— shapes up in specific data.
Current (ha!) situation:
— 2,351 MW capacity
— 1,691 MW peak load
— 201 MW renewables
— 853 MW under development today
The near-term potential for renewables: $1.3 billion in revenue ($158 million in tax revenue) and 2,600 construction jobs; $220 million annual revenue ($12 million tax revenue) and 500 sustained jobs. To achieve this objective the state is focused on getting private money into the transformation. They need $16-20 million and so far they've received $220 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act passed in the spring of 2009.
The industry representatives were Wren Westcoatt from First Wind, Roy Starling from Hawai'i Energy, Riley Saito from Sun Power Corporation, and Joel Matsunaga from Hawai'i Bio Energy.
Wren Westcoatt spoke of how First Wind has 8 wind farms nationwide and 2 in Hawai'i (Kaheawa on Maui and Kahuku on O'ahu). He said it generally takes 3 years to build a project: 2 years for permitting and environmental assessments, and then 6-9 months for actual construction. Once built a project will run for 20 years. He also said they have a 8 MW battery by Xtreme Power, Inc. to store energy in case the wind dies down.
Roy Starling shared how Hawai'i Energy main mission is to uphold the conservation and efficiency part of the HCEI. Of the 70% alternative energy called for in HCEI, 30% will come from cutting down on waste in our current grid.
Riley Saito highlighted how progress is being made in photovoltaic (PV) technology due to federal subsidies, uncapping the tax credit, and a drop in PV prices. We are getting close to voided (?) costs.
Joel Matsunaga explained how Hawai'i Bio Energy has 6 partners: Grove Farm, Kamehameha Schools, Maui Land and Pineapple, Vinod Khosla, and Ohana Holdings (Pierre Omidyar). Farmers grow the crops to use as biofuels but they need land, water, technology, and the seeds. So far they've experimented with sorghum, eucalyptus, sweet beets, amd micro-algae. The latter is funded by the military. Phase 1 has called for Hawai'i Bio Energy to produce oil at $2 per gallon and jet fuel at $3 per gallon, which they have successfully achieved. Phase 2 calls for getting production costs of oil down to $1 per gallon. The goal is to have a "green fleet"— bio-fuel jet fuel by 2012.
The potential for alternative energy in Hawai'i is huge. Moloka'i and Lana'i wind farms can produce 10% of the state's energy needs. Solar heating is currently on 25% of houses-- why not more? Solar energy is the most intense in the US-- we currently generate 10/w per capita, we're on pace to double that every year, feed-in tariffs are under development, and the dept. of energy estimates we can generate 1 GW of energy from solar. Biofuels have the potential to send 5 million barrels per year to HECO for their biofuel plants. This could double agriculture in Hawai'i and displace 10% of the pertoleum to the state.
PART III
Our second stop was at the Gas Company where we heard from Tom Young, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Mike Kita, Director of Supply and Logistics; Stephanie Ackerman, Vice President, Sales and Customer Loyalty; Jill Tokunaga, Vice President, Marketing; and Vince Loo, SNG Plant Manager.
The Gas Company has 1,000 mile network on the south side of O'ahu. They boast an 89% efficiency rate in their production and transmission (versus 30% at HECO).
The Gas Company's renewable strategy starts with Act 234 which requires Hawai'i businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels by 2020. Hawai'i is unique in that we have no natural gas, so we must produce our own. TGS is the only US gas utility that produces its own syngas. Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) is a low carbon heat source. TGC seeks to produce 50% of their SNG from renewable sources by 2015. Their plant flexibility allows for renewable gas generation and experiments are under way utilizing various biofuels. They currently use naptha from the neighboring Tesoro plant. Its also conceivable that they might be able to use the spent algae use by Hawaii Bio Energy as a feedstock.
Hydrogen is a bi-product of the SNG process. This hydrogen can be used to develop hydrogen fuel cells for the future.
PART IV
Our next stop was at the H-Power plant where we heard from Robert Webster, Facility Manager; and Rodney Smith, Facility Business Manager. There we learned that the average US citizen produces 4.5 lbs. of waste per day, versus 6.8 lbs. in Hawai'i (include tourists).
Waste composition:
cardboard and paper— 31%
yard trimmings— 13.2%
food scraps— 12.7%
plastics— 12.0%
metals— 8.4%
rubber, leather, textiles— 7.9%
wood— 6.6%
glass— 4.9%
other— 3.3%
H-Power is managed by Covanta. They claim to be able to burn 80% of all municipal waste (excluding hazardous, medical, or sewage waste) and that once the third boilers is built they will be able to burn 100% of the waste and convert it into energy. 1 ton of trash burned equals 1 barrel of oil. They are able to generate 45 megawatts of renewable energy, or enough to power about 45,000 homes. They also are able to recycle the ferrous and non-ferrous metals that come out of the burning process. The left over ash is sent to the landfill.
This all sounded way too good to be true, and considering the source it probably is. They claim that there is virtually no emissions of hazardous gases into the environment and that the ash is not a problem. They seemed to suggest that recycling is a waste of time and resources because they can burn almost all of our solid waste. Because their bonuses are based on how much electricity they produce, it makes sense that they would want as much of our waste as possible.
PART V
Our long day ended at the Fed Ohrt Water Museum in Kalihi. We heard from Arthur Aiu, Community Relations Specialist, Honolulu Board of Water Supply; and Carolyn “Cat” Sawai, Internal Conservation Program Coordinator, Water Resources Division. They essentially told us that we have nothing to worry about when it comes to water (?!). Apparently we get approximately 5 billion gallons into the watershed each day but only pump about 150 million gallons. Nevertheless, they still gave us a packet about how to conserve water, which is nice. If we ever run into a water crisis in the future, there is already a well drilled into the caprock to allow for desalinization. that may be nice as well, but not the proper message in my view.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
PCF— Social Services Day
The day started out in Waianae with a panel discussion moderated by Debbie Kim Morikawa, Director of the City and County of Honolulu Department of Community Services and featuring: Teresa Gonsalves and Dodie Rivers from the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center; Shannon Hayes from US VETS; Valerie Tavai from the Honolulu Community Community action Program; Sophina Valencia from Waianae Community Outreach; Fred Saunders from the Dept. of Community Services; and Captain Mitchell Kiyuna from the Honolulu Police Department.
Debbie Kim Morikawa started off the discussion by describing the scope and mission of the Department of Community Services
— $76 million budget
— youth/elderly services
— homeless
— economic development
Many services are delivered by private, non-profit organizations.
Shannon Hayes explained how U.S. VETS works. It is a state-funded non-profit that serves as an emergency and transition shelter. They have 300 clients, half of whom are children. The population can stay in the shelter up to two years. The population features both extremes— those coming from the beach and those coming from structures living arrangements.
— 70-80% of the populations used to be Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian; now they’re seeing more and more Micronesians.
— 90-95% have substance abuse issues— ice, marijuana, opiates
Their goal is to help the population become self-sufficient. The average stay is eight months and so far they have transitioned 68% of their population successfully.
From Shannon we learned that in order to enter a shelter, a person needs two “verification of homeless letters.” Those are usually written by Waianae Community Outreach and the Waianae Community Comprehensive Health Center after two contact with a person in a homeless situation.
Teresa Gonsalves and Dodie Rivera then talked about their mobile health services, entitlements counseling (insurance, Food Stamps), transportation services, housing application help, and Legal Aid. The ages of their clients range from younger than 1 up to 60. They’ve found that their population is mostly from Hawai’i with only 1% (so far) comprised of mainland transplants.
Sophina Placencia spoke of how her agency does outreach four days a week to get people into their two emergency shelters that provide many of the same services.
Valerie Tavai spoke at length about changing perceptions of homeless people about themselves and by the community. In her view, one of the main reasons for homelessness is that there is a lot of hurt in Waianae caused by abuse of all kinds— drug, physical, mental, sexual, neglect. There has also been a steady marginalization of poor communities due to gentrification. In order to counteract that trend there needs to be several steps taken:
— hire from the community
— raise expectations of homeless people
— education
— mentoring/modeling by others successful people
Here is where I started to wonder about the utility of micro-lending in this community. Could there be entrepreneurs in need of a small loan to give them that opportunity that would change their lives? Or even a small loan that could give a family the cushion to go to school to get that certification that could lead to a better job? This community is so tight and the shelters keep such close tabs on their clients it seems like they would have the best insights as to who would be worthy of getting those loans and capable of paying them back. It seems like the Pacific Century Fellows program could help provide the funds to create such a program and the business and banking mentoring to help them succeed. I’ve spoken with a bunch of people about whether that could work (Kive, ProFounder) and how it might work. We’ll see how that develops.
Fred Saunders spoke about the “One Stop Center” concept funded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. It covers all people in a community that fall below certain income thresholds who need help becoming relatively self-sufficient— education (at Leeward Community College), employment training, job search skills such as interviewing and resume building. There is also the “Rent to Work,” a one-year program that assists with permanent housing as long as people maintain employment and seek to improve themselves.
Finally, HPD spoke of how they are there to assist people instead of busting them. In their words, “homelessness is not a crime.” They seek to enforce existing laws such as park closures and parking lot closures so that the homeless are forced to take advantage of the wide variety of services available to them at the many shelters. (Two new laws will also help in this regard: the definition of a tent— only structures with one side are allowed in city parks; no shopping carts in city parks.) What they’ve found is that the homeless rarely are the ones committing crimes; for the most part it is criminal elements hiding out in homeless areas. As a result, the homeless are unfairly blamed fro crimes committed in their areas.
My ultimate take-away from this very informative one-hour discussion is that the homelessness issue is even more complicated than I previously understood, but that there are also more agencies and dedicated individuals than I realized doing a tremendous amount of work to alleviate the symptoms and address the root causes. It would be exciting to be part of the solution to this issue that affects all of us on O’ahu.
On our way to Ma’ili Ulu Ke Kukui Transitional Housing for Families we stopped by “Guard Rails,” a homeless encampment located right next to the highway. There we met Junior Atisanoe (brother of Saleva’a, a.k.a. Konishiki) who works for the Department of Human Services and the Hawaii Public Husing Authority as Project Coordinator. Junior’s message as well as that of the “mayor” of Guard Rails is that the homeless aren’t criminals and they’re not all drug addicts. Many of them work and many of them are trying to improve themselves so that they can get off the beach. It was important for us to see people who are not in shelters but who may be the next ones to take that step. It didn’t feel like any of them are lost causes and put a human face on the homeless, for sure.
At Ulu Ke Kukui we met Fanchon Young, the site director. She explained that their state-funded agency has five buildings with 80 units, (42 beds, and 22 studios) and they serve at-risk and homeless families (as opposed to just homeless at other shelters). In order to qualify for space at Ulu Ke Kukui a family must have children, some form of income, and stay drug and alcohol free. There is a small fee for a unit and a family can stay for up to 24 months. Their population is mostly Hawaiian, but they have an increasingly diverse clientele. They offer programs in skills training, economic development, organic farming/gardening, and a community kitchen where virtually anyone from the community can get a free breakfast or dinner seven days a week. (Jeff Lapilio is the kitchen manager.) They also work with the Waianae Business Center to offer an entrepreneurship program.
While we ate an excellent lunch at Kahumanu Organic Farm and Café, Joe Lapilio, the chief Adminsitrative Officer of Alternative Structures International spoke to us about the causes of homelessness and what he’s learned in his work in this area. Corrorating what many of the other speakers mentioned, homelessness is caused by the cost of living, lack of financial management education, and drug abuse (mostly Ice). Having grown up in Waianae he knows that there has always been some form of homelessness and there always will be to some extent. From his experience he’s concluded that the needs of the homeless are specific to the individuals (due to mental illness, substance abuse, attitudinal, behavioral, and psychological issues, and even an attachment to their pet— most shelters won’t allow them) so we can’t just lump them all together with a once-size-fits-all approach. That’s why they offer such a wide variety of service and training for their clients.
Some of the other business programs at Ulu Ke Kukui feature connections with Hawaii Technical Institute and providing micro-enterprise loans and training through a grant from Pacific Gateway. As we walked to the bus I spoke with Joe about the idea of micro-lending to expand the scope of the micro-enterprises program. He seemed interested in the prospect so I sent him the information from Kiva.org on how to become a Field Partner so that they could possibly link up with that network of donors. If that doesn’t work then maybe we would need to build something of our own from the ground up that is driven and supported by members of Pacific Century Fellows and then opened up to the wider community on O’ahu and Hawaii. One message that kept getting expressed over and over is that the homeless problem is everybody’s problem so we can all play a part is its solution. That may take the form of direct action working with homeless individuals and families, or it can be in the form of indirect actions such as advocacy or providing opportunities (jobs, access to credit) that might have been possible previously.
We then ventured to Sand Island Treatment Center where we heard from Cathy, Yvonne, and Kevin about their experiences as former clients and current employees. SITC has been around since 1960 so it is the oldest licensed treatment center in the Pacific. There seemed to be widespread admiration for their boss, L. Mason Henderson, for the work he has done over the years in addressing some of the most intractable issues related to substance abuse. What he did upon arriving at SITC is he went into the prisons and too out some of the worst offenders and treated them. That solidified his reputation and that of the center so that now the courts refer offenders to SITC rather than throwing them directly in jail.
SITC only hires staff from the treatment population. The treatment period is a two year residential program, but the challenge is that most insurance companies won’t pay for more than a few months. SITC prides itself on treating the individual and not the funding source so somehow they make it happen as long as the person wants to stay there. 70-75% of the residents have an Ice addiction with some marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. The treatment is based on the 12-step program. They believe alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases; they believe in accountability; if you undertreat an addiction then the addict becomes more resistant to treatment in the future— like any other disease. (When I asked the speakers if they believed, based on their personal experience and their work at SITC, if marijuana is a ‘gateway’ drug, they all said that it was not. To paraphrase Kevin: “If people are going to make that jump into Ice, it’s not going to be because they tried marijuana. They were going there anyway.”)
After treatment the clients move into the transition period where they work to get acclimated to living on their own. They get money management skills and try to live on $20 a week. The third stage of the program is the after-care/probation period which has a 90% success rate 1 year after the two year treatment regimen. The speakers made reference to the HOPE court set up by Judge Steven Alm which was reported on in the latest Honolulu Magazine.
SITC focuses on women first because they have the most trouble accessing treatement, Their first priority is pregnant women and then women prone to exploitation.
What they’ve found is that budget cuts are leading to more and more violent incidents due to people going off their medications.
Debbie Kim Morikawa started off the discussion by describing the scope and mission of the Department of Community Services
— $76 million budget
— youth/elderly services
— homeless
— economic development
Many services are delivered by private, non-profit organizations.
Shannon Hayes explained how U.S. VETS works. It is a state-funded non-profit that serves as an emergency and transition shelter. They have 300 clients, half of whom are children. The population can stay in the shelter up to two years. The population features both extremes— those coming from the beach and those coming from structures living arrangements.
— 70-80% of the populations used to be Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian; now they’re seeing more and more Micronesians.
— 90-95% have substance abuse issues— ice, marijuana, opiates
Their goal is to help the population become self-sufficient. The average stay is eight months and so far they have transitioned 68% of their population successfully.
From Shannon we learned that in order to enter a shelter, a person needs two “verification of homeless letters.” Those are usually written by Waianae Community Outreach and the Waianae Community Comprehensive Health Center after two contact with a person in a homeless situation.
Teresa Gonsalves and Dodie Rivera then talked about their mobile health services, entitlements counseling (insurance, Food Stamps), transportation services, housing application help, and Legal Aid. The ages of their clients range from younger than 1 up to 60. They’ve found that their population is mostly from Hawai’i with only 1% (so far) comprised of mainland transplants.
Sophina Placencia spoke of how her agency does outreach four days a week to get people into their two emergency shelters that provide many of the same services.
Valerie Tavai spoke at length about changing perceptions of homeless people about themselves and by the community. In her view, one of the main reasons for homelessness is that there is a lot of hurt in Waianae caused by abuse of all kinds— drug, physical, mental, sexual, neglect. There has also been a steady marginalization of poor communities due to gentrification. In order to counteract that trend there needs to be several steps taken:
— hire from the community
— raise expectations of homeless people
— education
— mentoring/modeling by others successful people
Here is where I started to wonder about the utility of micro-lending in this community. Could there be entrepreneurs in need of a small loan to give them that opportunity that would change their lives? Or even a small loan that could give a family the cushion to go to school to get that certification that could lead to a better job? This community is so tight and the shelters keep such close tabs on their clients it seems like they would have the best insights as to who would be worthy of getting those loans and capable of paying them back. It seems like the Pacific Century Fellows program could help provide the funds to create such a program and the business and banking mentoring to help them succeed. I’ve spoken with a bunch of people about whether that could work (Kive, ProFounder) and how it might work. We’ll see how that develops.
Fred Saunders spoke about the “One Stop Center” concept funded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. It covers all people in a community that fall below certain income thresholds who need help becoming relatively self-sufficient— education (at Leeward Community College), employment training, job search skills such as interviewing and resume building. There is also the “Rent to Work,” a one-year program that assists with permanent housing as long as people maintain employment and seek to improve themselves.
Finally, HPD spoke of how they are there to assist people instead of busting them. In their words, “homelessness is not a crime.” They seek to enforce existing laws such as park closures and parking lot closures so that the homeless are forced to take advantage of the wide variety of services available to them at the many shelters. (Two new laws will also help in this regard: the definition of a tent— only structures with one side are allowed in city parks; no shopping carts in city parks.) What they’ve found is that the homeless rarely are the ones committing crimes; for the most part it is criminal elements hiding out in homeless areas. As a result, the homeless are unfairly blamed fro crimes committed in their areas.
My ultimate take-away from this very informative one-hour discussion is that the homelessness issue is even more complicated than I previously understood, but that there are also more agencies and dedicated individuals than I realized doing a tremendous amount of work to alleviate the symptoms and address the root causes. It would be exciting to be part of the solution to this issue that affects all of us on O’ahu.
On our way to Ma’ili Ulu Ke Kukui Transitional Housing for Families we stopped by “Guard Rails,” a homeless encampment located right next to the highway. There we met Junior Atisanoe (brother of Saleva’a, a.k.a. Konishiki) who works for the Department of Human Services and the Hawaii Public Husing Authority as Project Coordinator. Junior’s message as well as that of the “mayor” of Guard Rails is that the homeless aren’t criminals and they’re not all drug addicts. Many of them work and many of them are trying to improve themselves so that they can get off the beach. It was important for us to see people who are not in shelters but who may be the next ones to take that step. It didn’t feel like any of them are lost causes and put a human face on the homeless, for sure.
At Ulu Ke Kukui we met Fanchon Young, the site director. She explained that their state-funded agency has five buildings with 80 units, (42 beds, and 22 studios) and they serve at-risk and homeless families (as opposed to just homeless at other shelters). In order to qualify for space at Ulu Ke Kukui a family must have children, some form of income, and stay drug and alcohol free. There is a small fee for a unit and a family can stay for up to 24 months. Their population is mostly Hawaiian, but they have an increasingly diverse clientele. They offer programs in skills training, economic development, organic farming/gardening, and a community kitchen where virtually anyone from the community can get a free breakfast or dinner seven days a week. (Jeff Lapilio is the kitchen manager.) They also work with the Waianae Business Center to offer an entrepreneurship program.
While we ate an excellent lunch at Kahumanu Organic Farm and Café, Joe Lapilio, the chief Adminsitrative Officer of Alternative Structures International spoke to us about the causes of homelessness and what he’s learned in his work in this area. Corrorating what many of the other speakers mentioned, homelessness is caused by the cost of living, lack of financial management education, and drug abuse (mostly Ice). Having grown up in Waianae he knows that there has always been some form of homelessness and there always will be to some extent. From his experience he’s concluded that the needs of the homeless are specific to the individuals (due to mental illness, substance abuse, attitudinal, behavioral, and psychological issues, and even an attachment to their pet— most shelters won’t allow them) so we can’t just lump them all together with a once-size-fits-all approach. That’s why they offer such a wide variety of service and training for their clients.
Some of the other business programs at Ulu Ke Kukui feature connections with Hawaii Technical Institute and providing micro-enterprise loans and training through a grant from Pacific Gateway. As we walked to the bus I spoke with Joe about the idea of micro-lending to expand the scope of the micro-enterprises program. He seemed interested in the prospect so I sent him the information from Kiva.org on how to become a Field Partner so that they could possibly link up with that network of donors. If that doesn’t work then maybe we would need to build something of our own from the ground up that is driven and supported by members of Pacific Century Fellows and then opened up to the wider community on O’ahu and Hawaii. One message that kept getting expressed over and over is that the homeless problem is everybody’s problem so we can all play a part is its solution. That may take the form of direct action working with homeless individuals and families, or it can be in the form of indirect actions such as advocacy or providing opportunities (jobs, access to credit) that might have been possible previously.
We then ventured to Sand Island Treatment Center where we heard from Cathy, Yvonne, and Kevin about their experiences as former clients and current employees. SITC has been around since 1960 so it is the oldest licensed treatment center in the Pacific. There seemed to be widespread admiration for their boss, L. Mason Henderson, for the work he has done over the years in addressing some of the most intractable issues related to substance abuse. What he did upon arriving at SITC is he went into the prisons and too out some of the worst offenders and treated them. That solidified his reputation and that of the center so that now the courts refer offenders to SITC rather than throwing them directly in jail.
SITC only hires staff from the treatment population. The treatment period is a two year residential program, but the challenge is that most insurance companies won’t pay for more than a few months. SITC prides itself on treating the individual and not the funding source so somehow they make it happen as long as the person wants to stay there. 70-75% of the residents have an Ice addiction with some marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. The treatment is based on the 12-step program. They believe alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases; they believe in accountability; if you undertreat an addiction then the addict becomes more resistant to treatment in the future— like any other disease. (When I asked the speakers if they believed, based on their personal experience and their work at SITC, if marijuana is a ‘gateway’ drug, they all said that it was not. To paraphrase Kevin: “If people are going to make that jump into Ice, it’s not going to be because they tried marijuana. They were going there anyway.”)
After treatment the clients move into the transition period where they work to get acclimated to living on their own. They get money management skills and try to live on $20 a week. The third stage of the program is the after-care/probation period which has a 90% success rate 1 year after the two year treatment regimen. The speakers made reference to the HOPE court set up by Judge Steven Alm which was reported on in the latest Honolulu Magazine.
SITC focuses on women first because they have the most trouble accessing treatement, Their first priority is pregnant women and then women prone to exploitation.
What they’ve found is that budget cuts are leading to more and more violent incidents due to people going off their medications.
Monday, June 14, 2010
PCF submarine embark day
On June 11 we had the pleasure of going out on the SSN Charlotte. It was pretty amazing in terms one would imagine of a submarine crew— efficiency of space, efficiency of movement, clarity of tasks, back-ups to back-ups, professionalism, and commitment to duty. Until we saw the torpedo and missile room I had almost lost sight of the fact that they were a war vessel. There were subtle reminders around the hallways reminding the occupants of their task— one in particular said "Think Quiet." The level of professionalism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWApSOKcbks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWApSOKcbks
Sunday, June 6, 2010
PUEO— sabbatical
Some initial thoughts on where I'm going in terms of selling the idea of corporations and foundations expanding their "public purpose" campaigns to include PUEO-type programs:
Aside from the emotional standpoint of the respective stories of these kids and their families who now see college as within their reach, right now I'm seeing three potential ways of making this attractive to the private sector:
• long term— these are the companies' future employees; they would be helping to train a more highly skilled work force
• medium term— public relations; businesses can market how they are committed to providing enrichment activities to public schools; that would create brand loyalty and a loyal customer base
• immediate/short term— providing a tax incentive to give them the necessary write-off for their contributions to convince board members and/or shareholders; this is where I need the most help in navigating the legislative process and figuring out if it's even possible to change the tax code in that way
Aside from the emotional standpoint of the respective stories of these kids and their families who now see college as within their reach, right now I'm seeing three potential ways of making this attractive to the private sector:
• long term— these are the companies' future employees; they would be helping to train a more highly skilled work force
• medium term— public relations; businesses can market how they are committed to providing enrichment activities to public schools; that would create brand loyalty and a loyal customer base
• immediate/short term— providing a tax incentive to give them the necessary write-off for their contributions to convince board members and/or shareholders; this is where I need the most help in navigating the legislative process and figuring out if it's even possible to change the tax code in that way
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Pacific Century Fellows— D.A.R.E. and Re-Entry Court
Quite an amazing spectacle seeing 10,000 fifth graders screaming at the top of their lungs for their D.A.R.E. instructors, HPD, and the variety of entertainers at the Stan Sheriff Center. From what I gathered, 85% of school districts in the United States have a D.A.R.E. program that supports public and private schools. (Punahou does not participate. I've been assured by school administrators that it is not a deliberate snub but that the school has designed programs of its own to address those issues.) Some of the speakers included Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona (a former family court judge and ardent anti-drug crusader), Mayor Mufi Hanneman, Major Michael Thomas— D.A.R.E. coordinator, Chief Louis Kealoha, and Deputy Chiefs Macadangdang (Rap Replinger would be proud) and Tatsuyama. One of the funniest moments was when Chief Kealoha and Deputy Chief Macadangdang were conducting a public school versus private school quiz on the D.A.R.E. program goals, Chief Kealoha asked a girl from Star of the Sea (who just so happened to be his daughter) "What does the 'E' in 'Education' stand for?" After a brief pause, he realized his mistake and started laughing at himself while his daughter looked on with the horrified expression of a fifth grader whose father just embarrassed her in front of 10,000 of her contemporaries. Exhibiting the qualities that show what a great chief that he is and the father that he must be, they both laughed it off, adjusted, and then rolled with it. Overall it was a great experience.
After the D.A.R.E. event we went down to the Federal Building to hear a presentation about the pilot Re-Entry Court Program for federal offenders being released from prison. The participants were: Alexander (Ali) Silvert, Federal Public Defender's Office; Rich Crawford, Chief Probation Officer; Beverly Sameshima, US Attorney's Office; Robin DeMello, US Probation Officer; and Judge Kobayashi.
Mr. Silvert started with a brief explanation of "supervised release" and how that term is interchangeable with "probation" and "parole". Technically there is no parole in federal sentencing so most people serve their full sentences. 85% of all people charged with crimes plead guilty and only about 6% actually go to trial, and then that's where he comes in to help them exercise their "right to an attorney."
Rich Crawford then gave a very detailed presentation of how the Probation/Re-Entry system has moved towards an evidence-based practice of using current research in helping offenders make the transition back into the community. In 1980, there were approximately 24,000 people in the federal system whereas in 2010 there are approximately 210,000. 1 out of 42-45 of them is under community-based supervision of some kind. (It has gotten to the point where in California education is outspent by corrections.) One conclusion he says everyone seems to agree on is that scare tactics-based programs (i.e. Scared Straight, etc.) do not work. What works, according to the evidence, are practices more geared towards collaboration and organizational development. These include:
1) assessing actuarial risk
2) enhance intrinsic motivation (interviewing)
3) targeted intervention
— risk
— need
— responsivity
— dosage
— treatment
They are moving towards a model that stresses alliance first, compliance second. If people perceive that they were treated fairly by the system then they are more lilely to succeed in their rehabilitation. Since the 1980s, the recidivism rate is up because the emphasis was more on punishment (lock 'em up!) than rehabilitation.
In Hawai'i there are approximately 800 people under supervision— 86% are in supervised release, 8% are on probation, and 6% are magistrate cases (I didn't really understand that last distinction). The recidivism rate is currently 8%. Some of the methods to combat recidivism are:
1) structured learning
2) modelling
3) problem solving
4) re-enforcement
5) use of authority
6) effective disapproval
It is also important to recognize criminogenic needs among offenders:
— anti-social behavior
— anti-social values
— criminal peers
— low self-control
For the most part, and this part connects to what we heard earlier from Public Safety Director Clayton Frank, US Attorney Char Nakakuni, and Special Agent in Charge Char Thornton, drugs play a major role in all crimes— 32.6% of all crimes nationally, 46.9% in Hawai'i. Of those crimes, 86% are due to crystal methamphetamine (compared to 17% nationally) and only 5% due to marijuana. Once again this dichotomy begs the question: why are we spending any money combating marijuana use? Rather than considering it a 'gateway' drug, maybe it should be called a 'trampoline' drug or 'rocket-propelled' drug because according to those statistics people must try marijuana once and then get everyone they know to move over to ice. That doesn't seem to make any sense.
Robin DeMello then spoke about the pilot program and how it's worked in Hawai'i. They target high-risk offenders— drug, sex, white collar— with cognitive behavior treatment intervention methods. There are currently 8 people in the pilot: 4 men and 4 women ranging in age from 24 to 58, diverse ethnicities, 7 of them with drug violations.
The goals of the program are:
— reduce recidivism
— help transition/ reintegration back into the community
— promote public safety
It is a one year program that requires the offenders to meet with a team and other participants twice a month. In the meetings they engage in intensive cognitive behavior treatment activities such as interactive journaling— learn a concept, write about it, practice it. There are incentives (such as gift cards) for achieving of goals and sanctions for missteps. If they succeed in the program then they get one year taken off their supervision (that proved to be the greatest incentive in getting offenders to volunteer for the pilot program).
The presentation concluded with short testimonials from the participants (showing the power of story) in which they all genuinely seemed to believe that they had benefitted from the attention and collaboration with other group members. The most compelling element for me was when a woman who had been convicted for a drug crime expresses her happiness that the US Attorney who had prosecuted her was a part of the Re-Entry team because she wanted to thank her for saving her life.
This unique approach to helping convicted criminals become productive citizens definitely seemed to work. I hope that it gets the proper funding so that it can be brought to scale, but like all good government programs that actually work, I fear that it won't.
After the D.A.R.E. event we went down to the Federal Building to hear a presentation about the pilot Re-Entry Court Program for federal offenders being released from prison. The participants were: Alexander (Ali) Silvert, Federal Public Defender's Office; Rich Crawford, Chief Probation Officer; Beverly Sameshima, US Attorney's Office; Robin DeMello, US Probation Officer; and Judge Kobayashi.
Mr. Silvert started with a brief explanation of "supervised release" and how that term is interchangeable with "probation" and "parole". Technically there is no parole in federal sentencing so most people serve their full sentences. 85% of all people charged with crimes plead guilty and only about 6% actually go to trial, and then that's where he comes in to help them exercise their "right to an attorney."
Rich Crawford then gave a very detailed presentation of how the Probation/Re-Entry system has moved towards an evidence-based practice of using current research in helping offenders make the transition back into the community. In 1980, there were approximately 24,000 people in the federal system whereas in 2010 there are approximately 210,000. 1 out of 42-45 of them is under community-based supervision of some kind. (It has gotten to the point where in California education is outspent by corrections.) One conclusion he says everyone seems to agree on is that scare tactics-based programs (i.e. Scared Straight, etc.) do not work. What works, according to the evidence, are practices more geared towards collaboration and organizational development. These include:
1) assessing actuarial risk
2) enhance intrinsic motivation (interviewing)
3) targeted intervention
— risk
— need
— responsivity
— dosage
— treatment
They are moving towards a model that stresses alliance first, compliance second. If people perceive that they were treated fairly by the system then they are more lilely to succeed in their rehabilitation. Since the 1980s, the recidivism rate is up because the emphasis was more on punishment (lock 'em up!) than rehabilitation.
In Hawai'i there are approximately 800 people under supervision— 86% are in supervised release, 8% are on probation, and 6% are magistrate cases (I didn't really understand that last distinction). The recidivism rate is currently 8%. Some of the methods to combat recidivism are:
1) structured learning
2) modelling
3) problem solving
4) re-enforcement
5) use of authority
6) effective disapproval
It is also important to recognize criminogenic needs among offenders:
— anti-social behavior
— anti-social values
— criminal peers
— low self-control
For the most part, and this part connects to what we heard earlier from Public Safety Director Clayton Frank, US Attorney Char Nakakuni, and Special Agent in Charge Char Thornton, drugs play a major role in all crimes— 32.6% of all crimes nationally, 46.9% in Hawai'i. Of those crimes, 86% are due to crystal methamphetamine (compared to 17% nationally) and only 5% due to marijuana. Once again this dichotomy begs the question: why are we spending any money combating marijuana use? Rather than considering it a 'gateway' drug, maybe it should be called a 'trampoline' drug or 'rocket-propelled' drug because according to those statistics people must try marijuana once and then get everyone they know to move over to ice. That doesn't seem to make any sense.
Robin DeMello then spoke about the pilot program and how it's worked in Hawai'i. They target high-risk offenders— drug, sex, white collar— with cognitive behavior treatment intervention methods. There are currently 8 people in the pilot: 4 men and 4 women ranging in age from 24 to 58, diverse ethnicities, 7 of them with drug violations.
The goals of the program are:
— reduce recidivism
— help transition/ reintegration back into the community
— promote public safety
It is a one year program that requires the offenders to meet with a team and other participants twice a month. In the meetings they engage in intensive cognitive behavior treatment activities such as interactive journaling— learn a concept, write about it, practice it. There are incentives (such as gift cards) for achieving of goals and sanctions for missteps. If they succeed in the program then they get one year taken off their supervision (that proved to be the greatest incentive in getting offenders to volunteer for the pilot program).
The presentation concluded with short testimonials from the participants (showing the power of story) in which they all genuinely seemed to believe that they had benefitted from the attention and collaboration with other group members. The most compelling element for me was when a woman who had been convicted for a drug crime expresses her happiness that the US Attorney who had prosecuted her was a part of the Re-Entry team because she wanted to thank her for saving her life.
This unique approach to helping convicted criminals become productive citizens definitely seemed to work. I hope that it gets the proper funding so that it can be brought to scale, but like all good government programs that actually work, I fear that it won't.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Pacific Century Fellows— USNS Mercy
On Saturday, May 8th we got a chance to board and view the facilities of the USNS Mercy, the joint medical mission ship that is about to go out on a 5-month tour to the South Pacific. I can't imagine a better way to spread goodwill throughout the world than to send out doctors, nurses, and technicians to under-served areas and to provide them with medical service we take for granted. That's the way we should be fighting the war on terror.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Pacific Century Fellows— Public Safety, part 3
To end the day we visited Ke Kula Maka'i, the Honolulu Police Department's training school in Waipahu. There we were greeted by Chief Louis Kealoha, saw a video about the Police Academy process, got demonstration of the new S.W.A.T. tools that will be employed by HPD in the event of a terrorist attack and for protection of visiting diplomats during the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, and got a chance to view the S.W.A.T. K-9 unit. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Thanks to Lisa Bail for taking them.)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Pacific Century Fellows— Public Safety, part 2
After lunch we heard from Florence Nakakuni, U.S. Attorney, District of Hawai'i, and Charlene Thornton, the F.B.I. Special Agent in Charge, F.B.I., Honolulu. Ms. Nakakuni gave us a brief overview of the federal U.S. Attorney's office (93 U.S. Attorneys nationally) and its goals:
1) protect the national security of the United States,
2) fight crime,
3) protect the economy,
4) protect the environment,
5) ensure fairness in the marketplace.
To do that the U.S. Attorney's office prosecutes cases for the U.S., defends the U.S. in cases against it, and seeks to recover debts owed to the U.S. 90% of those crimes are criminal in nature with the trend from the last year showing violent crime going down while property crime has gone up. Much of that, according to Ms. Nakakuni and mirroring Clayton Frank from earlier in the day, is due to drugs. 50% of their criminal cases are drug related, and of those cases, 85% connect to crystal meth (followed by cocaine and then marijuana). Marijuana is still the most widely used drug, with prices around $400/ounce. 120,000 plants were seized this year, down from 300,000 ten years ago, mostly due to growing operations moving indoors and more marijuana coming in from Mexico and British Columbia. The Department of Justice is officially opposed to the legalization of marijuana for any use as it is seen, again mirroring Clayton Frank, as a gateway drug that leads inevitably to other "harder" drugs. Even medical marijuana, in their view, send the wrong message to kids that these mind-altering substances are not as dangerous as they can be. They have not been tested by the FDA so there is really no way of knowing the potency or all the negative side-effects.
Char Thornton followed with a brief overview of the F.B.I. as the principle investigating arm of the Justice Department. They currently have 56 field offices in the U.S. and 61 overseas with 30,000 employees, 13,500 of whom are agents (those who carry badges and guns). The Hawai'i office, which also covers Guam, American Samoa, the Marianas Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, has 205 agents, 103 of whom are agents. Despite our remote location, Ms. Thornton pointed out that HI definitely has the charcateristics of a potential terrorist target: prominent military bases, birthplace of the current president, and the upcoming Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. She said that pre-9/11 F.B.I. field offices had more discretion over what their priorities would be based on their particular circumstances, but now they are national priorities determined by Robert Mueller:
1) counterterrorism— internal threat
2) counter espionage/intelligence
3) cyber crime— Internet
4) public corruption— stimulus fraud in particular
5) civil rights
6) organized crime
7) white collar crime
8) violent crime
Ms. Thornton also agreed with Ms. Nakakuni and Mr. Frank that crystal meth is one of the most deleterious elements in our society, but she conceded that is it virtually impossible to stop it from coming into Hawai'i. In her opinion, law enforcement is not the way to solve that problem ("we can't arrest our way out of our crystal meth epidemic") and that focusing on the demand side is the way to contain it.
Connecting back to my earlier post on Systems Thinking, there appears to be a pretty clear 'stop' with respect to fighting crime in Hawai'i and that's crystal meth. That nothing new to people in the criminal justice system, but it makes me wonder if fighting marijuana is really a wise use of our resources. The question of causation versus correlation with respect to the whole 'gateway drug' argument is problemmatic in my mind. Just because you can draw a line from most crystal meth users to their having used marijuana at one time earlier in their lives doesn't mean the marijuana use lead to their crystal meth use. There has to be a medical explanation about how the two drugs stimulate completely different parts of the brain which would explain the completely different reactions people have when they are under the influence of them. I have a feeling if you asked a police officer if he or she would rather encounter a criminal under the influence of marijuana or meth they would always choose the marijuana user. You might hear about some families' or individual's lives being ruined by marijuana 'addiction', but every family and individual seems to get ruined by meth. So then doesn't it make more sense to focus all of our efforts on eradicating that drug and leaving the marijuana growers essentially alone? I've also heard the economic argument made that leaving marijuana growers alone will cause the product to flood the market, bring the price down and steer more kids and adults towards the cheaper (less violent, less addictive) high while also stimulating the local economy with the extra cash that will stay in the islands. I'm not entirely convinced of that argument, but I'm also not convinced by our leading crime fighters and public safety officials that it is the best way to be using our prevention dollars. Here are a couple of articles from both sides of the debate: Study Says Marijuana No Gateway Drug from Science Blog (I can't vouch for its credibility, but it was the number one hit on Google) and Marijuana is Gateway Drug for Two Debates from the New York Times.
1) protect the national security of the United States,
2) fight crime,
3) protect the economy,
4) protect the environment,
5) ensure fairness in the marketplace.
To do that the U.S. Attorney's office prosecutes cases for the U.S., defends the U.S. in cases against it, and seeks to recover debts owed to the U.S. 90% of those crimes are criminal in nature with the trend from the last year showing violent crime going down while property crime has gone up. Much of that, according to Ms. Nakakuni and mirroring Clayton Frank from earlier in the day, is due to drugs. 50% of their criminal cases are drug related, and of those cases, 85% connect to crystal meth (followed by cocaine and then marijuana). Marijuana is still the most widely used drug, with prices around $400/ounce. 120,000 plants were seized this year, down from 300,000 ten years ago, mostly due to growing operations moving indoors and more marijuana coming in from Mexico and British Columbia. The Department of Justice is officially opposed to the legalization of marijuana for any use as it is seen, again mirroring Clayton Frank, as a gateway drug that leads inevitably to other "harder" drugs. Even medical marijuana, in their view, send the wrong message to kids that these mind-altering substances are not as dangerous as they can be. They have not been tested by the FDA so there is really no way of knowing the potency or all the negative side-effects.
Char Thornton followed with a brief overview of the F.B.I. as the principle investigating arm of the Justice Department. They currently have 56 field offices in the U.S. and 61 overseas with 30,000 employees, 13,500 of whom are agents (those who carry badges and guns). The Hawai'i office, which also covers Guam, American Samoa, the Marianas Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, has 205 agents, 103 of whom are agents. Despite our remote location, Ms. Thornton pointed out that HI definitely has the charcateristics of a potential terrorist target: prominent military bases, birthplace of the current president, and the upcoming Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. She said that pre-9/11 F.B.I. field offices had more discretion over what their priorities would be based on their particular circumstances, but now they are national priorities determined by Robert Mueller:
1) counterterrorism— internal threat
2) counter espionage/intelligence
3) cyber crime— Internet
4) public corruption— stimulus fraud in particular
5) civil rights
6) organized crime
7) white collar crime
8) violent crime
Ms. Thornton also agreed with Ms. Nakakuni and Mr. Frank that crystal meth is one of the most deleterious elements in our society, but she conceded that is it virtually impossible to stop it from coming into Hawai'i. In her opinion, law enforcement is not the way to solve that problem ("we can't arrest our way out of our crystal meth epidemic") and that focusing on the demand side is the way to contain it.
Connecting back to my earlier post on Systems Thinking, there appears to be a pretty clear 'stop' with respect to fighting crime in Hawai'i and that's crystal meth. That nothing new to people in the criminal justice system, but it makes me wonder if fighting marijuana is really a wise use of our resources. The question of causation versus correlation with respect to the whole 'gateway drug' argument is problemmatic in my mind. Just because you can draw a line from most crystal meth users to their having used marijuana at one time earlier in their lives doesn't mean the marijuana use lead to their crystal meth use. There has to be a medical explanation about how the two drugs stimulate completely different parts of the brain which would explain the completely different reactions people have when they are under the influence of them. I have a feeling if you asked a police officer if he or she would rather encounter a criminal under the influence of marijuana or meth they would always choose the marijuana user. You might hear about some families' or individual's lives being ruined by marijuana 'addiction', but every family and individual seems to get ruined by meth. So then doesn't it make more sense to focus all of our efforts on eradicating that drug and leaving the marijuana growers essentially alone? I've also heard the economic argument made that leaving marijuana growers alone will cause the product to flood the market, bring the price down and steer more kids and adults towards the cheaper (less violent, less addictive) high while also stimulating the local economy with the extra cash that will stay in the islands. I'm not entirely convinced of that argument, but I'm also not convinced by our leading crime fighters and public safety officials that it is the best way to be using our prevention dollars. Here are a couple of articles from both sides of the debate: Study Says Marijuana No Gateway Drug from Science Blog (I can't vouch for its credibility, but it was the number one hit on Google) and Marijuana is Gateway Drug for Two Debates from the New York Times.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Pacific Century Fellows— Public Safety
Here's a sign all "visitors" and visitors encounter when they enter Halawa Correctional Facility:
You are here because you need help.
We are here to help you.
We cannot help you if you do not cooperate.
If you do not cooperate, we will make you cooperate.
Going into the prison as a one day visitor I was under the impression the emphasis would be more on 'making' inmates 'cooperate' than actually helping them. I expected a very severe place with hardened criminals, angry guards, and cynical administrators. Let's be clear that the place is a medium-security prison and it certainly is not a hotel, but my overall impression from the three hours I spent there is that the place is a lot more hopeful than I ever imagined it could be.
We started the morning with a presentation by Clayton Frank, head of the Department of Public Safety. Mr. Frank explained the department is a part of the governor's cabinet, has a budget of $220 million, and 2,500 employees, but essentially it is unseen by the public unless absolutely necessary. As a result of being "under the totem pole," this department consistently sees its budget cut from one year to the next, but the demand for its services continue to go up, especially during an economic downturn. The prison is currently overcrowded because individuals continue to make poor choices despite being given many opportunities in the criminal justice system to avoid ever getting sent to Halawa. The current facilities are old and obsolete, and the political battles over where to locate the next big prison (not to mention how to pay for it) have caused Hawai'i to send almost 2,000 of its prisoners to a facility in Arizona. The situation is certainly not ideal, as seen in this recent article from the Honolulu Advertiser about a prisoner from Hawai'i getting killed there. One clear detriment is that the gang activity is quite rampant in the mainland prisons, much more so than at Halawa.
Mr. Frank also emphasized that we, as in the entire community, have a stake in the adequacy of the public safety system because 98% of offenders will eventually return to the community. They are not all simply locked up for good, so it behooves us to make sure that there are enough services for these individuals to make sure that they can contribute to society, or at least avoid committing more crime, when they get out. (Halawa currently has a 50% recidivism rate— their goal is 25%.) During the economic downturn the prison population has remained fairly constant but there are more homeless appearing due to the economic downturn and more violent crime. Much of the violent crime, according to Mr. Frank, is a result of drugs, which he says accounts for 75% of the offenses committed by the incarcerated at Halawa. In his determination, crystal meth is the single most damaging factor to families and individuals in Hawai'i. The health costs associated with this drug due to respiratory, heart, and dental damage have steadily gone up while their funding has gone down (that was a consistent theme in the presentation). It currently costs $139 per day to house an inmate at Halawa, approximately $50,000 per year, so it is also in our fiscal interests to prevent these crimes from occurring.
Despite the challenges the prison administrators face every day and every budgeting session, what they presented to us was a very strong product in my opinion. That impression may have been due to my low expectations going in, but the overwhelming sentiment I have after the experience is one of optimism. As Gary Kaplan, Program Control Administrator, showed us around the prison, he constantly emphasized the desire to prevent crimes. The juvenile system, courts, and family counseling structure are critical in helping to achieve those outcomes, but it is very difficult, again due to the prevalence of drugs which undermine the family unit and have terrible impacts on individuals. So once they arrive at Halawa after having traveled through the entire system, it is crucial, according to Mr. kaplan, that they strive to improve themselves. The prison has a very extensive RaD (Reception and Diagnostic) program where they evaluate all elements of an inmate— crime committed, psychological state, addiction, level of education, any specialized skills they might have— in order to craft the most effective plan for their respective rehabilitation. The medical, educational, library, industrial facilities were reportedly well used by the inmates and the people working there appeared to love their jobs and I got the sense they really believe that they are actually helping the inmates improve themselves. To illustrate this point (maybe its cognitive dissonance), the landscaping around "Main Street", the main road that connects all the prison facilities, is beautiful and appears to be professionally maintained. Mr. Kaplan told us that a sex offender had taken the lead on that many years ago and had subsequently trained other inmates on how best to maintain the grounds before he was released. He later returned for committing a non-sex-based crime. (Mr. Kaplan also assured us that most sex offenders did not commit similar crimes upon being released from Halawa.)
You are here because you need help.
We are here to help you.
We cannot help you if you do not cooperate.
If you do not cooperate, we will make you cooperate.
Going into the prison as a one day visitor I was under the impression the emphasis would be more on 'making' inmates 'cooperate' than actually helping them. I expected a very severe place with hardened criminals, angry guards, and cynical administrators. Let's be clear that the place is a medium-security prison and it certainly is not a hotel, but my overall impression from the three hours I spent there is that the place is a lot more hopeful than I ever imagined it could be.
We started the morning with a presentation by Clayton Frank, head of the Department of Public Safety. Mr. Frank explained the department is a part of the governor's cabinet, has a budget of $220 million, and 2,500 employees, but essentially it is unseen by the public unless absolutely necessary. As a result of being "under the totem pole," this department consistently sees its budget cut from one year to the next, but the demand for its services continue to go up, especially during an economic downturn. The prison is currently overcrowded because individuals continue to make poor choices despite being given many opportunities in the criminal justice system to avoid ever getting sent to Halawa. The current facilities are old and obsolete, and the political battles over where to locate the next big prison (not to mention how to pay for it) have caused Hawai'i to send almost 2,000 of its prisoners to a facility in Arizona. The situation is certainly not ideal, as seen in this recent article from the Honolulu Advertiser about a prisoner from Hawai'i getting killed there. One clear detriment is that the gang activity is quite rampant in the mainland prisons, much more so than at Halawa.
Mr. Frank also emphasized that we, as in the entire community, have a stake in the adequacy of the public safety system because 98% of offenders will eventually return to the community. They are not all simply locked up for good, so it behooves us to make sure that there are enough services for these individuals to make sure that they can contribute to society, or at least avoid committing more crime, when they get out. (Halawa currently has a 50% recidivism rate— their goal is 25%.) During the economic downturn the prison population has remained fairly constant but there are more homeless appearing due to the economic downturn and more violent crime. Much of the violent crime, according to Mr. Frank, is a result of drugs, which he says accounts for 75% of the offenses committed by the incarcerated at Halawa. In his determination, crystal meth is the single most damaging factor to families and individuals in Hawai'i. The health costs associated with this drug due to respiratory, heart, and dental damage have steadily gone up while their funding has gone down (that was a consistent theme in the presentation). It currently costs $139 per day to house an inmate at Halawa, approximately $50,000 per year, so it is also in our fiscal interests to prevent these crimes from occurring.
Despite the challenges the prison administrators face every day and every budgeting session, what they presented to us was a very strong product in my opinion. That impression may have been due to my low expectations going in, but the overwhelming sentiment I have after the experience is one of optimism. As Gary Kaplan, Program Control Administrator, showed us around the prison, he constantly emphasized the desire to prevent crimes. The juvenile system, courts, and family counseling structure are critical in helping to achieve those outcomes, but it is very difficult, again due to the prevalence of drugs which undermine the family unit and have terrible impacts on individuals. So once they arrive at Halawa after having traveled through the entire system, it is crucial, according to Mr. kaplan, that they strive to improve themselves. The prison has a very extensive RaD (Reception and Diagnostic) program where they evaluate all elements of an inmate— crime committed, psychological state, addiction, level of education, any specialized skills they might have— in order to craft the most effective plan for their respective rehabilitation. The medical, educational, library, industrial facilities were reportedly well used by the inmates and the people working there appeared to love their jobs and I got the sense they really believe that they are actually helping the inmates improve themselves. To illustrate this point (maybe its cognitive dissonance), the landscaping around "Main Street", the main road that connects all the prison facilities, is beautiful and appears to be professionally maintained. Mr. Kaplan told us that a sex offender had taken the lead on that many years ago and had subsequently trained other inmates on how best to maintain the grounds before he was released. He later returned for committing a non-sex-based crime. (Mr. Kaplan also assured us that most sex offenders did not commit similar crimes upon being released from Halawa.)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Systems Thinking
The other day I had the opportunity to hear a brief presentation by Systems Thinking experts Dr. Daniel Kim and his wife Diane Cory. They were actually in Hawai'i on vacation but took some time out to stop by Punahou to speak with administrators and teachers about how we can apply systems thinking to our sustainability practices.
They emphasized that Hawai'i in particular is a place that must incorporate holistic, systems thinking simply due to its geographical limits— very small space, finite resources. Similar to a place such as Singapore, Hawai'i is at risk systemically. Where they have succeeded is in utilizing government and market forces to achieve a desired outcome; in this case that would mean a more systemic approach to how they manage their scarce resources. This type of thinking can also be applied to other areas such as public education. My concern is that the culture of the United States, as witnessed by the rise of the Tea Party movement, shows how Americans get very nervous when the balance between government and market forces starts to shift too much in the government's direction. That's why we see such a reaction to the stimulus plan, carbon markets, and even "sin taxes" in trying to curb people's behavior in less harmful directions so that we consider the collective rather than just the individual's needs.
Dr. Kim then discussed the concept of "stocks and flows" and illustrated his point by using the metaphor of a shower head and a bathtub. When we shower we don't see how water accumulates so we are unaware of how much we are using— that would be flow. In a bathtub we see the accumulation so we are much more aware of the system— that would be stock. Essentially, when we make accumulation invisible we lose sight of the system. This concept also makes me think of landfills and solid waste.
In systems thinking, stocks determine the state of the variable. Where does it flow and where does it accumulate? To understand a system you have see where the stocks occur and then 'swim upstream' to see how the system flows prior to accumulation. Where do we then intervene in the system? Systems thinking allows policy makers to become more effective at problem solving (proactive versus reactive) by managing stocks and flows.
We then examined how "The Tragedy of the Commons" is the opposite of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand." Individuals acting to their own benefit with regard to a resource that is essentially free (fish stocks, ocean/river dumping, the air we breathe, etc.) end up hurting the whole of society by their behavior, especially when such behavior is wide-spread. The concept of the invisible hand works if resources are unlimited, such as during the westward expansion seen in manifest destiny, but not so much when resources are limited.
In relating this concept to Punahou's sustainability initiatives, Dr. Kim asked us to consider the purpose of teaching sustainability to our students. He then encouraged us to be living examples of what we're teaching so that our behavior, along with our programs, are in line with the purpose. Carri Morgan pointed out that the school has tangible sustainability goals (50% less solid waste, energy and water use, cars on campus, and more food production by 2016) but no real way to measure that accurately. Dr. Kim advised on the difference between measuring and quantification. We can use other indicators as surrogate measures in place of quantifiable targets.
Some other resources they mentioned in the course of their presentation:
The Creative Learning Exchange, which seeks to develop "Systems Citizens" in K-12 education
Pegasus Communications which publishes a newsletter, The Systems Thinker, and holds frequent conferences and webinars on systems thinking in the workplace and classroom.
Karl Henrik Robert, founder of the Natural Step, an organization dedicated to ecological sustainability
Jay Forrester, Systems Thinking guru— System Dynamics and K-12 Teaching
They emphasized that Hawai'i in particular is a place that must incorporate holistic, systems thinking simply due to its geographical limits— very small space, finite resources. Similar to a place such as Singapore, Hawai'i is at risk systemically. Where they have succeeded is in utilizing government and market forces to achieve a desired outcome; in this case that would mean a more systemic approach to how they manage their scarce resources. This type of thinking can also be applied to other areas such as public education. My concern is that the culture of the United States, as witnessed by the rise of the Tea Party movement, shows how Americans get very nervous when the balance between government and market forces starts to shift too much in the government's direction. That's why we see such a reaction to the stimulus plan, carbon markets, and even "sin taxes" in trying to curb people's behavior in less harmful directions so that we consider the collective rather than just the individual's needs.
Dr. Kim then discussed the concept of "stocks and flows" and illustrated his point by using the metaphor of a shower head and a bathtub. When we shower we don't see how water accumulates so we are unaware of how much we are using— that would be flow. In a bathtub we see the accumulation so we are much more aware of the system— that would be stock. Essentially, when we make accumulation invisible we lose sight of the system. This concept also makes me think of landfills and solid waste.
In systems thinking, stocks determine the state of the variable. Where does it flow and where does it accumulate? To understand a system you have see where the stocks occur and then 'swim upstream' to see how the system flows prior to accumulation. Where do we then intervene in the system? Systems thinking allows policy makers to become more effective at problem solving (proactive versus reactive) by managing stocks and flows.
We then examined how "The Tragedy of the Commons" is the opposite of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand." Individuals acting to their own benefit with regard to a resource that is essentially free (fish stocks, ocean/river dumping, the air we breathe, etc.) end up hurting the whole of society by their behavior, especially when such behavior is wide-spread. The concept of the invisible hand works if resources are unlimited, such as during the westward expansion seen in manifest destiny, but not so much when resources are limited.
In relating this concept to Punahou's sustainability initiatives, Dr. Kim asked us to consider the purpose of teaching sustainability to our students. He then encouraged us to be living examples of what we're teaching so that our behavior, along with our programs, are in line with the purpose. Carri Morgan pointed out that the school has tangible sustainability goals (50% less solid waste, energy and water use, cars on campus, and more food production by 2016) but no real way to measure that accurately. Dr. Kim advised on the difference between measuring and quantification. We can use other indicators as surrogate measures in place of quantifiable targets.
Some other resources they mentioned in the course of their presentation:
The Creative Learning Exchange, which seeks to develop "Systems Citizens" in K-12 education
Pegasus Communications which publishes a newsletter, The Systems Thinker, and holds frequent conferences and webinars on systems thinking in the workplace and classroom.
Karl Henrik Robert, founder of the Natural Step, an organization dedicated to ecological sustainability
Jay Forrester, Systems Thinking guru— System Dynamics and K-12 Teaching
Monday, March 29, 2010
Crazy Talk/Heath Care
Frank Rich had another great article this week digging deeper into the health care vote aftermath. (At the risk of appearing too liberal, Paul Krugman did as well.) Rich argues that the extreme reaction to Obama and minority members of Congress is not really about health care at all but a resistance to the idea of minorities and women (namely, Nancy Pelosi and Sonia Sotomayor with probably a little Hillary Clinton thrown in) breaking out of their subordinate roles, at least as how the Tea Partiers see it. The consequences could potentially be disastrous.
I see examples of this type of black and white reactionary thinking all over the place. In the last year or so as I drive home between 3 and 4 in the afternoon I've taken to listening to AM 990 rather than the Canadian Broadcasting Company's "As It Happens" (no offense to Canada but there are only so many stories about seals and politics in Ottawa that I can handle). There I get to hear Michael Savage, Rusty Humphries, and occasionally Glenn Beck. It is always interesting and informative to get the other side of the debate, but it's also alarming and disconcerting to hear the logical leaps and warping of information. Most of my listening at that time is to Michael Savage who I have made some mental notes about his most egregious rantings.
1) Citing the Internet as his source that the Air France flight that crashed on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was taken down by terrorists. "Why isn't the mainstream media reporting this?" Actually, why are you trying to drum up fear when there is no credible evidence to back up your point.
2) Bringing on a questionable "scientist" to say that cap and trade won't work because it failed in trying to curb sulfur dioxide emissions from industry in the mid-west that casued acid rain. Last I checked, we haven't heard much about acid rain in the Northeast as that was one of the most successful and least invasive solutions to combining market forces (trading the right to pollute) with an environmental ethic.
3) My personal favorite (so far): during the initial swine flu outbreak in May 2009, Savage referred to Obama as Chairman Obama because of his fiscal stimulus package and not a minute later called for him to follow China's lead and close down the border with Mexico (China had banned all flights from Mexico). Stopping 150,000+ cars from crossing that border would have been devastating to the American economy. Swine flu did not turn out to be as bad as feared so it looks like Obama made the right non-vall on that one.
To counteract this idiocy I used to watch a lot of Comedy Central. I don't get to watch the Daily Show or Steven Colbert as much as I would like to (or even at all these days) but every now and then the buzz about a particular episode or sketch inspires me to look it up. This one is absolutely brilliant.
I see examples of this type of black and white reactionary thinking all over the place. In the last year or so as I drive home between 3 and 4 in the afternoon I've taken to listening to AM 990 rather than the Canadian Broadcasting Company's "As It Happens" (no offense to Canada but there are only so many stories about seals and politics in Ottawa that I can handle). There I get to hear Michael Savage, Rusty Humphries, and occasionally Glenn Beck. It is always interesting and informative to get the other side of the debate, but it's also alarming and disconcerting to hear the logical leaps and warping of information. Most of my listening at that time is to Michael Savage who I have made some mental notes about his most egregious rantings.
1) Citing the Internet as his source that the Air France flight that crashed on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was taken down by terrorists. "Why isn't the mainstream media reporting this?" Actually, why are you trying to drum up fear when there is no credible evidence to back up your point.
2) Bringing on a questionable "scientist" to say that cap and trade won't work because it failed in trying to curb sulfur dioxide emissions from industry in the mid-west that casued acid rain. Last I checked, we haven't heard much about acid rain in the Northeast as that was one of the most successful and least invasive solutions to combining market forces (trading the right to pollute) with an environmental ethic.
3) My personal favorite (so far): during the initial swine flu outbreak in May 2009, Savage referred to Obama as Chairman Obama because of his fiscal stimulus package and not a minute later called for him to follow China's lead and close down the border with Mexico (China had banned all flights from Mexico). Stopping 150,000+ cars from crossing that border would have been devastating to the American economy. Swine flu did not turn out to be as bad as feared so it looks like Obama made the right non-vall on that one.
To counteract this idiocy I used to watch a lot of Comedy Central. I don't get to watch the Daily Show or Steven Colbert as much as I would like to (or even at all these days) but every now and then the buzz about a particular episode or sketch inspires me to look it up. This one is absolutely brilliant.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Conservative Libertarian | ||||
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