Reflections

Venturing into the spectacle of Capstone, it was easy for me to find what general idea I wanted to pursue, but much harder to decide on a specific project. My passion for the environment and renewable energy was instilled in me from a young age from my familial values and my experiences growing up, as a Boy Scout and an avid Sci-Fi reader. Before my senior year, I pursued a passion project to fundraise for ten homeowners in the Kailapa Hawaiian Homes neighborhood’s solar installations. This project fully epitomized my passion for renewable energy for its environmental and economic benefits. This project entered a standstill, due to the long waiting times for permits, right as Capstone began. Knowing that I had to wait on that project until permitting was finished, it was hard for me to brainstorm my next steps. I was tempted to just cruise the year on what I had already done, but I knew that I could make a bigger impact. There are a wide variety of problems with energy in Hawai’i surrounding it, access to it, economic inequality, rising energy prices, long permitting times, and many more. And I knew that in my Capstone project, I must advocate for these problems in the place that needed it most, the State Legislature. 

Wanting to learn more about writing legislation, I asked Mr. Mumau where I should find the resources or mentors who could help me learn to write legislation. Mr. Mumau showed me many online resources that explained the formatting and jargon needed for legislative writing. Additionally, Mr. Mumau also introduced me to Mr. Hustace, an HPA alumni and active community member in the political scene. Meeting with Mr. Hustace was incredibly helpful as he gave me time to brainstorm countless ideas, gain feedback, and ask many questions. We met three times, each time progressing deeper into writing legislation. With Mr. Hustace’s feedback, I wrote a first draft of a bill regarding solar permitting in Hawaiian Homes neighborhoods, looking to streamline the permitting process for Native Hawaiian residents. 

Throughout my meetings with Mr. Hustace, he advised me to reach out to my district’s State Senator and Representative, Senator Richards and Representative Tarnas, respectively. Reaching out to representatives was a large learning moment for me. I expected to easily get responses back, but didn’t realize how truly busy our State Representatives are. Most of the initial communication I had was with Senator Richard’s staff. One thing I also did not expect were the resources that I could receive from the Representatives. One example of this was reaching out to Senator Richard’s office and receiving a contact with the Citizens Climate Lobby. This was incredibly helpful because I had never heard of the Citizens Climate Lobby before and it gave me a helpful resource for my research. 

As I reached out to Doug Hagan and Paul Bernstein, two representatives of the Citizens Climate Lobby, I asked for a call to learn more about what they were working on and ask for feedback with my project. We set up a zoom call and I was able to meet with six members of the CCL. They were able to give me great feedback on the legislation I had worked on, and also told me about the idea of attending the Climate Future Forum. The Climate Future Forum is an annual conference meeting of youth concerned about climate action. I decided to attend and gave my reflection to an Olelo Community News anchor.

https://youtu.be/NGaz5rXzrQ8 

After the Climate Future Forum, I stayed in touch with Paul Bernstein and Doug Hagan in regards to a bill they were lobbying for in the upcoming legislative session, Carbon Cashback. I showed interest in the bill and discussed it with Paul, asking questions to learn more about it. In short, Carbon Cashback is a bill that incites a tax on imported barrels of oil, which disincentives fossil fuels, and gives the money from the tax to Hawai’i residents. I was drawn to this bill because it helped move people away from fossil fuels, and actually helps low income families, as every person is given the same share of the money. This makes the money more impactful to a family on a lower budget. On January 17, 2024 I flew to Honolulu and met with the Carbon Cashback team at the Capitol. Throughout the day, we strategized which legislators we needed to prioritize meeting with and what we should talk about. I personally spoke with more than 20 legislators throughout the day, lobbying for Carbon Cashback and our environment in general. 

After opening day, the next step was tracking Carbon Cashback’s progress in the legislature, hoping it will pass. When Carbon Cashback received its hearing date from the Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism committee and the Agriculture and Environment committee, I reached out to Paul Bernstein for tips for writing testimony. I wrote a first draft of my written and oral testimony and shared it with Paul, so that he could provide me with feedback and suggestions. On the day of testimony, I joined a zoom call and waited for my name to be called to give my testimony. It was very interesting to hear the point of views of both supporters and opposers, this showed both passion for the environment, but also specific concerns with Carbon Cashback’s approach. After giving my testimony, I felt very confident in my delivery and felt that I did my best for Carbon Cashback. When I heard that Carbon Cashback had been deferred by the EET/AEN committees, thus its chances of passage in 2024 ‘dying’, I was unpleasantly surprised. I truly believed that this bill could have a large impact on the Hawai’i Climate Change response. As a young climate believer, it is hard to reason with others who are climate deniers, but it is important to understand others' concerns or questions of the bill. After this, the CCL team and I discussed a post-mortem plan, meaning the plan for next year. To continue to fight for Carbon Cashback, the CCL must address all the concerns and questions raised and hope to answer these for the legislators.