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A G E N D A

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    Guest User about 3 years ago

    Aloha e Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee,

    I support the proposal to require large, new homes to be zero net energy homes.

    I was born on Maui and raised in Kīhei, and I have returned to live here after 10 years on the mainland. Over the course of my childhood, as well as the decade I invested in gaining an education and professional experience, I have watched the island of Maui transform dramatically. This shift has taken many forms, but among the most dramatic has been the housing development and public infrastructure that goes alongside it. It is clear that this development is only increasing and, while I seek to closely examine the sustainability of this steady rise, the environmental burden is increasing as well.

    From a public health standpoint, as well as an indigenous perspective, the decay of environmental health has a direct negative impact on human health. We are seeing this around the world in the form of more consistent extreme weather events – droughts, heat waves, freezes, hurricanes, and cyclones – which spur not only illness, death, and fires, but also decreases in arable farmland, the nutrition of our foods (see https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2ae4/77f8d7fe12bb75bddf0c0fbb3774c85be9d2.pdf), and in the sustainability of our species here on earth. We are also seeing negative environmental impacts here on Maui, through drought, uncontrollable fires, bleached reefs, eroded shorelines, and so much more.

    Much of this is caused by the global accumulation of CO2 in our atmosphere, and this is contributed to by you and me. I write this comment not only to support this proposal, but to encourage more like this one. Without our leaders providing guidelines for a more sustainable world made up of regenerative systems, our capitalistic system will never yield the behaviors that will provide a landscape that can sustain our grandchildren (or possibly even our children). We have excessive research to illustrate that the time for major infrastructural advancement for the survival of our species is NOW.

    It is impossible to change what has already been done. It is time to implement the best we can in the time we have ahead. For every new large house to be a zero net energy home is a great start. Please pass this proposal and continue on this trajectory. Consider a requirement for all new building to hold this requirement – retail and commercial establishments, business buildings, state/county buildings and infrastructure, apartments/condominiums, small homes, etc.

    And continue with this concerning all of our most valuable natural assets – water, air, ocean, and the biodiversity of our landscapes. We need all of this to survive into the future.

    Thank you for your diligence in this important work.

    'O wau me ke aloha,
    Marie Janiszewski
    marie.janiszewski@gmail.com
    808-250-1852