Healthy Hawaii Coalition's

Environmental Tips

Tip #1- SAVE ENERGY

I know we've all heard this a million times but making these changes to your lifestyle are really worth it. Next time you need new light bulbs purchase CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) instead of the traditional ones. These bulbs use about 75% less energy than standard incandescents and last much longer. Be aware, though, that CFLs contain mercury.

Another great option is LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that use 1/50 of the energy of a standard bulb and can last up to 15 years without needing to be changed! Lighting is responsible for approximately 11% of a home's energy use. With skyrocketing energy bills this should appeal to everyone.

According to the Department of Energy you'll save an average of $90 on electricity a year if you turn off your computer at night. And you will extend the life of your computer if you turn it off every time you don't expect to be using it for 2 hours or more

Using less energy in your home leaves less of an impact on our precious 'aina and lightens the load a little for your family budget. But how does this make you healthier? Well, if your computer is turned off every time you aren't using it for 2 hours or more, you are less likely to spend your free time needlessly checking emails or surfing the 'net.

If you are more aware of the importance of energy conservation for the betterment of the environment as well as your bank account, you are more likely to leave the lights, t.v., and computer off and do something easy and free like taking a walk instead. Saving energy, saving money, and getting more exercise will ease stress and make you happier!

Tip #2- MAKE LESS TRASH

We are all aware of the ongoing debate over Oahu's trash and where to put it. This will most likely be a controversial and difficult issue for many more years for us, as inhabitants on a small island with limited options for our rubbish. In 2003 when I was a Honolulu City Councilman representing the Ewa, Kapolei, and the Waianae Coast I hosted a meeting for the residents of Ko Olina to air their frustrations about the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill that is across the highway from their homes. One of the residents made a video to share with us what they experience living in such close proximity to Oahu's opala. The video, shot on a windy day, showed hundreds (if not more) plastic shopping bags flying over the homes in Ko Olina. The bags were coming from the landfill. Some of them ended up stuck in trees or fences in that neighborhood but most of them went directly into the ocean. The airborne white bags resembled a flock of seabirds. The Ko Olina residents told me that this was a very common siting.

If you haven't considered the serious impacts of plastic bags and all kinds of plastics on our marine life, I urge you to read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling mass of discarded plastic that is now twice the size of the state of Texas. This mess is an embarrassing eyesore and, most tragically, sea life of all kinds are dying after becoming entangled or ingesting it.

In order to stop contributing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch we can:

Recycle as much of our rubbish as possible and get a little pocket change for our troubles; you can find out how to recycle the caps from plastic drink bottles by visiting Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii - B.E.A.C.H.

Choose to purchase items with less wasteful packaging; buy items in bulk as much as possible and avoid things that are individually wrapped.

Compost fruit and vegetable food scraps; you can significantly and easily reduce your trash production and make your own soil. In fact one statistic says that an average person creates 1,500 pounds of rubbish a year but someone who composts only produces 375 pounds of rubbish! See Build a Compost and Home Composting: Making Gold from Kitchen Scraps for composting information.

Stop using and throwing away plastic bags by always carrying reusable bags when shopping. Check out ReusableBags.com to watch the rapidly increasing number of plastic bags consumed this year. As of this writing there are over 346 billion. I know it is challenging to remember your reusable bags when you go to the store but I have found it helps to put your shopping list, your coupons, your wallet or even your car keys inside your reusable bags to ensure that you'll remember them when going into the store. You can also find great reusable bags that fold up and fit inside your pocket or purse.

This isn't meant as a criticism of the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill or the plastic industry but merely a call to all residents to do their part to make sure their rubbish isn't ending up in our ocean, polluting any other part of our 'aina, and that we are all reducing our trash production as much as possible. With less opala littering our precious land and environment, we can all (including our wildlife) be healthier. Less pollution and rubbish will reduce the amount of government funds needed to deal with our waste, ultimately lowering taxes (we hope!).

Tip #3- GROW SOME OF YOUR OWN FOOD

Although we live in a place that is blessed with a year-round growing season, lots of sunshine, and--in many places--good soil and reliable rainfall, approximately 85% of Hawaii’s food is imported! The food that we bring to the table has travelled many thousands of miles, losing important vitamins and increasing in cost all along the way. The transportation that brings the food to Hawaii from the mainland and other countries contributes to air and water pollution as well.

It is beneficial to seek out organic, locally grown foods whenever possible and shop at our farmers’ markets. The best option, though, is to grow a portion of your own food. I know most people don’t have the time or space to have large garden plots. I encourage you to experiment with even one simple ingredient of your daily diet that you can grow to supplement your food supply. You will appreciate the freshness, the convenience, and the satisfaction of knowing exactly where at least one part of your meal came from, not to mention the joy of knowing you grew it yourself. And there isn’t any unnecessary packaging to add to the landfill when it comes from your backyard.

If you eat a lot of salad or enjoy a few lettuce leaves on your sandwiches, lettuce mix is a simple way to start. You can easily grow a small crop of lettuce mix in a container on your lanai or next to your front door (Fall through spring are the best seasons for this in Hawaii because the summer months tend to be too hot and cause the lettuce plants to bolt, or flower, too quickly.)

Start with good, organic soil like Black Gold and fill a planting container (I recommend ones that have a depth of at least 1’); water the soil well
Pick a spot that gets full sun for most for the day
Sprinkle seeds from a lettuce mix packet that is available at any hardware or garden store (ones that include a spicy plant like arugula are my favorite)
Put a fine layer of soil on top of the seed
Keep it well watered; the soil consistency throughout the container should always be like a wrung out sponge.

If you are convinced you have a “black thumb” I encourage you to try anyways; successful gardeners share the trait—above all else--of perseverance. If your seeds don’t sprout or the bugs eat all your plants before you get to them, try again. You can also buy young plants from nurseries that are beyond their most vulnerable stage and put those in your containers or garden plot. If you can, plant ten containers or rows of lettuce and you will probably end up with plenty for your family, even if you’ve got a lot of pests and the blackest thumb in town.

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are simply not necessary. For specific questions about pests or anything having to do with growing plants in Hawaii, please check out the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources website. You can ask their experts any question that comes to mind and search their database of questions that have already been answered. It’s a wonderful, simple and free resource.

In July of 2008 I decided to plant a garden in my backyard. Using very little money (in fact most of the costs were covered by my household recycling fund), not a lot of time, and even less expertise I now have an approximately 900 square foot organic garden. The mulch and logs around the perimeter were salvaged from nearby areas where trees were being cut down. The banana tree in the middle of the garden was a gift from a friend who had more than he needed. We grow a lot of the green leafy vegetables that are part of our diet—kale, chard, lettuce mix, collards, arugula, basil and some beets, too. We also have an herb garden that provides us with lemongrass, mint, and parsley. I will add a new feature to my website in the coming months called Watch My Garden Grow. Look for it soon as I showcase the progress of my garden. Send me pictures of your gardens, large or small, too. We can encourage each other and work together to decrease our dependence on imported food.

I strongly urge you to consider organically growing part of your diet. The savings are enormous and the health benefits are invaluable. Gardening is a great form of exercise, too!

Tip #4- MAKE YOUR OWN CLEANING PRODUCTS

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollution levels can potentially be 100 times greater than outdoor air. One contributing factor to this health hazard could be our choice of household cleaning products. How many synthetic and toxic chemicals do you have in your home that were designed to make it cleaner, more hygienic, and therefore a healthier place to live? Americans generate 1.6 million tons of household hazardous waste per year, which pollutes our watersheds and soil and poses serious threats to human health. Much of this can be attributed to our choice of cleaning products.

There are alternatives to store-bought and chemically based household cleaners. By making your own you can save the money you would normally spend on buying them. You can reduce the amount of chemicals that your household may be unknowingly contributing to ecosystem pollution. You can have a truly healthy home without hidden air and surface toxins that are potentially carcinogenic to all members of your family, including your pets. I know one woman who scrubs her bath tub using the recipe below with the "help" of her two toddlers. You certainly couldn't do that while using bleach or any other harsh chemicals.

These cleaners are simple to make with common ingredients you may have in your home. You can choose your own favorite scented essential oil to add and personalize how your house smells instead of being stuck with the way store-bought cleaners smell. Lavender, orange, pine, eucalyptus, and rose are nice scents to try (its best to choose just one scent).

Here are the recipes:

All-Purpose Cleaner

1 Tb white vinegar
1 Tb lemon juice
1 Tb liquid dish soap- the environmentally-friendly, unscented kind (usually available at Costco)
1 Tb Borax
5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil (available at health food stores)

Combine all the ingredients and add to a standard size spray bottle and fill with warm water.

Tub and Sink Scrub

1 cup baking soda
¼ cup salt
5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil

Combine all the ingredients and store in an airtight container.

Window & Glass Cleaner

1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice
1 gallon warm water
5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil

Tip #5- GO VEGETARIAN, AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

My wife Carol and I have been vegetarians for 38 years. We enjoy a wide variety of foods and never get bored with our diet. Most importantly, the meals we eat are ono! It has never been easier to eat a vegetarian diet than it is these days. You can shop at any supermarket and find "mock meat" products like hot dogs, ground beef, and even bacon that can fool the taste buds of the most dedicated meat eaters.

There are many reasons to seriously consider adopting a vegetarian diet, here are just a few:

Health-- A vegetarian diet can lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and stroke.
Environment-- Animals produced for food consume more than half of the water used today in the United States and they consume 70% of the corn, wheat, and other grains crops that are grown here. Amazingly, one-third of all the raw materials and fossil fuels used in the U.S. go to raising animals for food. Not only are these animal farms taking a huge share of the food and water that could be going directly to humans, the waste that they produce is polluting our land, air, and waterways.
Cost-- The staples of a vegetarian diet--rice, beans, tofu, fruits and vegetables--are inexpensive in comparison to the per pound cost of meat, not to mention the money you'll save in health care costs by reducing your risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and stroke. If you mix in some fruits or vegetables that you grow yourself (link here to garden page), you'll enjoy it even more. Above all, how much is better health and the peace of mind of doing something important to improve our environment worth to you?

But a vegetarian diet may seem to be too much of a change from what you're comfortable eating and cooking. I encourage you to experiment with one day a week of vegetarian meals. Not only will you begin to enjoy the many benefits of meatless meals, you may just realize how easy and truly enjoyable (ono!) it can be. Do it for the health of your family, do it for the 'aina, and do it for your pocketbook. If you need more encouragement or ideas for quick and great tasting meals to prepare, send me an email and I'll gladly help encourage you in any way I can.

Tip #6- DRIVE LESS & DRIVE BETTER

Gas prices in Hawai'i, as well as the rest of the nation, are constantly fluctuating, but even when they're "low" it's still a painful experience to fill up. Gas is a major expense negatively impacting all of us and causing us to question our driving habits. Carpooling, riding the bus, walking, biking, and doing without unessential car trips are the new normal considerations for transportation these days. Seems like going for a long Sunday drive just for the pleasure of getting out of the house and seeing our beautiful island is simply not an option in modern times.

In a sense, this is positive for the environment. Obviously a few less cars on the roadways equals a little less air, noise, and water pollution (from roadway run-off). Of course, most of us do drive everyday and probably spend more time behind the wheel than we'd like. I know I definitely spend more time and much more money filling my tank than I'm comfortable with, even after utilizing some of the alternative transportation options.

There are a few ways to improve our cars' efficiency, gas mileage, and overall performance. These easy steps lessen the pain at the pump and the detrimental impact on our 'aina caused by a car-centric society.

Avoid the single person commute; carpool, join Vanpool, or use another form of transportation--even one day a week makes an impact.
Make sure your tires are properly inflated, change your oil often, and lighten your load; clean out unnecessary items from your backseat and trunk.
Stick to the speed limit; according to Planet Green staying at or below 55 miles per hour greatly improves your fuel efficiency, and for every 5 miles per hour above 55 that you drive, you reduce your fuel efficiency by 10%.
Don't idle; it's not fuel efficient or environmentally friendly to idle your car for more than 30 seconds.

The imported oil crisis--and the inflated gas prices that have resulted--are a major contributor to the household budget crisis. The overuse of cars in our society has a direct correlation to the degradation of our environment and personal health. Drive less and drive better and we can all have a little less pain in our lives.

Tip #7- COMPOST

I touched on the significance of composting your food waste instead of throwing it away in Tip#2, Make Less Trash. By composting fruit and vegetable food scraps you can easily reduce your trash production and make your own soil. In fact one statistic says that an average person creates 1,500 pounds of rubbish a year but someone who composts only produces 375 pounds of rubbish! See Build a Compost and Home Composting: Making Gold from Kitchen Scraps for detailed composting information.

At my house, we have for many years been composting and vermicomposting, which means feeding our food waste to worms in exchange for rich soil that is great for the garden. Recently we starting keeping track of how much food was ending up in the compost container on the kitchen counter. In an average week at my house of 7 people, we had almost 23 pounds of compostable materials leftover from our meals. That means, from my household alone, in the course of a year, close to 1200 pounds of food scraps are not ending up the rubbish can, or the landfill.

We keep our compost making simple. Whatever fruit and vegetable scraps we have left over after making and eating meals goes into a large plastic container with a latching lid. Every one to two days the container is full so it is taken out to our compost pile in the backyard. The stuff from the container is layered with shredded newspapers, dry plant material, and soil. The pile gets well watered once or twice a week. Every month or so the pile is turned--simply shoveled from its current location to another spot a few feet away. The stuff that is on top of the pile ends up on the bottom of the pile after turning. With the anticipation of spring and summer gardening we picked up a dozen bags of horse manure from a local stable and mixed that into our compost pile as well.

When the food scraps and other materials are broken down the soil is transferred from the compost pile to the garden. The most recent soil that came from our compost produced a bountiful salad bed where we go to cut young leaves off a variety of leafy green plants for the freshest, most "local" and most organic bowl of salad you could ask for. See my boutiful garden here: Watch the Gabbard Garden Grow.

If you don't garden, you should still try to create a compost pile in your yard and just let your fruit and vegetable scraps break down. If you cover the food stuff with enough shredded newspapers, dry plant material, or soil there should be no odor. If you don't have a yard you can still compost and create great soil for houseplants. A bucket on your lanai can be your compost pile.

If half the people in Hawai'i composted their food stuff instead of throwing it away, hundreds of millions of pounds of what some people consider to be opala, would not be dumped into our landfills. Trash made up of fruit and vegetable materials is not "waste" at all; it is the potential for rich soil to feed the plants that make our island home lush and green.

Tip #8- NO MORE BOTTLED WATER!

When I was growing up I would have never believed that people in the future would be buying water--in fact that there would be large sections of the grocery store dedicated to the various "types". I thought water was just water and it was free! It's understandable that people are wary of tap water and the pollutants that may in it. Unfortunately, the alternative that too many of us have turned to are individual drinking waters bottled in plastic. Rarely is there a meeting, a community event, or a workout that doesn't involve lots of bottled water.

The bottled water industry has led us to believe that their product is more pure, more natural, and more healthy than tap water. Many people prefer the convenience of bottled water to wading through the confusing market of water filtration systems. The reality is that we are all paying a heavy price for this modern convenience, as is our environment.

Last year alone, Hawai’i residents went through 895 million glass bottles, cans, and plastic bottles. Of the 895 million, there were 186 million plastic bottles. We had a 79% redemption rate and 147 million plastic bottles were recycled. However, 39 million bottles ended up in the landfill or became litter.

Within the last few years 60 cities in the United States, as well as some in Europe, Canada, and Australia have passed bans on spending taxpayer dollars for bottled waters in government meetings and offices. Bundadoon, a small town south of Sydney, Australia took it one step further and passed a ban on the sale of bottled water after word got out about a manufacturing company that planned to move in, bottle their tap water, and sell it back to them in the stores.

For the sake of the environment, where many of the unrecycled bottles end up, your health, and your pocketbook, make a personal ban against bottled water. Get a stainless steel or glass container, good quality tap water or a water filter, and quench your thirst. If you want to find out more about this topic, I highly recommend checking out Tapped:the Movie.

Tip #9- REDUCE PLASTIC BAG USE

We've all seen too many of them--flying through the air like little windblown parachutes, stuck to trees and fence lines, and even in waterways and on the beach--lots and lots of plastic bags. More often than not these bags are the type that most stores seem eager to give out in abundance with your purchases. I'm always slightly appalled by baggers at the grocery store who like to put single items in their own bags, and often times double-bagging it as well.

I'm not criticizing any stores in particular and especially not baggers because I know that they have been taught to do whatever it takes to make sure our strawberries, loaves of bread, and cartons of milk don't collide on the way to our kitchens. Much of the blame for this overwhelming blight can be placed on careless consumers who consciously litter as well as people who don't take the time to consider the implications of putting plastic shopping bags into the trash after one use.

HHC's watershed education program "The Hawai'i Watershed Experience" was designed to reach out to keiki at a very impressionable age, between 7 and 9 years old, when they can really understand the detriment caused by pollution and want to do something to prevent it. During the field trip portion of the program we emphasize the importance of

1) trying to avoid using plastic bags altogether--get several good reusable ones and do whatever it takes to remember taking them to the store every time you go;

2) if you get a plastic bag, reuse it as much as you can until it gets a hole in it;

3) then, recycle it--most stores like Safeway and Foodland have bins in front of the store for used bags;

4) finally, if you can't refuse it, you can't reuse it, and you can't recycle it, at least dispose of it properly and tie a knot in it first so it won't become wind-born.

Some constituents of mine who live in Ko Olina, the beautiful resort community on the Leeward side of Oahu, showed me a video they had taken. Ko Olina is situated across a highway from Waimanalo Gulch, Oahu's municipal landfill. The home video that they shot showed hundreds of plastic bags literally flying over their townhouse. At first glance it looked like a huge flock of seabirds. The bags were windblown from the landfill and they were all headed straight towards the ocean.

Plastic bags are an extremely serious threat to marine life. Their design allows for small birds and animals to become completely encased. A plastic bag in the ocean appears like a jellyfish which is a delicacy to sea turtles. The elementary school kids who participate in "The Hawai'i Watershed Experience" are shown pictures of a sea bird caught inside a plastic bag and of an endangered sea turtle eating a plastic bag. The response is always the same--shock and sadness. This is the intention of showing them the pictures; we want to make a significant impression on them so they will remember, and hopefully tell their family and friends, to reduce plastic bag use and plastic bag pollution.

Tip #10 - Volunteer

You may wonder what volunteering can do for the environment or for your wallet. Giving your time, energy, and mana'o (Hawaiian word for thoughts or beliefs) is actually one of the best things you can do for yourself and the 'aina. Time spent volunteering is time away from expensive activities and, best of all, its very enjoyable.

There are plenty of beach clean-up activities throughout the year on beaches across the state that are easy to get involved in. Just showing up and picking up a trash for a little while is always appreciated. There are also lots of opportunities to help with invasive species eradication projects. You get to learn about native and introduced species, spend a few hours in a beautiful location, and work off some of your stress by ripping out plants that are damaging our ecosystems.

Volunteering is great for your health, too. Many volunteer opportunities involve being outside, getting exercise, meeting new people, and feeling good about some time well spent. In our hectic lives, it is a wonderful balance to have some time every month that you give of yourself freely and without expectations. A great place to find volunteer activities in Hawai'i is VolunteerHawaii.org, a site connected to the Aloha United Way. Healthy Hawai'i Coalition has a listing on this website and it has brought many wonderful volunteers and friends our way.

Tip #14 - WATCH "BAG IT" THE MOVIE

I was recently asked by the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation to be a panelist for a discussion following their screening of "Bag It". "Bag It" is a documentary made by a Colorado man, Jeb Berrier, who took a close look at plastic bags and how he can eliminate them from his life. In the process, he also investigated all of the other plastic products in our modern world and how they are impacting personal and environmental health.

Although I consider myself an environmentalist, this film was eye-opening. I truly believe that anyone who watches it with an open mind will be changed forever. Jeb's layman investigation into where most of our plastic trash is ending up (the ocean), places that have banned or placed a fee on plastic bag use, and how living in a plastic-coated world is causing serious health implications will leave you stunned. There is a section in the film on Hawai'i beaches that is less than flattering.

I urge you and your ohana to try to make it to one of the screenings of this film on March 10th, either at 5pm at UH Manoa or at 6:30pm at Hanauma Bay. See"Bag It" Screening Map for more information. "Bag it" is not currently available on Netflix or at Blockbuster but it may be showing on our local public TV station starting in April, so keep your eyes open for that.

Here are a few amazing facts from "Bag It": Source

· The average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year, for an average of 12 minutes before they are discarded.
· Two million plastic bottles are consumed in the U.S. every five minutes, less then 25% are recycled.
· The average American contributes 800 pounds of packaging waste to landfills per year.
· 14 million pounds of trash end up in the ocean each year.
· Plastic debris resembles plankton—fish food—and there is 40 times more plastic than plankton in some parts of the ocean. In this way plastic enters our food chain.
· It is estimated that 100,000 marine mammals and sea birds die each year from becoming entangled in or ingesting plastic debris.
· Ireland reduced its plastic bag use by 90% after instituting a fee on single-use disposable plastic bags.
· China banned “ultra thin” plastic bags in 2008. They reduced their use by 40 billion bags in the first year.

Here at home, Hawai'i residents consume 400 million plastic bags annually, and tragically most of these end up in landfills or the ocean.

Take the time to see the film and ask yourself- "is my life is too plastic?". There are alternatives and we need to make these changes now--for the environment, for the ocean, for aquatic life, for ourselves, and for the next generations.

Tip #15 - MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE

Because the 41st Earth Day just passed on April 22nd, it's a great time to reflect on your life, your environment, and the future. If you’re lucky enough to live in Hawai'i as I do, you know that we have a beautiful place to call home. Clean air, blue water, and lush green surrounds us. Its far from perfect though--we all see the polluted waterways that lead to the ocean and the rubbish on the streets that we wish wasn't there.

In honor of Earth Day and the beginning of spring, I ask everyone to consider making one small change in their lives, one small contribution to the betterment of your life, your health, and the environment. There are a lot of options in the Environmental Tips Archive, some easier than others to implement, but each change will add up to an improved Earth. It'll make you feel good, too.

Here is a quick list of changes to consider:

1. Walk, ride a bike, or carpool one place each week that you used to drive your own car to get to.

2. Eat one vegetarian meal each week.

3. Wash your laundry in cold water.

4. Use a stainless steel or glass bottle for your drinking water & pass on the plastic.

5. Bring your own bag to the store.

Tip #16 - CLEAN & GREEN YOUR LAUNDRY

We've all got to wash our clothes but there are simple ways to help the environment while you do it and still end up smelling good. Most of us don't think about the energy, chemicals, and other pollutants that are associated with what we wear. A Time Magazine article stated that one t-shirt can contribute 9 pounds of carbon dioxide to the air over its lifetime. You can cut back on those emissions simply by using a clothes line.

Another big impact you can make through your laundry is by only running full loads of laundry and by washing in cold water. According to Treehugger 90% of the energy used in washing your clothes is just in heating the water. They used this comparison: "Washing every load on the hot/warm cycle (in a top loading machine and an electric water heater) for a year is equivalent to burning about 182 gallons of gasoline in a car; in an average (19.8 miles per gallon) car, that'll get you around 3595 miles. So, wash in hot/warm, or drive almost 3600 miles -- same difference."

What about the soap you use? You can cut back on the dangerous phosphates that your household is contributing to the ecosystem but using environmentally-friendly, phosphate-free detergents. They really do work as well as other brands but they don't pollute the environment. Costco has a good deal on a phosphate-free liquid detergent in bulk. Or, you can make your own detergent which is easy, green and inexpensive:

Powdered Detergent

2 cups finely grated soap (Fels Naptha is good for this-- I get it from Tamura's Market)
1 cup washing soda (Arm & Hammer brand; can be found at the Kaneohe Longs, near the Windward Mall)
1 cup borax (most stores that carry detergent have this)

Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

Another tip--don't wash it if you don't really need to. You can cut back on your money, energy use, and your time by wearing what you can more than once. Happy washing!

Tip #17 - CONSIDER GOING ELECTRIC

You may have seen me (Mike) on the show "Hawai`i: The State of Clean Energy" recently on KGMB and KHNL. I was interviewed about my new car--A Nissan Leaf. My new car is 100% electric. That's right. No gas, no stressing over rising prices at the pump, no wasting time in line at Costco to get the cheapest gas, no oil changes, and virtually no sound.

Carol and I sat down and figured out how much money we would save if we stopped buying gas and bought the Leaf instead. Since I live in Kapolei and work at the State Capitol, I do quite a bit of driving. We hadn’t purchased a new car in nearly 40 years. Always bought used, and drove them till they fell apart. So, even with the gas savings variable, I had to strategize on how to make the final pitch to Carol. I finally came up with, “Look, honey, I’m the chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, and it’s up to me to set a good example.” Oh yeah, I think I took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant. That helped too. In the end, we both realized that we would save about $4,000 a year by purchasing the Leaf. $4,000 that was leaving our pockets to pay for dirty, polluting gas made with foreign oil from countries that, for the large part, don’t like Americans that much.

So I got my Leaf on April 15th and have gotten the hang of plugging it into the charging station that I had installed in my garage. I've gotten used to being stopped in parking lots by strangers who want to talk about my car, see the engine, and see where I plug it in. I've gotten used to not creating any noise or air pollution while driving. I've gotten used to not even thinking about gas stations any more.

I encourage you to consider going electric for your next vehicle. I know it’s a big leap and takes a lot of getting used to. I want to share my experience with as many people as possible in the hopes of pushing you towards going electric. It may not be something you would do this year, or even next, but keep it in mind and take it from me--electric cars are great!