Hu Honua`s long-running tree-burning fiasco has entered its 17th year. Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC was incorporated on April 8, 2008, to burn trees to generate electricity to be sold to Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) subsidiary Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO)....
I was in a suburb of New York City to spend time with my father during his final week of life. Early on the morning of August 9, in the space of two minutes, I learned of his death and of the Maui fires. Two emotionally intense events. It is critical that the...
The 2018 Paradise fire in California and the 2023 Lahaina fire had much in common. The utility detected faults on the transmission line. Shortly thereafter, fire erupted in an area suffering from drought, high winds, low humidity, and available fuel in the form...
By Olivia Chang, Life of the Land intern and a fossil fuel divestment organizer with Olin Climate Justice. Aviation accounts for at least a quarter of Hawaii’s emissions, and more if we account for emissions from international and military flights. The aviation...
Guest post by Olivia Chang. As the narrative around the climate crisis has shifted from a debate over its existence to one where polluters claim they are meaningfully committed to climate action, it can be difficult to distinguish between real solutions and...
Hurricane Lane passed to the south of the Hawai`i chain in August 2018. Intense 70-mph winds ignited a wildfire on the parched hillsides and fields above Lahaina. Towering walls of flames scorched more than 2,800 acres, devoured at least 21 structures, including 13...
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission opened a proceeding to examine energy equity in December 2022. “Energy equity refers to the goal of achieving equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and...
Kat Brady is Coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons and Life of the Land`s Vice President for Social Justice. Life of the Land is fiscal sponsor for Community Alliance on Prisons. Dr. Marilyn Brown introduced Kat Brady: Kat Brady, many love and admire...
Fires require ignition, oxygen and fuel. The legacy of Big Ag has left us with 1,500 square miles (1 million acres) of dense, unmanaged, invasive grasses. Combined with high winds, this is a deadly combination. Hawaiian Electric calls Life of the Land the most...
We grieve with all those impacted by the Maui Fires. Hawai`i has 1,000,000 acres (1,500 square miles) of former agricultural land that is now occupied by unmanaged, dense, invasive grassland. It was/is a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. Lahaina was widely...
Life of the Land received a phone call in March 1996. Would we join an effort to stop a transmission line from being built? Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) had proposed the project in the 1970s and the community had stopped it. HECO was resurrecting the proposal. The...
By Kat Brady. Having a difficult time putting into words the 2023 session. Each session has its own personality and after almost 3 decades, that is understood; yet the 2023 session felt very different. The fact that two legislators are in prison, and one is...