Local climate experts hold an informational briefing on climate change

By Rona Navales Jan 11, 2024 Updated Jan 19, 2024

HONOLULU (Island News) – The Committee on Agriculture and Environment and the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection held an informational briefing at the Hawaii State Capitol to bring awareness to harmful climate issues and solutions.

"I was hoping we could fix the problem by using less fossil fuel which is nearly impossible because EV vehicle and mining and I’m hoping there’s a better solution to that. As humans exist, I think it’s really hard to fix,” said Will Sato, Coalition Communication Director with the Hawaii Youth Climate (HYC) 

"What we really need to do is have action at the legislature and at a policy level that creates a system to live in that makes the right choice, the easy choice and the choice that makes sense. If I had to say something for people at home, I would tell them to look at ways they could conserve energy and conserve water. There's often a lot of thing you can do that doesn't mean sacrificing anything, there's just a lot of waste that can be cut down on," said Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, Rep. Chair, Nicole Lowen.

Lowen mentioned that climate issues effect different areas across the board like health

Hawaii Sen. Mike Gabbard emphasized how locally, areas such as Waikiki can be effected by sea level rise.

“The rest of the country looks to Hawaii as the leader, we were the first state to claim a climate emergency… we were the first state to say we were gonna be the first clean renewable by year 2045,” he said. 

“The only way it’s going to happen is if we 'kākou,' we all work together, 'laulima' putting our hands together,” Gabbard added.