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Aloha <<First Name>>,

Aloha! How has your 2022 been so far? We’ve hit the ground running here at the state’s Climate Commission office, and continue to create tools for climate action—read on!

Building a climate ready Hawai‘i

This month, US EPA Deputy Administrator, Janet McCabe, and local EPA staff met with city and state climate colleagues (including your co-Chair and Coordinator!) to discuss resilience in Hawai'i. We are working on how to align federal resources with our on-the-ground HI Impact Actions, and how we can capture these funds for projects identified in our Grants-to-Projects Bridge tool. The federal government's resilience and adaptation efforts are summarized here.

A climate change social vulnerability tool for the state

The Climate Change Social Vulnerability Framework project supports the Commission’s Permitted Interaction Group’s request to answer the question: “what are the marginalized and vulnerable communities in Hawai‘i?”

In recently held briefings, attended by over 60 participants from various institutions —the state and counties, WOCAN, Conservation International, Board of Water Supply and more, our University of Hawai‘i partners described the tool that will point people to the appropriate indices and data sets available. Findings from the project will be presented at the next Commission meeting on April 6th.

Tools for reducing emissions from transportation

The transportation sector is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Hawai‘i, and the Commission’s top mitigation priority. To focus on this work, we are:

• Finalizing a toolkit of strategies to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled. This work is funded by a grant from EPA, through HDOH, and supported by several departments and agencies through their subject matter experts, including HDOT, OPSD, counties’ planning departments, and O‘ahu and Maui MPOs.

• Developing a Hawai‘i-relevant analysis for demand induced by roadway expansion, using the tool created by RMI.

• Closely partnering with our new Vehicle Miles Traveled/Active Transportation Specialist, Kiana Otsuka, based at the HSEO, to produce materials supporting this work. Kiana is also supported by the Commission’s Climate Ready Hawai‘i VISTA cohort, and technical assistance grants obtained by the Commission staff.

HĀ O KE KAI Collection hosts important climate conversations

In partnership with UH’s Better Tomorrow Speaker Series, we continue to bring the latest climate science and policy work to Hawai‘i, and foster conversations between speakers and our community leaders.

Although Omicron got the better of our event in January, we recorded a video podcast with Tina Eonemto Stege, Climate Envoy for the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Born in Saipan, raised on Kwajalein and Majuro, and educated in Honolulu, she brings a Pacific focus to her community-based work on a range of issues, from the impacts of nuclear testing to sustainable development and climate adaptation. Stay tuned for Tina’s podcast!

A hui hou and a hello!

The time has come for me to say a hui hou to all of you, and a huge mahalo—for the trust you placed in me, and for your warm support during the formative years of this Commission. I hope you are proud of what we have built together!

Luckily, you have two coordinators for this week—as Leah Laramee is temporarily assigned to this position, and we have had a few days to work together! Leah comes to us from DLNR DOFAW where she led the charge for Hawai‘i’s 100,000,000 tree pledge and has served as the lead on climate mitigation and adaptation for the division. Through the U.S. Climate Alliance’s Natural and Working Lands, and Resilience working groups, Leah is engaged in climate solutions on the national and local level. Leah is passionate about taking action to address climate change and is looking forward to working with all of you.

You’ll be in good hands with Leah!

HI NEWS

Check out Hawai‘i-relevant climate change news, articles and writings on the HI NEWS tab on our portal.

COMMISSION MEETING MATERIALS

See you at the next meeting of the Commission on April 6, 2022! Commission meeting details are up here.

Commission meeting materials from all past meetings are available on our website.

Stay updated on our social media accounts below.

Your coordinator,

Anu Hittle

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