Aloha Climate Protectors!
We would like to take this opportunity to extend our warmest aloha and deep gratitude to everyone from our 350Hawaii ohana for your awesome activism throughout the last year! Thank you for helping us make a difference in 2023. Together we have been steadfast in our work towards and defending our right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable climate for present and future generations.
2023 is set to be the warmest year on record. The fight against climate chaos is needed now more than ever. We are proud of the part 350Hawaii is playing in this critical fight. In the last year, our collective efforts helped pass good climate legislation that included needed measures for energy efficiency, a statutory update to keep the price of solar installations down by exempting simple residential rooftop solar and energy storage projects from unnecessary bureaucratic requirements, as well as funding for a loan program to help low-income families transition to solar and battery storage systems, to name a few. We also helped stop some REALLY BAD bills– one that would have led to harmful climate and toxic air pollution in our local communities, another that would have syphoned taxpayer dollars from real climate solutions and put it toward dirty, dangerous, and expensive nuclear fusion, and not to be forgotten, the grand boondoggle project that would have used $470 million in taxpayer dollars on 243 acres of agricultural land to build a First Responders Technology Campus that no one wanted, not even the HPD. PHEW!!!
In addition to our legislative advocacy, we kept busy with reforesting and restoration projects, and answering numerous calls to action for the climate at the state, national, and international level, including our whole-hearted support for our amazing youth climate leaders in the Navahine vs. HDOT landmark climate lawsuit. Make no mistake, these collective efforts are making a difference in helping transition Hawaii to a just, sustainable, clean energy future.
But we know that our work is far from done. Together we will continue to call for action on a scale that matches the threat, and that creates climate solutions to move towards a safe climate and a better future.
Mahalo nui loa for standing with us on this path. Imua!