JoAnn's Vision Statement
A Detailed Version
August 2006
“Kaua`i: A Sustainable, Healthy, and Prosperous* Island Community Living Aloha”
A Vision
by JoAnn A. Yukimura
THREE GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
1. “Aloha: It’s Kaua`i’s Spirit.” To enfold everything we do, think and say in Aloha, the Spirit of Love, is the essence of Kaua`i’s Spirit. How we live with each other, how we plan for the future, how we treat the `aina, (the land and the natural environment) and how we resolve conflicts in our families, our community and our world must be infused with aloha. Love is the only way to true freedom, harmony and peace.
2. “Ua mau ke ea o ka `aina i ka pono.” (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness (rightness).) Our state motto says that the ends cannot justify the means. We cannot perpetuate life or land without rightness of spirit, thinking and action. The process (and who we become in that process) is as important as the outcome.
3. “Sustainability.” Sustainability is inherent in aloha and pono. All human activity must respect the limits of nature, taking only what is needed and not from future generations.
THE VISION:
Clear, Life-Supporting Values. It is the year 2020. Our island community values and protects our land and natural resources, beauty, and culture because we understand how they nurture and sustain our bodies, spirits and livelihoods. We malama this “natural capital,” knowing that all that we love will be otherwise diminished or destroyed. We take responsibility for ourselves and our community by self-assessment and participation. Sustainability is the framework for all that we do. Our policies and practices embrace the good of all people because we know that by doing so we are caring for ourselves and generations to come.
Compact Towns Served by a Sustainable Land Transportation System. Affordable Infrastructure and Government. Our population lives mostly in compact towns where services and goods (mixed uses) are within walking or biking distances. Because biking, bus riding, and walking are treated with preference over cars in the design of towns, safe and pleasant bike, bus and pedestrian ways provide connections everywhere. As a result, household gas bills are manageable even as the cost of gas rises. Kauaians are becoming more fit and healthier. The County and State budgets are not strained by the huge costs of low density sprawl or the high medical costs of an unhealthy people.
No Traffic Congestion. Our towns are connected by a reliable, convenient, energy-efficient public transportation system powered by renewable energy and linked to other modes of transportation by park and ride facilities; safe, convenient, and accessible bus shelters; bike racks on buses; and frequent stops at the airport and harbors. The Kaua`i Bus is the preferred mode of transportation, resulting in fewer cars on the road. Large projected road expansion projects have become unnecessary. Deliver trucks, construction workers and other necessary vehicles are able to utilize the road more easily.
Permanently Affordable Housing That is Sturdy, Attractive, and Energy Efficient. Kauaians pay no more than one-third of their household income for shelter costs unless they choose to because all developments are required to provide a percentage of permanently affordable, sturdily and attractively built, energy-efficient homes onsite. Close to workplaces and/or transportation routes, these homes result in: 1. integrated communities rich in vitality, human activity and relationships where families of all incomes live together and enjoy a high quality of life, and 2. an island inventory of affordable houses which grows over time to meet the needs that cannot be met by the market.
Schools of Excellence—A Strong Foundation for Our Community. Our children attend public and private schools of excellence which celebrate each child’s uniqueness and help each child reach his or her potential. Our young people develop into confident, competent, compassionate, healthy and creative citizens, parents, employees, entrepreneurs and leaders—the foundation of a good community.
Affordable, Efficient, Clean, Renewable Energy. The rapid increases in household and commercial electricity bills are a thing of the past because of the “post-Sputnik like” effort and investment to wean Kaua`i from fossil fuels. Kaua`i is energy self-sufficient in electrical generation, drawing its new energy from two basic sources: 1. reduced demand due to green building and retrofit and energy conservation, and 2. renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, wind, and solar power, including biomass.
A Healthier Population. Affordable Health Care. Kaua`i’s people value and strive for good health as is reflected and modeled everywhere—from school lunches and family exercise habits to workplace incentives and church meditations. We know how to stay healthy, we take responsibility for our own health, and we all have access to competent and affordable health care.
Flourishing Agriculture. Both large scale and small scale agriculture are flourishing, and the island is covered again with wide expanses of cultivated green: biofuels for both electrical generation and transportation needs, and a broad diversity of food and fiber crops from vegetables and feed corn to honey and herbs to dairy and hemp. Farming is an honored profession and business. A food shortage in 2008 due to global oil shortages made everyone realize the value of farmers and their know-how. A vast amount of support was allocated on Kaua`i to building healthy food and fiber production capacity.
Flourishing Arts and Culture. We celebrate life and express our deepest yearnings through a richness of song, dance, poetry, visual arts, music, and drama—and through the perpetuation and sharing of the various cultures that have taken root on Kaua`i.
A Sustainable and Prosperous Economy. In a sustainable community, there are many thriving jobs and businesses. Visitors abound and our visitor industry is strong. Conversion to renewable energy and sustainable practices require many services. Agriculture and food processing has expanded. Given reasonable costs of energy, health care, housing and transportation, and because the community’s infrastructure (transportation, sewers, parks, etc) functions smoothly, well-run businesses prosper on Kaua`i and employees don’t have to work 2 or 3 jobs each to make a decent living.
Harmony with the `Aina. Recognizing that by nature’s laws there are limits to growth, the island has wisely set limits to the number of visitor units and residential dwelling units allowed on Kaua`i for a certain planning period, thus alleviating the pressure on visitor and local sites. Sustainable public access to beaches and places allows us to enjoy our aina as well The growing resentment by residents that their island was being over-run by visitors is being replaced with returning aloha and goodwill. By providing for a sufficient number of permanently affordable houses that allow persons of moderate and low incomes to live on the island comfortably, a wonderful diversity of culture and population remains. .
A Community That Knows How to Live in Peace. Over the last ten years, Kaua`i has achieved many levels of success in resolving difficult and complex community issues through nonviolent communication and conflict resolution. It has discovered the power of creating consensus using a transparent, inclusive process and skilled facilitators. When unity in diversity is reached through such a process, genuine progress is unstoppable.
A Model for the World. Standing in aloha, pono and sustainability, Kaua`i has become a living demonstration and a model for the world. Our prosperity is measured not only in material wealth, but by the quality of our lives—in the richness of our public places, the effectiveness of our infrastructure, the wealth of culture and arts, and the presence of aloha. A new kind of tourism flourishes on Kaua`i. People from all over the world come to Kaua`i to be inspired and informed so they can establish aloha, pono and sustainability in their home towns and communities.
Acknowledgements: To the people/group who coined the phrase, “Living Aloha”, I thank your for your profound thinking and sharing. I acknowledge that I have borrowed this phrase and am not in any way attempting to claim it as my own.
*Prosperous: thriving, flourishing, bearing fruit, rich
7-23-06