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HILO >> A state biosecurity plan says the brown tree snake could cause as much as $2 billion each year in damage if introduced to Hawaii.
The snake, which is native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, was accidentally introduced to Guam after World War II.
The invasive species has had a devastating impact on Guam’s native bird populations. The snakes also can cause electricity blackouts when they crawl into and damage transformers, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Monday.
“It’s pretty rare when we have a species that cuts across all issues as a problem,” said Christy Martin of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council.
The cost estimate cited to deal with a potential brown tree snake problem in the draft Hawaii Interagency Biosecurity Plan stems from establishing eradication programs and outbound cargo inspections plus the economic impact on Hawaii’s agriculture and tourism sectors.
If Hawaii became known for having brown tree snakes “like Guam has, a lot less people would be inclined to come,” said Shane Siers, Hawaii field station leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center. “And if all the native birds were wiped out, that would diminish the amount of nature enthusiasts visiting.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture spends $5 million annually to keep the brown tree snakes from getting into Guam’s outbound cargo.
Last year more than 10,000 snakes were removed from areas surrounding Guam’s airports and seaports, Siers said.
Preventing the invasive animal from coming to Hawaii would be “a pretty darn good return on investment,” he said.
WHEN WILL OUR LEADERS BEGIN TO CONNECT THE DOTS?
See if you can find the thread running through some of today’s story lines and reader letters:
“Threats to isle watersheds concern Hirono” by Sophie Cocke
“Biosecurity plan cites costly effects of tree snake invasion” by the AP
“Earnings soar for Hawaiian Airlines” by Dave Segal
“Stop, don’t delay, global warming ” by Nichelle Chang
“Clean energy key in climate battle” by Jonah Popken
Sophie covered Senator Hirono’s hearings about the need to better protect the forested watersheds, critical to our island’s fresh water supply, from invasive species and plant diseases and the effects of climate change. The AP covered the huge ecologic and economic impact ($2billion/year) if brown tree snakes are brough to Hawaii on board an airplane.
Jonah also expressed concern about our need to take action against global warming by reducing the 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 (MMTCO2) produced by our power plants each year.
Nichelle expresses concern that many share, including top scientists at UH, about climate change, warming and rising oceans and the disastrous impact this will have on Hawaii. She notes that more carbon emission reductions need to be made so that the danger might be delayed, and she asks how the community can help.
Finally, Dave reports that Hawaiian Airlines made large profits due to low cost jet fuel and company-record 2.9 million passengers during the last quarter.
So what connects these various issues?
It is the emission of CO2 and other green-house gasses from aviation-related activities here in Hawaii. This is the yin and the yang of climate pollution in Hawaii, containing both the problem and its solution. Let’s consider some facts.
Analysis of 2013 data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority indicate that Hawaii’s tourism aviation emissions that year were 22.5 MMTCO2 – nearly ten times Jonah’s figure for power plants (2.5 MMTCO2) in the islands, and nearly twice all other sources of CO2 (US EPA data). This can be visualized as:
Hawaii Visitor Aviation-related GHG Emissions:
11111111111111111111111 (22.5)
All Other Hawaii GHG emissions:
11111111111111 (13.7)
Hawaii Power Plant emissions:
111
(‘1’ = one MILLION metric tons of CO2 or MMTCO2)
Clearly the answer to Jonah and Nichelle’s plea that our community do something to reduce climate pollution should involve the main source of climate pollution in Hawaii – the annual round-trip long-haul airlift of over 10 million residents and visitors on Kerosene-powered jet aircraft. This is the thread connecting today’s story lines. The question remains, how can this be done?
Hawaiian Airlines has also been upgrading to a more fuel efficient air fleet and maximizing the number of filled seats (load factor). Its Foundation recently established a $50,000 conservation fund to help address the state’s environmental threats. These are good steps in the battle against climate pollution, but much more can be done.
The solution to aviation-related climate pollution used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is to fund carbon offset projects, particularly forest protection, rehabilitation and tree planting. Why can’t this be done here as well?
Hawaiian airlines could begin to be transparent about the climate impacts of long-distance air travel to the islands. In addition to highlighting its dedication to efficiency, our flagship airline could begin posting accurate individualized climate impact estimates when customers shop for flights and on each passenger ticket.
Hawaiian airlines could begin providing visitors with basic information about Hawaii’s environmental challenges and successes, and begin linking its many environmentally-conscious passengers to worthwhile projects going on here. It could begin partnering with local reforestation and environmental protection projects, and begin providing a user friendly option for passengers to purchase carbon offsets with a simple click of the mouse. This could amount to many $millions each year – much more that the HA Foundation could ever supply. Apparently airlines in other parts of the world are already doing this. Why not here?
Hawaiian airlines could take this approach by entering into the sort of public-private partnerships envisioned by Gov. Ige and Sen Hirono.
Hawaii’s number one source of economic activity is our 10 million visitors each year. They are our biggest source of climate pollution (by far), but with the Airlines’ help they could become our greatest asset in the fight to reduce CO2 emission, fight invasive species and to protect and rehabilitate our forests and watersheds.
Let’s start connecting the dots…