Renewable energy is Hawaii’s thing — touted as a visionary goal to free our island state from oil reliance and to help protect the environment. There’s even a state law targeting 2045 as the year to eliminate fossil-fuel dependence.

That steadfast goal will be tested over the next few years, as Hawaii plows ahead with “green” initiatives amid a shifting federal landscape with the election of Donald Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a China-created hoax and has named a climate-change contrarian to head his EPA transition team.

Hawaii also will need to find a new chief for its Energy Office, now that Mark Glick is set to vacate that post on Dec. 15, to join the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. Nice (tenure-track) work, if you can get it.

Hawaii keeps marijuana on tight leash

We’re glad to see that after 16 years, a system to track certified patients and the medical marijuana they buy is in place, making way for the first dispensary to open.

It does seem ironic, though, that Hawaii, the first state to pass a law allowing the medical use of marijuana, has fallen so far below the trend line. While we work to keep the dispensing on the up and up, eight states have now made recreational pot legal altogether. But being out of step is not always a bad thing, right?