By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
The state Environmental Council gave Hawai‘i a "B" for progress in its annual Environmental Report Card for the year 2000.
In its annual report, the Environmental Council, a 15-member citizens panel appointed by the governor to advise the state on environmental issues, said it is concerned about the effects on the Islands of global warming.
"Such major climatic and physical changes are significant and would have serious adverse environmental and economic consequences worldwide, especially to island states such as Hawai‘i," the council said in its report.
It said effects could include coastal erosion and loss of coastal wetlands, damage to underground water supplies, increased rates of extinction for native species and reduced tourism if Hawai‘i’s beaches are rendered less attractive.
The council endorsed the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for strict reductions in the production of greenhouse gas emissions. It also called on the governor and Legislature to commit to reducing Hawai‘i’s greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent less than 1990 levels by end of the decade.
Environmental Council member Michael Faye said there was broad agreement on the concern about global climate change and the need to support emission restrictions.
In its environmental report card for Hawai‘i, a separate part of the council’s annual report, the state got high marks for its air and water quality, and lower scores for energy use and recycling.
The annual report is based on a series of benchmarks, such as the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources, the spawning rate of bottomfish, the number of oil spills and the rate of bus ridership. In many cases the most current statistics were from 1999.
This year the council included two separate grades: one for progress toward improving the environment and one for the status of the environment.
While Hawai‘i is moving fairly well toward a healthier environment, there remains a distance to go, the report said. In the status box, the Islands scored "C plus." The council concluded that while the condition of the state’s land, air and water is good to optimum, a number of areas are in poor shape.
Notably weak are:
 Energy use: 93 percent of Hawai‘i’s energy comes from burning imported fossil fuels, and that level of use is essentially flat. Alternative energy sources as a whole are not growing.
Reuse of resources: While more treated wastewater is being reused, it is just 13 percent of the total. And the amount of solid waste diverted from the landfills has been flat for the past four years.
Biodiversity maintenance: The spawning potential of bottomfish such as ehu and onaga is dropping. The Islands’ native species continue to suffer, with more species of native plants in the rare to endangered category.
The Environmental Council rated the status of public awareness and concern a "C," but gave it a "B" for progress. This category is rated by the amount of money the state spends on the environment, the number of motor vehicles per capita in Hawai‘i, the number of noise complaints filed per 100,000 people, the number of miles of bikeways and annual boardings on Honolulu’s municipal bus system.
The state did best in noise complaints; 1999 had the fewest in recent years.
The most divergent grades in the entire report were for bikeways.
The state got an "A-minus" for progress, since the number of miles of bikeways has increased in each of the last few years. But it got an "F" for status. Statewide there were 180 miles of bikeways in 1999. The Environmental Council set a goal of 327 miles by 2002.
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