Tuesday, December 2, 2008

NY Times & Hawaii's Renewable Energy ‘Moon Shot'

Even The New York Times blogs. “The Board” is written by members of the Times’ editorial board and includes “…a variety of posts that give background to the day’s editorials, cover other major topics of the day, or provide a first-person take on an aspect of politics or society that we might not address in the editorial line-up.”

Hawaii’s quest for renewable energy independence is one such topic today. Henk Rogers’ Blue Planet Foundation and executive director Jeff Mikulina get a ton of exposure in a blog entry that equates the state’s drive to develop renewables with America’s race to the moon four decades ago:

"The project is Hawaii’s own moon mission, led by the Blue Planet Foundation and not by the state’s political establishment, which tends to prefer the slow and tortured way to change (a long battle over a new commuter rail system was bogged down by a ferocious debate over whether it should have steel or rubber wheels)."

Insert wince here – but remember, this is an opinion piece by a Times editorial board member, not necessarily the views of the aforementioned individuals and foundation. Still, it’s true that Rogers tells audiences we may be too conservative in aiming for 70 percent clean energy in Hawaii by 2030, the goal of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

Somebody has to be at the point of the spear, and whether they claim that position for themselves or not, that’s where one Times writer has put Rogers and Mikulina.

Remember the old advice: As long as the papers spell your name right, it’s good publicity.

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