I’ve been meeting with local business leaders alongside Brittany Zimmerman, CEO of Yummet, and the other day I realized that someone completely misread why I was there. This person assumed I was there to give Brittany credibility with the Hawaiian community, but that wasn’t even remotely true. I was there because I am very impressed with what she stands for and what she is doing.

Yummet has developed a solution that takes waste — which includes landfill trash, plastics, glass, metals, agricultural and construction waste — and disassembles the molecules. Then it rebuilds those molecules, turning waste into minerals, soils, water and atmosphere, just like nature does. The process also removes greenhouse gases from both the atmosphere and oceans.

In my opinion, the model is credible, practical and goes far beyond other solutions I hear bandied around.

Zimmerman is the real deal — an aerospace systems engineer who, early in her career, became the youngest-ever NASA principal investigator. She specialized in bioregen- erative physiochemical hybrid life support systems for long-duration space flight. She has developed solutions for the International Space Station, the return to the moon project Artemis, Mars habitats, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Now she and her team of more than 300 graduate- level experts from more than 50 countries have turned their attention to solving some of Earth’s problems — and after researching locations around the country, they want to set up their first facility here on Hawaii island.

A company that can take the waste we generate and convert it into several beneficial products while also having a net negative effect on fossil fuel emissions? That’s worth supporting, and people need to hear about its solutions.

Zimmerman and I are speaking with business leaders to make a case for leveraging two Hawaii island resources that will last forever and could significantly improve life for us and the next generations, both of which I have advocated for many years: geothermal energy and the skies above Maunakea.

Because we have the heat, water and permeability of Hawaii island’s five volcanoes beneath us, the cost of steam will be stable for (literally) a million years. Therefore, the cost of geothermal electricity will be stable for a million years. At present, its price will be competitive with hydrogen derived from natural gas, although natural gas is a finite resource, and its cost will keep rising over time.

Using the skies above Maunakea as a physical place where culture and science can coexist is significant for many reasons. Creating a “Mauna Honua: Culture and Science Center Above the Clouds” at the visitors information station level would mean a physical working space where everyone, from our elementary school kids on up, could get grounded about and be proud of their place in the universe. It could help us, as a culture, move from any feelings of victimhood to those of leadership for generations to come.

Leveraging these forever resources would make life better for today’s toddlers, when they reach 25 years of age — or in other words, one generation from now.

Don’t underestimate my intentions and actions; I am not promoting this venture for any sort of personal profit whatsoever. I’m supporting a very smart solution, and because it’s our obligation to make life better for all who make Hawaii home, whether 25, 100 or 1,000 years in the future. It’s our responsibility. We are their ancestors.

Richard Ha is a Hawaii island farmer, sustainable energy advocate and author of the book, “What Would Our Kupuna Do?”