1. Why did you accept the role of CAT chair?

I’m very concerned about the threats that natural disasters pose. That’s why I am so encouraged that the Governor wants to give the issue the attention of this committee and its experts, in order to develop concrete solutions. Hawai‘i is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and I’ve devoted my time since retirement to addressing its risks.

We can’t look to State government to eliminate the risks of natural disasters alone. On the contrary, most of the solutions are going to come from communities working together and from the many public- and private-sector organizations that already are doing great work in this area. But the State can absolutely help catalyze, coordinate and support these efforts, and I applaud the Governor and the legislature for recognizing the critical importance of supportive legislation.

2. CAT is involved with the fifth phase of the state’s Maui fire response, “protecting Hawai‘i moving forward.” What does that solution look like at this preliminary stage?

There are two broad themes we’re focused on: resilience and recovery. It’s much better to increase our resilience and to minimize the impact of storms than it is to fix things once they break, but we recognize that building resilience will take time, so planning for recovery is important also. We are in the fact-finding stage currently, but I expect our recommendations to be equally focused on building resilience and preparing for effective recovery.

On the resilience front, there are some big investments that will be needed to protect our environment and strengthen our infrastructure (including our homes), but we also believe there’s a lot that communities can do to strengthen their resilience through lower-cost initiatives, communication and coordination. I hope we’ll be able to marshal resources for significant infrastructure investments while also empowering and supporting communities.

Similarly, on the recovery front, we need to identify solutions to big challenges like the difficult insurance market and ensuring access to necessary goods and services, but an important lesson from disasters like the Maui wildfires and Kauai floods is that recovery starts with the local community. The State needs to find ways to encourage and support local communities and the communities need to take advantage of that support to develop their own resilience and recovery plans.

3. What is the benefit/detriment of CAT’s status as a volunteer entity?

The integrity of our process is of the utmost importance. Even though we’re advising the Governor, our recommendations won’t yield results unless the public and the legislature understand them as sound, unbiased and in the best interests of Hawai‘i. I think it’s helpful that we’re all unpaid volunteers – three of us are retired and the other three are State- or non-profit employees. This is a massive amount of work, but we’re doing it because we care about our state’s future, and I hope that will resonate in our recommendations.

If we’re going to come together to address the climate crisis and to increase our resilience, it’s going to require sacrifice on everyone’s part. Granted, we need a lot of people to get paid for their work on climate resilience (and mitigation), but we need to supplement those efforts with voluntarism and personal investment in the work that needs to be done.

4. The pillars of disaster readiness outline four significant, and uniquely complex, categories of interest. Can they be addressed simultaneously? If not, which takes priority?

The pillars you’re referring to are environmental and infrastructure resilience, and physical and financial recovery, but as we’ve conducted our interviews, we’ve realized there are many dimensions that need to be understood, in order to design good policy. One important example is the significant role community and social linkages play in both resilience and recovery. And then, of course, there’s the big question of how we pay for all of this.

Not only can these pillars be addressed simultaneously: they must be. For example, we must begin to address the resilience of our older homes, but that will take some time and so we must also be proactive in planning for recovery from events that may occur while that process is still underway.

5. When can the public expect to see results from CAT’s policy recommendations?

Given that our goal is to help craft a legislative agenda for the Governor, the results will not be visible until the next legislative session. However, we expect to start sharing and testing our recommendations with the Governor, legislators and the public this fall.