Solar on Maui-is it feasible? What About Post Pandemic?

7-29-2020… Jason Schwartz shares with Techno-wizard progressive environmentalist  CHRIS MENTZEL, Discussions about Maui’s potential future as a travel destination after this COVID-19 Global Pandemic AND environmental solutions to Hawaii’s needs for self sustainability, and more

Summary &  Transcript

[00:00 → 04:52] Early Renewable Energy Vision and Solar Storage Plan on Maui
Jason Schwartz introduces Chris Mentzel, a longtime friend and environmental visionary. Chris recounts their early involvement in Maui’s environmental discussions dating back over 30 years, notably at a Maui Inc. magazine conference focused on business and environment. Chris shares his initial surprise at the absence of solar energy on Maui and how, during the conference, he drafted a detailed plan for solar power development on the island.

• Key points of the plan:
  1. Solar panels covering roofs to generate daytime electricity.
  2. Water pumped up to a large reservoir near the top of Haleakala mountain during the day using solar energy.
  3. Water released at night through turbines to generate electricity, effectively creating a large-scale pumped hydro storage system—a natural “battery.”
• Chris presented this plan to Tom Jezierney, then-president of Maui Electric Company (MECO), who found it feasible but was concerned about funding.
• The estimated cost was $700 million at the time, with a projected payback period of 10-12 years, meaning the investment would have eventually yielded free electricity for decades.
• Chris laments that despite the plan’s viability, lack of funding and vision delayed its realization, but notes that today, similar ideas are far more elementary and affordable.
• [04:52 → 09:27] Growth of Renewable Energy and Updated Maui Energy Independence Plan
  Chris details his entrepreneurial background—selling a software company in Germany before moving to Maui—and recalls Maui’s early efforts to develop a high-tech sector, including the establishment of the Research and Development Park in Kihei.
• He confirms that the original solar-plus-pumped-water storage concept is still valid but now scaled up to about $2 billion to match Maui’s current population and energy demands.
• Despite the significant cost increase, the 10-year payback period remains consistent, making the investment financially sound.
• Maui currently generates approximately 42% of its energy from renewables (solar and wind), a figure that Chris states is world-leading and close to Germany’s 38%, though Germany exports excess energy through a connected European grid, reducing its need for local storage.
• Chris explains that the global majority of energy storage (about 94%) still relies on pumped hydro storage rather than batteries, underscoring the practicality of his early proposal.
• He stresses that the technology to implement Maui’s energy independence plan is completely doable today, and financing options have improved, though the challenge remains the scale of capital required and underwriting the loans.
• [09:27 → 17:54] Financing Challenges and Decentralization of Energy Systems
  Chris discusses the financial hurdles in securing the upfront $2 billion investment:
• MECO (Maui Electric Company) lacks capital to underwrite such a loan.
• Potential buyers like Florida-based companies were interested but not committed to investing that amount.
• Land value and local corporate assets are insufficient to cover the total cost.
• The plan requires building all components simultaneously due to the integrated nature of the pumped hydro storage system, though advances in battery tech might allow incremental builds going forward.
• The current trajectory involves piecemeal solar and battery projects driven by MECO’s requests for proposals, often backed by outside investors, including international sources.
• Decentralization is increasing, with many homes and groups going off-grid, reducing strain on the central system.
• Maui’s grid currently allows distributed solar generation if paired with battery storage to deliver power when the grid demands it, especially to address peak solar production times versus peak consumption times.
• Chris highlights ongoing developments in battery technologies (Tesla and others) and the positive trend toward decentralized renewable energy.
• [17:54 → 25:11] Innovative Environmental Projects: Algae Biofuel and Biochar Production
  Chris shifts to discussing another environmental initiative involving Michael Smith and the documentary The Need to Grow.
• The project converts agricultural and invasive plant waste into biochar and algae-based biofuels:
  1. Organic waste is thermally processed in a low-oxygen reactor called “the dragon,” producing biochar and CO2.
  2. The CO2 feeds fast-growing algae grown indoors.
  3. The algae biomass is converted in digesters into high-quality fertilizer and phytochemicals used in agriculture and health.
• This project has received local government grants but requires additional funding.
• Chris is building a website (foreverworldsphere.com) to showcase Maui’s environmental and agricultural innovations, aiming to coordinate and promote these diverse efforts more effectively.
• He emphasizes the need for collaboration and integration among Maui’s various environmental groups to create a unified platform and global example.
• [25:11 → 32:31] COVID-19 Response: New Zealand’s Eradication Model and Implications for Maui
  Chris discusses the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the problem of waning antibodies and likely recurring infections.
• He contrasts two pandemic strategies:
  1. The U.S. and Maui focusing on “flattening the curve” to prevent healthcare overload.
  2. New Zealand aiming for total eradication through strict early lockdowns and border closures.
• New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s leadership and personable communication style galvanized public cooperation, leading to successful virus elimination within the country.
• Result: New Zealand returned to normal life with open schools, restaurants, and events, as the virus was contained to quarantine facilities.
• Chris proposes that Maui could adopt a similar eradication strategy by:
  1. Establishing centralized, strictly monitored 14-day quarantines for all arrivals.
  2. Creating a “Maui-style” quarantine zone that is safe and pleasant.
  3. Once virus-free status is achieved, reopening normal life for residents and long-term visitors.
• He notes that this model suits longer-term visitors such as retirees or remote workers who can quarantine for weeks but not typical short-term tourists.
• [32:31 → 37:11] Economic and Social Opportunities with COVID-19 Eradication Strategy
  Chris envisions a transformed Maui economy oriented toward:
• Long-term tourism by older or vulnerable populations seeking safe environments.
• Remote tech workers relocating to Maui, leveraging ongoing expansions in telework from major companies like Google.
• Using the island’s existing 30,000 hotel beds to accommodate these visitors under the new quarantine and safety protocols.
• Creating new jobs in hospitality and caregiving to support these populations.
• Developing affordable housing and sustainable living models to support a healthier, more resilient community.
• Chris and Jason highlight the potential for Maui to become a world-leading example of sustainable living, integrating arts, technology, environment, and public health.
• [37:11 → 42:26] Closing Thoughts: Unity, Cooperation, and Spiritual Practice
  Jason praises Chris’s visionary and hopeful attitude. Chris shares a broader message emphasizing:
• The importance of unity and cooperation, especially in the face of misinformation and division aggravated by foreign interference.
• Wearing masks and following public health measures as acts of care for others.
• The need for spiritual practice alongside technical and political solutions to foster compassion and healing.
• Chris continues to practice and teach Diksha (Shaktipat), a meditation technique promoting peace and love.
• The interview closes with warm mutual appreciation and a call for collective healing and progress on Maui and beyond.
  1. 1. Key Insights and Conclusions
• Maui’s renewable energy independence is technically feasible and economically viable but requires significant upfront investment (~$2 billion) and innovative financing models.
• Pumped hydro storage remains the most practical large-scale energy storage solution globally, validating Chris’s decades-old proposal.
• Decentralized energy systems with solar plus battery storage are increasingly important and are expanding on Maui.
• Collaborative platforms like “Forever World Sphere” are needed to unify and amplify Maui’s diverse environmental innovations.
• New Zealand’s COVID-19 eradication model offers a viable blueprint for Maui to achieve virus-free status, allowing full reopening and economic revival.
• Maui’s future economy may shift toward long-term residents, remote workers, and health-conscious travelers, leveraging telecommuting trends and sustainable development.
• Unity, compassion, and spiritual practice are essential complementary elements to technical and policy solutions in addressing Maui’s challenges.
  1. 1. Timeline Table: Major Topics Discussed

Definitions and Concepts Table

Core Concepts

• Renewable energy can be effectively integrated with large-scale energy storage to achieve energy independence.
• Financial and infrastructural challenges remain key barriers to rapid renewable energy deployment.
• Decentralization and battery storage mitigate grid demand challenges caused by variable renewable power.
• Collaborative community efforts and innovative environmental technologies can position Maui as a global sustainability leader.
• Public health strategies that seek eradication rather than mitigation of COVID-19 can restore normalcy and economic vitality.
• Integrating technical, social, and spiritual approaches is essential for holistic progress.
  1. 1. Keywords

Maui, renewable energy, solar power, pumped hydro storage, biochar, algae biofuel, COVID-19 eradication, New Zealand, decentralized energy, battery storage, sustainable development, remote work, energy independence, Diksha meditation, environmental innovation.

1. 1. 1. FAQ (Based on Content)

Q: Is Maui’s energy independence achievable?
A: Yes, with updated technology and investment (~$2 billion), Maui can become energy independent with a payback period of about 10 years.

Q: Why has Maui not yet implemented the large-scale solar and pumped hydro plan?
A: The primary barrier is securing the required capital and underwriting the loans; MECO and local assets lack sufficient resources.

Q: How much renewable energy does Maui currently generate?
A: Approximately 42% of Maui’s energy now comes from wind and solar, a leading figure globally.

Q: What is the status of COVID-19 in terms of long-term management?
A: Antibodies may wane, indicating COVID-19 could become a lasting presence; eradication models like New Zealand’s offer alternative strategies.

Q: How can Maui apply New Zealand’s COVID-19 strategy?
A: By enforcing strict, centralized quarantine for all arrivals and aiming for zero virus cases, Maui can return to normal life safely.

Q: What economic opportunities does this offer Maui?
A: Long-term stays by retirees and remote workers, job creation in hospitality and caregiving, and sustainable housing development.

This summary strictly reflects the video transcript content, emphasizing key points, data, and insights with clear structure and professional tone.

00:00

[Music] hello hi everyone good morning this is jason schwartz i’m your host here at mauineutralzone.com the neutral zone we have a terrific guest today someone that i’ve known for decades that’s amazing to say actually more than 30 years now my god this is chris mentzel chris welcome to our show jason fabulous fabulous talking to you yes we’re we’re friends for 30 years we met on the whale boat and isn’t that funny can you remember that the the business and environment annual

00:57

conference beacon put on by maui inc magazine which is now way in the past and they had an environmental conference that was really a very committed group early on in the cycle where we if we were taking the road of maui you can go left or right we could have gone right we talked about it and we even had the opportunity over this next couple of years we had access remember tom gizerni who was pretty president of maui electric company right how many times did we talk about alternative plans way back when

01:40

we could have been way ahead of the world and you i remember you made up this huge plan on how to put solar on the island then give us some of your background i mean maybe you want to walk us through some of that stuff yeah that since you’re mentioning mentioning tom gizerni so in that conference i was i was pretty new on maui like a few months i i wondered why is there no solo in maui and why are not all the roofs covered in solar cells so it sat down at night during the conference and made a complete plan so how much

02:25

solar panels would it take uh how do you store it and came up with water storage where we would put a big hole in into the top of haleakala uh fill it with water run the water down the side of the mountain through turbines and this would create electric energy during the night and in the day time the solar energy would pump the water back up and uh yeah by cycling the water up and down we would in effect have a battery uh i made a paper out of that it wasn’t huge it was a page or two or three pages and

03:13

a few days later uh mikko called me and tom to cerny the president said why don’t you come over and talk to me so fabulous very very nice that there was the beginning actually of having a really yeah collegiate really nice relationship with my electric and uh yeah he looked at the plan and said god this looks yeah really doable really good uh yeah but who has the money for it and at that time um i think i calculated 700 million dollars uh might not be quite up to the amount of people the amount of

04:01

electricity usage we have today uh but 700 million dollars sounded like again to an amount of money then but we would have gotten that money back within 10 to 12 years so if we would have built that we would nowadays have electricity for free the solar panels would still operate the the pumps would still operate the water would still flow down and yeah give us nighttime energy so yeah it was not in anybody’s mind to deal with such sums of money back then but yeah by by now it would be definitely paid off

04:52

well here we are three decades later is not extraordinary to say three decades later and now all the things we were talking about that seemed like far-off dreams that were so expensive now seem like elementary my dear watson it’s so primitive in the idea of what we now have learned how right we were speaking of that let me just say when when you first came here you would you were successful you came here from uh what from germany and you had sold the business and came here and were successful entrepreneur already

05:31

and now we’re gonna do something on maui we were very fortunate to get you here that was a great plan i uh had i known about it and we would have figured out how to promote it maybe it’s still a good plan here there are probably other plans you’ve got in mind since then have you seen other workable plans that could could that one even work now well a little bit to the history in 1985 i started a company to provide software solutions for cd-rom on the same day that cd-rom was introduced to the marketplace

06:13

uh built up that company did many of the initial cd-rom projects in germany and my biggest customer came to me one day and said we would like to invest in your company and i sold them the entire company worked there for another year and then said what’s the best place in the world and yeah pretty quickly i figured out that maui was it and i arrived and uh just then actually maui was very interested in creating uh a high tech uh sector and uh that yeah the the opening of the research and development part in

07:04

kihei that yeah yeah yeah and and yet the opening of the first building in that center uh was i think just in the first year that i was here so uh it’s interesting we look at names that now are such important parts of our history here in the uh mike bowden and the research and development park and those are the days when when they said alexander and baldwin there was actually a bald one here remember peter baldwin and the dairy and and things were manageable even it was we still could have wrapped our arms around it and solved

07:51

these problems you think we still can do it now i bet you do um absolutely absolutely i’ve recently dusted up the plan and uh yeah redone it with the new data of how much more electricity we’re using how much more people we are um with uh yeah decent uh raise in in uh capital so i figured out it’s about two billion dollars now to make maui energy independent and again uh yeah that amount uh will be covered will be paid back in 10 years and after that the system still based on the same

08:38

theories as back then uh would pay for itself and create free energy for us for another hundred years and yeah meanwhile of course yeah yeah meanwhile of course meanwhile of course we have uh wind power and we have solar power we powered at 42 of our energy uh coming from the two which nobody would have believed in in earlier years we thought maybe five percent yeah of variable power and a greater is doable now maui is probably leading the world at 42 percent and similar to germany germany is also

09:27

around 38 of energy is produced by solar except that germany is is distributing it to other countries in the neighborhood so they don’t have that big task of having batteries that that we have so i see so they don’t have much storage they just deliver it they don’t keep it at night yeah yeah there’s little story inside germany there’s a lot of storage in norway in the fjords and uh basically all of europe is connected in a big grid so if there’s suddenly bright sunshine in germany and

10:16

lots of wind germany can just open and sell it on the market to the other countries what kind of storage do they use these days what are some of the big storage things they have flywheel batteries not yet well everybody’s talking about batteries so that’s that’s like yep the the foremost thing in people’s minds but if you look at the data currently i think 94 of all storage is still pumped pumped water pumping water up the hill running it down for generators just like i was uh recommending it back

10:58

in yeah 30 years ago already well it’s important as we’re talking that our audience hi out there they all know that what you’re talking about is totally doable we could totally do this so anyone that tells you we can’t we can and we have been able to for 30 years it’s only easier now how crazy is that yeah and so people people are really for it i i have to say yeah i presented the plan to the mayor to to miku to hiko hbi uh all the way up yeah everybody likes the plan um it’s it’s even easier to find the

11:46

money nowadays because yeah everything has really opened up for that kind of investment um the thing we’re struggling with is uh you really need somebody to to underwrite the loan so if we if we get a two billion dollar loan from a big bank yeah who would underwrite that and uh the electorate is impossible that the electric company i was going to say do they have enough money to be the underwriters they do yeah the electric company is too small um i had heard that when the florida company was coming

12:29

and yeah they were trying to buy our electric company that that they could do it but they didn’t it wasn’t really in their plans in the future to invest that kind of money what about the value of maui’s land is there billions of dollars in value where uh you know maui landed pine or whoever it is all the rest of these maybe their values all together could they come up with those kind of numbers i i kind of doubt it i kind of doubt it i mean what what was uh what was a and b sales value there was a

13:16

few 100 million dollars right to say that so you need two billion does it need all that money up front when how do when do you need the two billion yeah unfortunately that’s pretty much all up front if it was possible to build this step by step there would be a different thing but because you need the storage and the way i’ve designed it with pumping water up and down you really want to build it all at once now what’s changing is that batteries are progressing so in the future we might be able to build it

13:53

piece by piece and that’s yeah kind of the plan that miko is following now yeah is building piece by piece more solar and uh getting it together with batteries what about the possibility of well i’m sure it’s so decentralizing where there are many systems out so you could actually have it in a home or groups of homes and pull more and more people off the grid to suddenly gets to be more manageable because a lot of people are getting off the grid and being independent yeah i’ve seen a lot of systems

14:34

that’s what all i’m thinking about that idea about decentralizing makes less less stress or less demand on on the central system that’s left we’ll see but we’re up to 40 percent of renewables here are we in generation that’s extraordinary wow that’s very good i remember they used to be right no no no we can’t take any more now they don’t say that do they what do they uh well if you if you want to go on the grid you have to bring your battery and you have to deliver it yeah through

15:11

the battery at a time that fits miko and it’s it’s actually very simple yeah when the sun is up yeah around one o’clock we have the maximum solar input uh we don’t use that much energy uh we use energy at seven o’clock at night so if you can bring the energy the transmission yeah the creation of energy from one o’clock to seven o’clock with batteries you conserve that problem so guys like tesla there’s another battery company some guy came out here another comparable

15:52

battery company so there are solutions that are if they’re not here they sure seem like they’re here or right close at hand to encourage people to decentralize and get their own power maybe some of those financing deals banks would handle yeah yeah so that’s that’s what’s happening now we have we see that mikko puts out requests uh requests for projects and piece by piece projects come in and they always contain a battery backup and then different parts of the island now you still

16:31

want to have the grid because it’s uh yeah rarely but yeah often enough we have days without sunshine yeah with clouds and uh without wind and then then you want the central generation to kick in so you you still want to have the grid i remember the looking at the uh the numbers and realizing it was always a reserve charge that you always support that central system to be sure it’s there whether we need it or not that’s a good thing but i keep thinking that because they’re there in the central system that they

17:12

could be the financing for all these little systems does the puc have to keep approving is that what’s going on pucu hasn’t proven another amount of money so they can bring it more to put it into their rate schedule to pay back the way it’s going nowadays is that the electric company the upbeat hei or mikko uh puts out a request for proposals and then people come with the financing so yeah other companies yeah and some sometimes as far away as canada they come out with the financing with everything

17:54

and they say to me go hey we can yeah provide you for let’s say 10 cents a kilowatt hour uh we can provide you electricity for the next 20 years and we guarantee it those are those big solar farms we see you talking about that or yeah those are the big solar funds let’s see well i keep wondering you know as time is going on we’re getting more and more interesting things how about you’re an environmental guy in fact i think you’re one of the people you saw the movie the need to grow

18:35

and then had conversation with michael smith that’s been a wonderful adventure hasn’t it been about growing algae creating fuel to run an engine to create biochar and phytochemicals and payback on that was also within reasonable amount of time that’s another great project for here yeah yeah wonderful project it was it was really amazing um that michael came here and talked to all of us uh i organized a movie showing so we had i think 80 or 100 people there we were overflowing there weren’t we it

19:21

was extraordinary and then right and then we went before the environmental committee of the council and got a grant but more money needed for that project you think that uh if we put it out somehow by word the word will get out there locally or how do you think that one’s gonna get financed it would be interesting yeah yeah that’s so so maybe somebody who listens to this is interested in it so uh yeah basically uh what what michael is doing is he’s burning organic material which would be yeah

20:05

pretty much waste from agricultural operations and uh or we were talking about invasive species like the african tool so that any kind of green waste but how can we get rid of something that’s a problem yeah yeah so so he takes it into what he charmingly calls the dragon and the dragon um kind of burns it but without oxygen so out of this comes a little amount of co2 a lot of charcoal which is called biochar which is a wonderful thing to put into the soil and the the gases yeah the co2 that comes out of it

20:54

is then transported into a separate building where it grows algae algae grows so fast that in eight days uh yeah you have a complete field of algae in there it’s then taken out and put into digesters big steel cylinders and makes the best uh fertilizer in in yeah missing another word and in this new age what phytoceuticals is that a great word phy i i always think they siphon off different things at different temperatures that are valuable for growing and all kinds of things fantastic system yeah yeah

21:44

all these years ago we remember we were talking about mama maui arts and music showing off all the art and music and all the environmental solutions from right here in maui be an example to the world what would be a better time than right now yep yep and in in fact i’m building a website for mark sheen to showcase these things to bring this idea forward he calls it the forever world sphere and the website how funny is fair.com and uh very interesting yep we have already yeah a lot of uh very progressive farms on the island

22:27

that yeah take visitors and show things off um yeah when michael’s device gets built uh that that you see that all ties in it’s interesting that we all have separate things like this maui arts and music idea been here 30 years but in all that time all these separate groups are still operating separately and really it seems it’s like how do we bring them into a central i want to say more than a clearing house a place where we all coordinated together that isn’t government a forever world’s

23:10

first let’s show off the world all these important technologies sounds like we should be working together probably we will be that’s what ends up happening i’m glad you’re doing that that’s terrific i i was speaking to a gentleman in india today and we were again mapping out the same the same thing it’s like remember the movie et or was it a close encounter of the third kind where everyone is building the model of that mountain everyone from all over the world is having all these same ideas

23:46

at the same time with the world is growing up where consciousness is i don’t know taking the the roof off all the possibilities and that science fiction stuff is becoming science fact we’re living our uh our early tv shows remember when we would see flash gordon with a buster crab years ago with these old funny models through space and now with animation and everything all our imaginations are going wild and i don’t know i don’t think there’s anything impossible if we can dream it

24:28

i guess we can build it right i’m actually i really wanna i really wanna go over to lanai so if if yeah somebody has a connection to larry ellison they are building green houses that are highly roboticized in this age yeah where our farmers are getting older and older that might be yeah the way to do agriculture in the future and larry’s putting a lot of money into it that’s where michael was when he was coming here he was going over to see those greenhouses which he did go to see so

25:11

we did an interview with michael smith so people hopefully will check out now after watching this one they’ll also check out that one maybe we can regenerate the enthusiasm to be able to get our money so that we can get that project here i’d love to be here yeah so yeah so now we have yeah apart from that now now we have the big question what what happens with maui as we learn more that is here to stay and uh yeah there’s real doubts that uh yeah we can have a back sign that works because it seems like the antibodies

25:55

don’t last in our bodies so back sign would create antibodies for a few months and then that disappears again so there’s there’s a possibility now that covet will be just yeah a constant in our future which means for a lot of people that they can’t really go out and participate in a normal life and yeah as that sinks in i think there’s a very very different possibility for maui and uh i came upon that uh when i realized what new zealand was doing so so in maui and in the us we’re trying

26:42

to flatten the curve and to to minimize the impact of the virus the reason is yeah if we let the infection just run yeah the hospitals will be overcrowded and people will be dying and not have proper medical attention if we flatten the curve yeah that the infections will still happen but uh we we drag it out over time uh let me let me break in for a second we’ll come back and we’ll regroup i’m going to take a quick break for station identification because they don’t know this is chris mensel i’m

27:22

jason schwartz we’re at the maui neutral zone at kaku 88.5 fm radio we’re on akaku maui television we’re on youtube all over the world that’s what we are so we’ll be back in just a second with chris mentzel we’ll see you and we’re going to pick up about the covet thing and what’s going on hang on a second we are back i’m jason schwartz your host of the maui neutral zone here with chris mentzel and we are talking about energy and environment but we’re just

27:58

talking about the covid 19 thing and maui you were saying chris and i think appropriately so this thing is bigger than a bread box it’s not going to be an open and shut case that covered 19 doesn’t the antibodies don’t stay in our body which means it could be a recurring problem and we here in america we’re so far behind we think we’re first we think we’re so far ahead on what we know but we don’t seem to be so you were talking about new zealand please continue or wherever you want to

28:39

go new zealand uh really yeah it’s the country that had the the world’s best reaction to covet uh when they first heard about it they said uh very quickly yeah we got it uh uh we got to stop this we got a quarantine very hard very soon they they hardly had any cases in new zealand at that point uh they locked up everybody was locked in yeah tighter than than we have seen it in maui or in the united states uh they couldn’t even go out uh on the beach or yeah for any joy ride or anything like

29:23

that just a very very needed items they were locked up for five weeks and uh there oh mike something just happened here your camera just stopped okay let’s i saw that we had a technical glitch we’ll see where it was do you remember where it was you were talking talking about new zealand and the fact that they closed down quickly and that they um did it right it was seemed very very uh dictatorial if you will and closed down society completely but with a smile everyone seemed to be cooperating there

30:11

what what did you see so so this this is really driven by the prime minister jacinda arden who is uh in her 30s just had a baby and is is a very personal very loving uh very primal prime minister so so the prime minister in new zealand was their inspirational leader and she really did a i thought she was very personable when she was talking to her people and i guess they got a high level of cooperation huh she was on facebook live every day out of her kitchen with her baby showing yeah how she was doing the same

31:00

that she was asking her people to do she called it we’re team new zealand yeah we want to fight the virus and they totally closed down the borders and their strategy was different from the one that we have we’re looking to to minimize the virus new zealand said we want to eradicate the virus a whole whole different strategy so now since a few weeks new zealand has done the eradication there’s there’s no virus in inside new zealand and except for the quarantine stations and that means everybody went back to

31:47

their normal life yeah everybody young and old can go out can go shopping the restaurants are full um people yeah have big rugby games again it’s yeah five million people live in new zealand and uh what what can you do from where we are what do you think is gonna happen or what can we do well and i think maui yeah all the neighbor islands but let’s talk about maui can do the same thing so if maui would say we want to go for eradication it would mean to reorganize the quarantine so it is

32:31

centrally done um yeah everybody who comes in yeah from wherever whoever goes into a hotel for 14 days and yeah it’s watched over nobody escapes nobody goes out in the wrong place we can we can probably make it really nice here we can create a zone where where people can arrive and have a maui style quarantine um and uh and of course we need to achieve eradication then so we might need to yeah quarantine or lock up people for for a while again for a couple weeks or so um and then uh maui has the status of being

33:22

covet free which means everything goes back to normal life everybody can can be everywhere old people sick people uh can totally enjoy their life again and of course yeah for normal tourism this doesn’t work because normal tourism is an average of yeah six or eight days but uh there’s there’s thousands or there’s millions of people all over the united states that now cannot go out because yeah they they are old they have certain sicknesses um and yeah the ones with money could come to maui and enjoy a real

34:10

free lifestyle so so that’s that’s what i see as a real practical solution for maui that we attract people that wanna that values safety and yeah they come to maui for months at a time and go through the 14-day quarantine which is not so much a problem if you’re coming in for months once they’re through the quarantine yeah they they are free to be on maui and uh by bringing these people in uh we yeah create uh more economic action yeah we create more jobs um yeah if it’s if it’s older people

35:02

they might yeah want to hire somebody to help them along so so yeah in this way we we can bring the people that lost their jobs in the hotel industry back to work and we can see if the hotels can be reconfigured to be attractive for people that want to come for that longer time ideally yeah we have about 30 thousand hotel beds yeah those thirty thousand hotel beds could be reserved for these people and there’s there’s also another clientele um that is uh tech workers or yeah pretty much everybody

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who works full-time on the computer and now works from home could also yeah come over to maui move the family here and live a really safe lifestyle while working for here from here for the companies on the mainland yeah look at google yeah they have what what does google have now 80 000 people that worked there um yeah they could they could so today until july of 2021 they’re pushing their at-home date that’s how long that’s another year folks so that model is is clearly in our future yeah

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and uh and of course if we’re going to build affordable housing here we got we’re going to have lots of jobs here we’re just going to change them into things that create sustainable living and be that example to the world you know it sounds like you know a world fair like you say that’s why we call it the maui archive music association association of art and music with a purpose to educate the world about the possibilities it sounds like we’re we’re going to raise the bar

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that’s what we’re doing and um you’ve always been such an inspiration to me over the years as someone who thinks about what can happen if we do this what good can we do today what good can we do tomorrow you know that kind of attitude very infectious and it’s always been real close to my heart besides you’re a wonderful guy and that’s the other part it’s been a pleasure knowing you all these years and uh maybe these are going to be the times where all our dreams are going to start to

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turn the corner and really manifest i hope so what do you think our next steps are what do you think we’re all from here you think we’re going to get someone to pick up that covered dream do we have to talk to associations at the hotels and activities or the mayor where do you think we need to bring that yeah i’ve i’ve been trying to to bring that since about a month two months ago i’ve bring that into the discussion it’s not quite there yet because of course everybody hopes we go

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back to normal and these new insights about that covet might be staying fast long with us longer um are just slowly slowly sinking in and uh as they sink in i think that model will yeah really appear interesting for both government and hotel owners well maybe we can be the thrust of helping put that out i hope that is part of our role now believe it or not we’ve been talking a while we got if i said okay chris we have an audience out there of millions of people your perfect audience what is it

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important that you’d like to share with them well what’s what’s important these days is uh that we really come together yeah we’ve seen we’ve seen a lot of uh mistrust and growing apart and uh yeah make no mistake yeah a lot of that is driven by russian robots and yeah by by sources that are not friendly to the united states and that are not friendly to us um so let’s just look each other in the eye and and say yeah we’re here for each other we um wear our masks for the other one not

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for ourselves and uh we really want this to be a wonderful country a wonderful island a wonderful world and yeah bring that back and yeah get do away with the negativity and yeah splitting up and being split uh yeah into different factions yeah isn’t that crazy though a little bit of cooperation i mean take down take down the border walls take down the concept of separateness and take down all those concepts that distance us from realizing that loving and giving to each other is the way it’s otherwise what kind of

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world are we in anyway um you’re still doing diksha are you still doing um your spiritual practices and things i i do i do a number of spiritual practices yeah dictionary is a wonderful one it’s uh it’s also called known as shaktipat where you hold your hands on the head of another person and immediately generate a meditative state yeah all all the variations of meditations are wonderful i found a new teacher over in los angeles that that is doing wonderful work yeah um to to bring love

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into into our daily life uh we need that we need spiritual work we can’t be just political or just technical just practical we really need to bring that together and uh clean up ourselves through the meditation yeah uh gain the energy that that we want to give out for ourselves at first i hope you’ll come back again chris on the show here with me at some point besides being a wonderful man your your insights are very important and valuable not only to maui but the whole world and i appreciate you a lot chris mentzel

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it’s been a pleasure thank you jason i love you you’ve been a wonderful friend all these years thank you blessings to everyone out there we will see you all again thank you for joining us aloha you