Business View Magazine | September 2022

178 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 9 and we expect to be completely void of fossil fuels by 2045. This was a very ambitious undertaking that was signed into law not that many years ago, but we’re well underway with electrification of vehicles, solar power, hydro power, wind power, you name it. We are afforded the opportunity to innovate, given the fact that we’re an island state, to actually be a beta site for some of this stuff, because we have great sun, wind, ocean, agriculture… It’s a perfect environment for renewables. “Healthcare is another sector we excel in. We have amazing longevity in our residents, but it also means we have an aging population, so our future movements in the health space will need to reflect that. We also service the greater Pacific through our Shriners Children’s Hospital; people fly here from other islands in Oceania for treatment. We are committed to furthering food sustainability and renewable agriculture. We’re really focused on climate change issues, and rightfully so – 98% of our food is imported, so we need to become more food secure. Now, we are still going to be dependent on imports to some extent because we only have so much land. At one time, Hawaii was primarily an agricultural economy, mostly in exports of sugarcane and pineapple. Those businesses shifted over time to other sectors thanks to labour costs and land demand for housing development. We really want to see a resurgence in strong agricultural players on our home turf. “Finally, we have a great film production industry, thanks to our stunning natural environment. We even had productions running throughout COVID-19 – with restrictions in place, of course. Many, many movies have been shot here, including the Jurassic Park franchise, and we have longstanding TV shows like NCIS, Hawaii Five-O, etc. When directors need to film in a tropical paradise or jungle setting, Hawaii is the place they go.” The Office of the Mayor is dedicated to making