by Jim Dator
Introduction
This paper was originally written for a “visioning session” of the Board of the Queen Lili`uokalani Trust in Honolulu, Hawaii, on February 19, 2008. It is the most complete written version of a talk that I have been giving to groups around Honolulu for a few years before and after that date, simply modifying the details of the presentation as aspects of the anticipated developments (that I designate “the unholy trinity, plus one”) actually occurred in forms that helped some people understand the greater perils and promises yet to come. I have given versions of this talk to groups who know and care about Hawaii and who are concerned about its future–native Hawaiian organizations, church groups, social welfare organizations, locally-focused civic and environmental groups, chapters of Rotary Clubs, schools, retirement home, and other similar organizations– because of Hawaii’s extreme dependence on the global economic system on the one hand and its exceptional vulnerability to environmental modifications on the other. But the argument here should resonate almost anywhere in the world, and I offer it here because of that.