To see all the Hawaii residents interview responses see the Index, just Click Here.

To take this survey yourself, Click Here

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What Is Your First and Last Name?

Keith Ranney (Keith, if you have a photo you want to add here, send it by email. Thanks!)

Do You Have a Website or Something Else You Would Like Us To Link To?

Keith Ranney (www.keithranney.com)
Art of Volunteering (www.artofvolunteering.com)

Which Hawaiian Islands Have You Lived On?

Maui.

How Many Years and Months Did You Spend Living in Hawaii?

14 years 11 months.

How Many Members of Your Family Stayed in Hawaii With You?

Single – just me

Pets – Choose One That Applies

No pets.

If You Had a Pet, Would You Recommend Pet Owners Moving to Hawaii Bring Their Pets to the Islands?

N/A

Was Your Income Adequate to Do 90% of What You Wanted To Do Beyond Your Normal Living Expenses?

I immediately saw opportunity to bring ecommerce knowledge to the vacation industry and raised money to support development of the business plan, so I wasn’t dependent on my savings.

What Were Your Main Activities Outside of Work – And, Did You Find You Had Enough to Keep You Occupied?

I had just left a dot-com start-up in Seattle and came to the islands on a healing pilgrimage that eventually led me to become a practitioner of the body-work that completely cured me. I spent a lot of time at Little Beach simply peeling off the layers (literally) of societal conditioning, freeing my mind to discover Me.

Did You Find It Easy to Make New Friends in Hawaii? And, Were People “Like You” Easy to Find?

I found it super easy to make friends in Hawaii because my strategy was to ask and listen to what Maui wanted of me. I was quickly endeared by the Hawaiian and south sea island indigenous cultures. I fell in love with the aunties and uncles, keiki and kapuna who carry the lineage and memory of such a noble people in tune with the natural (real) world. At the same time my heart was broken and opened as I came to understand how Imperial US business interests robbed the Hawaiians of their heritage, their land, their language, their “gifting economy” but could not rob them of their aloha.

Did You Experience Any Incidents of Racial Discrimination, Hate, Etc? Can You Please Explain As Much As You’re Willing?

The world is a perfect school and people reflect our unconscious prejudices. I have none and therefore have experienced none. I had an experience of a Hawaiian man trying to break my car window with his fist (while I was in it), but it was a simple misunderstanding exacerbated by crack

What Did You Think About the Traffic and Parking Situation?

I recently visited my hometown of Cleveland where the streets are a decade behind in repairs. Comparably, most of the streets on Maui are in great shape and the infrastructure of expanding highways and traffic lights is keeping up with the growth. However, Maui still has it’s priorities backward. The roads and parking are designed to cater to towns that are designed to accommodate cars, whereas, the towns and roads should be catering to people in communities where their feed is grown locally.

What Do You Like Most About Living in Hawaii?

1) The weather and how it supports year round food growth.
2) The true spirit of aloha as expressed through its people.
3) Being surrounded by the crystalline ocean.

I would love to say “the air” – and I do most of the time, except when the Neanderthals at HC&S burn sugar cane.

What Did You Dislike Most About Living in Hawaii?

Hawaii’s ills share the same cause as the rest of the “modern” world; a debt based banking and monetary system that requires constant unsustainable growth via the monetizing of everything such that it justifies global ecocide.

We are perhaps more aware of the chemical ecocide in Hawaii because Maui, Kauai & Molokai are the out-of-control Bio-Tech industry’s petri dishes for open air Frankenfood testing and genetic engineering field trials. Kauai alone is pummeled with over 180,000 lbs. of toxic pesticides annually due to bio-tech bullies and their toxic farming methods. Monsanto shows complete disregard for people’s rights to a non-toxic environment and buys its influence with its dirty money.

Maui will completely lose its charm if we don’t curtail the proliferation of big box stores, chains and strip malls whose revenues only add to the wealth of those who don’t live here. Local culture is expressed in mom & pop stores. The cost to a community by allowing a Wal*Mart to abuse its employees and send its revenues to the Walton family is hidden. But look beneath the surface and you’ll see a Maui that will eventually be as unique as any off-ramp on the mainland.

Rate Your Happiness Living in Hawaii…

As happy as can be.

Did You Have Any Experience With Public or Private Schools in Hawaii?

My partner is a substitute teacher and we’ve been together while her kids went through Junior High & High School. There is an element of racial tension/hostility and behavior born of futility, but I think much of this stems from the underlying wound that will continue to fester until the wrongs that have been perpetrated on Hawaii are remedied and resolved. There are some excellent private schools on Maui, but in general those stuck in an already dysfunctional education system learn little of value.

Was There Enough Shopping On the Island?

I’m more concerned with a finite land fill that will reach capacity by 2030. You can get what you need on Maui, but not necessarily what you want. Food is very expensive on all the islands, primarily because our governance bought into the unsustainable “centralized food production” trap. 50 years ago we were exporting our surplus food. Now, because we import most of what we eat, we have an 8 day supply if the barges stop coming. If you’re smart you get to know your farmer, become one yourself, and make friends with people who have lots of fruit trees. As a tech person I do have to buy a lot of my supplies off island.

Roughly How Much Money Did You Spend on Food Each Month?

My monthly personal food budget is under $300 per month. I grow my own fruits and vegetables and only buy meat, eggs, fish and poultry that was raised locally and/or that is organic.

Do You Have (Did You Have) a Business in Hawaii?

When I first moved to Maui I almost immediately formed a C-corp., but not in Hawaii because my exit strategy was likely to be a stock offering and there was little history of Maui corporations going public at that time. Since then I’ve scaled back considerably and only use LLCs which are easy to create in Hawaii.

Is Hawaii the Ultimate Place to Live Whether You Have Money or Not?

You know, it’s a really nice planet. We should take better care of it. Hawaii has great weather and the potential to be paradise, but our global economics have become so profane that we are polluting everything in sight. The runoff of chemical fertilizers from gulf courses and archaic waste management practices are destroying our reefs. Genetic pollution has already destroyed the organic papaya industry and bio-tech is hellbent on ruining all natural food. You can live on Maui without much money, but you better find someplace that will barter for your services.

There are some blatant double standards in Hawaii. The heritage of aloha and a gifting economy has been largely paved over by capitalistic entitlement and special interests protected by a “good ole boys” club mentality of cronyism. The current economic system requires Hawaiians to prostitute their values and buy into the “consumption at any cost” western propaganda just so they can keep their family homes, one of the reasons that most Hawaiians can’t afford to live here, but rather live in Las Vegas. The western capitalism and economic growth at any cost is costing Hawaiians their health and their islands. If you want to live in Hawaii, come to learn, to heal, to help right the wrongs. Come to discover your own gifts, what the islands need of your special talents, and give. If you come to take, you’re in for a rough ride. Aim for Awesome!

Anything Else You Want to Say???

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Vern’s Comments

Thanks Keith! I was hoping some people would take the opportunity to talk about things they love or dislike about the islands. Really appreciate your opening up there. If you ever feel like writing an opinion piece to be published on AimforAwesome.com, about some aspect of life in the islands, just let me know. I’d be up for that. You write well and you talk about things that matter.

I just looked at your sites. Nice. If you just wanted to write up an article talking about your Hawaii volunteer project, that would be great too. Whatever you have time for. Mahalos!

If you have any friends that would like to take the survey Keith, can you point them to it? Mahalos!

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If you have lived in Hawaii in the past or present, and you would like to take this short survey – here is the link:

Hawaii Resident Questionnaire (click)