I am a practicing vegan. Climate change is the most important issue of our time; it’s an existential threat to us and our way of life on the Earth. Eating animals also results in the cruelty of industrial animal farming and chronic health problems for those who eat them.

I have been a client of Bank of Hawaii for over 50 years. After so many years, the bank knows me well enough to understand what I’m doing. If I ask Bank of Hawaii to make sure that none of my investments are in petrochemical stocks, they respect my request, no rolled eyes.

Rachel Carson first awakened my interest in caring for the environment. I vividly remember lying on my bed in Hilo and reading her Silent Spring when it first came out. That alerted me to what we were doing to the environment, even beyond DDT.

I have grandchildren and I fear what their world is going to be like when they are 80. If everybody were concerned about their impact on climate we wouldn’t have the problem we now have with climate change. If everybody were vegan we wouldn’t have the greenhouse gases from cutting down forests to make pastures, and all the emissions from animal husbandry practices. Of course, everybody isn’t going to become vegan. So many people are in denial, but if you care about your grandkids, you just can’t be.

Bank of Hawaii is supportive of everything I’m trying to do. They helped with financing the photovoltaics on my rooftop and the expansion of my Tantalus home. For instance, in order to install the photovoltaics I needed to do it before the end of the tax year, so I could take advantage of tax credits. The bank was very helpful in making the necessary capital available when I needed it, and then I paid it back when I received the tax credits.

I see my financial advisors at the bank and talk to them more often now than I ever did in the past. Cori Weston and her staff have become friends. Their service is very personal, very responsive, very sensitive. They also ask questions and give advice when they should.

They think of little things to make it easy to do business. When I need to handle some of my finances, all I need to do is pick up the phone and talk to Cori Weston and her team, and it is done.

Bank of Hawaii is supporting me by making banking easier. They are freeing me up to do what I think is important in the world. I like to check my account balance online, and I’ve set up a lot of payments as direct deposits so that everything is taken care of when I’m traveling.

Bank of Hawaii has been here so long, it has a history and knowledge of the past and understands the flavor of Hawaii. It is an important part of the community, supporting so many good causes, and that’s essential for a community.

Having lived here for almost 80 years, I’ve seen huge changes that have come about both with the influx in population and with the environment. It’s really good to have an old, local established company that does such a good job, that you can rely on and provides such good service. It’s pono in Hawaii; it’s as it should be.