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Roth asks two UH professors whether Hawaii can break its dependence on mass tourism. Rohter, co-founder of the Green Party and author of A Green Hawaii, calls the tourism-driven economy dysfunctional for most residents: three-quarters of workers earn below-average wages, the cost of living runs 40 percent above the mainland, and young people are leaving. He proposes scaling back from six million annual tourists to the two to three million Hawaii had in the mid-1970s, replacing lost revenue with community-owned ecocultural tourism, local food production worth up to a billion dollars after processing, and energy self-reliance that could save $400–500 million a year. McClain agrees the economy is too concentrated but argues that Hawaii's core competence is hospitality; diversification should extend into conventions, sports, health, and medical services rather than abandon tourism. He doubts ecotourism can pass a market test and warns that cutting tourist numbers would sharply lower living standards. Both find the state's political leadership lacking in vision, citing the Hawaiian Air bailout and the proposed Big Island spaceport as emblematic of a protectionist mindset. With the 1994 election under way, Rohter argues the recession has finally created an opening for genuine debate about alternatives.
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