Going Green with Andrea Dean

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin

Green dynamo Kareen Forissier helped to organize Green Drinks Waimea, bringing together a diverse group of people who are involved with green business and forwarding the green economy in our corner of the Big Island. Kareen is Councilmember Pete Hoffmann’s legislative assistant and is currently in Washington DC at the ICLE (Local Governments for Sustainability) conference.


Megan MacArthur of MacArthur & Company/Sotheby’s International Realty hosted Green Drinks Waimea. Megan is a certified Eco-Broker.


Who are these gorgeous green business women?
(Megan, Andrea, Kareen)



Eric Bonnici and Eddie Pollock deep in conversation



General Green Business Mingling in Waimea, Hawaii

Pics from Megan MacArthur.

I recently got some new Top Hat chickens. They are especially funny because of their cool feather hairdos. I thought I had all hens, but yesterday one of the chickens started sounding a lot like a rooster. Which one is it? I have not been able to identify the cock in the hen house as of yet.

I may be a bit biased, since I was the Mistress of Ceremonies for the day, but I must say that the Kuleana Green Business Conference on the Big Island of Hawaii was great.


Keynote speaker Joel Makower (pictured at left), author of Strategies for a Green Economy and Chairman and Executive Editor, Greener World Media, which includes the popular GreenBiz.com, was great. Joel gave us a witty and incisive overview of today’s green economy.


Don Schaeffer, CEO of RSF Social Finance and founder of Comet Skateboards, was the other keynote speaker. Don had a conversation with us about the local economy movement, starting and running a sustainable business, and the revolutionary work of RSF Social Finance.


All of the speakers and panelists were great. I wish I could summarize it all for you, but next year you will just have to come! Here are links:


KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Joel Makower, author of Strategies for the Green Economy and owner of greenbiz.com
Don Shaffer, CEO of RSF Social Finance and founder of Comet Skateboards


SPEAKERS
James Koshiba, Kanu Hawaii
Myah Ely, Sustainability Association of Hawaii


PANELS


Renewable Energy
Algae- and Soil-Based Biofuels, Hydrogen, and Geothermal Energy
Kyle Datta, New Energy Partners
Mike Kaleikini, Puna Geothermal Venture
Kelly King, Pacific Biodiesel
Joelle Simonpietri, Simonpietri Enterprises
Guy Toyama, H2 Technologies
Mike Kane, Plug In America
Henk Rogers, Blue Planet Foundation


Sustainable & Community-Supported Agriculture & Agroforestry
Chuck Barker, True Offsets
Tane Datta, Adaptations
Ben Discoe, Slow Food Hawaii
Susanne Friend, Friendly Aquaponics
Claire Sullivan, Whole Foods


Green Building, Real Estate, and Development
Olani Lilly, Kanu O Ka Aina’s LEED facility
Bo Kahui, Kealakehe 2020
Megan MacArthur, MacArthur & Company/Sotheby’s International Realty
Lauren Roth, Roth Ecological Design
John Steuber, HPM

Trash Bash host Andrea Dean welcomes Green Power Girl to bless the day by reading a poem by Alvita Soleil. The Trash Bash is an event in which people use recycled and founds objects to make haute couture.