Going Green with Andrea Dean

The Big Island (with two locations in Waimea and Waikoloa) joined 250 groups in all 50 states today in a National Day of Action to get REAL FOOD in the schools spearheaded by Slow Food USA. No more Tater Tots? No more Mystery Meat? Ahhh… such fond memories of school lunches… NOT!


I am sure the Tater Tots will be safe for a while as the task at hand is to get the U.S. Congress to change the Child Nutrition Act to dedicate enough resources for the schools to buy REAL FOOD. SIGN THE PETITION.


Our local “eat in” at Waimea School was great. The cafeteria was full and the local food was great- lots of fresh, local food prepared lovingly by many hands. Missed it? Check it out:





From Slow Food USA: Together, we are publicly rejecting the notion that our schools cant afford to feed kids anything but the bad food that makes them sick. And the way were making this statement is by bringing neighbors together in the spirit of good will and for the joy of sharing good food.


Check out the Slow Food USA National Day of Action website for interviews with Michael Pollan and others on this national movement.
The New York Times article Stars Aligning on School Lunches is also great.

Well, well… those of us who have worked on the Clean Elections issue for years were very dismayed that back in April certain members of the Hawaii County Council tried to overturn years of public effort with a resolution to undo the public funding for Hawaii County Council races in 2010. See my original blog post and testimony.


It would seem that their message was WE MUST PRESERVE SPECIAL INTEREST FUNDING AT ALL COSTS. And indeed, it now appears they were willing to go pretty far- like travelling to Oahu together to lobby the legislature- (if proven) a clear violation of Hawaii’s Sunshine Law. Read the story in today’s West Hawaii Today:

WHT suit alleges multiple council violations


I must add that my own Councilmember Pete Hoffmann has always been a strong supporter of Clean Elections and did not vote for that screwball resolution.


My original testimony:

You are invited to Dance to the Divine

Come Celebrate Andrea’s Birthday & Janmashtami (celebration of Lord Krishna’s Birth).

Open Dance Party- tell who you want, bring who you want! No gifts please- you can support the local economy by drinking Kava.

Friday, August 14th – After Sunset- Kave Kafe in Hawi (upstairs from the Kohala Coffee Mill)
$10 all you can drink kava.

Today I met with Gary Hooser in Hawi. Gary is running for Lieutenant Governor in 2010. It may be a little early for some of us to start thinking about who we are going to vote for in 2010… but it is a great time to lend your support to the campaign and help get the grassroots network in place.

Gary has a track record in the Senate of forwarding Sustainability legislation and we can expect him to help lead sustainability initiatives as the Lieutenant Governor. You can follow Gary on twitter and friend him on Facebook. If you want be a part of the network to get Gary elected, you can contact Gary Hooser on his website.

On Monday April 13th, I was one of 25 people testifying, or maybe we should call it pleading, with the Hawaii County not to overturn a previous resolution supporting Fair Elections (clean elections, comprehensive public funding- same thing- the point is no private money for candidates, public funding instead!).


I testified in opposition to Council Resolution 98, which attempts to kill the Fair Elections Act 224. Act 224, which passed in last year’s legislature- set up a pilot program for comprehensive public funding of Hawaii County Council races, beginning in 2010.


Sadly, the Council Voted in support of the resolution- trying to eviscerate Act 224.
The vote was 6-3:
AYES: Enriques, Naeole, Yoshimoto, Onishi, Greenwell, Ikeda (These people don’t want public financing)
NOES: Hoffmann, Ford, Yagong (These people support public financing)


The next step is to try to defeat this regressive attack at the State Legislature.


This from Noeli Rodrigues: The GOOD NEWS is that Act 244 is NOT dead just because of their resolution. In fact, WE NEED TO KEEP THE EMAILING PRESSURE because the real decision will be made by the Senate and the leadership if the House and Senate [Calvin Say and Colleen Hanabusa] in the next 2 weeks. Email Representative Calvin Say and Senator Colleen Hanabusa Click here for talking points and an email form.


The Hawaii Tribune-Herald printed my letter to the editor today- after the council council vote, unfortunately, but we still have a chance at the legislature.

Andrea