Going Green with Andrea Dean

Kohala Trash Bash Art and Fashion Show Needs Your Help

Kohala Trash Bash Art and Fashion Show 2010 Needs Your Help


News flash: County of Hawaii running out of land fill space, money, funding for recycling programs. This is the perfect storm for more waste and less recycling on our island.


As we approach this storm, North Kohala leads the Big Island in the amount of materials we recycle per capita. This is due in a large part to the efforts of our local recycling group WasteStream. The Trash Bash, supported in part by WasteStream, is a grass roots effort to entertain, educate, and inspire Kohala residents to expand their recycling efforts. Each year this event inspires more kids and adults to look at waste differently and use creative ways to turn it into art and fashion. New this year, the Trash Bash is sponsoring Linda Damas from Recycle Hawaii, who will be leading a workshop to help folks find easier ways to incorporate recycling in their homes.


Each year, we ask our community to help support the Kohala Trash Bash. The Trash Bash budget is about $4000 to cover costs of road closing, cash prizes, advertising, luas etc. We currently have 40 volunteers contributing their time and effort. We are asking you to help us with funding.


The County of Hawaii has resolved to implement a Zero Waste Program, but with the current budget shortfalls, all recycling efforts are in jeopardy. Our community’s commitment to recycling and education helps the County realize how important recycling is to us, the island of Hawaii, and the earth we live on.


Please help us with a tax deductable donation to the North Kohala Community Resource Center, noting that it is for the Kohala Trash Bash. You can mail your donation to P.O. Box 519, Hawi, HI, 96719, or drop it off with Karen at Kohala Coffee Mill.


Thank you for loving North Kohala! See our website at www.kohalatrashbash.com

The North Kohala Community was out in full force last night for the art opening of Rebecca Lux Parks at the Kave Kafe. Great art, great food, great company, and great dancing. Great job Rebecca!

Please come out this Saturday for the Ka Ulu Ana event! Local dignitaries compete in the  Chicken Wok Out using local chicken raised by the Ka Hana No’eau Mentorship Program. This Saturday at the Intergenerational Center (Kam Park behind gym) 10 – 3pm. See you there!

I was driving down my road and saw this butterfly enjoying a fresh pile of horse shit. It seemed like a visual metaphor for life. I certainly got a lot out of it. Here are a few life lessons to be gleaned from the experience:

Ah…. OK…I am out of life lessons gleaned from a butterfly on horse shit. Got your own???

Sometimes my life has a dreamlike quality to it. In the midst of my daily juggling act to keep all of my balls in the air, very often beautiful little miracles appear. I say YES and find myself having a unique experience- surrounded by incredible natural beauty and fantastic people. Yesterday was one of those days. Artist and ecology educator Peter Antrim Kowalke asked me to join him and his Art In Sight Board of Directors aboard a sail on the Maile. The wind was light and we did more motoring than sailing, but the water was this incredible indigo color, we saw lots of whale tail, and the company was great. I always appreciate the shift in mental perspective that I get from seeing the islands from the water. It is like looking at life’s challenges from another angle to gain new perspective. Look from above, look from below, look from the water.

Peter Antrim Kowalke aboard the Maile