Going Green with Andrea Dean

Susan Cox is the woman behind the green cape- the real life Green Power Woman whose imagination had fueled Green Power Girl, and the Green Power Heroes.


Read the story by Andrea Dean in the March/April 2010 issue of Ke Ola Magazine. Hard copies on the news stands now.

In this podcast I interview Kamu Enos, Education and Resource Specialist at Ma’o Organic Farms. Ma’o Farms is an organic farm that is not just growing food- they are also a social enterprise growing community leaders and entrepreneurs.


If you are an itunes user, you can subscribe to my podcast through itunes and receive automatic weekly updates. Or you can listen below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:18 — 6.2MB)

In this podcast I interview Tom Baldwin. Tom and his wife Shannon Casey own Uluwehi Farm, a permaculture farm in North Kohala on the Big Island. Tom talks about what permaculture is and how it helps farms and homesteads to be more productive. Tom just got back from a trip to Australia where he sat at the feet of the permaculture master- Bill Mollison, the founder of the permaculture system. Tom will be sharing that new knowledge and his permaculture farm experience in January when he is co-teaching a Permaculture Design Certification course with Craig Elevitch and Nik Bertulis, the course starts Jan 5th.


If you are an itunes user, you can subscribe to my podcast through itunes and receive automatic weekly updates. Or you can listen below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:00 — 5.0MB)

Check out my article The “Cool Factor” Bonds Youth and Farming in the November-December issue of Ke Ola Magazine.


The article is about the Uluwehi Farms / Hawaii Youth Agriculture Project CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in North Kohala. The project is growing food and farmers.


One of our “green businesses” in Hawaii is farming, but the high cost of land and inputs, and the low cost of imported food, have driven many farmers off the land. It is generally agreed that in order to re-localize our food production we need to have more farmers, and that means making farming an attractive and financially viable career option for our youth. Dashiell Kuhr of Uluwehi Farms / Hawaii Youth Agriculture Project / The Kohala Center (growing food and farmers takes many hands!) is one of the people helping to foster agricultural entrepreneurship among youth on Hawai’i Island.


Related Links:
North Kohala Food Forum
Hawaii Island School Garden Network
Hawaii Homegrown Food Network
Podcast on the Kohala Center’s Food Self-Reliance Program

If you want to become a green business, organization or community- you need a plan to get there. And you need to have a common definition of sustainability that everyone can agree upon. Many businesses here in Hawaii are taking the first steps towards sustainability, picking the low hanging fruits (conserving energy, waste, water), but few are looking into the future. How can planning for sustainability help you to take advantage of new markets? How can planning for sustainability help you avoid future resource problems? How can you communicate sustainability to your customers, your suppliers?


I was a part of a group of 30 sustainability leaders on Hawaii Island who were trained in how to use The Natural Step framework for strategic planning for sustainability. The Hawaii County Resource Center and the Kohala Center partnered to bring The Natural Step senior trainers Sarah Brooks and Mike Purcell to Hawaii to train us.


Now a group of us are working to localize The Natural Step for Sustainability Primer, highlighting local examples of sustainable practices.