Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

In this podcast I interview Guy Kaulukukui, Director of the Kohala Center’s Food Self-Reliance Program.

Guy has been tasked with developing a “critical path” to food self-reliance for Hawaii Island- mapping a strategy for how the island will decrease food imports and the increase consumption of local food. Guy Kaulukukui, who has a Ph.D. in economics education is uniquely suited to this complex task of how to transition from a import economy to a locally-based economy. Guy feels that it is important to increase the demand side of the food equation by reinforcing the message of eating locally produced food as well as working on increasing efficiency on farms to decrease the costs of local produce to the public.


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Maybe I’m not that bright (not the brightest bulb, etc..), but I was still confused about the best light bulbs. What about the mercury in compact fluorescents? They don’t seem to last as long as they should, do they? There are new hybrid incandescents. What about LED’s? Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Shine in Tests on NPR’s All Tech Considered clears up all confusion about which bulbs are the most eco.

Not everyone understands what a business coach is and the best way to use one. But instead of me telling the story- I have interviewed one of my green business clients, Forrest Arnold from HawaiiGreenRealty.com.

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I am looking for a few Sustainability Business Leaders who would like apply The Natural Step framework in their businesses.


I was recently 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. Following are snippets from the training in which we applied the Natural Step framework towards sustainability issues in our County.


Mike Purcell, Natural Step Senior Trainer

Sarah Brooks, Natural Step Senior Trainer

Lynn VanLeuwan

Stefan Kropidlowski

Kathy Pomeroy

Ryan Peters

In this podcast I interview Zach Mermel about the Transition Town Movement in Hawaii. The Transition Town Movement came out of the Permaculture Community. Rob Hopkins was teaching permaculture in Kinsale, Ireland and he challenged his students to think about a future that was post peak oil by creating an energy descent action plan. This document was the origin of what has now become the Transition Towns movement. As Rob Hopkins writes in The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, “It is one thing to campaign against climate change and quite another to paint a compelling and engaging vision of a post-carbon world in such a way as to enthuse others to embark on a journey towards it.”


There are no official Transition Town communities here in Hawaii yet, but there are discussions afoot and communities who are beginning to discuss how to become transition towns. There is an online social network http://transitionhawaii.ning.com/ where you can join the Hawaii conversation and learn more about the Transition Town movement. Zach Mermel started the social networking site transitionhawaii.ning.com and has gone through the Transition Town training.


Read about the 12 Key Steps to embarking on your transition journey.


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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:42 — 3.9MB)