Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

I spoke today at the Sustainability for Business Forum on Oahu today. Organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and Sponsored by First Wind and Ulupono Initiative.





Ramsay Taum from the UH School of Travel Industry Management is always a great speaker and this time was no exception. He spoke about the Hawaiian values based perspective on current environmental issues and made us all feel “lucky we live Hawaii.”


Representative Hermina Morita is such and intelligent and beautiful woman, I could have listed to her speak all day long. She combined the spiritual, environmental and political into a great talk on poi and energy policy! (Really, you just had to be there!)


It was also interesting to get caught up on what is happening with energy policy in our state from Colton Ching from Hawaiian Electric Company, Michael Chang from Hawaii Energy, and Ted Peck from DBEDT.


Erwin Hudelist, owner of Hagadone Printing was a total character and, of course, a great model of sustainable business in Hawaii.


Tyler Mongan of the Honu Guide and Nella Media Group spoke about marketing strategies for the green business and communicating to the green consumer. Sheep Poo Paper TM is what is really sticking in my mind from Tyler’s presentation. I know he had a lot of great statistics and all, but it is pretty hard to get Sheep Poo Paper TM out of your mind once you hear about it. (Take a marketing lesson folks.)


Kyle Datta and Robin Campaniano spoke on behalf of the Ulupono Initiative, a social investment initiative focused in the areas of local food, waste reduction and renewable energy.


I spoke about the Business Case for Sustainability and using the Natural Step framework for Sustainability Strategic Planning.

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.

Last week I gave a talk at the University of Hawaii, Schidler College of Business. I was invited by the local Net Impact chapter. The mission of the local chapter is to grow and support a community of leaders focused on making a positive environmental, social, and economic impact through the power of sustainable business. Our vision is to foster a new generation of business leaders who incorporate people, planet, and profits into decision-making and action to create a better world.


Following is my presentation (sorry, its a bit dark, but you can still hear it!)

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.


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

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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.