Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

Check out my new story in this month’s Innov8 magazine (the Go!/Mokulele in flight magazine) about The Natural Step framework.  The Natural Step is a framework/process that helps companies and communities plan for sustainability.  The County of Hawaii just adopted The Natural Step as it’s framework for sustainability 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!)

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

Ahhh… trying to correctly warp the brainwaves of our youth. Assisting high school students with awakening the neural pathways to deepen understanding about how we relate to the natural environment. At least thats what I was trying to do in my workshop!


The second HPA Student Congress on Sustainability is underway this weekend at Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) in Waimea. Co-sponsored by The Kohala Center and HPA, the students participate in a wide array of workshops and lectures.


I facilitated a workshop called Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader on Cocoa Cola and Snickers? You can play or download the game that I created below. I played with the sustainability congress high school students, they seemed to have fun and the questions sparked some good conversation. I have three rounds of questions pertaining to what we eat and how that impacts sustainablity.

I was also able to lead the students to apply The Natural Step Framework to food issues we were discussing such as: factory farming of dairy cows and meat cows, mono-cropping of corn for the production of high fructose corn syrup and the import economy of Hawaii.


I participated in The Natural Step workshop here on the Big Island of Hawaii, out in Pahala, Ka’u at the lovely Pahala Plantation House. The County of Hawaii- Hawaii County Resource Center and The Kohala Center partnered to bring Natural Step Senior Trainers Sarah Brooks and Mike Purcell here to “train the trainers” or build capacity, as we say. We now have 30 people in Hawaii in various sectors of the economy who are trained in The Natural Step framework and all fired up about intergrating sustainability principles into strategic planning and decision making. More later on how I am using The Natural Step framework to strengthen green business in Hawaii.