Guy Toyama, executive director of Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii Authority gives an introduction to the sustainability issues and innovations on the big island. It’s a fascinating weaving of science, innovation and “techno-tourism” (aka eco geek vacation destination)
Where does Hawaii stand on the sustainability? It’s all about geothermal on the Big Island:
A few reflections after a busy day on the Big Island. I went out on the boat with Captain Nancy of Dolphin Journeys with high hopes to swim with a dolphin but came back with reflections on relationships:
This footage is not from Dolphin Journeys, but it is of dolphins swimming in Hawaii, so enjoy!
Video footage of dolphins swimming with the boat:
A brief intro to sustainability efforts on the Big Island at the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center:
When you ask most divers why they took up diving, you’ll hear the same thing repeatedly:
1) It’s the last frontier
2) They can’t afford to go to space but they can afford to dive in the ocean
3) They want to experience weightlessness
I took up diving because I am a pragmatic Capricorn:
1) I am afraid of the open ocean. I hate having things around that scare me.
2) This past new year eve I promised myself I would make two commitments to the land. The first was going to be a commitment of time and resource to an organization. (I selected The Woman’s Earth Alliance because I am inspired by the organization’s mission and leaders.) The second promise was that I would focus on one environmental issue that I could have a hands on relationship with. The first thought that came to mind was the images of sea turtles drowning in plastic and getting caught by fishing lines. So I figured what better way to engage than to go into the great mystery of the ocean: source of life, of food, holder of our garbage… and take on the simple project of removing the garbage that I am personally responsible for? (There has to be a stat for that.)
3) I made a new years resolution to have more fun, and I do believe this will fit in that category.
And… the ocean just so happens to be the place whales calls home. I like whales. After all, they are the only mammal that has migrated out of the water, onto land, and back into the water.
I think I feared the ocean because I couldn’t see into it, all I could imagine was a deep dark place teaming with wild creatures prepared and waiting to eat me if I don’t eat them first. Ok, actually, all I could imagine are dead zombies waiting just inches beneath the surface of the water waiting to pull my feet to the bottom of the ocean. But the fact that 71 percent of the planet is covered in water, and that there is this entire world under just under the surface that has volcanoes and deserts and valleys got the best of me~
…so I got my diving certification. I started at my local dive shop in San Francisco, but my schedule didn’t match up with their open water training schedule so I went down to Monterey for the first two open water dives, and then completed my last 2 dives in Maui. While slightly unorthodox to go through 3 different dive shops for my certification (if this of interest, I appreciated each and everyone: The Dive Shop in SF, the one in Monterey (yeah kelp forest), and then finished the open water certification at the Maui Dive Shop in Maui (Juan, my teacher, had the patience of a saint)). I actually appreciated and benefited from the exposure to different teachers, different equipment, and different teaching styles. I’ll also confess that given that I got into this due to my deep seeded fear of the deep dark ocean, I liked the one-on-one attention I received in these individual classes, and eventually managed to succeed at what I now refer to as the highly prized skill of selective thinking.
For me, diving begins on the surface: you begin by floating, then release all the air from BC, and then start the process of sinking to the bottom. It’s in that moment when looking through the goggles: in the top half I can see the sky, in the bottom half I see into the ocean, that I think, “I could die doing this.”
And that’s when I start the process of selective thinking. Just as when you are afraid of heights, they tell you don’t look down, I quickly learned not to look up. It is like the container has disappeared and all of a sudden you are in a new planet where there is no end of the world (and btw, no zombies).
There are some things that are used on the surface of the planet that are useless and pointless once inside the belly of the ocean, and time is one of them. I now understand why they teach you to obsessively check your gauge: because once you enter this other world, it’s easy to forget you need to return.
The things I had seen and feared turned out to be fine: eels and sharks I swam with turned out turned out be harmless, and after swimming past my first shark in the wild, all I had to do was remind myself that it’s name was not jaws.
I became aware that I was the one that could harm this place, and not the other way around. All it took was one moment of carelessness with my fins or fingers, just one touch to the coral and I could kill it. No matter how many times I understand it with my brain, my eyes do not register that that huge rock like structure is by all practical definition an extremely fragile living animal.
It’s hard to comprehend that I was swimming in the belly of one of the sources that sustains this planet.
It’s bazaar to comprehend that we have spent less time and resources exploring the oceans than we have space, that every time the deep water expedition goes down they discover new things.
It’s surreal to imagine that this place which has become a place that feels serene and safe is also a death trap with wayward nets that are killing turtles and dolphins, and that each day it takes in a little more plastics and toxins.
The only rules I need to abide by are don’t run out of air, and stay with my partner. Other than that, there are no rules, road signs, right of way, traffic lines, it’s one of the few places you can go on the planet that isn’t regulated. There is space, plenty of space, space to get lost in, a quiet that allows you to get lost in your imagination, in your thoughts, if you can manage to distract yourself from the crazy foot dance of the fish that can’t swim (who knew?) and the pencil fish, and the moray eel, and the parrot fish, and the dolphins, and the mantas…and somewhere out there, the largest beings that have ever lived on this planet are out there, swimming in the same body of water that I am swimming in.
(many thanks to Jack’s Diving Locker for providing the video footage)
Guess what I found on my way to the conference this morning?
COCONUT BASKETS!! So cool. I chatted with Ronnie as he wove baskets from coconut trees on the side of the street. He was kind enough to chat about coconut trees, his wild and unusual life, and of course…sustainability. Ronnie explained that coconut palms have incredibly strong fibers and that these baskets last for years. (He also told me he was able to build a house from coconut. If I disappear, you have 1 hint about where to find me.)
Ronnie went to explain the many uses of coconut trees:
When we started to talk about why I was here, (to explore sustainability issues in Hawaii), Ronnie explained the hot topic on everyone’s minds~ that Hawaii only has 3-5 days worth of food at any given time on the island. But then he went on to explain that there are plenty of ways to think about sustainability and living off the land, and that he is able to harvest plenty of fruit and food off of the trees just out of town.
Not a bad way to start the morning (and don’t let the cat out of the bag about what I’m giving my family for Christmas this year
Given that 350 was designed to make sure that the Cop 15 negotiators knew that their countries were behind them as they prepare for negotiating an ambitious global agreement..now I’ll stop here: it there was language in there that didn’t make sense, you are not alone. Much of Copenhagen, the process, and the issues at stake are minimally understood, hence we bring you 360 degrees of Copenhagen. AKA as Copenhagen in plain English. This week, Joshua Weise, affectionately referred to as a climate stalker (by Karl Burkart of Green dig.net), gives us a brief update of what happened at the recent Bangkok climate talks, and whats to come in Barcelona this coming week (the last round of talks before Copenhagen).
A very fun call out was placed on our site by award winning photographer Ian Shive: he has said that he will review anyone’s photos and provide feedback about how to make them into work that you can use to preserve the land you love so much. Deadline in November 3rd.
David de Rothschild and his co-skipper Jo Royale came by our office to talk about the adventure they are planning to take across the Pacific on their boat made of plastic. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard while talking about depressing facts about the state of the ocean (David nick named me Debbie Downer between a long string of off colored pirate jokes and explanations of how men are getting limp fin sydrome after eating shark) and yes of course, we discussed the state of plastics, garbage, the ocean, vertical gardening on the ship, and how to undress a rabit. Stay tuned for the interview. (Oh! And they answered everyone’s questions, so thanks for asking!)
Lots of discussion about how to present the message of climate change to the people. So step right up and pick your viral messaging! Sexy images of young supermodels undressing:
or heart wrenching music and small children getting beat up by policemen (anyone else wonder if the children in this video will be permanently damaged?) A nickel goes to the first person who guess which video has 240K views and which one has 5K views.
Next week~ Hawaii! (Someone had to take one for the team). I’m very honored to be asked to lead a pannel at the Re:Think Hawaii conference on sustainability and report back on the sustainability efforts of Hawaii. More on that….soon. Have a great weekend, and take care.
Ian Shive, author of The National Parks: Our American Landscape, recently caught up with us to discuss what goes into being a photographer of wild places. He brought up some interesting points about the difference between nature photography and conservation photography (nature photos are just fun to take – conservation photos make a difference!).
What is rather thrilling, is that Ian just offered to share his knowledge and perspective, and to review photos from normal people like you and I and give us some perspective.
David de Rothschild, adventurer, environmentalist and expedition leader of Plastiki and his co-skipper, Jo Royal, will be in our studio tomorrow. They’ll be talking about their upcoming trip to Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating pile of plastic and garbage debris in the South Pacific, and their unusual plans to set sail on a catamaran made from reclaimed post-consumer plastic bottles.
As you know, we love to include you in the interview, so if you would like to join us, leave your questions below by Thursday at 12p and you will be golden.
I think my grand parents would role over in their graves at this idea. I imagine this would be cause for the puritans to go on a witch hunt, and I don’t want to imagine what the people of the “greatest generation” would say to this.
But could it be true? It would seem that the question of the hour is:
Is the way to inspire, inform, and…change people’s behaviors…through fun?
Pete Cashmore explained a few details about the experiments funtheory.com is performing to show that you might be able to cut to the chase, cut out denial, and inspire people to change their bad behaviors.
Does turning a set of subway stairs into a real-life piano encourage people to use them (answer: yes, 66% more). Another experiment asks whether making a trash can sound like a 50ft-deep well will make people pick up their trash. An upcoming experiment, meanwhile, will turn a bottle recycling center into an arcade game.
So how does this relate to climate change? It’s hard not to notice that fun captures people’s imaginations. Take 350.org’s ability to inspire people from around the world to do crazy things like dance to Michael Jackson’s thriller and hold press conferences underwater to influence the climate negotiators of Copenhagen.
Is the answer to climate change to inspire people’s wildest imaginations and sense of play over scaring them to death with information and facts? Is that the way to develop more collaborative and innovative ideas that will transcend our illogical ways of consumption and pollution?
I was struck by something, and it’s hard to explain exactly; the other night I was at an event and was standing between 2 dear friends. To my left was an amazing activist working with one of the most successful organizations in thee country, she looked pale, down trodden, exhausted, and worried. To my right was a friend who worked with one of the most innovative media companies that successfully delivers messages about climate change that tend to go viral (i.e. people like their videos). She was bright eyed, her face was flushed, and she had a sense of calm about her. Now I know it is dangerous to compare people, but the moment wasn’t lost on me. It made me think about what, where, and how we put our energy into the predicament we are in.
Here is another random story that made me stop in my tracks: I was at lunch with a green blogger. We were deciding on an appetizer to share. I make it a point to keep me political ideas to myself unless people want to hear them, so it wasn’t until he asked why I don’t eat shrimp that I expained that shrimp are caught via trawling nets that unnessarily kill huge numbers of marine fish and mammals. He went on to order lunch with shrimp in it. I was fascinated. Mostly about what that experience has to teach us about how most of us manage and act on information.
Random tangent, but true none the less. Is their a moral to the story? To be continued.
Meanwhile..I’ll just weed my way through making sense of the facts…creatively.
It’s the question of the hour, right? Can we save the world from the destruction that the scientists are predicting?
350.org has coordinated the largest climate event in history to demonstrate that people around the world want to live in a safe and clean environment. But it’s not your grandma’s brand of protest. Actually…there will be no protest. No picketing. No parades. No police barricades. Just millions of people from around the world making images of 350.
When 350.org founder Bill McKibben says he is, “...tired of losing and it’s fun to take the bad guys down a peg or two...” he wasn’t kidding. McKibben skyped in to speak with Current Green from his home in Vermont while 350.org staffer May Boeve and climate activist/bike rider Adam Taylor of Ride 350 came in to our online studio to discuss what went into organizing what is predicted to be the largest climate event in history.
If 350.org has anything to do it with it, yes we can save the world from the predicted effects of climate change. The organization was made for the sole purpose of insuring that everyone knows the following fact:
350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in “Parts Per Million” in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it’s the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.
The current stats on the event (which get larger by the minute): 162 countries are signed up to participate (including Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, Honduras…) and more than 3,700 actions/events.
Are you participating? Show us your pictures! Tell us your story!
After a long weekend at Bioneers where I took in more devastating information about the state of the climate than I was personally prepared for, I am more than looking forward to meeting the rising eco stars celebrated at The Brower Youth Awards. In honor of the awards ceremony this evening, we are staging a “take over” of green channel, and are only featuring Brower Youth Award winners today.
Enjoy the inspiration!
Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards in 2000 to honor our founder and legendary environmental activist, David R. Brower and to call forth a new generation of leaders.
The annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip. The Brower Youth Awards not only promote the accomplishments of these young leaders but also invest in their continued success by providing ongoing access to resources, mentors, and opportunities to develop their leadership skills through Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative.
Rickshaw Films produced the short videos to introduce the rising eco stars and their work. You can always follow them on Twitter if you want to keep up to date on their shenanigans.
Enjoy.
Hai Vo co-founded the Real Food Challenge (RFC) at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) after he radically transformed his health by learning to eat nutritious food.
Diana Lopez organizes with the Southwest Workers Union for worker rights, environmental justice and community empowerment in San Antonio, Texas. She has fought to clean up military base contamination, organized for energy policies, and in February 2007, along with community members and fellow organizers, started the Roots of Change community garden.
Sierra co-founded Power Past Coal along with forty grassroots activists personally impacted by the mining, processing and burning of coal. As National Coordinator, Sierra united diverse communities to convince President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Congress to enact policies to swiftly and justly transition away from coal.
Robin lives in close proximity to the world’s largest single land storehouse of carbon and most abundant source of fresh water, the boreal forest of the East Shore Wilderness Area in Manitoba, Canada. It has been his mission to simultaneously preserve this valuable area and prevent the mismanagement of public land by putting an end to logging activity within the boundaries of provincial parks in Manitoba.
Alec first saw Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” when he was 12 years old. Inspired by the message, Alec wrote to the organization and applied to be a presenter, but was denied due to his age. Undeterred, Alec created his own presentation and gave it over 30 times before Mr. Gore took notice.
Adarsha recognized the complex relationship between the economy and the environment. In December of 2007, he co-founded Project Jatropha, an organization dedicated to promoting the plant Jatropha curcas as an ecologically friendly and economically profitable crop among the farmers of rural India. Project Jatropha collaborated with Parivarthana, an NGO that helps farmers, and Labland Biotechs, a plant biotechnology company, in order to convince farmers that raising Jatropha was an economically sustainable project.
Guess what I found on my way to the 
David de Rothschild and his co-skipper Jo Royale came by our office
garbage, the ocean, vertical gardening on the ship, and how to undress a rabit. Stay tuned for the interview. (Oh! And they answered everyone’s questions, so thanks for asking!)
David de Rothschild, adventurer, environmentalist and expedition leader of 
’s the question of the hour, right? Can we save the world from the destruction that the scientists are predicting?
atmosphere. 350 PPM—it’s the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.
