GREEN Volume 3 Number 3 by Green Magazine Hawaii: Hawaii's Sustainable Living Magazine

Photo: Malia Salmon

CONTENTS

Photo: Kevin Whitton

Photo: Margaret Haapoja

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GRE E N M A G A Z I N E H AWA I I.C O M

Editor’s Note Catching Rain

Contributors

Sustainable Living Art Books Outside Film Almanac Home Fashion The Know

Do It Yourself Bucket Gardens

Economics Spring Cleaning Party

Science Fencing In Nature

Food Tin Roof Ranch

Education: Higher Education Hawai‘i’s sustainable workforce is growing faster than you think

Technology: Can’t Stop The Rain Windward O‘ahu exemplifies wasterwater problems across the Gathering Place

Design: Penthouse Remodel Using local sustainable building professionals for a complete office remodel

Conservation: Two Green Thumbs Setting the bar for growing native Hawaiian plants, one seed at a time

Marketplace Things We Like

Advertiser’s Directory Support Our Advertisers

Coming Next Issue

COVER PHOTO: Aubrey Yee

EDITOR’S NOTE

Catching Rain I’ve been watching fresh rainwater flush from the rain gutter downspout into our backyard for the last year and a half now. It’s not so much that it’s wasted water, after all, our verdant backyard slopes downhill from our house and the water is able to naturally filter into the ground, as much as that I know there are better uses for the ample supply of free water other than hydrating the grass. There are fruit trees, herbs, vegetables, orchids, ferns and flowering ornamentals in the yard. And everything is thirsty to some degree. When a friend asked to borrow my truck to pick up some 55-gallon plastic barrels to start their own backyard water catchment system, it got my mental wheels turning and I started to envision my own system. I offered to drive and we motored to the Pepsi bottling plant in Ha-lawa Valley. A forklift delivered four empty barrels into the bed of my truck. Forty dollars later and the nauseating stench of concentrated soft drink syrup on the back of my tongue, the guy in the forklift told us they go through at least two of the drums a day. Good to know. My friend offered me a barrel in exchange for the ride out to Ha-lawa, just what I needed to get started. Mental sketches were becoming a reality and, truth be told, I referenced the DIY published in GREEN in 2009 (“Rain On Me: Water Catchment for the Urban Gardener,” Volume 1 Number 2) to see what other materials I would need. I’ve seen a few backyard systems since then and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to water—vegetables, herbs, bananas and papayas—so it was just a matter of rounding up the supplies. There were a couple old, but leak-free hoses under the house so all I needed was a hose bib. I opted for an additional Y fitting so I could have two

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hoses at my disposal. Watering with gravity takes a bit longer. A piece of three-inch flexible pipe, an adapter to connect the pipe to the rectangular rain gutter and a couple of cheap fasteners later and I was in business. After a quick assembly and installation, I stood back to admire the craftsmanship of my homemade system and was excited for the potential of what it could accomplish as well as what it stands for. It’s an empowering feeling to go against the grain. I can only imagine it’s like having a PV system on your roof and watching the meter spin backwards as the sun powers your home, no grid necessary. I could turn on the water faucet and pay for a forceful flow of water from the spigot, but I’d rather harness the rain and use that free water to nourish my garden. Entranced in my back-patting glory, the limiting factor dropped a brick on my foot. The barrel was empty. How long would I have to wait for the next rain? Luckily, the leeward side of the Ko‘olau Mountains gets its fair share of rain and my barrel was full within a week. The amazing thing was that it only took one night of an average rainfall to fill it up. You don’t realize how much water your roof collects and dashes to the ground until you put all that water in a very large container. And when the tsunami sirens revved up their foreboding whine and everyone dashed to the store to grab a couple flats of bottled water, I cracked a beer and watched the roads surge with traffic, a public works nightmare, content with the 55 gallons of water in my backyard. —Kevin Whitton

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Published by Little Tree Publications VOLUME 3 :: NUMBER 3 :: MAY/JUNE 2011 Editor Kevin Whitton Lifestyle Editor Aubrey Yee Contributing Writers Dr. Summer Baptist, Catherine Mariko Black, Stuart Coleman, Amanda Corby, Jade Eckhardt, Beau Flemister, Margaret Haapoja, Jack Kittinger, Ashley Lukens, Nicole Milne, Sarah Ruppenthal, Jessie Schiewe, Dr. Mark Shigeoka Art Director Kyle Tanaka Contributing Photographers Willi Edwards, Beau Flemister, Isaac Frazer, Ian Gillespie, Margaret Haapoja, Nicole Milne, Kyle Tanaka, Kevin Whitton, Michelle Whitton, Aubrey Yee Contributing Illustrators Orthreb Arios, Abi Braceros, Nicolette Davenport Sales Representative Lola Cohen lcohen@lolacohen.com Jessica Goto jessica@greenmagazinehawaii.com General Inquries info@greenmagazinehawaii.com GREEN P.O. Box 894061 Mililani, Hawai‘i 96789 To receive a free subscription to the GREEN eZine, the complete online version of GREEN, please contact us at info@greenmagazinehawaii.com. Annual hard copy subscriptions are also available at $24 for six issues. Other than letters to the editor, we do not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. GREEN, Little Tree Publications and its associates are not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged submissions or the return of unsolicited material. One-way correspondence can be sent to: P.O. Box 894061, Mililani, Hawai‘i 96789 Email editorial inquiries to info@greenmagazineawaii.com GREEN is trademarked and tradename registered in the state of Hawai‘i. All contents of this issue of GREEN are copyrighted by Little Tree Publications, 2011. All rights reserved. GREEN is printed in the USA on recycled paper. Please recycle this magazine. Pass it on to a friend and extend the life of this publication.

CONTRIBUTORS

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Catherine Mariko Black Catherine Mariko Black was born in Kenya, but raised in Kailua. After graduating from Brown University with a B.A. in religious studies, she returned to the Islands as a journalist and community activist, exploring the connections between ecology and culture, social movements and local identity. A lover of travel, communication and community building, she currently splits her time between Hawai‘i and Buenos Aires, Argentina where she runs a neighborhood newspaper and cultural magazine in the city’s Historic District. She can be found on Saturday mornings giving tai chi classes in the local park and loves hand-pounded poi, especially if it’s from Waia- hole Valley.

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Margaret A. Haapoja Margaret A. Haapoja is a former high school English teacher whose freelance writing career began after she took the Minnesota Master Gardener course 27 years ago. She’s written for dozens of national and regional magazines specializing in nature, gardening and travel. She and her husband live in the home they built in northern Minnesota, where they tend vegetable and flower gardens as well as a small tree farm and wildlife habitat planting. An avid traveler, Margaret has relaxed with Laysan albatross on Midway Atoll, tramped through remote wildlife reserves on Kaua‘i, traipsed along Minnesota’s newest birding trail and marveled at monk seals on Ni‘ihau. She and her husband have escaped Minnesota’s cold winters to soak up the sun on Kaua‘i for the past 20 years.

Photo: Courtesy

Jessie Schiewe

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Jessie Schiewe is a self-professed social bore. Growing up, while her friends played sports, she sat on a bench reading a book. In high school she could always be found in the library and in college she holed up at the newspaper office. In May of 2010, she graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a B.A. in English and government, and promptly returned to beautiful and sunny Los Angeles, where she grew up. She spent last summer writing for the Health and Science sections of the Los Angeles Times and has since been freelance writing and teaching yoga. In the fall, she is excited to further her passion for journalism, and will be attending the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Jessie is currently living in Kaimuki, has a desk at the Honolulu Weekly and scours market shelves for her favorite food, sea asparagus.

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Photo: Courtesy Stickwork.net

LIFESTYLE ART

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Photo: Courtesy Stickwork.net

LIFESTYLE ART

Stickwork Experiencing one of Patrick Doughertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sculptures is like stepping into a real world fairy tale straight from the pages of the Brothers Grimm. Whimsical, organic shapes made entirely from tree saplings sourced wherever the sculpture is being made, the structures seem vibrant and ready to tell a mythical tale. Long before he realized that his true dream was to be a sculptor, Dougherty imagined himself becoming a builder. At 28 years old (he is now in his mid-60s) he built a log cabin for his family on their 10acre North Carolina farm, completely on his own using how-to books and materials he found on the land. Some years later, he went back to school for an art degree and his talent as a sculptor of sticks was born. Today, Dougherty has constructed over 150 large-scale sapling structures around the world. Thirty-eight of these are photographed and memorialized in a recent book entitled Stickwork. True to the sustainable nature of their design, the ephemeral structures typically last only a year or two before succumbing to the elements. The little log cabin in Raleigh may be his only work to last a lifetime. stickwork.net

LIFESTYLE BOOKS

Three Square Meals a Day Whether you buy it or grow it, food is the basis of life Animal, Vegetable, Miracle “As the U.S. population made an unprecedented dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us dogpaddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with the food chain.” Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is Barbara Kingsolver’s story of her family’s journey from the desert of Tucson, Arizona, to a small farm in the Appalachian Mountains. “We wanted to live in a place that could feed us,” she writes. In delightful and beautiful prose, Kingsolver documents their family’s yearlong commitment to eat only food grown on the farm, with a few rare purchases from other local farmers. From raising and harvesting their own heirloom turkeys to finding infinite ways to preserve the overabundant summer tomato crop for the winter, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is full of practical ideas, delicious recipes and insightful information about the joys and realities of living off truly homegrown food.

The Backyard Homestead The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan, is an excellent primer for anyone wanting to begin taking some control of their own food production. With a headliner that reads, “Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre,” this manual provides practical information on how to layout your garden and livestock areas, estimations of potential harvests, advice on what vegetables grow best together and recipes and ideas for things as diverse as making your own wine to creative cooking with herbs and grains. Whether you plan to go totally off the grid or simply want to try raising your own chickens for homegrown eggs, this guide is full of easy to understand information that will help make your journey more enjoyable.

Omnivore’s Dilemma Michael Pollan’s book Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals begins with a simple question, “What should we have for dinner?” What follows is an intricate experience of four distinct meals and the path that food took to get to the table: a McDonald’s meal eaten in a moving car; Big Organic—a TV Dinner purchased at Whole Foods; roast chicken, corn and arugula salad purchased from local small family farms; and a wild foraged plate of hunted pig and gathered morel mushrooms. With each meal comes an intelligent and insightful memoir of the complexity involved in our daily food consumption based on personal visits to the actual processing plants and farms. Pollan offers up an honest and often disturbing evaluation of our modern food systems from a complete and fascinating history of industrial corn in America and the devastating health effects of high fructose corn syrup to a realistic look at the somewhat misleading marketing of big organic, the fastest growing sector of the food economy.

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Photo: Willi Edwards

LIFESTYLE OUTSIDE

The Road Less Traveled

Step off the beaten path with these two beautiful O‘ahu hikes Ko‘olau Waterfall

This easy family-friendly hike takes you to the base of the Ko‘olau’s on O‘ahu’s windward side, offering the remains of the Old Pali Road, a beautiful waterfall and groves of kukui and mango trees. The trail begins just off the parking lot of the Ko‘olau golf course. Park on the top most area near the refuse bins. You’ll see a small paved road heading into the woods. Follow this until you reach a large municipal water catchment, then take a left onto the visible trail. About a half mile in, the dirt trail turns into a primitive looking cobblestone road. This is the original Pali Road. Once you reach this part of the trail, look to your right for another dirt trail leading into the forest. This trail will take you to the waterfall. You can stop here or continue on to the kukui and mango tree groves. Return on the same trial.

Peacock Flats

Peacock Flats is a great getaway for a night or two of camping or a full day trip. Located in the Mokule- ‘ia Forest Reserve above the quieter side of O‘ahu’s North Shore, it is accessible by mountain bike, foot or at times 4x4 vehicle via the jeep road. The Peacock Flats trail is a bit challenging and tends to be hot. The trail is roughly 5.8 miles, one way in and one way out. You can also access the Peacock Flats campground from the leeward side near Yokohama Beach via the Kuaokala- Trail, which is usually a two- to three-day trip. Any camping will require a permit from the state. All the trails in the area are beautiful and well worth the trip, affording hikers incredible views and native forests to enjoy. For camping permits contact DLNR at 808.587.0166 GREENM AGAZ INE HAWAII.COM

Photo: Courtesy

LIFESTYLE FILM

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LIFESTYLE FILM

Wasteland “Ninety-nine is not the same as one hundred,” explains Valter dos Santos, a catadore, or picker of recyclable materials in Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill located outside of Rio de Janeiro. Every can, every plastic bottle that we throw away in the trash, he explains, those items that could have been recycled, each one makes a difference in the world. This is Valter, a man without any formal education, but all the wisdom of the sages. The informal catadores economy of Gramacho has successfully recycled some 50 percent of Rio’s trash over the last few decades; a mountain of waste that measures some 7,000 tons a day and would have otherwise overwhelmed the landfill. Valter is just one of the interesting and surprising characters profiled in the recent documentary Wasteland. World-renowned contemporary artist Vik Muniz was drawn to the world of the catadores in his native Brazil because he wanted to create a series of portraits of people whose lives are made and lived amongst the waste of our modern culture. What is most surprising about Wasteland is the beauty and inspiration found in its exploration of the resiliency of the human spirit. The characters whose lives become entangled with Muniz over a two-year period are noble, intelligent and clear. They speak of their jobs with pride, bravely tackling the decaying waste of other more privileged people and filling an important niche by recycling items that would otherwise be buried. The series of portraits taken by Muniz and his team are eventually edited down to the best select few. These images are then projected in huge magnified relief on a warehouse floor where garbage from the Gramacho landfill, handpicked by the catadores, is used to fill in the negative space of each composition. Then another photograph is taken of the final work. The process and the resulting images are both stunning and humbling. For Muniz, his team and the catadores involved, the experience of the project itself is life transforming. Muniz’s solo show at the Rio Museum of Modern Art was second only to Picasso in attendance records and over $250,000 was raised for the catadores and their association, the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho. The message of Wasteland is a sublime and inspiring one of hope and the power of the human spirit. This film presents a stark reality of life in the 21st century while at the same time delivering a glimpse of the infinite beauty of our human experience. “Ninety-nine is not the same as one hundred,” a simple truth we should all work hard to remember.

LIFESTYLE ALMANAC

One Bin, Two Bin, Green Bin, Blue Bin Where does O‘ahu’s trash go? Green Bin Every bit of your green waste is recycled on island. Hawaiian Earth Products puts that green waste through an eight-week heating process that kills all weeds, seeds and pests and then it’s mulched, composted and processed into different types of organic ground cover. In turn, the company offers free mulch (two vehicle loads a day) at both its Campbell Industrial Park and Kailua facilities. They also sell their organic compost for $35 a cubic yard, an incredible deal for big jobs.

Blue Bin Unfortunately, extremely little of the recyclables you put into your blue bin are actually recycled here in Hawai‘i. Most of the recyclable waste goes to China or the U.S. mainland, where they are made into new products by large recycling facilities. A small amount of glass is recycled on island and made into construction products such as road base, pipe cushioning and “glassphalt.” A significant niche exists for on-island recycling facilities.

Gray Bin Everything you put in your curbside gray bin is picked up by the City and County of Honolulu and taken to H-Power (Covanta Energy) where it is incinerated in a “trash to energy” program. The toxic fumes are processed by scrubbers, which filter the smoke before it is released into the air. The ash byproduct is currently disposed of in our landfill as long as it is shown to be non-toxic. Some 2,100 tons of trash per day is processed this way and there is talk of increasing capacity. This is why it’s so important to only throw non-compostable and non-recyclable items into the gray bin.

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Tour-de-Trash If you want to learn more about how we deal with our waste in Hawai‘i, take one of the tours offered by Tour-de-Trash. Operating for 13 years now, these state-organized tours educate citizens on the realities of dealing with opala on a small island chain. opala.org/solid_waste/Tour_de_Trash.htm

LIFESTYLE HOME

3 2 4

Everyone Gather Around

Tables built with an eye for craftsmanship, style and sustainability 1 Urban Hardwoods

3 Environment Furniture

5 Dovetail Furniture

Using only trees that would have otherwise been discarded, craftsman in the Urban Hardwoods Seattle factory build their furniture pieces to showcase each tree’s unique organic shape and grain. Their inventory varies depending on the trees currently available. This dining table is made of Pacific madrone with a modern white steel base. 108" x 50"/Retail $6,850 urbanhardwoods.com

The Santomer dining table is one of Environment Furniture’s signature pieces. Made from small 1" strips of Brazilian peroba rosa salvaged from an old Brazilian coffee factory, the square-edged, beautifully patterned tabletop rests on a simple, modern mahogany wood base. The Santomer table is available in a variety of sizes. 48" round up to 96" x 47.5" Retail starting at $2,995 environmentfurniture.com Available in Hawai‘i at Mesh Furniture sharisaiki.com/mesh

The Dijon dining table from Dovetail Furniture is made from solid reclaimed Chinese elm. With a rough-hewn whitewash finish, it has a beachy, rustic appeal. Most pieces in the Dovetail line are made from reclaimed woods with their signature whitewash rustic finishing. 95" x 43"/Retail $3,505 dovetailfurniture.info Available in Hawai‘i at Pacific Home pacific-home.com

4 Urban Woods

Local furniture manufacturer Thorben Wuttke likes to think out of the proverbial box. Using only locally sourced, reclaimed woods, he makes a variety of custom furniture pieces to his customers’ specifications. Thorben can craft any style of furniture, from a beach cottage, colored-wood look to a more sleek, rich, urban feeing similar to this table made from three planks of local reclaimed hardwoods. Retail $1,850 forwardthinkingfurniture.com

2 Hudson Furniture Using only domestically sourced salvaged trees, Hudson Furniture might be considered the Chanel or Gucci of reclaimed wood furniture crafting. Exquisite organic lines and carefully hand-rubbed oil finishes will please even the most discerning furniture connoisseur. The pieces can all be customized, from size and design to the variety of wood. Their designs mix interesting materials such as copper, iron and Plexiglas with the organic wood forms. Shown here is the Squares base table with a walnut/acacia top. hudsonfurnitureinc.com

Based in Los Angeles, Urban Woods takes a decidedly sleeker, more urban approach in their designs. Their wood is collected from local, vintage buildings that have been slated for tear down. All manufacturing is done in Los Angeles. The Palisades table has a smooth ebony finish with clean, minimalist lines. six-person table – retail $1,495 eight-person table – retail $1,695 urbanwoods.net

6 Forward Thinking Furniture

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LIFESTYLE STYLE

Fashion Forward

Vintage remakes and shoes with a conscience MachineMachine Kaua‘i native Shannon Hiramoto found the inspiration for her company’s name in an E.M. Forster story called The Machine Stops, in which the world falls apart when the machine it relies on stops working. For Shannon, a respect for the beauty of authentic experience and an honor for craft and artistry are central to her line of handmade clothing and accessories. The name MachineMachine is “a wink to the story as well as to thank both my two sewing machines and my two hands.” Using fun and funky vintage fabrics to make tops, dresses, hats, bags and now even quilts, Shannon always aims to have a good time with her designs. Each piece is unique and entirely handmade in her Kaimuki home, so they really are one-of-a kind. Some of her fabrics have a unique history, like the 40 Bon Dance Hachimachi pieces found in an old carry-on she had purchased. Giving the fabrics a second life is Shannon’s specialty and one that fulfills her desire to “reflect this happy island lifestyle that I live” through the pieces that she creates. The MachineMachine inventory changes all the time and can be found locally at The Butik and Drift on O‘ahu, Oscars on Kaua‘i, Wings on Maui and Pueo in Kailua-Kona. machinemachineapparel.com

TOMS Shoes With a simple message and a great pair of shoes, TOMS Shoes is making a difference and inspiring others one step at a time. With their One for One program, TOMS pledge is that for every pair of shoes you purchase, they will give a pair to a child in need, and a new pair of shoes at that. When American Blake Mycoskie was traveling in Argentina, he found that many of the kids there did not have shoes to protect their feet. In many developing countries, soil borne diseases are a major issue and many children cannot attend school without shoes to complete their uniform. His solution to the problem he saw was to create a company that would give a child a pair of shoes for every pair that they sell—One for One. Within a year of creating TOMS shoes he was able to return to Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes to give away. As of September 2010, TOMS has given away over one million pairs of shoes to children in need. Other brand names have also joined in. There’s been a Ralph Lauren Polo Rugby TOMS and an Element Skateboard TOMS shoe and skateboard. Made from natural and sustainable materials, the shoes are stylish and reasonably priced (ranging from about $44 for a canvas classic to $98 for a knee high wrap boot). Some styles even boast the “vegan” label for people especially concerned about their planetary footprint, pun intended. toms.com 22

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LIFESTYLE THE KNOW

Did You Know? LEED in Hawai‘i

In 2006, former Governor Linda Lingle signed House Bill 2175 into being. This bill requires every state agency to design and construct buildings that are in accordance with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification standards or the equivalent. This requirement applies to all new state-owned or state-funded construction for buildings over 5,000 square feet and includes any new kindergarten through 12th grade public schools. The LEED rating system was established by the U.S. Green Building Council and incorporates a rigid set of sustainable building standards and criteria that are consistent nationwide. It addresses five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. While many forward thinking architects and designers find the LEED system somewhat behind the cutting edge of green building technologies, it remains the bar for sustainability certification and standards for the building industry. Hawai‘i’s commitment to this standard is a step in the direction toward our overall energy independence goals. usgbchawaii.org

DO IT YOURSELF

Photo: Malia Salmon

Auntie Pualani Ramos is sharing the benefit of bucket gardening with kids and adults alike.

Bucket Gardens Creating a bounty from a bucket

Pualani Ramos remembers a Hawai‘i from decades ago, when you couldn’t find a papaya in the grocery store because everyone grew them at home, a time before high-rises and our reliance on imported food. Today, the Hawai‘i state certified preschool teacher, owner/operator of Na Pualani Preschool and Waldorf teacher has combined her penchant for art, education and food security for Hawai‘i into her own bucket garden educational and community workshops. “I want to get people to start thinking about food,” explains Ramos, passionately. “I want children to see plants grow and know that it doesn’t come from McDonald’s or Safeway, that food actually comes out of the ground and that it takes time to grow food.” Being an educator, Pualani recognizes that working with children through bucket gardening is a meaningful way to help solve our soci-

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etal reliance on imported foods. Her school workshops are integrated into lesson plans to help teachers achieve benchmarks and meet the requirements for one or more of the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards as outlined by the Department of Education. The multi-disciplinary activity is movable and can be continued at home long after the school year has ended. The Ko- kua Hawai‘i Foundation even offers mini-grants for the school program. Auntie Pualani invites you to come one, come all and bring your artistic talents and a packet of your favorite seeds as she demonstrates how to create your own bucket garden and start growing your own food, one bucket at a time. —Kevin Whitton

DO IT YOURSELF

1. Find a bucket to reuse. A 5-gallon bucket is the best, but any size will do. Consider what was in the bucket prior to its new use as a garden container and stay away from buckets that held chemicals or toxic substances. Buckets that contained food related items are the safest.

6. Plant either starts or seeds. For planting seeds, follow the planting instructions on the seed packet. Place the decorated bucket in a proper location for the plant so that it receives the right amount of sunlight for healthy growth then water.

2. Using a drill and a Âź" bit, drill several holes in the bottom of the bucket for proper drainage.

Materials Bucket, drill, Âź" drill bit, painting supplies, cinders, potting soil, keiki plants or seeds.

3. Paint the bucket. Create a stencil, trace out an idea on the bucket or just go for it. Let the paint dry for two days before planting to let the paint cure. This will increase the longevity of the paint against the elements. 4. Place a 1" layer of rocks, gravel or cinders in the bottom of the bucket to aid with proper drainage.

To organize a bucket garden workshop at your local school or a community center, contact Pualani Ramos at auntiepualani@gmail.com or at 808.262.3253.

5. Fill the bucket with soil. There are several locally produced soil products widely available at hardware stores.

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ECONOMICS

Photo: Kevin Whitton

Flowers and leaves from the garden, cloth napkins, mismatched silverware and a gift exchange from this year’s spring cleaning—the perfect spring cleaning party.

Spring Cleaning Party Reduce the clutter and spread the wealth

There’s a real lightness that comes over most people when they clean out a garage, a spare room or even a chest of drawers. Taking care of clutter has the magical effect of clearing the mind and the soul in one swoop. So why not celebrate the proverbial paring down with a small group of like-minded people. Several friends and I started a tradition of getting together each spring to commemorate our annual clean. We meet in a restaurant or at someone’s home, bringing with us nicely wrapped gifts for a blind exchange. We eat, we gossip and then we swap gifts, ruthlessly snagging the best loot from each other, laughing all the while. Some items are lovely and valuable, some outrageous and funny, but they are all free and recycled. This year’s spring clean luncheon will be at my house. In the spirit of sustainability I’m applying the principles of recycling, reducing and repurposing to every aspect of our gathering. The goal is to be creative and to have a good time, so let these simple ideas

GRE E N M A G A Z I N E H AWAII.C O M

inspire a party of your own, whatever the reason may be. The Invitation If you’re going to get serious, send the invitations out on recycled cards you make yourself. Or go paperless altogether and send an email card. On the invitation, ask your guests to carpool. Not only does parking become less of a chore, but it also cuts down on carbon emissions. Ask everyone to bring something they no longer use or want for the gift swap. If the spring clean was a success, also ask your guests to bring canned goods, or secondhand clothing, to donate to the Food Bank or a local shelter of your choice. The Décor Think local, I mean really local, like your own closet and yard for floral arrangements and theme items. Don’t be so quick to run to the closest party store. Pick something

ECONOMICS

simple like a green, pink or a yellow color theme. Then scour your closets for those colors. You will be truly surprised at how much you already own that is ripe for the occasion. Whoever said table arrangements needed to be composed of flowers? Use leaves of different colors and shapes. Mix dry with fresh, old with new. Try a different container you never use as a vase. Old teapots, bowls and baskets make great containers and are much more unexpected. Throw in an odd object if it meets the color and theme test. The Table Ban the plastic and paper goods. In fact, ban anything that can’t be recycled or reused. I love using dishtowels as napkins. They are generous in size, wash nicely and can be used over and over again for years (please do leave the really ugly ones that are ready for the rag bin in the drawer). Now is the perfect time to use all the good dinnerware you keep for special occasions and somehow never use. Forget that it belonged to your Granny and it scares you to death that you might scratch it. We live in different times. Enjoy it and the surprising sense of luxury that comes with it. If your event is not held at your home or is outdoors, investigate biodegradable disposables or tableware made of bamboo. The Food Listen to what Slow Foods Hawai‘i advocates are saying and buy local ingredients. It goes without saying that fresh food tastes better and the chances it has maintained its nutritional value are greater. Farmers’ markets have cropped up everywhere and it’s never been easier to get local produce and delicious and healthy prepared foods, especially if cooking is not your thing. Consider the simplicity of crusty artisan bread with locally made honey butter and a salad of fresh local greens and in-season produce. Add some grilled local fish with a fresh fruit salsa. Top it off with minted herbal iced tea, locally made gelato and homemade cookies. Keep the food local and organic if possible. Real luxury comes from real ingredients. The Swap It’s really true that one person’s junk is another’s treasure. If you ever doubted it, have your guests bring something they no longer use, something that is no longer “their style,” or items they just don’t like. Chances are someone else will love it. Clothing swaps, book exchanges and white elephant gifts are fun and a great way to find an out of print book or luxury item you would not purchase at full price. Say Aloha If you’re one of those people who like to send your friends home with party favors, give them small potted herbs. They’re inexpensive, can sit in just about any apartment window or be replanted into a garden. Chances are, your friends will want to make this gathering a regular event. —Kaui Philpotts

Kaui Philpotts is the author of Party Hawaii: A Guide to Entertaining in the Islands, Great Chefs of Hawaii, Little Great Chefs of Hawaii Cookbook and Hawaiian Country Tables: Vintage Recipes for Today's Cook among others.

SCIENCE

Photos: Jaap Eijzenga/SWCA

Pig-proof fences give critically endangered Hawaiian plants a second chance for survival.

In Need of Protection Fencing gives endangered ha-ha- a second chance for survival

Flying by helicopter to the windswept summit of the Ko‘olau Range on O‘ahu, nine individuals set off on a rescue mission. High above Ha-lawa Valley on land owned by Hawai‘i’s Department of Transportation, the crew is working to save a small patch of native shrub—a critically endangered ha-ha- (Cyanea st.-johnii)—with their tool of choice, fencing. Down to less than 50 known specimens, this species of ha-ha- is found nowhere in the world except on the wet shrubland slopes and ridges of the Ko‘olau Mountains. At risk of extinction, the worst threat to the survival of the ha-ha- is the degradation of its habitat by feral pigs that favor this plant of the bellflower family. Pigs will root around it for worms, break its branches and also eat it. Other threats to the endangered surviving ha-ha- include possible predation by rats and snails, competition with the invasive pest plant Koster’s curse (Clidemia hirta) and hikers treading along the summit of the ‘Aiea and Ha-lawa Trails. The ha-ha-’s reduced numbers may also negatively impact their natural reproductive vitality. “There are only six populations that range from Helemano in the north all the way to the cliffs above Waima-nalo in the south,” says Susan Ching, O‘ahu island coordinator for DLNR’s Plant Extinction Prevention (PEP) program. “They are pretty spread out with great distances between the known populations. We think there may be more that have not been discovered, but it is by no means a common species and is still highly endangered. We were all glad to hear that the Department of Transportation wanted to protect this site.”

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Working close to the edge of sheer cliffs rising to heights of almost 2,800 feet, the crew installed more than 100 yards of galvanized steel fencing (delivered by helicopter to the site), protecting about 18 ha-ha- plants and seedlings. Studded T-posts now brace up 52-inch-high hog wire with added bottom skirting to keep pigs from digging under the fence and piglets from squeezing through the wire. “We became aware that the last of this listed endangered plant is located in Ha-lawa Valley and some of the few remaining ones were being threatened by wild pigs,” explains Department of Transportation (DOT) Highways Division Landscape Architect and Certified Arborist Chris Dacus. “Helping protect them with fencing is just part of what it means to be a good steward of land.” The O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program (Army Environmental) and PEP discovered pigs eating mature ha-ha- plants and trampling seedlings years ago on the site, but lack of resources kept protection plans on hold. Then the project became part of the DOT’s Statewide Noxious Invasive Pest Program and grew to include SWCA Environmental Consultants and the Ko‘olau Watershed Mountain Partnership. Partnering to protect and conserve this extremely rare plant, as well as other native plants at risk, Army Environmental and PEP are building a seed bank for future propagation. Threatened areas, such as the newly fenced Ha-lawa plot, will be reforested with new populations of ha-ha-, as well as other native Hawaiian plants. —Priscilla Pérez Billig

SCIENCE

With less than 50 known specimens existing in the wild, the critically endangered ha- ha- is only found on the upper reaches of the Koâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;olau Mountains.

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Photos: Courtesy Tin Roof Ranch

FOOD

This small-scale North Shore ranch services a community need for organically raised poultry and eggs.

Tin Roof Ranch Reviving the small-scale organic farm

The owners of Tin Roof Ranch could be considered accidental ranchers. Three years ago, Luann Casey and Gary Gunder unexpectedly adopted 25 chickens and began gathering and eating their eggs. Their flock has burgeoned into an extended family of over 300 egg layers, a rotation of eating chickens, Thanksgiving turkeys, the neighbor’s horses, a chicken herding dog and one very friendly goose. The husband and wife team own and operate their small sustainable and organic ranch across from Chun’s Reef on the North Shore of O‘ahu. Their motivation to produce their own food grew from an awareness of the hormones, antibiotics and poor living conditions of most animals raised on large farms. “We didn’t want to eat chicken pumped up with antibiotics,” explains Gary. At the Tin Roof Ranch, the animals roam and eat freely in the pasture, consuming only organic, non-GMO, antibiotic free food. The ranch produces around 100 eggs daily, a number expected to more than double when their newest flock begins laying. The eggs come in a rainbow of blue, green, brown and white, and are sold in re-used cartons. Speckled turkey eggs, larger and heartier than chicken eggs, have been added to the mix.

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Their new flock of 200 hens live in a huge hen house placed on an acre of land recently leased from Kamehameha Schools, under the agreement that it be used strictly for organic farming. It’s evident that the coop was built with mostly re-used materials with walls made from old hotel closet doors. The coop consists of a brooder area for newborn chicks, a roosting area, 145 laying boxes and an outdoor area where they feed on flax and clover, a chicken favorite that doubles as a maintainable ground cover. At seven dollars a dozen, Tin Roof’s eggs are more affordable than most store-bought organic eggs shipped from the mainland. A colorful dozen can be picked up at the ranch or the weekly booth Luann has at the Hale‘iwa Farmers Market, but getting to their tent early is essential. “We sell out of the eggs every time, no matter how many we have,” she says. Tin Roof’s poultry and eggs are a hot commodity North Shore residents love to put on their tables. The couple process around 100 eating chickens a month, known in the ranching world as “broilers.” Each batch of roasters sells out, as did the 40 organic turkeys they processed at Thanksgiving. “We used to send out an email

FOOD

With chicken coops built from reclaimed materials and portable coops that afford their broilers healthy pasture to peck, sustainability is a top priority at Tin Roof Ranch.

letting people know they could come get chicken, but now people reserve beforehand,” Luann says. The broilers at Tin Roof live a good life, always rooting in the grass in a portable coop that moves around the pasture throughout the day. The mobility affords the hens fresh ground to peck and naturally fertilizes the land. In addition, Luann and Gary process the white-feathered birds themselves in a small processing station on-site. The couple says their facilities are inspired by Joel Salatin, an organic farmer in Virginia whose methods are known as “beyond organic.” Gary says they can legally process less than 1,000 broilers a year without a certified kitchen as long as they sell directly to consumers. They value the farm-to-table style and don’t intend to go commercial. Tin Roof Ranch’s sustainable practices aren’t limited to the animals. Luann and Gary’s home is outfitted with a solar hot water heater and solar panels, which cut their electric bill by about 25 percent. And rain caught in a food-grade water catchment container is used on the property. Goats, sheep and more land may be in the future for Tin Roof Ranch. For now, Luann and Gary will keep divvying up the duties (Luann de-feathers after Gary preps) to feed their community. On an island that has about three days worth of food if shipments stopped arriving, the couple’s contribution is important. Surrounded by the sea and surf, Tin Roof Ranch is truly country. —Jade Eckardt

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EDUCATION

Words By Jessie Schiewe

Like many transplants from the mainland, Shanah Trevenna moved to Hawai‘i sightunseen. After a four-year stint as a mechanical engineer at IBM, she had a change of heart and decided that she wanted to dedicate her life to teaching as a crusader for the environment. “I wanted to figure out a way where I could work productively without causing harm to the environment,” comments Trevenna. “When I scanned the world for a place I wanted to spend the rest of my life learning and teaching, in my opinion, Hawai‘i had the highest potential to be a model of sustainability and change.” However, once Shanah got to the islands, she realized that her utopian vision had yet to be achieved. “I came thinking it was going to be a Mecca, but then I realized that I was going to be part of the evolution that would take it to that level.” Fast-forward five years and Shanah is not only a lecturer at the University of Hawai‘i at Ma-noa and founder of the student group, Sustainable UH, but she is also the co-founder of a statewide student internship program funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With funding available from both the state and national level, “green” jobs training, internships and programs are the latest steps taken to ensure that sustainability for Hawai‘i is obtainable not just as a lifestyle, but as viable career options as well.

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Photo: Kevin Whitton

EDUCATION

Saunders Hall was chosen for a University of Hawai‘i pilot program to make the building as sustainable as possible and use it as a model for greening other edifices on campus.

“While there are many green job training programs and workshops out there, the key is in targeting the youth who will be taking these skill sets with them in whatever profession they pursue after they graduate,” says Asia Yeary, of the Evironmental Protection Agency (EPA). Like Shanah, Asia’s main focus is on educating students about sustainable job opportunities and providing them with internship programs that will provide access to future job opportunities. To do this, she and Shanah created RISE (Rewarding Internships in Sustainable Employment), an EPA-funded program that places Hawai‘i college students and recent college graduates in paid internship at the Department of Health, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism’s State Energy Office, Honolulu Clean Cities, the Department of Education, and the University of Hawai‘i. The benefit of these internships is that it gives students the opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world projects, such as contributing to diesel emission reduction studies or partaking in energy

audits for government buildings. These internships also place students in a position to meet potential employers. Asia herself can attest to this last benefit, as her current job was made possible through contacts she made while working as an intern for the EPA as a post-graduate. “When you get students involved, their energy, enthusiasm and motivation really becomes an asset to the green movement, helping to recharge and create new ideas,” says Yeary. “If we hook them now, they’ll continue to do this kind of work their entire lives and really make these goals for the environment a reality.” In addition to the over-arching goal of providing young adults with exposure and training, RISE also aims to create more jobs within Hawai‘i to build the state’s workforce. RISE Program Director Marguerite Harden acknowledges that there is a huge demand for local workers in the green workforce, so RISE places a priority on working with students and graduates from local school systems. While internships and student initiatives such as RISE and Sustainable UH are one way of encouraging

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College students focused on sustainability can thank Shanah Trevenna for a growing list of internships and post-graduate opportunities.

Photo: Courtesy Shanah Trevenna

EDUCATION

students to remain in Hawai‘i, local businesses and organizations are also meeting this goal by actively hiring young adults and recent graduates. In fact, according to the Hawai’i State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, between 2010 and 2012, the number of green jobs within the state is expected to increase by 26 percent, accounting for 2.9 percent of total employment. Dawn Lippert, founder of the environmental women’s network, Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE), has observed this increase and says that it was one of the motivating factors for the creation of WiRE. “We are entering a time where the number of green jobs is rapidly increasing,” she says. “New markets and businesses are emerging and it’s now a matter of supplying the workforce to meet the demand.” Each month, WiRE hosts a discussion panel brunch covering topics related to renewable energy, legislation and workforce development. At their first meeting in January, Ivory McClintock, a 22-year-old graduate from U.H. at Ma-noa, spoke about her experience finding employment in a green business and the importance of creating more jobs for young adults. “What I’ve learned is that you have to think outside the box, because the job you might get tomorrow might not yet exist today,” says Ivory, who found employment with the Blue Planet Foundation in the recently created position of program specialist. Ivory first learned about the Blue Planet Foundation through her involvement in Sustainable UH and was one of three students chosen by the organization to attend a nationwide clean energy event for students in Washington, D.C. For the next year, she continued working on sustainable campus events and started volunteering with Blue Planet Foundation tabling events and canvassing neighborhoods for a light bulb exchange program. By the time graduation rolled around in May, Ivory, who had once worked at a bikini store in Kaimuki, was hired by the organization for a full-time position. Sean Connelly, who graduated from U.H. at Ma-noa in 2009, found similar post-graduate success at the KYA Sustainability Studio, where he works with a number of recent graduates who were part of the HUB (Help Us Bridge) team that founded Sustainable UH five years ago.

Photo: Courtesy KYA Sustainability Studio

EDUCATION

Every year the KYA Sustainability Studio team holds their ‘ohana party at the Waipao lo‘i in He‘eia to focus on family, community and good food.

“I always felt it was my kuleana to be a steward of the environment through architecture and design,” says Sean, who credits his involvement in student-run projects with helping him find his career path. “They gave me a lot of experience in sustainability related initiatives, so I learned to apply the concept not only to things such as recycling and electricity use, but to art and architecture design.” Revising the way students view career options is also one of the main focuses in Shanah’s honors program class, Sustainability and Internships. For their final assignment, Shanah challenges her students to write a paper on how they would help organizations and businesses go green. “It teaches them to put the lens of sustainability on any career,” says Shanah, whose students come from varying majors: business, economics, urban planning, engineering and political science. In addition to campus student groups and RISE, there are a number of local internships and programs available for young adults to get more involved in the environmental community. The University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Smart Building and Community Design hires student interns to work on grant projects and research,

and MA‘O Farms in Wai‘anae has a two-year student internship on organic agriculture. The most recent addition to the educational sphere is the Hawai‘i Green Collar Institute (HGCI), which offers long-term weekend programs for high school and college students, exposing them to various green jobs and professionals around the state. Looking back at the Hawai‘i that existed a mere five years ago, Shanah applauds the many advances that have been made in the realms of green jobs and internships, but it’s still the future of sustainability in Hawai‘i and what the next generation will bring to the table that excites her the most. “Sustainability moves beyond a movement when it is institutionalized in education and state agencies and prevalent in all sectors of the economy,” explains Trevenna. “It requires its own sector and workforce right now since it’s a relatively new perspective, but it really can be an aspect of every single job, business and organization. At that point it won’t be called the green economy and green workforce, it will just be strong local economy with a thriving workforce.”

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TECHNOLOGY

Words By Catherine Mariko Black

President Obama arrived in Kailua this past December for his annual Hawaiian vacation, only to be welcomed in paradise by a beach that was off-limits to swimmers. Intense rains on December 19th had resulted in brown water advisories for beaches and nearshore marine waters around O‘ahu, though anyone walking along the posh Kailua shoreline might have been fooled by the throngs of unwitting tourists (and should-knowbetter locals) splashing or paddling about in the bay’s turbid waters. Most residents were aware that the sandbar at the mouth of Ka‘elepulu Stream would be dredged after the rains. The stream, which drains the Enchanted Lakes’ artificially deepened wetlands, is mechanically opened once a month by the City and County of Honolulu to release built up pollutants in the urban waterway. It’s also done after heavy rains to ensure that the swollen stream flushes out into the bay rather than spilling its contents onto residential properties. But despite the warning signs, people entered the contaminated water at Kailua Beach Park anyway, either out of ignorance, nonchalance or habit. Although old-timers recall swimming in brown water as “normal” after heavy rains, many residents have begun to question whether better judgment might be served by heeding the warnings. According to monitoring done by the community group Hui o Ko‘olaupoko, bacteria levels shortly after the December 19th rains were more than 4,000 times higher than the state’s water quality standard. The City and County of Honolulu reports that there were approximately 120 sanitary sewer overflows on O‘ahu in 2010 and last December alone there were island-wide brown water advisories issued by the Department of Health for 13 out of 31 days.

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Photo: Kevin Whitton

TECHNOLOGY

Kaâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;elepulu Wetland is a privately owned restoration site created in 1995 to mitigate the environmental impacts of the artificial deepening of the existing estuary to create Enchanted Lakes in Kailua.

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Photo: Kevin Whitton

TECHNOLOGY

Ka‘elepulu Stream has become a holding trough for brown water and also a heavily accessed passage to Kailua Bay by kayakers and paddlers.

On the windward side, additional factors contribute to the potential for wastewater contamination including higher rainfall and more sloping surfaces compared to other parts of the island, growing urban development in the population centers of Kailua and Ka-ne‘ohe and a high number of onsite wastewater treatment systems, such as cesspools, that are prone to overflowing during heavy rains. Rounds of Legal Wrestling Unsurprisingly, wastewater is not as popular an environmental issue as endangered species or wilderness preservation. Decades of neglect in our sewage collection system, as well as the lack of political will (and public pressure) to upgrade our treatment facilities, have made Honolulu the only major metropolitan area in the United States that has not upgraded all its wastewater treatment from primary (separating liquids from solids) to

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secondary (disinfecting and reducing bacterial content) levels, in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and the Clean Water Act. Beginning in the 1990s, a series of lawsuits wove the City and County into a knot of conflict with environmental groups and the state and federal governments over its wastewater collection and disposal systems. The much-publicized Ala Wai spill of 2006, which resulted in one man’s death, put the issue on the public agenda and may have helped sink Mufi Hanneman’s political aspirations, even though his administration paid far more attention to the O‘ahu’s sewer system than his predecessors (Hanneman budgeted $580 million in his first two years alone compared to $60 million over 10 years under Jeremy Harris). “It’s usually the squeaky wheel that gets the most attention, but while sewage issues aren’t something people like to think about, we’d rather not have to depend on events like the Ala Wai for the public to take

TECHNOLOGY

Storm water carries nonpoint source pollution directly to the ocean.

Photo: Kyle Tanaka

Photo: Kevin Whitton

Ka‘elepulu Stream is listed by the state as impaired water due to its nutrient, bacteria and chlorophyll levels due to contaminants like storm water runoff and sanitary sewer overflows.

notice,” says Robert Harris, executive director of the Sierra Club’s Hawai‘i Chapter, which was a plaintiff in several of the wastewater lawsuits. “Unfortunately we’ve seen a common cycle in which the problem is identified, followed by litigation and a settlement. Then some time goes by and the problem just seems to get forgotten.” This is exactly what happened following a federal Consent Decree in 1995, which settled a lawsuit filed against the City and County of Honolulu by the Sierra Club and other organizations. It mandated a series of long-term infrastructure improvements in its collection system, upgrading the Aikahi Wastewater Treatment Facility to secondary treatment and the creation of the Kailua Bay Advisory Council (KBAC) to more broadly address water quality issues for windward O‘ahu. While the latter two objectives were met, the City and County failed to comply with many of the long-term infrastructure improvements, resulting in a spate of new lawsuits filed in 2004 and 2006, culminating in the

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TECHNOLOGY

EPA’s final court decision in 2009 to no longer exempt the City and County of Honolulu from secondary treatment standards. This has all been resolved, on paper at least, in a new Consent Decree signed last December, which outlines a 10-year schedule of improvements to the City’s collection system and upgrades to its Sand Island and Honouliuli treatment plants to secondary levels by 2024 and 2035, respectively. According to a statement made by Hanneman last July, the estimated cost of this work is more than $4.5 billion and residents can expect sewer fees to continue rising, perhaps as much as five percent per year. Naturally, critics wonder why the 2010 Consent Decree should inspire any more public confidence than the previous one, but according to EPA attorney Hugh Barroll, more rigorous enforcement and better planning differentiate this settlement from its predecessor. “We didn’t have the experience in knowing what

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Photo: Ian Gillespie

After heavy rains on the windward side of O‘ahu, a backyard stream is a healthy phenomenon as rainwater naturally seeps into the ground.

would work effectively and how best to write these agreements to make sure that the work got completed,” explains Barroll. “It was a first stab and it wasn’t entirely successful, but we’re 15 years smarter now. This settlement is much more detailed than the previous one, with more ability for Honolulu to know what’s expected and for us to oversee.” You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows Meanwhile, there are still unpredictable factors like our weather. According to Markus Owens, public information officer for the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services, one of the principal challenges to its wastewater management system is inflow and infiltration, or I/I, a moniker for storm water that enters sanitary sewer systems, and groundwater that infiltrates sewer systems through cracks and/or leaks in the pipes.

There are engineering limits to the sewer system’s flow capacity, a maximum carrying capacity that can be reached when a severe storm releases more localized rainwater than the system can handle. This atypical but potentially hazardous situation is caused by storms like the one on December 19th, in which more than eight inches of rain fell during a 24-hour period (or the one on January 13th, resulting in the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill overflow disaster). With an overtaxed pipe capacity, there is a high likelihood that storm water, with all of its associated pollutants, will infiltrate the sewer system and all of it will be rapidly sent out to sea. Rain actually highlights an important connection between the limitations of our wastewater management system and what many experts and environmental advocates signal as a more urgent water quality issue: polluted runoff, otherwise known as storm water. Storm water is a major source of pollution in Hawai‘i’s waters and is often referred to as nonpoint source (NPS) pollution due to the fact that pollutants could come from any number of possible sources being washed down from the uplands through urban or suburban areas. Think of a heavy rain literally flushing out an entire watershed. Both the decentralized nature of its pollutant sources and its tendency to generate these sudden, intense “flushings” make storm water difficult to regulate and mitigate. Also, storm water and its aggravating factors—impermeable surfaces that prevent water from absorbing into the ground like concrete and asphalt— play an important part in causing our sewage system failures during heavy rain. By the same token, the long-term solutions to our wastewater and storm water problems might be more easily identified if we made use of ecological wisdom in our urban development.

Photo: Catherine Black

TECHNOLOGY

Top: Todd Cullison and his assistant test stream water in Waima-nalo. Middle and Bottom: Hydroponic plants, like the indigenous spike rush, and aerobic bacteria process 1,000 gallons of wastewater per day in Makiki.

Photo: Catherine Black

Our conventional approach to managing wastewater and storm water is essentially channeling it and then sending it out to sea. “The real problem is that we haven’t designed our infrastructure and collection system to work with the natural environment,” says Chad Durkin. Durkin directs the Green Machine, a bioremediation demonstration project run by the Partners in Development (PID) Foundation in Makiki that processes 1,000 gallons of wastewater per day from the adjacent Nature Center and DLNR buildings. It does so by filtering the wastewater through aerated tanks where it is cleaned by hydroponic plants and aerobic bacteria, and then diverted to irrigate a native plant garden. “Bioremediation is primary and secondary treatment and recycling all in one package, and it’s zero-energy,” explains Durkin, pointing out that this type of “ecological engineering” has been adopted by dozens of private landowners and businesses to treat and recycle wastewater from agricultural to resort developments, as well as some municipalities on the mainland in the form of constructed wetlands. “We clean and reuse the water instead of disposing of it.” While PID has designed similar projects in Hawai‘i, Durkin says that large-scale bioremediation has not been seriously considered here because it’s land-intensive, and land is expensive in Hawai‘i. “Our real estate economy is really what’s broken—the idea that value comes from demand makes sense, but not if you’re

Photo: Catherine Black

Paradigm Shift

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The Green Machineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bioremediation pilot project at work in the Ala Wai Canal.

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Photo: Catherine Black

TECHNOLOGY

talking about constructing societies or ecosystems as well as business,” Durkin explains. “Natural resource economics is a growing field, but right now it’s not included in the GDP. There’s no value for a standing forest, a wetland or clean water, even though these things do impact our economy, and any economist will agree that seeing blue instead of brown water makes a difference in people’s desire to visit Hawai‘i.” The lack of a silver-bullet solution to preserving water quality reflects the complexity of our environment and how we inhabit it. Just upgrading our existing wastewater infrastructure to meet the Clean Water Act standards is a multi-billion dollar, 25-year project. But compared to mitigating our NPS pollution, it’s a piece of cake. “If you have an appropriately designed city, the rain shouldn’t have a negative impact,” the Sierra Club’s Harris observes. “Essentially, where we develop and how we develop is at the heart of all our environmental problems. The construction industry has grown exponentially in the last 10 years and policywise, we keep trying to maintain that industry because it’s such a driver of our economy.” Most experts agree that solutions need to be carried out on multiple fronts, engaging private business and residents, community and environmental organizations, as well as government agencies, and that green redevelopment in urban areas is crucial. There needs to be a community-wide adoption of management practices that have a positive impact on our water quality. “It really comes down to the kind of public education that takes a lot of time and money. Whether it’s cleaning up pesticides and fertilizers or getting people to sweep their sidewalks of organic matter before it goes into the storm drain, we’re trying to install the idea that every road is a river and every curb is a shoreline,” says Todd Cullison, executive director of Hui o Ko‘olaupoko, the non-profit organization that took over KBAC’s work in 2008. In addition to stream restoration, native planting and community education projects, Cullison says that the organization is focusing on green urban redevelopment and retrofitting, such as a bioswale and permeable parking lot next to Buzz’s Steakhouse in Kailua that will absorb storm water that currently empties directly into Ka‘elepulu Stream and into Kailua Bay. “Basically our hope is that if we become innovators installing these technologies, then the City and County can adopt them too.” Unfortunately, Cullison can attest that jumping through all the permitting hoops and approvals from different agencies can be very cumbersome. “I’ve made phone calls to government agencies and explained what we’ve wanted to do and their response has been, ‘but you’re a community group and you want to do this? That’s not your responsibility.’ While I very much appreciate the bottom-up approach, it needs to be top-down as well and there are no major incentives in Hawai‘i. Addressing the current codes and how to make these projects fit into them is one of our priorities looking down the road,” he adds. When it comes to effectively managing our storm water, just like our wastewater, the big picture can seem daunting because it essentially implies reprogramming our entire urban development paradigm. “How many billions of dollars would it really take to do all this? Are we just rearranging the seats on the deck of the Titanic?” Cullison questions. “We’ve got to do something, because the status quo isn’t working.”

DESIGN

Penthouse Remodel

Using local sustainable building professionals for a complete office remodel

When RevoluSun decided to renovate their 5,304-square-foot corporate headquarters on the top floor of the Pan Am Building in Honolulu, their vision for a more sustainable penthouse extended well beyond an array of PV panels. Taking into account an often-overlooked element of sustainability for Hawai‘i, supporting local businesses, the solar energy firm hired General Contractor Mike Fairall, of sustainable building company Mokulua Woodworking, and Lian Eoyang, of ViF, to create an all-encompassing sustainable retrofit of their office space. “We feel passionately about walking the walk of sustainability,” says Eric Carlson, RevoluSun partner. “We wanted our new office to not only show our commitment to the environment, but also reflect our company culture and values.” True to their word, the renovation touts reclaimed materials throughout the office, including more than 50 reclaimed doors from Re-use Hawai‘i, which were

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refinished to create work stations and work spaces for the staff. Eco-friendly flooring, like recycled carpet, was installed and the interior was repainted with low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints. With three walls of windows, natural lighting for most of the floor was not an issue. But for the interior executive offices, the walls feature a mosaic of single-hung windows, also reclaimed from Re-use Hawai‘i, which add a creative design element while allowing ample light to pass into the main office areas. And as most are aware that happy employees are creative, successful employees, the office area with the best view of the south shore is reserved as an informal café for the employees, a unique space for collaboration, idea exchange and rejuvenation. With RevoluSun’s small carbon footprint and a new office that doubles as a showroom for sustainable building practices, the firm has future plans for hosting a number of networking events for green professionals. —Kevin Whitton

Using reclaimed materials was at the heart of the RevoluSun penthouse remodel. Doors became desks, fallen deadwood became the reception desk, old windows became walls and pieces of wood artistically filled in all the gaps.

Photos: Kevin Whitton

DESIGN

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CONSERVATION

Words By Margaret A. Haapoja

Stepping into Kerin Rosenberger’s backyard is like revisiting a time when many of Hawai‘i’s native plants, now endangered or extinct, still grew in abundance. Tall Munroidendron racemosum trees—found only on Kaua‘i and nowhere else in the world—tower above the house with their large multiple leaflets and trailing racemes of pale yellow flowers. Bright orange blossoms of Hisbiscus kokio subsp. saintjohniannus, red blooms of Hibiscus clayi and yellow flowers of Hawai‘i’s state flower, Hibiscus brackenridgei, light up the landscape. Tall koa trees, both highland and lowland species, prized for furniture and carving, form a hedge along the property line. Giant hapu‘u tree ferns thrive in the shade beneath a native gardenia, nanu, and hao tree, while maile climbs the branches of a flowering ‘o- hi‘a lehua tree nearby. Some say Kerin is a magician with more than green thumbs. Dr. Diane Ragone, director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) on Kaua‘i, once called her “the quintessential gardener.” Dr. Warren Wagner, former chair of the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Botany, said Kerin’s work is “absolutely groundbreaking.” Beginning as a bartender with no formal horticultural training, Rosenberger has risen to the peak of plant propagation success in Hawai‘i. Originally from Michigan, Rosenberger’s family moved to the Big Island when she was 13 years old. “As soon as I stepped off the plane in Hilo from Detroit in 1968, I immediately noticed the air was delicately scented with the fragrance of flowers,” Kerin reminisces. “The various shades of green were unlike anything I had ever seen. I knew then that I was in a very special place.”

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Photos: Margaret Haapoja

CONSERVATION

By mimicking the soil conditions of native Hawaiian plants found in the wild and understanding seed types and needs, Kerin Rosenberger has propagated more than 850 of Hawai‘i’s 1,104 native plant species.

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CONSERVATION

Top left – Hibiscus brackenridgei. Top right – ‘Apanepane rests on the blossoms of ‘o-hi‘a lehua. Bottom left – The odd-shaped Brighamia insignis. Bottom right – Solanum sanwicensis.

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CONSERVATION

Photos: Margaret Haapoja

Working at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens on Kaua‘i in the ’90s, Kerin discovered how to grow over 600 native Hawaiian plants by conducting experiments with potting mixes and seed treatments.

As a teenager, Kerin was drawn to the ubiquitous plant life and she toyed around with rooting cuttings of dracaena and ti in jars of water as houseplants. Years later, she met her husband-to-be, George Rosenberger, while he was attending the University of Hawai‘i in Hilo. After tying the knot in 1981, the young couple moved to George’s home on Kaua‘i, where she began volunteering at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in the winter of 1986. It was there that she learned from extraordinary horticultural experts, like head gardener Hideo Teshima, the arts of propagation, grafting, air layering and transplanting. Her passion for Hawai‘i’s native plants—she calls them “keiki o na ‘a-ina” or children of the islands—grew as she became acquainted with their beauty and struggle for survival in a rapidly changing Hawai‘i. Native Hawaiian plants are those that arrived by wind, water or wing. Nearly 90 percent of Hawai‘i’s flowering plants are endemic to the islands, meaning they naturally occur nowhere else in the world. Of those plants, more than half are now considered extinct, threatened or endangered. Kerin says her heart was sore when she realized introduced species were crowding out the islands’ native

plants. Since then she has devoted her life to saving as many as she can. In 1990, NTBG hired her as nursery manager and asked her to determine how to grow 600 native Hawaiian plants no one had ever grown before. For more than 10 years, Rosenberger conducted experiments with different potting mixes, seeds and cutting treatments, all the while keeping detailed notes that eventually filled 14 notebooks. Working in the NTBG nursery, she received seeds and cuttings from plant explorers Steve Perlman and Ken Wood who were featured in a National Geographic cover story, rappelling down cliffs to collect seeds of Brighamia insignis, the only plant of its species remaining in the wild, yet now a common plant in cultivation throughout the islands and beyond because of Rosenberger’s work. “I enjoy the challenge of getting these seeds to germinate,” she says. “I like the rarity of the plants and the ordeal they went through to get here. It seems like they’re not getting any respect, so I’m giving them that and some special care.” Kerin divides seeds into three classifications: pulpy, dry and hard seeds. Through trial and error she

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Kerin operates Keep It Native, a native plant nursery on Kaua‘i.

has developed the methods to propagate each seed type and understands their unique requirements. Sometimes germinating a particular seed began as a challenge, but proved surprisingly easy. Take the case of Kanaloa kahoolawiensis, a low growing woody shrub and an entirely new species discovered on Kaho‘olawe in 1992. Only two plants remained in the wild when Perlman and Wood brought Kerin the cuttings. To make matters worse, they were not producing any seeds. She tried six different rooting compounds and grafting the cuttings to a related species without any success. Finally in 1994, she received a single heartshaped seed from the wild plants. Kerin scarred the surface of the bean-type seed and planted it in dry media, mimicking the natural environment on Kaho‘olawe. It germinated in a day and a half and grew so fast she had to transplant it into a gallon pot by the end of the week. For every quick success is also a work in progress. The seeds of Styphelia tameiameiae, a common shrub found throughout Hawai‘i, germinate very slowly, taking several years to reach a size suitable for out-planting, planting a nursery grown plant back into its native habitat. Kerin suspects the plant needs a microorganism from the soil to help it absorb a sufficient amount of phosphate for faster growth, and these organisms are not found in sterile potting soils. After working at NTBG for several years, Kerin was ready for a change. She accepted a position as research horticultural specialist with the University of Hawai‘i under the direction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife. For two years, she was responsible for propagating rare and endangered Kaua‘i plants at a mid-elevation nursery—3,000 feet above sea level—in Koke‘e State Park. During her time she out planted threatened species into exclosures, fenced areas that keep plants safe from grazing animals, erected

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in various vegetation zones on Kaua‘i. Her time in this position enabled Kerin to have an active hand in the complete life cycle of the native species she was propagating, from collecting seed to out-planting in the wild, observing many of the plants as they matured to flower and fruit. Throughout her career, Rosenberger has learned much about Hawai‘i’s native plants and has been able to dispel many myths. She has now propagated more than 850 of Hawai‘i’s 1,104 native plant species. “Since the seeds within a genus are so familiar, if you can grow one species, the chances are you can grow them all,” she says. She believes that once you know the basics, you can grow most Hawaiian plants in an array of climates and gardens. By changing the amount of cinders or perlite in the potting soil and moving plants to sunnier or shadier places in her landscape, she is able to grow plants that thrive in high elevation bogs as well as those found in saline coastal climates, right in her own backyard. Although she does use chemicals such as rooting compounds and hormones, she believes many Hawaiian native plants are sensitive to modern agricultural chemicals because they evolved in low-nutrient environments. “I think you have to go organic,” says Kerin. “The native plants just don’t respond well to chemicals.” In 2002, Kerin resigned from her University of Hawai‘i position to concentrate on writing a book based on her propagating experience. Growing Hawaii’s Native Plants: A Simple Step-byStep Approach for Every Species was published in 2005 and has since become the definitive text on the topic, especially for those studying horticulture in Hawai‘i. The book describes each plant and gives directions on how to germinate, grow and plant it out. “I want to share my successes,” she comments, “and at the same time keep the methods simple and fun. This book is a reflection of my accumulated knowledge and love for Hawai‘i’s native plants, simplifying how to grow and care for them in the landscape. The reward will be seeing Hawai‘i’s own plants, well adapted to our weather and soil, in gardens, towns and schoolyards.” Today, Kerin and her husband operate Keep it Native, a native plant nursery offering Kaua‘i’s native plants and layout consulting. Through her business, Kerin supplied the plants and the breadth of her knowledge for a two-acre native Hawaiian garden at Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Garden in Kilauea on the island’s north shore. Na ‘Aina Kai horticulturist Marty Fernandes appreciated Kerin’s help. “Kerin has a natural green thumb,” says Fernandes. “She is also one of the most intuitive growers I’ve ever known. She somehow knows what each species will require to germinate and grow. Or, if she doesn’t get it right the first time, she is patient and thorough and will continue changing methods until she is successful.” For those who would like to grow native plants in their own backyard, Kerin says, “What could be a better choice for our landscaping projects than plants that have spent thousands of years evolving in Hawai‘i? You just have to find out what kind of environment you have, hot and dry or cool and moist. From there, pick the plants that will do the best and don’t try to fight nature. Start with trees and let them become established, and then plant shrubs, ground covers and small herbaceous plants. They will give each other protection from wind and harsh weather.”

SAFETY ALERT: FRUIT PICKING SEASON

Overhead power lines are energized and can be dangerous • Avoid coming into contact with overhead power lines directly or indirectly • Keep yourself and any ladders, fruit pickers, poles or other tools at least ten (10) feet away from power lines • Keep any items such as antennas, kites, model airplanes and metallic balloons away from power lines. Do not hang fireworks from utility poles. • If you see anything caught in a power line, do not try to free it yourself. Call Hawaiian Electric’s trouble line at 548-7961 or call 911 if it’s an emergency. A public safety message from

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Grow Your Own

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Hui Ku Maoli Ola, LLC Native Plant Nursery and Landscaping Company Create a beautiful and highly specialized landscape that can save water, malama the ‘aina and replicate what your land looked like a thousand years ago with hundreds of species to choose from. Visit our nursery today!

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Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative Plant a Legacy! For only $60, you can sponsor the planting of a Koa Legacy Tree today and contribute to the reforestation of Hawai‘i. Designate which nonprofit you support and we’ll donate $20 on your behalf—plus, we donate $1 per tree to The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii.

Soap Free Cleaning

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Green Clean 808 introduces Soap Free Procyon cleaning products. Procyon cleaning products are environmentally safe, leave no residue and are safe to use around both keiki and pets. Procyon cleaning products provide an affordable green alternative to cleaning your home or business. Available at Young’s Distribution in the Harbor Center in Aiea.

RainWater HOGs make it easy to fit volumes of rainwater storage in the tightest spaces. These slim, modular tanks are designed to hold 50 gallons and are built for reuse after their 20 year design life. RainWater Hogs are made with safe, FDA-approved, potable non-offgassing plastic. Green Builder’s Depot 550 Paiea Street Suite 126 Honolulu, Hawaii 96819 808.839.9700 greenbuildersdepotintl.com

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Green Clean 808 98-025 Hekaha Street, Bldg. 2, Ste. #5 Aiea, Hawaii 96701 808.484.9822 greenclean808.com

Whole House Fans from Island Cooling

Bonafacio Dining Table

Nourish Naturally

This beautiful table is made entirely of reclaimed teak. Wood that was once an old home or railway track has found a fabulous new life. Priced at $2,150

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Pacific Home 420 Ward Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 808.596.9338 pacific-home.com

North Shore Soap Factory 67-106 Kealohanui Street Waialua, Hawaii 96791 808.637.8400 hawaiianbathbody.com

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Drift Boutique

Ecolicious® Lacy Pueo Tee

Ho‘ala Salon and Spa

Drift Boutique, the eco-conscious beach girl’s adorable, affordable urban hot spot. Featuring dozens of local designers, and creative, thoughtful, handmade jewelry, clothing, accessories and gifts. Many exclusive local labels, encouraging and promoting up-andcoming businesses and artistic talent. Free, convenient parking in the heart of Kaimuki.

We have tees! Our “Lacy Pueo” print is the first women’s t-shirt for Ecolicious®. Printed on a super soft white burn-out tee, this shirt is right in time for the warm months ahead. Look for them at the coolest boutiques around town.

Feel beautifully cared for at Ho‘ala Salon and Spa. We provide a private spa area, complete salon services, and natural nail care. Aveda’s plant derived products are used exclusively and sold in our retail store. Purchase the Ho‘ala Gift Card, a perfect gift for Mother’s Day or any occassion. (808)947-6141.

Drift Boutique 3434 Waialae Avenue #4 Honolulu, Hawaii 96816 driftboutique.com

Luibueno’s Mexican Seafood & Fish Market Featuring Mexican and Spanish cuisine focusing on seafood and traditional Baja style dishes made daily with fresh ingredients. A full bar offers Latin cocktails and fresh lime sour margaritas. A festive, upscale, service oriented dining experience at an affordable price. Luibueno’s Mexican Seafood & Fish Market 66-165 Kamehameha Highway Haleiwa, Hawaii 96712 808.637.7717 luibueno.com

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Ho‘ala Salon and Spa 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard #3201 Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 808.947.6141 hoalasalonspa.com

The Jamis Hudson Bicycle

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Oahu 21st Century Technologies Hawaii 5823 Kalanianaole Highway Honolulu, Hawaii 96821 808.373.4559 greensolutionshawaii.com Aloha Air Cargo 808.836.4191 alohaaircargo.com AquaPono 423 Puamamane Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96821 808.342.7443 aquapono.com Baby aWEARness 2752 Woodlawn Dr., 2nd Floor Honolulu, Hawaii 96821 808.988.0010 babyawearness.com Bess Press 3565 Harding Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96816 808.734.7159 besspress.com Bishop Museum Press 1525 Bernice Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96817 808.847.3511 bishopmuseum.org Book Ends 600 Kailua Road Kailua, Hawaii 96734 808.261.1996

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Hawaii Kai Farmers' Market Hawaii Kai, O‘ahu haleiwafarmersmarket.com Hawaii Skylights and Solar Fans Honolulu, Hawaii 96815 808.847.6527 hawaiiskylights.com Hawaiian Electric Co. heco.com

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COMING NEXT ISSUE

Photo: Margaret Haapoja

Olokele Canyon, Robinson’s private wildlife refuge on Kaua‘i, is now accessible to visitors via helicopter with tours led by the man himself.

Open For Business

Take a tour of Olokele Canyon refuge with environmentalist Keith Robinson

He calls himself the black sheep of the family. He and his brother own the island of Ni‘ihau as well as hundreds of acres of land on Kaua‘i. An outspoken proponent of individual rights, Keith Robinson has dedicated nearly thirty years to preserving Hawai‘i’s native ecosystems and rarest plants. He’s widely accepted as one of the top authorities on the state’s endangered species, but he lives like a recluse on the fringe of society. Recently, Robinson has opened up his pristine Olokele Canyon refuge on Kaua‘i to educated visitors about conservation and native Hawaiian plants. Also featured in the July/August issue, Maui, Big Island and Kaua‘i have been successful at implementing bans on single-use plastic bags at the county level, but for O‘ahu, support for such a measure has remained a community-by-community endeavor. Can the big city in the Pacific learn a lesson from its rural neighbors? And many of us take food for granted, what other

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reason is there for patronizing a fast food joint? But with the associated negative health risks and ecological impact of fast food, making the choice to eat local, homegrown food has never been more important. And visit a Maui B&B that’s doing its part to operate in a sustainable manner and tread with a very light footprint upon the Valley Isle. Look for the July/August issue at local retailers starting in July 2011 at Jamba Juice locations across the state or visit greenmagazinehawaii.com to locate a distribution location nearest you. You can also email us at info@greenmagazinehawaii.com and request your free subscription to the eZine, the complete online version of GREEN, delivered directly to your inbox. And Like us on Facebook to stay up to date on all the latest green news, events and ideas.