As a founding member of the hui, Facing the Future (FtF) in 2004, I collaborated with a team of community
engagement professionals to plan, produce and bring sustainability speakers to Honolulu. We were the only folks producing events on sustainable learning at the time. Skepticism over climate change was high, even in Hawaii and times were much different. Bill McKibben, noted author and founder of the 350.org movement, was in Honolulu and gave a breakfast talk, followed by two lectures at UH Manoa, on 15 April 2008. I caught up with him after the breakfast talk at the Hawaii State Art Museum.
Inspired directly by Bill, I created my own personal 350 campaign in Honolulu, at one point, eagerly approaching then Senator Neil Abercrombie with a fast spoken request for a picture with him and my 350.org sign. As you can see, he was supportive. Several others jumped on-board the now ubiquitous climate campaign and created their own 350 campaigns in our islands, most notably Brodie Lockard on Facebook. You may see my own efforts for the global campaign on the 350 Hawaii flickr site.
Over the years, FtF teams have partnered with Hawai`i Pacific University’s Leadership series, the University of Hawaii Manoa
Distinguished Lecture Series, `Olelo Media Centers, and the Umematsu and Yasu Watada Lectures on Peace, Justice and the Environment community dialogues to engaging conversations between our island communities and leaders
in sustainability and social justice. I’ve produced for Frances Moore Lappe (food), Dr. Steven Schneider (futures), Al Gore (climate change), Bill McKibben (deep ecology), David Korten (sustainable development), Q`wichin (native alaskan), Charles Hall (energy security) and Richard Heinberg (peak oil). As you can see I’m deeply embedded in resilience building and social improvement. 95% of my efforts are self-funded. Now get out there and do something, anything to improve human society, OK?
Questions? Answers? More posts by the author.
If you like my posts—even if you don’t—why not contribute to helping spread the word?
Thanks in advance for caring and sharing this post on your social media sites