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March 23, 2011

Coming Together for our Island Community

AT COMMON GROUND THIS FRIDAY

ALSO INCLUDING A SCREENING OF THE SHORT FILM:

email tiana@malamakauai.org to volunteer or donate materials!

The tragedy unfolding in Japan has opened a lot of eyes to the seemingly forgotten risks of nuclear power in an uncertain world. Please read the following links from Honolulu's Civil Beat for some insightful commentary from two well known advocates of true clean energy, Amory Lovins, and Kyle Datta, both from the Rocky Mountain Institute

http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2011/03/18/9749-learning-from-japans-nuclear-disaster/

http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2011/03/18/9750-learning-from-japans-nuclear-disaster-lessons-for-hawaii/

Open-ocean aquaculture needs more scrutiny

By Andrea Brower

as published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser March 4th 2011

Despite significant environmental, cultural and economic concerns about open-ocean aquaculture (OOA), permitting and other forms of government support make Hawaii "ground zero" for testing this risky new technology. The dominant story justifying OOA is part of a larger story about food systems that views highly industrialized, globalized and large-scale production as the only way to feed the world. However, as we are well aware in Hawaii - due partly to the ingenious example

of loko i'a, or Hawaiian fishponds - smaller-scale, community-based and localized systems of production may present more environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives. Additionally, whether or not marine aquaculture to date has provided food security is highly debated, and many studies have shown that local livelihoods and food systems - especially those of the poor in developing countries - have been severely undermined by aquaculture production for richer nations.

Yet, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other government funding and regulatory bodies continue to privilege a dominant technological path of OOA, primarily because it provides lucrative business opportunities for an increasingly powerful and influential industry. In the case of OOA in Hawaii, it is not unusual for government scientists to open consulting businesses (and publish environmental assessments for the industry), for objective academic scientists to sit on the boards of directors of companies, and for third-party environmental monitoring to be conducted by company shareholders and founders. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. After some investigation into these overlapping relationships, I believe that the incentives of the marketplace have been woven into the fabric of academia with the support - and even mandate - of government, severely undermining the possibility of truly open scientific and public debate. Does this mean we should unilaterally reject all new marine aquaculture technologies? Certainly not. However, when the stakes are so high - pollution of critical ocean resources, undermining of local fishing economies, the robbery of food sources from developing countries, interference with native Hawaiian cultural and gathering rights - we should proceed with much greater caution.

Mālama Kaua`i suggests:

LET'S THINK 'BEYOND THE BAN'

There has been much recent focus in our community around the 'BAG BAN' . Should we keep it intact? Should we allow 'bioplastics'? We support the ban as originally written. As opponents have pointed out though, it won't solve all our problems. What's next? We certainly can't just 'ban everything', nor do we advocate that. The bag ban has already helped immeasurably in terms of individual awareness. So, where do we go from here?

How about all that Styrofoam?

ANUENUE CAFE, Hanalei 826-1999

BAR ACUDA, restaurantbaracuda.com, Hanalei 826-7081

CASABLANCA AT KIAHUNA, casablancakauai.com, Poipu 742-2929

COCONUT CUP JUICE BAR & CAFE, coconutcupjuicebar.com, Kapa'a 823-8630

THE EASTSIDE, theeastsidekauai.com, Kapa'a 823-9500

THE GARDEN AT COMMON GROUND, commongroundkauai.net/thegarden, Kilauea, 828-1041

THE HANALEI DOLPHIN, hanaleidolphin.com, Hanalei 826-6113

HANALEI GOURMET, www.hanaleigourmet.com, Hanalei 826-2524

HANALEI TARO AND JUICE CO., hanaleitaro.com, Hanalei 826-1059

HAPPY MANGO'S HEALTHY HALE, www.happymangos.com, Waimea 338-0055

HARVEST MARKET HANALEI, harvestmarkethanalei.com, Hanalei 826-0089

THE HEALTHY HUT, healthyhutkauai.com, Kilauea, 828-6626

INFIGIO'S, Princeville, 826-0110

JAVA KAI, javakai.com/franchise/kapaa.htm, Kapa'a, 823-6887

KALAHEO CAFÉ & COFFEE COMPANY, kalaheo.com, Kalaheo 332-5858

KAUAI COFFEE VISITOR CENTER, kauaicoffee.com, Ele'ele, 335-3324

KEOKI'S PARADISE, keokisparadise.com, Poipu, 742-7534

KILAUEA BAKERY & PAU HANA PIZZA, Kilauea, 828-2020

LEI PETIT'S COFFEE SHOP, Princeville, 826-7277

LIGHTHOUSE BISTRO, lighthousebistro.com, Kilauea, 828-0480

MERMAIDS CAFÉ INC., mermaidskauai.com, Kapa'a, 821-2026

OASIS ON THE BEACH, www.oasiskauai.com, Kapa'a, 822-9332

PAPALANI'S GELATO, papalanigelato.com, Poipu, 742-2663

PAPAYA'S NATURAL FOODS & CAFÉ, papayasnaturalfoods.com/, Kapa'a 823-0190

POSTCARDS CAFÉ INC., www.postcardscafe.com/, Hanalei, 826-1191

PUKA DOG HAWAIIAN STYLE HOT DOGS, pukadog.com/, Poipu, 742-6044

RAINBOW LIVING FOODS, Kapaa 821-9759

RED HOT MAMA'S, Wainiha 826-7266

ROY'S POIPU BAR AND GRILL, roysrestaurant.com/, Koloa 742-5000

SMALL TOWN COFFEE, Kapaa, 821-1604

SUNRISE MOLOA'A FRUIT STAND, Moloa'a, 822-1441

TAHITI NUI RESTAURANT & BAR, http://www.thenui.com/ , Hanalei, 826-6277

THE TAVERN AT PRINCEVILLE, Princeville, 826-8700

22 North, 22northkauai.com, LIHUE, 245-9593

If you know of any business that use bio-compostable products for their disposable take-out food services that we've missed please let us know. We will continue to acknowledge these businesses in our future newsletters.

Email lani@malamakauai.org

And what about food waste?

Many of us with gardens (and many without them) have been composting for a long time. Home composting is a simple and effective way to reduce your household waste and recapture valuable nutrients for your plantings. The County of Kauai has long been encouraging residents who may be more reluctant to compost to 'give it a try' by offering free compost bins. And they're at it again:

Still wanna talk more trash?

Then head on down to the County Council Meeting on March 30th and give 'em your mana`o on the bag ban. Our suggestion: let's move forward on our waste challenges, not backwards.

click on image abv. to go to conference website

We are thrilled to announce a Scholarship Fund for Leaders of Color for our Living Economies 2011 Conference being held this June 14-17 in Bellingham, Washington. Sponsored by social entrepreneur Ben Cohen, these scholarships cover main conference registration and potentially travel costs for up to 16 qualified entrepreneurs and community leaders of color who are advancing one or more building blocks for local living economies in their cities and towns.

The scholarship application is available for download on our scholarships page.

Deadline for submission is Thursday, March 31, midnight Pacific Time. Completed applications should be emailed to Martin Sorge, BALLE Network Services Assistant, at martin@livingeconomies.org.