kanu hawaii where change takes root.

Eat Local 2010

Kanu Hawaii challenges you to eat local during the week of September 26 to October 2! 

Take the challenge: Commit to an action below in support of a healthy, sustainable, secure food system. We'll help you get started by posting recipes, guides, and deals from our restaurant and market partners.

Spread the word: Share a recipe, brag about the meal you just made (with photo proof!), and spread the word on a local eating deal by posting a quick journal.

Get ready: The Eat Local Challenge begins September 26. Will you stand with us?

Your Vision. Your Vote.

We've all heard it said, "No vote, no grumble." Many of us complain about issues like furloughs, taxes, transportation, education, and the environment, but too few of us help elect the kind of leaders who will address our concerns. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, voter turnout was 84% in the primary election – one of the highest in the U.S. By the 2008 primary, turnout was down to 37% – among the lowest in the country.

Today, our democracy faces another obstacle: With deep budget cuts and one-third of polling places closed this year, our elections system is struggling to support would-be voters. There is a critical shortage of poll workers, and not enough help for people who want to learn about the candidates, register, and vote.

Kanu Hawaii is working with Common Cause Hawaii on Your Vision. Your Vote. - a campaign calling all of us to exercise our civic kuleana (responsibility and privilege) and help save our democracy. The goal is to get 1,000 young people to lead the charge in the 2010 elections by volunteering to work the polls, helping register voters, and voting themselves.

We also want to help educate voters – young, old, and in between – about where the candidates stand on issues related to the environment, compassion, and local economic self reliance –core areas of interest for members of Kanu Hawai‘i. We'll ask candidates where they stand and publish what we find online.

You can get involved right now. Commit to one or more of the actions below. By registering your participation, you’ll get important updates on where/how to participate, and resources to help you get others involved.  Send every young person you know to this page, and ask them to commit, too.

Live Aloha 2010

The vision of the 2010 Live Aloha Campaign was islanders united in acts of compassion and service, across Hawaii and the world. We fell short of our numeric goal, but 15 projects across the islands moved more than 800 people to action - members, friends, and newcomers to Kanu Hawaii. People who couldn't be part of a project lived aloha in other ways. Members sent us their stories from across Hawaii and also from Washington DC, Florida, California, Japan, and more. There are more than 100 inspiring member postings in the Campaign Journal. Mahalo to all who helped keep Hawaii's aloha spirit alive.  Let's sustain it by regularly reconnecting with the people and communities that touched us on Live Aloha Day.

Make Our Voices Count 2010

More than 500 members voted, discussed, and attended workshops on how to advocate at the legislature.  We submitted letters and testimony on a number of bills. Here, in brief, is where those bills ended up (for more complete commentary, visit each bill’s link from the main campaign page).

• Use a new 'barrel fee' on imported oil to fund future energy and food security.  Passed, signed into law, but majority of funds go the State General Fund until 2015.
• Use bond financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Did not pass out of the Legislature.
• Use a portion of the Hurricane Relief Fund to restore school days this year. Passed, signed into law, spurred the agreement between the Governor and unions that ended Furlough Fridays. 
• Use funds from the Rainy Day Fund to maintain essential health and human services. Passed, with funds directed to a variety of health and human services.  Awaiting Governor’s signature and release of funds.
• Limit and disclose corporate political contributions; uphold restriction on campaign contributions by government contractors. Two issues combined in a single campaign finance bill.  Restriction on contractor donations remains.  Corporate contributions not completely transparent.
• Urge lawmakers to take a vote on civil unions. They did. Civil unions passed by the Legislature.  Awaiting Governor’s signature.
• Mandate a minimum number of school days or hours per school year. Passed by the Legislature, signed into law by the Governor.

We owe a special mahalo to all those who voted “no” online, and those who engaged in respectful debate.  It is no small thing to share your views publicly, or to stand up for what you believe in.  This is the kind of discussion, civil disagreement, and political courage we want all Kanu Hawai‘i members to model.

The test of our community is whether shared values like respect and aloha can transcend differences we have on particular issues, and allow us to disagree without permanently dividing up.  Hawai‘i (and communities elsewhere) need examples this kind of community now.

Simplify the Holidays

In all, nearly 1,500 people participated in the campaign. Almost 300 of us recycled at our holiday parties and used reusable or biodegradable plate-ware instead of paper or plastic.  About 340 of us combined errands to save gas and cut greenhouse gas emissions.  More than 300 of us donated to charities, volunteered, or gave directly to families in need. And, almost 600 of us wrapped gifts with reused materials rather than brand new wrapping paper. Our commitments to change holiday habits added up to big impact: More than 13 tons of waste we kept out of landfills and incinerators, 8 tons of greenhouse gases prevented, enough paper to save 215 trees, thousands of dollars donated and nearly a thousand hours of service to local charities, and almost 1 ½ tons of containers recycled.  Most important, we spread a message that the holidays are about more than "stuff" but are really about honoring values of ohana, aloha, and kuleana.

Read more about the campaign:

Coverage on KGMB9
Honolulu Advertiser article
Video of YMCA Furlough Friday Workshop
Video of Ala Moana Green Wrapping
Wrap Up Post
Journals by Members

Eat Local Challenge

The Eat Local Challenge started as a modest idea: Get 30 people to commit to eating local-grown for the week of August 8 to 15. Once the campaign was launched, though, member interest exploded. Members shared recipes for all-local dishes, threw eat local pot lucks, joined "smart mobs" at markets, eat out with our restaurant partners, and got friends and family involved (not all of whom got counted in the campaign tally).

We ate local for a more secure food system - one to sustain us beyond the 12-day food supply we currently have on store shelves. We ate local for the climate - to cut the fossil fuels and greenhouse gasses used in importing food to us. We ate local to keep more money in the island economy and to eat a healthier. Most importantly, we began to grapple with big questions related to our food: Will we develop over agricultural land needed to make our food system more resilient? Why is it so much cheaper to eat unhealthy fast food that has to be processed, packaged, and shipped to us, versus fresh fruits and vegetables from a few miles away? Many of the answers lie in public policy, and we start exploring them in the wrap up post. We'll continue to explore them in the months ahead.

Mahalo to all who participated in the 2009 Eat Local Challenge. We're looking forward to a bigger, better, and less Oahu-central Eat Local Challenge in 2010.

Read more about the campaign:

Comment on the Eat Local Wrap Up (with pics)
See all the partners that participated in the Challenge
View video and pics of smart mobs, food reviews, recipes and more
See KGMB9's week-long coverage of Kanu Hawaii's Eat Local Challenge

Live Aloha Campaign

Members engaged in events across the islands that challenged us to step across boundaries and work together to better our communities.  We teamed up with leaders at Kuhio Park Terrace, residents of public housing in Waimea, homelss mothers and keiki at the Salvation Army shelter in Manoa for a day of shared work, and living aloha.  Partners at the Institute for Human Services and Leadership Kauai helped make the day a success.

Read more about the campaign:

Recap of our Live Aloha Campaign
News Coverage of the Live Aloha Campaign
Living Aloha at a Manoa Refuge
Living Aloha at Kuhio Park Terrace
Initial Campaign announcement

Make Our Voices Count 2009

Members participated in our campaign to Make Our Voices Count at the Legislature this year.  We considered, voted, and discussed 10 key bills; attended advocacy training together; and finished with "Service with a Statement" where members gathered at the Capitol to swap free CFL light bulbs with lawmakers and do free tire pressure checks on all of their cars. The message: "We're willing to do our part to address the issues we care about. We ask lawmakers to do their part by passing key bills." Roughly two-thirds of those who participated had never been to the Capitol to talk to their representative.  We practiced a different kind of advocacy - one using demonstrated kuleana to change the hearts, minds, and actions of our lawmakers.

Read more about the campaign here:

View online voting and discussion of bills
Recap of "Advocacy 101" workshop
Recap of "Service with a Statement"
News coverage of "Service with a Statement" (video)
And all press coverage of the campaign

Simplify the Holidays 2008

We fell just short of our 1,000 member goal, but 900 of us accomplished a lot in 6 weeks: 8 tons of waste kept from our landfills, 120 trees saved, thousands of dollars to local charities, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, less strain on nerves and family budgets.  More importantly, members said they spent more time with ohana, gave more thought to gifts given and received, and joined with co-workers, family, and friends in acts that were good for our environment and communities.

Read about the results of the campaign here:

• Campaign Recap
• KGMB9 Coverage
• Green Gifting
• One Malahini Simplifying
• Member Stories and Comments

Day of Action

We set out to rally 750 members in service to our communities.  In the end, 780 of us responded to the call.  At service projects across the islands, we donated thousands of labor-hours to clear trails, erase graffiti, serve food to those in need, tend community gardens, clean beaches and clear land for nonprofits.

Review results by reading:

• Day of Action Pre-valuation
• Day of Action Lessons Learned
• Waimea Day of Action
• Ma'o Day of Action