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CIFAL Honolulu

Healthy and Sustainable Hawaii Speaker Series

May 4, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

A series of speakers exploring everything from climate change resilience to indigenous wisdom to healthcare equity helped launch the new United Nations-affiliated CIFAL Honolulu Centre at Chaminade University.

The events in April were aimed at underscoring the mission of the center, an exciting partnership between Chaminade and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. CIFAL Honolulu is designed to serve as a hub in Hawaii and the Pacific Region for leadership, training and education around key sustainable development goals—convening and empowering people to maximize their positive impact.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green speaking at the United Nations CIFAL Honolulu Centre speaker series

The Healthy & Sustainable Hawaii Speaker Series kicked off on April 12, with Lt. Governor Josh Green.

Green, a practicing physician, discussed his vision for bolstering the health and wellbeing of people in Hawaii and the Pacific, encouraging attendees to consider how a plethora of social issues—drug addiction, domestic violence, homelessness, poverty—are all connected to health metrics.

“Systems are complex and they require complex thought,” Green said, adding COVID has both complicated the state’s healthcare landscape and introduced new opportunities, like broadening the availability of telehealth services. “The consequences of health disparities are great. There’s no choice but to address them. What we now know is that your zip code matters more than your genetic code.”

In his speech, Green talked about how he came to the islands from Pennsylvania to serve as a rural doctor on Hawaii Island and then decided to run for office in hopes of bringing attention to healthcare disparities he was seeing first-hand. Fast forward to 2019 and he was in the lieutenant governor’s office and having a conversation with the government of Western Samoa about a huge measles outbreak.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green speaking at the United Nations CIFAL Honolulu Centre speaker series

They asked Green, “Could you come and vaccinate our entire country?”

Green wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish it, but he corralled resources in lightning speed. Hundreds of Hawaii healthcare professionals volunteered to assist. Airlines donated travel. And vaccines were provided free of charge. Over just 48 hours, some 37,000 measles vaccinations were administered.

And just a few months after that ordeal, Green and his team started getting wind of a worrisome new coronavirus making people sick in China and spreading to U.S. cities. “There was a problem on the horizon and we just witnessed what a virus could do,” Green said. “I knew we better get ready.”

Within weeks, a pandemic was declared and the state was shut down.

Green said COVID-19 underscored the power of working together, especially in emergencies, to shepherd resources and keep people safe. He said that same approach is necessary to grapple with some of the biggest crises facing Hawaii, many of which have significant implications on health.

Lucy Lee '23 and Ramsay Taum posing for the camera with Diamond Head in the background
Lucy Lee ’23 and Ramsay Taum

Also on April 12, the CIFAL Centre hosted Life Enhancement Institute of the Pacific Founder and President Ramsay Taum and Hōkūleʻa student navigator Lucy Lee ’23 for a conversation about cultural and historical connections across the Pacific that could guide the way for sustainable development.

In considering climate change resilience and sustainability, Taum told attendees we must begin by “considering the empty chair”—our ancestors, loved ones who have departed and relatives who have not yet been born but also those we are trying to protect. “Who is it that you are accountable to?” Taum said, adding that he writes a letter every night to the people who will become his great-great grandchildren to answer their question, “What did you do when you had the chance?”

Taum said it’s also important to understand our priorities as an island community. “When we take fertile lands that we grow food in, and grow cement in them instead, what we’ve suggested is that we’ve shifted a priority—we’re OK with shipping our food in rather than growing it,” he said.

“Imagine if we created policies on caring. Do you think the carrying capacities will follow? I think so.”

Ramsay Taum speaking at the CIFAL Honolulu speaker series

He added that it’s important to understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge and recognize the importance of each in creating resilient, sustainable communities. “Maybe our success living on this island called Earth could be supported by talking to islanders,” Taum said.

In her address, Lee also touched on the value of place-based solutions.

A solution for one community, she pointed out, might not work for another. She added that communication and dialogue are also central ingredients in making headway on some of society’s biggest obstacles. To underscore the point, Lee recalled her first navigation experience onboard the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa. She and other students were charged with finding Nihoa island.

At the time, the Environmental Studies major said, Polynesian Voyaging Society President and Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson told her that he didn’t care if she found the island in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

What he cared about was whether she was leading her crew. “You can be the best navigator in the world. If no one wants to be on crew with you, you’ll be sailing solo for the rest of your life,” she said.

Josh Stanbro, Dr. Chip Fletcher, Dr. Gail Grabowsky, Chris Benjamin, Scott Glenn and Aimee Barnes
Josh Stanbro, Dr. Chip Fletcher, Dr. Gail Grabowsky, Chris Benjamin, Scott Glenn and Aimee Barnes

The final event in the speaker series, on April 18, was a panel discussion on climate resiliency and mitigation. The talk was moderated by Alexander & Baldwin CEO Chris Benjamin and included scientists, policy leaders and others discussing the stakes for Hawaii, the fight ahead, and how the Hawaii Executive Collaborative is seeking to drive change for the better with its Climate Coalition.

“We’re here today because our planet is in peril,” Benjamin told attendees. “Hawaii will experience climate change particularly acutely. This can’t just be a government solution or a nonprofit solution. It’s not just about educating people. It’s about all of these things. We’re trying to connect the dots.”

Dr. Charles “Chip” Fletcher, a panelist and dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said climate change is an immense problem with no easy solutions. But he’s optimistic about how Hawaii will tackle global warming’s many challenges.

“We have the cultural and economic and social framework with which we can thrive in this century,” Fletcher said. “Our community in Hawaii can by strongly unified. That is a community that can be prepared for the shocks and stresses of climate change. But we have a lot of work to do.”

The Hawaii Executive Collaborative panelists speaking to the audience

Aimee Barnes, founder and CEO of Hua Nani Partners, said despair and doom are frequent and unfortunate themes in climate change circles. As she told attendees, however, there is an antidote: action. “The work that we’re doing really does matter. It’s going to help,” she said.

And, said Elemental Excelerator Policy Fellow and former city Resilience Officer Josh Stanbro, sustainable action also adds up—especially at the local level. “When we’re talking about turning these islands into a climate resilient place, I think we have a better shot than most,” he said.

Panelist Scott Glenn, the state’s chief energy officer, agreed and said fighting climate change and mitigating its impacts shouldn’t be seen simply as good for the environment or for communities but should be considered the right thing to do. “For all of us, it comes down to the opportunities we have to be a good person, to be a decent human. Fighting poverty, planting a tree is about making life better.”

For more details on the speaker series and on CIFAL Honolulu, click here.

Filed Under: Campus and Community, CIFAL Honolulu, Homepage Large, Institutional, Student Life Tagged With: Guest Speakers

Walking the Walk: Creating a Sustainable Hawaii

April 8, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Cara Gutierrez pouring old food onto composting pile

Cara Gutierrez doesn’t just want to learn about leaders in the green movement. She wants to be one.

The senior at Chaminade, who is majoring in Communication with a minor in Environmental Studies, is passionate about helping build a more sustainable Hawaii and has gotten involved in a number of projects on and off campus designed to do just that—from food waste audits to composting.

“I’m just trying to make an impact,” Gutierrez said.

And along the way, she’s hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Gutierrez, who transferred to Chaminade from St. Mary’s College in California as a sophomore, has created a Campus Sustainability Council Club at the university in addition to serving as vice president of the Surfrider Club and a resource recovery specialist at Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

She said her community service efforts grew out of an Environmental Ethics course at Chaminade, where she learned just how important a single person can be in making a positive difference. “I really felt called to help and did different types of volunteering. I wanted to do my part,” she said.

Sustainability Council Club a the beach picking up trash

So she started in her own backyard—by looking at sustainability at Chaminade.

In addition to launching her new club, she also conducted a food waste audit at the university to determine how much is thrown away that could instead be redirected to productive composting. That work led her to connect with the agricultural director at Saint Louis School for an innovative zero-waste project now underway and he in turn connected her with the Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

Gutierrez said she when she first reached out to the hui, which works with five public schools to turn their food waste into composted nutrient-rich soil, the director warned her the work wasn’t glamorous. She would be gathering food waste into huge compost piles, the hui told her, turning and watering them as worms break up the organic materials, and then selling that rich compost to the community.

“She told me, ‘This is really hard work. You’ll have dirt everywhere,’” Gutierrez said.

After working for a day, Gutierrez was hooked. “I said, ‘OK, sign me up!’”

If her volunteering and work with the hui wasn’t enough, Gutierrez is also an intern focused on sustainability projects at Chaminade’s new CIFAL Honolulu Centre, part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. She said through CIFAL and her sustainability club, she’s planning an educational Earth Day event and a gathering on Oahu’s North Shore to promote agriculture.

With all the hats she wears, Guteirrez doesn’t have much downtime.

Cara Guiterrez winding a lever on the Golden Rule Peace Boat

But that’s OK. What she has instead, she said, is a community that believes in her—and her mission.

“Climate change is so important and our generation has a responsibility to act. I’m only here for a limited number of years and I want to leave the lightest footprint possible but also have an impact on younger generations,” she said. “Everything I do is for the people who came before and after me.”

She added that her CIFAL Honolulu internship has also helped her zoom out and think about the value of sustainability policy and climate change work at the international level. “In the future, I would be really interested in working toward those bigger goals to make a greater positive difference,” she said.

For now, though, she’s focused on her grassroots work—and on graduation just around the corner. She said she plans to pursue a graduate degree, but will first take a year off to travel. “I’ve learned so much in Hawaii,” she said. “Now I want to go to different communities to learn even more.”

Filed Under: Business & Communication, CIFAL Honolulu, Featured Story, Natural Sciences & Mathematics, Student Life, Students Tagged With: Communication, Environmental Studies

Chaminade University Partners with United Nations

November 3, 2021 by University Communications & Marketing

Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, and Dr. Lynn Babington, Chaminade President, signing the partnership agreement

Chaminade University is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) that will provide innovative leadership development opportunities in the islands and empower those working on community-building projects to maximize their impact.

The new UNITAR center at Chaminade is part of a global network of 21 other learning hubs worldwide.

The Chaminade center will offer education and training programs around key UN Sustainable Development Goals. The priorities for the center include climate action, advocating for the oceans, reducing inequalities, and developing programs that pursue peace, justice and strong institutions.

Dr. Lance Askildson, Chaminade provost, said the hub isn’t meant to supplant the work of other organizations in Hawaii but facilitate new conversations and bring together community stakeholders. It will also serve as a gathering place for forward-looking leadership development offerings.

“We want to engage young people. We want to engage thought leaders. We want to engage alumni,” Askildson said. “There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and everybody has a role. Our role is to do what we’ve always done: to educate young people and empower them to drive positive change.”

He added, “We are a convenor to bring people together.”

Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, chats with Chaminade students, faculty and staff

Askildson said the UN center is seen as an extension of Chaminade’s service-oriented mission and will put a special emphasis on inspiring and challenging students to make a positive difference in their communities with a host of unique opportunities — from individualized projects to internships.

The Experiential Honors Program at Chaminade will also be integrated with the center to maximize student engagement, and an ever-evolving sustainability curriculum will reflect student interests and needs.

The center plans to work closely with alumni and the Catholic network across Hawaii and the Pacific along with a long list of community partners — from the East-West Center to Hawaii Green Growth — to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and reach shared sustainability education goals.

“We are seeking to complement what other organizations are already doing well and not in any way duplicate or compete with good programs,” Askildson said. “One of the most important things we can do is engage with the private sector. They’re looking for ways to burnish their credentials in sustainability. They’re looking for partners who can help them with education.”

The United Nations officially invited Chaminade to establish and host the training center — whose reach includes the entire Pacific Islands region — in late 2020. The center falls under the CIFAL Global Network, a French acronym that translates to International Training Center for Local Authorities/Leaders.

Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, speaks to the Chaminade community

And in October, the University got the opportunity to host UN Institute for Training and Research Executive Director Nikhil Seth on campus. At a talk on campus, Seth said Chaminade was an “obvious choice when we were looking for partners in this part of the world” because of its stellar reputation, strong community partnerships, and decades of service in Hawaii and across the Pacific region.

“We want to have a bigger footprint. We want to touch the lives of many more people,” Seth said, adding that the center at Chaminade will serve as a “model for collaboration” and a place to spotlight those who share a common vision around the need for community-focused climate action.

While the center at Chaminade is still in its early days, Askildson is excited about what’s ahead.

One major upcoming planning item: Chaminade is poised to host the CIFAL Global Network annual meeting and conference in November 2022. Askildson said the event will undoubtedly bring in educators, changemakers and learners from across the globe — and across the state.

“The center is allowing us to capture a lot of the activity we’re already doing and then expand,” Askildson said. “It’s an opportunity to use that amplification and the banner of the United Nations.”

Filed Under: Campus and Community, CIFAL Honolulu, Featured Story, Innovation, Institutional

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