Environmental and Natural Resource Conference

Environment confab explains how everything IS connected

KAILUA-KONA—Nearly 90 community residents attended the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce’s (KKCC) fourth annual Environment & Natural Resource Conference. Titled “Everything IS Connected,” this year’s event had presentations on numerous topics and ended with breakout, group discussions with speakers. Physicist Nassim Haramein opened the conference with a thought-provoking, two-hour presentation on his Unified Field Theory and his belief of viewing nature in a holistic way through the fundamental pattern of creation. Haramein, whose research demonstrates the parallels between his unification theory and the ancient codes in monuments and documents, has formed the Resonance Project Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the unification of all sciences.

Also during the morning, Kepa Maly, cultural historian and executive director of the Lana‘i Culture and Heritage Center, discussed the importance of understanding the complexities and nuances of Hawaiian culture in relation to sustainability. “Hawaiians of old were connected to the earth’s integrated systems and managed them wisely,” he emphasized. “We need to gather and share the history of all places from our kupuna and exercise our responsibilities toward sustainability.”

Maly shared several resources for collected oral histories (ulukau.org and kumupono.com) and added, “We need to re-instill the knowledge of ‘place.’”

Lehua Lopez Mau, executive director of the Hawai‘i Island Land Trust (HILT), introduced their non-profit organization and detailed ways it helps individuals protect our land: by direct purchase, gifting and conservation easements. Michael Kramer stressed the important of the Chamber’s Kuleana Green Business Program and how businesses can examine their operations to determine if they are socially and environmentally responsible.

After lunch, a variety of topics were covered through several half-hour presentations. They included water quality monitoring by Chris Yuen of the county’s planning department; the recent Hawai‘i Island Food summit by event coordinator Nancy Redfeather; the county’s Energy Sustainability Plan by Robert Arrigone, plan coordinator, and Bettina Arrigone, analyst with the Department of Water and Energy Management.

In addition, watersheds and wastewater were discussed by Richard Bennett, PhD. Brad Kurokawa of the county’s planning department, did a presentation on “Hawai‘i Island Choices-Perspectives of Keiki o ka ‘Aina.”