Increasing contemporary applications of ancestral innovation and resource management sciences is the focus of a University of Hawaiʻi conference.
Advancing a Circular Economy in Hawaiʻi, is the second annual Piʻo Summit to be held at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on December 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., will help create sustainable and just solutions for healthy communities in Hawaiʻi and around the world.
UH invites community leaders, stakeholders and members of the public interested in furthering our community’s efforts in this area. The cost to attend the all-day conference is $150 per person and includes breakfast, lunch and a networking reception. Online registration is available until December 6 at this website.
“With increasing impacts of the climate crisis and economic instability, there is an urgent need and strategic opportunity to diversify and create a circular economy,” said Kamanamaikalani Beamer, UH Mānoa director and professor at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. “We welcome the community to join us in catalyzing these times of crisis toward shifting our economy into one that takes care of our ʻāina, is regenerative, equitable, and honors our ancestral knowledge and cultural practices.”
Importance of a Circular Economy
The pursuit of profit and convenience today has led to rampant consumerism, throwaway culture, and monumental waste resulting in our current linear “take, make, use, waste” economy built on extracting finite resources to create products destined for landfills. In recent years, growing scrutiny around the linear economy has sparked a demand for urgent action on issues regarding limited natural resources, biodiversity loss, climate change, energy efficiency, mass waste and pollution. Governments across the globe are searching for solutions that decouple economic growth from environmental degradation while ensuring long-term prosperity.
In ancestral Hawaiʻi, a similar “give, take, regenerate” circular system led to the development of balanced structures of resource management. One steadily advancing movement is aimed at designing a “Circular Economy,” where waste is minimal, materials and resources are preserved for as long as possible, and modes of production mimic nature’s regenerative processes.
“As the state’s largest research institution, we have an obligation to help improve the quality of life for our residents and others through our innovative research and education,” said Vassilis L. Syrmos, UH vice president for research and innovation. “This conference provides an opportunity to bring together some of the best experts and practitioners of indigenous and contemporary knowledge from across the state and around the world to address and solve today’s complex problems.”
Session topics:
- Overview of the History of Ancestral Circular Economy
- Contemporary Restoration of an Ahupuaʻa
- Doughnut Economics
- Experiences, Challenges and Best Practices of Circular Economy Interventions
- UH’s Role in Creating Opportunities for Hawaiʻi’s Future
Keynote speakers and panelists will include:
- Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Dana Naone Hall endowment Chair, Director and professor at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies and professor at William S. Richardson School of Law at UH Mānoa
- Kate Raworth, senior associate at Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University
- Sandra Köhler, research associate and chair, production and supply chain management at University of Augsburg
- Simron Singh, professor and associate dean of graduate students, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at University of Waterloo
- Hiroki Tanikawa, professor of environmental studies at Nagoya University
- Kawika Winter, director of Heʻeia National Estuarine Research Reserve and biocultural ecologist at Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology at UH Mānoa
Advancing a Circular Economy in Hawaiʻi is sponsored by the UH Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, The GSI Family of Companies and Elemental Excelerator in partnership with Piʻo Summit 2023 and Ulupono Initiative. For more information, visit research.hawaii.edu/event/a-circular-economy-in-hawaii/.
