Steven Apfelbaum may be one of the most unpretentious, down-to-earth people you will meet. This preeminent restoration ecologist, with more than 9,000 projects throughout North America and the globe over his 40-year career, is as unassuming as his curriculum vitae is long (44-pages, no less). It is fair to describe him as a 21st-century Renaissance man, a true pioneer in … [Read more...] about Steven Apfelbaum: Renaissance Man of Restoration Ecology – In the age of climate change, the acclaimed ecologist will speak about Maui’s “100-year opportunity”
Climate change
Pre-Contact Hawaiian Agriculture Systems Provide Opportunities for the Future, Study Finds
250 years ago, Native Hawaiians had already met and exceeded a goal set forth by Governor David Ige in 2016: They nourished and maintained a complex system of agriculture that sustainably fed a population estimated to number approximately 800,000 – that’s 100 percent local food production. It’s a figure that in today’s world of convenience and globalization seems far out of … [Read more...] about Pre-Contact Hawaiian Agriculture Systems Provide Opportunities for the Future, Study Finds
The Latest in Signs of Impending Doom: 12 years to change course from disastrous future to horrible future
After a certain point, there’s only so much apocalyptic news I can take. I’ll admit it. Sometimes I read a headline like “GOVERNMENT INACTION PUTS WORLD ON TRACK FOR 'CATASTROPHIC' CLIMATE CHANGE, U.N. WARNS,” and just take a deep breath, mutter some curse words into the ether, and then scroll on to the next article… Hey, did you guys hear that Kanye West met with Donald Trump … [Read more...] about The Latest in Signs of Impending Doom: 12 years to change course from disastrous future to horrible future
More bad news for people who like Earth: Plastics emit greenhouse gases
Last week, the scientific journal PLOS ONE published a study by researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology which revealed that several greenhouse gases are emitted as plastics degrade in the environment. That’s right: Plastic waste, which flows into oceans at a rate of 18 billion pounds a year, is not only threatening … [Read more...] about More bad news for people who like Earth: Plastics emit greenhouse gases
Environmental progress made with Hawai‘i state bills signed into law
If I had to guess, I’d put environmental catastrophe at the top of the list of potential causes for civilization collapse. True, there’s a lot of doom to choose from nowadays, with asteroids narrowly missing Earth and strange prognostications of an artificial intelligence uprising. But even as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock responds to Trump-brand … [Read more...] about Environmental progress made with Hawai‘i state bills signed into law