Windward Community College student Harvy King received a full scholarship to participate in the Sustainable Community Food and Energy Systems Intensive course, which ran March 3–11 on Oʻahu.

Students can earn up to three college credits in nine days by studying with a cohort of students from multiple universities across the nation who are passionately interested in sustainability topics related to food and energy.

“I’m feeling blessed to be enrolled,” King said prior to his participation. “I am thankful and excited to learn more about deeper layers of Hawaiian culture and the damaged biocultural systems. Learning how to heal man and the land is the task at hand!”

Lectures focused on topics such as sustainable food systems and energy in Hawaiʻi and the practice of sustainable agriculture. Noa Lincoln, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa assistant professor in the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, discussed the politics of food in Hawaiʻi.

“In this course we use Hawaiʻi as a model system to illustrate tradeoffs at the nexus of food, water and energy,” said Lincoln. “We attempt to blend business, technology and values to push students to envision [an] impactful model of social enterprise to solve problems in these arenas.”

More about the Sustainable Community Food and Energy Systems Intensive course

This short-term, experiential course intensive was made possible through a partnership involving The GREEN Program, University of Hawaiʻi Office of Sustainability and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Mānoa. It was hosted by alternative travel company Altruvistas and Hawaiʻi Travel Director Lala Nuss, who is also the founder of a social enterprise, Conscious Concepts.

“As a keiki o ka ʻāina, having the opportunity to work with AltruVistas as the Hawaiʻi travel director and curating travel experiences for individuals and groups genuinely interested in connecting to, learning from and positively impacting the place and people they come to visit is an incredible honor as well as a necessary challenge,” said Nuss. “The evolution of the travel industry and Hawaiʻi is a unique opportunity to create a model as a global leader in transforming travel for the greater good, not just for profit but for prosperity, true wealth—waiwai—and it all starts from the roots.”

Kamaʻaina scholarships will be available for the next cohort starting in summer 2018. Learn more about the program.