The University of Hawaiʻi will hold the 5th Annual Hawaiʻi Sustainability in Higher Education Summit at UH West Oʻahu, March 16–18. This year’s summit will explore sustainability through indigenous perspectives and the global dialogue on sustainability.

The summit will also focus on the sustainability courses that are taught across all UH campuses—how can UH better coordinate and support student interest in exploring sustainability topics and create curricular coherence on and across campuses.

Event highlights

March 16

A panel session will explore the Meeting of Wisdoms between ancestral knowledge and modern sciences and features Rosie Alegado, Pauline Chinn, Aurora Vivani-Kagawa, Manulani Aluli Meyer, Tim Botkin, Albie Miles and Noa Lincoln. This session will be broadcast live beginning at 9 a.m.

March 17

An ePoster Hoʻike session beginning at 2 p.m. in the campus multi-purpose room is free and open to anyone interested in sustainability in higher education.

March 18

The annual Student Sustainability Summit, as well as the annual spring SENCER Summit (Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibility) to support faculty members’ professional development.

More about the summit

The event is catered by MAʻO Farm-to-Fork and features produce sourced almost entirely from West Oʻahu. Student Sustainability Coordinator Nicole Chatterson and UH Mānoa Sustainability Fellow Jessica Sevilla are working on protocols to create a zero-waste event, which include providing re-usable eating utensils for participants to keep throughout the event, as well as composting food waste produced from all meals.

Summit sponsors include Hawaiian Electric Companies, Johnson Controls and Hawaiʻi Energy. The event is also made possible with the support of the Office of the Vice President for Administration, Hawaiʻi Green Growth and TRANE Building Advantage.

More about UH’s sustainability efforts

University of Hawaiʻi sustainability coordinators provide an update on UH sustainability efforts at the January 26, 2017 Board of Regents meeting.