Page 28 - Living Aloha Magazine 21 May April June 2017

Green Dreams: IS SUSTAINABILITY POSSIBLE?

Sustainability, as a term and concept, has been a familiar part of

our vernacular for the past decade or longer. Yet, like the mythical
Utopia, first imagined 500 years ago by Sir thomas more, it is

something often held as an aspirational goal, but rarely seen.

The Brundtland Commission on Environment and sufficiency—a richness of culture, tradition, community
Development, in their 1987 report, “Our Common and respect for nature—as recently as a couple hundred
Future,” provided the working definition that stands years ago. Yet, in the past half century or so, our
today: ““Sustainable development…meets the needs of dependence upon imported food and fuel (estimated
the present without compromising the ability of future at 85% each) and goods of all kinds (including tourist
generations to meet their own needs.” dollars) has many of us questioning whether we can
It is likely that those who framed the report were coming achieve sustainability, for the good of ourselves, future
to terms with the impacts of two centuries of the generations, and the planet.
Industrial Revolution. Modern conveniences had come Where do we begin?
about at the expense of profound harm to the world What necessary steps must be taken?
around us, through extractive resource practices of fossil
fuels, ores, seafood, forests and more. “There needs to be chief sustainability officers at key levels
of decision-making,” stated Jonathan Koehn, a four-time
As we examine the true meaning of sustainability, it is speaker and facilitator at the Maui Energy Conference.
apparent that we have been writing checks on an Koehn serves as Regional Sustainability Coordinator and
overdrawn account for a very long time. Environmental Affairs Manager for Boulder, Colorado. He
We are reminded that in Hawaii, a population estimated also advocates for collaborations between government,
at a million or more native Hawaiians lived in self- community, and school curriculum.

28 MAUI Living Aloha | SUMMER 2017