Early this year, we acquired a building in Pahoa, renovated it, and created office space for our work plus meeting and classroom space for our community, public computer access to the State Legislature, and an environmental library and reading room (Council 4 grant).
We plan to install solar panels & go completely off grid. Solar hot water system donated by Diane Miller and will be installed by Jon Olson. Solar Rayes LLC (Thomas Rayes) will be donating the labor for our solar panel installation, and has already begun work.
Activities
- We hosted an event about the impacts of sunscreens on coral, which included a sunscreen swap; we also testified at the State Legislature in support of the ban on sunscreens containing Oxybenzone;
- acted as fiscal umbrella so Fern Acres could build 3 bus shelters (Council 5 grant);
- had an environmental education display at HAAS’ Tropical Living Festival;
- co-sponsored the Green Lake Rat Lungworm Awareness Concert and had an anti-slug display there; did grant work (Council 4);
- funded ongoing native forest restoration work at Keau’ohana Forest Reserve and Halepua’a Forest Reserve;
- conducted ongoing native forest restoration work at Keau’ohana (State Grant-in-Aid) – more than 35 acres weeded & replanted with natives;
- acting as fiscal umbrella & donating our admin fee so UH-H College of Pharmacy can conduct needed Rat Lungworm research (Council 2,3,4,5,6 &7 grant funding);
- compiled info from various sources to create “Slug-Proof Your Garden”, available for free at events, Ace Hardware Pahoa and Pahoa Feed & Fertilizer;
- providing meeting space for these community groups: Hui Aloha O Puna Makai, Kalapana ‘Awa Band, Kokua Pahoa, Mainstreet Pahoa Assn., Pahoa Regional Town Center Steering Committee, Pahoa Village Design Review Committee, Puna Community Medical Center, Rotary Club of Pahoa Sunset, & Vireya Society;
- with Hui Aloha O Puna Makai, co-sponsored classes in native Hawaiian cultural & sustainability skills and helped on their grant applications;
- with the Pahoa Museum, co-sponsored beautification efforts (murals & plantings) in Pahoa & did the grant work (Council 4);
- conducted post-lava flow restoration of native tree plantings at the Pahoa Aquatic Center;
- testified in support of the County styrofoam ban – which passed.
- conducted a coastal litter cleanup at Wai ‘O Pae;
- provided testimony to federal government in opposition to administration plans to remove protections from national monuments & refuges & allow extractive development (mining & oil drilling);
- signed on to Paris Accords to support climate initiatives;
- provided input to OHA’s comprehensive management plan for the Wao Kele ‘O Puna rainforest;
- renewed DLNR endangered plant collection permit for seeds & continued to propagate and grow out native plants in our nursery for reforestation projects;
- handed out fresh-picked organic tangerines to Pahoa Elementary marchers in Holiday Parade instead of candy;
- assisted Puna Community Medical Center in their grantwriting skills, identified grants to help them expand healthcare services, & reviewed their submissions.