Earth Day Summit 2008

The 8^th Annual Sustainable Earth Summit focusing on Ecological Ethics / Activism / Justice Earth Day conference will be hosted at University of Hawaii Maui Community College on April 14 – 16, 2008.

The three day meeting of the minds on Maui will feature global leaders in sustainability and social justice sharing their life experiences as well as their latest publications focusing on saving the planet. There will also be local elected leaders and community organizers sharing their daily efforts to empower youth and protect our aina. Mayor Charmaine Tavares will deliver the 3^rd Annual State of Maui’s Environment address.  There will also be excursions of empowerment where students will see sustainability in action taking place at MCC from covering entire cycle of living from planting indigenous flora to recycling our resources and preparing slow grow foods. Students will also go to the wind farm off campus. There will also be workshops focusing on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and The Low Carbon Diet providing framework to make a smaller footprint on the planet. There will also be community dialogue circles building on previous activities with national organization Step It Up and 350. Finally, students will organize a signwaving for sustainability supporting solar water heating legislation on Monday at 11:45 a.m. and a Speak Out for Step It Up Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. at the Free Speech Zone. There will also be debuts of new documentaries focusing on climate change in Oceania, alternative fuels in America and how students can change the world concerning climate change.

The Earth Summit is sponsored by the Hawaii Institute for Human Rights, the Sustainable Living Institute Maui. Amnesty International Hawaii and the United Nations Association Hawaii along with student organizations such as MCC Recycling Club, MCC Political Science Honor Society and the ASMCC organized to create this 8^th annual conference.  For more information look at SLIM and HIHR’s websites.

The conference will feature amazing keynote addresses by international experts in the field of earth rights and climate change. Bill Schulz is the former Executive Director of Amnesty International and author of many influential books including his most recent The Future of Human Rights. Schulz will speak Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. Bill McKibben is a global scholar and author of The End of Nature, Deep Economy and Fight Global Warming. He will deliver the keynote address on Wednesday at noon.

Throughout the three days of the Earth Summit, local presenters will share their models of sustainability and social justice with students and community members. Other panels will discuss important issues facing Maui such as sustainable energy, proposed telescope on Haleakala and a green economy.

Films will also be shown that look at climate change and sustainable development such as Green Revolution, Time and Tide and finally Everything’s Cool.

April 14

10:00 a.m.
Maui Market Farm:

From Garden to Gourmet

Talk & Tour

Ann Emmsley, Maui Community College

10:30 a.m.
Renewable and Sustainable: Getting BioFuels Rights in Hawai’i

Kelly King, Pacific Biodiesel

Tanner Watt, Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance

11:15 a.m.
Yoga for the Earth:

Go Further Today

11:45 a.m.
Signwaving for Sustainability

Adoption of Legislation Action

Solar Water Heating for Hawaii

12:00 p.m.
Proposing Policies & Seeking Solutions for Sustainability:

An Approach for a Green Planet

Joshua Cooper, Gore Climate Project Fellow & Director, Hawaii Institute for Human Rights

1:30 p.m.
The Economy of Ecology

Jonathon Starr, Maui Democratic Century Club

3:00 p.m.
Local Legislation on Sustainability for Maui’s Future

Maui County Council Members

4:30 p.m.
Kilakila O Haleakala: An Indigenous Movement to Protect Sacred Earth

Kiope Raymond, MCC Professor Olelo Hawaii

5:30 p.m.
Climate Change Film Festival

Radically Simple

6:00 p.m.
Climate Change Film Festival

Everything’s Cool

7:30 p.m.
Reduce Your Foot Print on Planet Earth:

The Low Carbon Diet Workshop 

April 15

9 a.m.
Ecological Excursions of Empowerment

Morning Visits to Maui Models of Sustainability

12:00 p.m.
State of Maui’s Environment

Mayor Charmaine Tavares 

1:30 p.m.
Maui Chancellor Announces Energy Plan

Clyde Sakamoto

3:00 p.m.
Film

Revolution Green

Film

Time  & Tide

Climate Change and Tuvalu 

4:30 p.m.
Measure Your Carbon Footprint

Be a Part of the Climate Change Solution with a Low Carbon Diet

Joshua Cooper

6:00 p.m.
From Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms to the Future of Human Rights:

The Roots of US Policy for a New Era of Sustainable Development & Global Social Justice

Bill Schulz, Former Executive Director Amnesty International, New School

7:30 p.m.
Film

Defending Those Who Defend the Earth

8:00 p.m.
Just Earth!: The Connection Between Protecting the Planet and Promoting Human Rights

Bill Schulz, Former Executive Director Amnesty International 

April 16

9 a.m.
MCC Peace & Justice Garden

Indigenous Planting of Pacific Flora & Fauna

10:00 a.m.
Keiki Corner: Malama Aina  Story Telling

Swimmy

The Lorax

Earth Day

11:00 a.m.
Campus Sustainability in Practice:

Saving the Planet One Plate at a Time

Doug Paul, Pa’ina General Manager

11:30 a.m.
Step It UP Rally

Free Speech Zone

12:00 p.m.
A People's Approach in Combatting Climate Change from Our Communities to Global Civil Society

Bill McKibben, Author of The End of Nature; Deep Economy and Fight Global Warming Now

1:30 p.m.
In Our Best Interests As Citizens of America and the World: 

How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All

Bill Schulz, Former Executive Director, Amnesty International 

3:00 p.m. 
Recycling Revolution:

HI-5 For a Future of Sustainability

4:30 p.m.
How to Green Your Lifestyle for $50 or less. Save Money and Have Fun!

Lori Grace