Ecological Ethics/Activism/Justice Program

          The heart of the EEAJP is the annual three-day conference illuminating the innovations in Hawaii for sustainability as well as bringing inspirational speakers putting their life on the line to defend the earth. The presentations allow for balance of philosophers, earth protectors activists and judicial advocates to explore possibilities to speak with one voice for our Mother Earth. Beyond the Earth Day summit panels, HIHR practices principles of Aloha Aina allowing participants to care for the planet in loi kalo and planting indigenous flaura and fauna.

          Earth Day is Everyday with HIHR. Under the Sustainable Campus, Sustainable Community Sustainable Civil Society Project. HIHR has initiated and maintained recycle campaigns on three university campuses. One secured a state recycle bin for paper as well as aluminum and glass. This bin allowed the creation of smaller receptacles in classrooms. On two more, service learning projects developed into bins dotting the campus with students taking the recycled items to the site. With the bottle bill in effect, the funds raised go into more environmental projects such as recycle beverage mugs for hot & cold drinks saving more of our resources.  Another important part is the Alternative Energy Project. HIHR supports biodiesel fuel vehicles taking students on environmental excursions of empowerment in Biobeetle vehicles to show we can evolve and the viability of alternative driving that focuses on natural energy of the earth. HIHR’s Maui office runs on solar panels with photovoltaic cells on the roof serving as a living model for businesses and schools to see how possible it is to live without fossil fuels. The Maui office is also a host to one of the state indigenous flaura and fauna gardens. The MCC Peace and Justice Garden was cleared and crafted through students bringing plants from their communities and now serves as a study space on campus. The second garden is the Leahi Millennium Peace Garden on Oahu on the slopes of the famous postcard mountain beyond Waikiki. HIHR maintains the garden with the first seeds planted at the youth congress hosted in Hawaii in 1999 with 750 future leaders assembled in the Pacific.

          A new initiative is Aloha Aina Associates, a consulting firm to advise the businesses that drive Hawaii’s economy to adopt philosophy and principles of environmental protection. The people with experiences in all facets of economy in Hawaii provide possible alternatives that save the planet one island at a time.

          HIHR also focuses on international legal and moral efforts such as the Earth Charter initiative. HIHR is part of the US coalition as one of the founding city summits that continue to take part on multiple islands every October. HIHR’s Pacific Advocacy for Human and Earth Rights Project focuses in the Pacific with the legacy of nuclear testing and its impact on health of Pacific Islanders. Another important global effort is global warming climate change and its impact on island states. HIHR is working with the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on a study focusing on human rights being affected due to extreme environmental conditions. HIHR is assisting Tuvalu against latest wave of eco-colonialism.