Today was a busy day indeed. We started at Maui Community College (MCC) where we had a great conservation with Zoe Norcross who will be teaching a Sustainability 101 class this fall at MCC. Zoe comes from the geology world and is now working a lot on beach erosion which, with global warming and all, is not looking so good these days. She said that thing that really plunged her deep into sustainability is peak oil though, which I totally understand. She's rounding up some great speakers and adventures or the class so I must say I'm a little jealous. I should also say that Chris Taylor, President of the MCC Sustainability Club has been really AWESOME about sending me folks I should meet up with over here. MCC has some great things going and lots more ahead I'm sure.
Next it was off to Wauluku to have lunch with Jennifer Stites at The Dowling Company which is Maui real estate development company that is leading the way in green development, green building, and LEED certified projects on Maui. I ran across an article by Jennifer in a Maui real estate magazine on sustainability so couldn't wait to here more. Having worked for a company myself (Seattle-based fashion retailer Nordstrom for 14 years), I always love meeting up with other sustainability types in companies. As you might imagine, Jennifer has one of the best and - at the same time - most challenging jobs on Maui. She gets to do cool green building projects, but in an industry that is very controversial on Maui, and actually...pretty much everywhere these days: real estate development. No one on Maui wants to see things go the direction of crazy developed Honolulu, but at the same time, development is going to happen. I'm just glad that companies like Dowling have people like Jennifer on staff to help make sure they do things in a way that is as socially and environmentally responsible as possible.
After lunch we walked a few blocks to meet up with Chris Craner, a friend of MCC's Chris Taylor's, at the very green Cafe Marc Aurel, a certified green restaurant with the Green Restaurant Association. Chris was another great resource. He's working on stormwater runoff and drainage issues but has a lot of other great ideas on many of the environmental issues facing Maui too. 
Our final stop of the day was at the Maui Ocean Center. They had a great traditional Hawaiian quilt at the entry made up of all sea creatures (see pic at left). I was really impressed with the MOC, both with the collection and education efforts. The many aquarium exhibits were out of this world, particularly the big tank where rays and many other fish swam directly overhead. But impressively, they identified plants along paths, had lots of interactive learning areas for youngsters, and some really great exhibits about traditional Hawaiian relationships with the sea.
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