Maui Mahalo - Just another day at the beach

This is the first travel day. I was able to find a lot of magazines with sustainability topics for the plane ride over...the usual suspects such as Dwell and Ready Made magazines. But I was also pleased to see that Fortune Magazine's cover "Walmart Saves the Planet". I know people either love or hate Walmart, but this is a pretty big milestone for sustainability going mainstream. The fact that Lee Scott, Walmart's CEO is starting to get sustainabilityis a pretty big deal. I'm going to try to check out their new organic section while on Maui...yes, there is a Walmart in Maui. There was also a really great article on taro farming in Hawaiian Airlines inflight magazine. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon so sped off to Costco to get some of the best local fish. Then it was back to the condo and off to dinner at Leilani's. I had some organic salad and a great local fish entree. I was surprised at how many non-local items there were on the menu. Guess you do still have to appeal to tourists. Oh, and I am totally blown away by all the flowers and plants here. A conservation biologists dream!

Fast Greens

Yep, blown away by another magazine. The most recent issue of Fast Company Magazine is chock full of sustainability. A couple items in "Feedback" regarding their March issue to begin with. In their "Fast Talk" section, one of the highlighted individuals is Patty Herrera, Director of Multicultural Initiatives for the Oakland Raiders. The team has had many diversity firsts, including the first Hispanic head coach and then later, Art Shell, the first African American head coach. What really got me was that they now broadcast the games in Navajo. AWESOME! Next there is of course Ford's hybrid add with Kermit the Frog. Move onto an article title "Deconstructing Wal-Mart's Wonder Truck" which evaluated their fleet's efforts to improve environmental performance. Followed by a short blurb on Lord Richard Rogers efforts to enrich the Queens waterfront in NYC which will include some environmentally efficient materials. Next a feature article by Charles Fishman titled "A Farming Fairy Tale" which explores what life on the farm would be like (actually what life would be like for all of us) if a switch to organic happened overnight. Also a great book review of "Organic, Inc.". And last but not least, a great back and forth in their column "Open Debate" on feeding the world with Billy Shore of Share Our Strength and William Easterly NYU Professor.