BYU–Hawaii’s Sustainability Center’s manager, Leslie Harper, suggested several ways to be self-sustaining, such as using low-flow shower heads, learning organic gardening and raising animals for food.
“Hawaii is in a very unique situation because over 80 percent of the food [people] eat here has to come from somewhere else,” Harper said. Just living on this island, he explained, creates an enormous carbon footprint.
Reducing the carbon footprint requires starting with where resources come from, he explained. This could mean shopping locally, using thrift stores and being mindful where a person’s food comes from.
Sustainability is the goal
Harper said students who visit the Sustainability Center learn to take the knowledge they gain with them wherever they go. “[Students will] be looking around their home countries and will say ‘I can improve this. I can make this better. I can make a change.’” He said their goal is to “help instill confidence” in students so they can accomplish these goals.
Otgontuya Lily Tumursukh, a senior from Mongolia studying TESOL, said when she first visited the center, she had no idea why she should care about where her food came from or the effort it took to grow it. However, she said her perspective began to change as she learned more and more about sustainability.
She said this shift in perspective occurred as she tried to plant things herself, which showed her “how hard it is to grow plants.” The Sustainability Center taught her how to sustain herself, she added.
Harper said when he first arrived at BYUH as a senior missionary, the electricity bill for the school was $495,000 a month. To reduce power consumption, he said they set three projects into motion.
First, they put the school computers on energy saving programs. Next, they removed 3,000 fluorescent light bulbs because the offices and classrooms were over lit. Then, Harper said they adjusted the A.C. units so all of the rooms were at 74 degrees Fahrenheit. “The bill is much lower now,” he explained.
Later, Harper said they replaced 596 showerheads around campus, which saved the school $133,000 a year.
The wonders of the farm
At the Sustainability Center, Harper said students can reserve garden boxes to grow their own plants. If students do not have the time, Harper said they can do 30 minutes of service and receive fresh produce from the farm in return.
He explained the farm produces 1,000 pounds of bananas every month. Guava and papaya are also among the trees found on campus.
In addition to fresh produce and greenery on the farm, livestock and a bike shop can also be found. The farm currently has 200 chickens and three pigs who are fed with the scraps from the cafeteria and the invasive plants on the farm, like the hale koa. Harper explained these plants are not only healthy for the chickens but are very high in protein.
Another fixture at the farm is a hydroponic system created by Eritai Kateibwi. Harper said this system is needed because of the poor soil conditions in Kiribati, where Kateibwi is from. Harper explained Kateibwi “learned how to weld, how to fabricate and most importantly, he developed a hydroponics program.” He said the hydroponics box can grow 15 different plants and Kateibwi has grown everything from Chinese cabbage to cucumbers.
Harper said the farm uses no pesticides or fertilizers in order to be eco-friendly and resourceful. Instead, they use a process called “chop and drop,” which means cutting taller weeds and grass and letting those plants naturally rot. The rot then turns into natural fertilizer to help nourish the crops on the farm.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, rot
Along with being self-sustaining, Harper said community members are also encouraged to reduce plastic consumption. The Kōkua Hawaii Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports environmental education in Hawaii, has several programs, including Plastic Free Hawaii, ĀINA In Schools and 3R's School Recycling. They also host many different educational events, such as beach clean-ups.
Lisa Jeffers-Fabro, the Kōkua Hawaii Foundation’s program manager from Waialua, said to make a difference in the community and on the planet, people need to be thinking ahead.
She said, “Think of the seventh generation to come. It's not only the seventh generation of my own lineage, but also the seventh generation of this forest and the ocean.” When people start thinking about the seventh generation, she said it will impact their behavior.
Jeffers-Fabro said people can change their carbon footprint by thinking “reduce, reuse, recycle and rot. Can it rot? If it doesn't meet the criteria, then don't buy it.”
She urged people to get out into the community and be examples to those around them. “[People] can do this by not accepting single use plastics, bringing our own water bottles and utensils and recycling.”
She also emphasized the recycling bin is very strict in Hawaii. “It can only take plastic that's stamped with a resin code 1 or 2. So, we educate people about what the resin code is. The resin code is that little chasing triangle stamp that has a number in it.”