SUBHEAD: Sustainability coalition building meeting.
By Andrea Brower on 11 December 2008 in Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2008/12/eastside-community-meeting.html)
Image above: photo of Hanalei Valley on Kauai used by Malama Kauai
Mahalo for all of your enthusiastic responses to the sustainability coalition building weekend this coming Friday evening. Just a reminder, the meeting will take place from 6-8 at Kapa`a Neighborhood Center, in the front left room. Please bring something for potluck if you want to participate, and your own eating utensils / dish (so we can really be zero waste!).
Please delegate one spokesperson from your organization to speak for three minutes about 1) what you are currently working on and 2) what 2-3 issues / policies / whatevers you would like to build coalition support around.
Of course many of our groups are focused on very specific areas of sustainability. Some of our group's agendas may have little overlap, but that does not mean we cannot build a more cohesive sustainability coalition. And there are likely issues that organizations will want to better coordinate on. One of the main goals of this meeting is to identify ways that we can more efficiently and effectively communicate between organizations, support one another's issues, and build the general sustainability movement on Kaua`i.
Here is a very general agenda for Friday's meeting. Do not hesitate to email me if you have suggestions! Brief introductions (name and what organization(s) you work with)
Org overviews / priorities
- 3 minutes each (MAX)
Identification of top coalition priorities and next steps (there may be sub-groups)
- 30 minutes. Future collaboration
- as issues come up, how do we support each other and maximize efficiency; building a stronger island-wide sustainability movement
- 30 minutes Of course this discussion could morph into something totally different, but at least we are starting with these thoughts in mind!
We are going to serve food right at 6 and begin the meeting promptly at 6:15, so please be on time! Looking forward to an interesting conversation!
WHERE:
Kapaa Neighborhood Center makai of Kaumaalii Highway soth of Kapaa Library
WHEN:
6-8:00pm om Friday, 12 December 2008
CONTACT: Andrea Brower Malama Kauai email: andrea@malamakauai.org phone: 808-828-0685
See also:
Island Breath: Fall of the technological world 10/9/08
Island Breath: Techno Green - Ghandi Green 7/15/08
Island Breath: The Fed can't save us now 3/21/08
Island Breath: The Powerdown Revisited 10/17/07
Island Breath: 50 Million Farmers Needed 11/18/06
By Andrea Brower on 11 December 2008 in Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2008/12/eastside-community-meeting.html)
Image above: photo of Hanalei Valley on Kauai used by Malama Kauai
Mahalo for all of your enthusiastic responses to the sustainability coalition building weekend this coming Friday evening. Just a reminder, the meeting will take place from 6-8 at Kapa`a Neighborhood Center, in the front left room. Please bring something for potluck if you want to participate, and your own eating utensils / dish (so we can really be zero waste!).
Please delegate one spokesperson from your organization to speak for three minutes about 1) what you are currently working on and 2) what 2-3 issues / policies / whatevers you would like to build coalition support around.
Of course many of our groups are focused on very specific areas of sustainability. Some of our group's agendas may have little overlap, but that does not mean we cannot build a more cohesive sustainability coalition. And there are likely issues that organizations will want to better coordinate on. One of the main goals of this meeting is to identify ways that we can more efficiently and effectively communicate between organizations, support one another's issues, and build the general sustainability movement on Kaua`i.
Here is a very general agenda for Friday's meeting. Do not hesitate to email me if you have suggestions! Brief introductions (name and what organization(s) you work with)
Org overviews / priorities
- 3 minutes each (MAX)
Identification of top coalition priorities and next steps (there may be sub-groups)
- 30 minutes. Future collaboration
- as issues come up, how do we support each other and maximize efficiency; building a stronger island-wide sustainability movement
- 30 minutes Of course this discussion could morph into something totally different, but at least we are starting with these thoughts in mind!
We are going to serve food right at 6 and begin the meeting promptly at 6:15, so please be on time! Looking forward to an interesting conversation!
WHERE:
Kapaa Neighborhood Center makai of Kaumaalii Highway soth of Kapaa Library
WHEN:
6-8:00pm om Friday, 12 December 2008
CONTACT: Andrea Brower Malama Kauai email: andrea@malamakauai.org phone: 808-828-0685
See also:
Island Breath: Fall of the technological world 10/9/08
Island Breath: Techno Green - Ghandi Green 7/15/08
Island Breath: The Fed can't save us now 3/21/08
Island Breath: The Powerdown Revisited 10/17/07
Island Breath: 50 Million Farmers Needed 11/18/06
1 comment :
Aloha,
Mahalo for making it to last night's meeting despite the cold and rainy weather. Hope you are using the storm as an excuse for a little break this weekend!
Several main themes came up in last night's discussion of coalition building. These are in no particular order and may represent differing perspectives:
Ongoing inter-org meetings that are a place to update one another on priorities and continue to identify common ground and new spaces for collaboration
A statement of sustainability urgency and top priorities to present to the new administration and council members. Created and signed onto by all orgs that are interested. This document would include contact info for groups that are involved in specific areas.
Capacity-building when it can benefit several of our organizations. For example, teaming up to bring in speakers on lobbying or effective policy writing. Or applying for grants with several organizations.
The formation of coalitions around overlapping issues that are being addressed by seperate organizations, such as all issues related to overdevelopment (this is what Carl Imparato spoke to)
A centralized website for distributing information. SaveKauai.Org has the capacity to do this. We could easily grant administrative access to every organization so they can post their own events, updates, action alerts, and even blog chats. The infrastructure is there - it is just about us deciding to make use of it. And I promise, it is very user friendly - I am not tech savy.
Lobbyists. There was a lot of back and forth on this, and it didn't seem like consensus was found. Perhaps a few organizations that are interested would want to team on this, as others had reservations.
"Trim-tab" actions that we could all get behind. The idea of a keystone change that would greatly move things ahead on many fronts. This would need to be discussed further in an inter-org meeting
Make a proactive attempt to summarize your focus areas, campaigns and policy initiatives and distribute to other groups. In this way we can, as individual organizations, have the same/similar, articulated positions in areas that may not be our main focus, especially when discussing with key stakeholders. This deepens perception of broad support on positions and helps to set the table on said topics
Bolstering our communication network. This could be done through SaveKauai, ongoing inter-org meetings, a more effective "phone tree" contact system, or through new social networking skills like facebook.
Malama Kaua`i TV: an avenue to help us all get the word out on issues! Coming soon!
If there is interest in creating a statement from a sustainability coalition to present to government, let me know, and I can coordinate facilitation (this does NOT mean I am volunteering to write it!). This would need to be done immediately. I am also willing to continue to organize quarterly (or more often?) update meetings for orgs. These would allow us to team up on issues when beneficial, get behind each other's issues without taking them on ourselves, share information, identify resources that we could share, and work on trim tab actions.
Current priorities identified by organizations in attendance last night included:
Issues/Goals/Campaigns
Green jobs
food security
community gardens
Overdevelopment. Coco palms in particular
cruise ships
more access to county government
preservation of historic sites (south side issues)
aggressive energy conservation
public education on the economy-energy nexus
pesticide usage issues (reporting; schools)
watershed management and runoff
plastics campaign / styrofoam
marine debris
keep it local (relocalization)
Policy/Governmental
elections by district
county manager form of government
water department dependence on fossil fuels
construction of a MRF
curbside recycling
no waste to energy
zero waste resolution passed at the state and county levels
expanding Kaua`i Bus services
General Plan update
air tourism noise
public access issues
planning department
land use / ag bills
state solar water bill (to not include gas)
package of energy bills being worked on by Representative Morita
Please let me know if there is anything that I left out, and I will update.
Also, last night's meeting was not meant to be exclusive. Although it was not an open-public forum, we do want to include all organizations that are engaged in sustainability issues (of which there are a large range and many differing opinions, even amongst the group last night). If there are organizations or individuals that you think should be included in this dialogue, please bring them in! However, we do want to keep this discussion focused and strategic, so please do not blast these out to your general lists.
Mahalo,
--
Andrea
MÄlama Kaua`i
808-828-0685
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