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What We Stand For: Taking Climate Action Everyday

As part of the Impact Hub Global network, we have a shared vision for a better future for all. Recently, we made it official as a network to make sure we were accountable to our commitment. We’ve written before about our commitment to social impact, and about our commitment to sustainable development as guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

 

sustainable development goals

Many in the network are deeply inspired by the current swell of climate action happening around the world, and thus global Impact Hub teams have committed to taking their climate action even further by committing to a new What We Stand For proclamation. This agreement gives guiding principles for how we can take climate action each day in our respective locations.

From the collective document, these are the commitments that network leaders have agreed to: 

  • Leveraging the power of our 16,000+ network of changemakers to showcase what is already being done, raise awareness and serve as inspiration for what can be done more.
  • Continue working towards less waste every day, and adding to our efforts of reducing our environmental footprint by having at least one #zerowaste day per month in our Impact Hubs, no matter what activities we are running.
  • We put the planet first by reflecting on how our operations are run, and whenever possible and available, we switch to more climate-friendly practices (reducing food waste, changing to renewable energy sources, avoid single-use plastic, etc.).
  • We share best practices and support each other in making those options available to others.
  • We commit to making conscious and environmental choices when traveling and always offsetting our carbon footprint when journeying to meet in person.

Dozens of other Impact Hub communities around the world committed to this including: Impact Hub Dresden, Yerevan, Hamburg, Budapest, Milano, Belgrade, Donostia, Torino, Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Bern, Tegucigalpa, Leipzig, Florence
Stuttgart, Bergen, Berlin, Trento, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Lisbon, San José, Phnom Penh, Málaga, Curitiba, Madrid, Ottawa, King’s Cross, and in the United States, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Houston and Honolulu!

How can we implement some of these ideas in Honolulu?

Showcase What’s Being Done

We love to highlight our Member organizations and community groups that are striving for climate action, and by offering our space to those groups for events and membership, like Nicole Chatterson of Zero Waste Oahu, and other member organizations like Surfrider Oahu, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, and social impact organizations like Puuhonua o Waianae, Work Now Hawaii, ChangeWorks, FarmLink Hawaii, and more. We also host and promote events focused on climate action throughout the year.

Host a #zerowaste day per month

We are committed to reducing our waste in as many ways as possible. You may have seen the Bokashi bucket near the rubbish bins: this natural compost solution helps us reduce about 20 pounds of food waste each week. We have a collection of zero-waste solutions, like our kombucha, nitro coffee, and  beer on tap, along with reusable containers for meals and bags for shopping. We also require all event hosts to offer sustainable options (or use our kitchen items) for events. We have a strict policy about single use plastic water bottles, and they are not allowed at events. We are always seeking active solutions to reducing paper and other waste streams.

Put the planet first

Last year we swapped all lights for LED lights for lower energy use, and we have recently upgraded to ecobee thermostats making our temperature regulation more responsive, and thus more energy efficient.

Share best practices

We are active in the Impact Hub global community and seek to share our successes with our fellow members and support each other in making those options available to others.

Making conscious choices for travel

We do not yet have an active policy about this, but seems like now is the time to create it!

We are always open to suggestions from members and the community about how we can be a better local and global corporate citizen – so tell us – what commitments would you like us to take on to further our climate action?

Climathon Works Locally to Create Global Impact: Here’s How you Can Participate

Local action can have global impact, and the upcoming Climathon Honolulu gives you a chance to do just that. The Climathon day of action will be held October 26 and 27, in partnership with Zero Waste Oahu. The event is an all-day climate design challenge hackathon (learn more about what, exactly, a hackathon is here) to help solve local issues. Find all current event details and full schedule here.

What is Climathon?

Climathon, a project of Climate-KIC and under the auspice of the European Union, has the official mission of empowering a global wave  of  change-makers and innovators to help humanity achieve zero emissions in 20 to 30 years. Last year the Global Climathon included 113 cities with over 5000 participants and 400+ solutions – and this year will be bigger than ever. This year, the Climathon team connected with Impact Hub Global, joining together these two organizations to build ongoing climate solutions.

In Honolulu, a diverse group of stakeholders convened to design the first Climathon for Honolulu. The group determined that reducing the human impact of tourism in Honolulu would be a great target area to start. Thus the question to tackle is: How do we reduce the human impact of tourism in Honolulu?

hackathon

Using the hackathon format, groups will get together to create solutions to this question. These solutions can be high-tech, low-tech, policy driven, or other. We’re looking forward to hearing solutions from all types of participants: entrepreneurs, activists, families, government, non-profit, small business owners, and more! There will be a preliminary competition on Saturday, and on Sunday final decision will be made and prizes awarded.

Some of the cool solutions that other cities have created in previous Climathon events include:

  • In Edinburgh, Scotland, they focused on building a circular economy around food, and improving food security. Their solutions included IntelliAD, an autonomous, ultra-small-scale organic waste digester for onsite waste recycling and a aquaponics solution to make more food in smaller spaces.
  • The city of Leeds, in UK, proposed “Plants for Pollution,” which included vertical garden installations and moss framed billboards that would absorb pollution, beautify the city, enhance its reputation and improve wellbeing, making use of limited space to add green infrastructure to places in the city where space is a premium.
  • Shanghai LinGang wants to create zero carbon “smart mobility” solutions for the new city, which has less population and less public transit opportunity than other parts of the city.
  • In Washington DC, the solution was a furniture moving and repurposing business to reduce overall waste in the city.

These workshops include Project Drawdown, Sierra Club of Hawaii, and the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency. There will also be a film night showing Infected Earth, a documentary from a local documentarian, Dr. Darragh O’Carroll. All of these events are free and open to the public. Find all current event details and full schedule here. If you want to register a pitch at the Hackathon, sign up here.

Hawaii Kai Location Taking Office Reservations

If you’re looking for a new office in Hawaii Kai, this is your chance. We’re currently taking reservations for our Hawaii Kai office and coworking space, scheduled to open March 2020. This is the first coworking space in Hawaii Kai, and gives those on the East side of the island the opportunity to join a vibrant community of connection and innovation without having to drive into town. If you need office space in Honolulu, we currently have a few offices open at our Kakaako location, too.

The Impact Hub Hawaii Kai location is approximately 7,200 square feet, and is on the second floor, which gives our members awesome views of the marina. This location will have coworking desks and tables overlooking the water, private meeting rooms of various sizes, phone booths, multiple private office spaces of various sizes, and a communal kitchen. And it will have our unique and fun approach to design, so expect lots of art and colors.

hawaii kai office space Impact Hub

hawaii kai office space design Impact Hub

We recently hosted a Wefunder investment campaign to raise funds to build out this space, and we’re excited to bring an Impact Hub location to Hawaii Kai, to continue our mission of helping businesses do well and do good. Co-Founder George Yarbrough says of the new location: “I’m excited to co-create a space for community and business in Hawaii Kai. I grew up in Hawaii Kai and I have fond memories of that area. I’m happy to be able to participate and be a part of the community again.”

Our goal is to open multiple locations across the islands, yet our expansion took us to Hawaii Kai first. “We chose to expand to here because it was the community that approached us first and showed immediate interest. It can also help reduce or eliminate the need to commute to town for those living in East Oahu,” says George.

Office holders and unlimited members will have access to BOTH Impact Hub locations with one membership, so you can choose to work in town or in Hawaii Kai as your weekly schedule dictates. All Honolulu and Hawaii Kai members are also eligible for the Impact Hub Global passport, giving you three days of coworking at Impact Hub locations around the world, and gives you access to our growing collection of local Member discounts.

If you want to learn more about the offices, pricing, and placing a reservation, or if you have other questions, please contact us here.

What’s a Hackathon – and How Can we Create Climate Solutions with our Climathon?

Last week we kicked off our Honolulu Climathon with a Climate Action Talk Story event featuring local experts, activists, and business leaders to share their vision for a cleaner, greener future. If you missed the event, see the slideshow here to get all the great tips from our presenters about climate action you can take NOW.

At the event, we realized that people don’t know what hackathons are, so we’re going to share a bit more about why this event is so cool, and how you can get involved!

Perhaps some of you are familiar with the term hackathon? A hackathon is a sprint-like event (of various duration) that allows people to work together for a common goal. The hackathon concept comes from the world of coding and programming, where groups of programmers would gather to build a new app or software program. This one’s a bit different, as we’re focused on climate solutions, which can be high tech, low tech, or public policy hacks.

hackathon

hackathon

The Climathon (climate + hackathon) goal is to hack solutions to our designated question: how we can reduce the human impact of tourism in Honolulu. At the Honolulu Climathon, we’re gathering together in an all-day event featuring films, workshops, and the Hackathon to encourage out-of-the-box thinking about these important subjects. Together the community can collectively find the solutions we need to mitigate the effects of tourism on the island.

To do this we need to work together on all levels: consumers, students, government, policy-makers, non-profits, educators, businesses, and families need to be engaged in this work. Please join us on Saturday, October 26 for an all-day event [final event details forthcoming].

We’re hosting one more Climathon event this week Thursday. Join us for the Sustainability Marketplace, with many of the same businesses and experts that were featured in the previous event. Come meet the experts and companies making a difference here in Hawaii, and shop locally owned and operated (and zero-waste) products. See some of the vendors here in our Instagram post.

 

Climathon Kicks Off! Join Local Events for Global Action

Join us this week for the✨first ever✨

Honolulu Climathon !

There are ~250,000 tourists in Hawaii every single day. Tourism is a vital part of our economy. Yet we know it’s possible to make the impacts of tourism more sustainable on our island.

To make these big changes, we need to work together on all levels: consumers, students, government and policy-makers, non-profits, educators, businesses, and families need to be engaged in this work!

We are kicking off a month of climate events at Impact Hub HNL as part of the Climate-KIC Global CLIMATHON. This is a global community: 300 cities, 1M participants, and YOU have the opportunity to show up locally to contribute to this collective action.

We have two kick-off events in September: see below for more details.

Climate Action Starts with YOU! Join us September 19 from 5:30PM – 8PM for a talk story session with local experts, activists, and business owners. They will share actionable steps you can take today to reduce your impact throughout your life, covering topics like food, lifestyle, body care, civic action, and more.

Learn more and register for this event here

Sustainability Marketplace + Pau Hana. On Thursday, September 26, join us for our Sustainability Marketplace a farmer’s market style marketplace with a potluck pau hana. BYO utensils, plates, and shopping bags to stock up with local food and goods.

Learn more and register for this event here.

And there’s MORE! Here’s some other ideas to get involved locally:

Thrive Global Charity Challenger: Anne Weber


For September, join Anne Weber of Impact Hub Honolulu at undisclosed times between September 1-30th for her pop-up costume challenge.

Her Challenge?… She’ll show up to work unannounced wearing a costume and pretend absolutely nothing, and we mean nothing is wrong. Can Anne act natural and keep her cool in her very own Saturday Night Live skit? Wanna see it happen? Follow her link to donate. With EVERY $150 raised she’ll change to a new costume and if you donate $150 you get to pick her next character. This can get wild. Don’t delay~ Donate Today!