Hub Coworking Hawaii

Hawai‘i's Best Coworking Space

sustainability

Ulupono Initiative is a Mission-Aligned Impact Partner

Ulupono Initiative has been an Impact Partner for Impact Hub HNL for two years, and we’re grateful for our ongoing partnership that supports our work and bridges our two organizations.

Ulupono is an impact investment firm located in Hawaii that is building a more self-sufficient and sustainable island.

Ulupono offers for-profit investments, non-profit investments (grants), and social investments aimed at helping for-profit and non-profit sectors ‘harness [the] good and inspire catalytic change for Hawaii.’ Overall, the focus areas include food and agriculture, renewable energy, and waste reduction within businesses and organizations across the islands.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Murray Clay, President of Ulupono Initiative to talk about how our organizations align. Learn more about what Murray thinks about our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and why we need more of it.

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 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:

What are the Sustainable Development Goals (and why are they Important)?

Impact Hub HNL is committed to building a more sustainable working environment – not only is this the best thing to do for our community and our planet, it also is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals are a framework for building a better world, and Impact Hub global is committed to working towards these goals.

Building a better and more equitable future for all is the goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the SDGs are the guiding framework for this plan. The SDGs map out the various ways that we can achieve a more sustainable world, including gender equity, improved health and education, elimination of poverty, better cities, and so much more.

Read more about the history and future of the SDGs here, or watch the video below.

Impact Hub global uses the global SDGs, “as a lens through which to view our impact in the world.” So how do Impact Hubs around the world work toward the SDGs:

  • 51 Impact Hubs take part in waste recycling
  • 46 use recycled or sustainable office stationery
  • 45 use energy efficient or energy saving practices
  • 35 use reclaimed or reused office furniture
  • 34 use reusable or compostable catering supplies
  • 20 use green or renewable energy sources

Here at Impact Hub HNL, we have our own sustainability policies in place:

  • We choose only organic coffee and tea for our member beverages, meaning better working conditions and less pesticides in the environment (and in your body)
  • We support local companies to make our beer, ‘booch and nitro, meaning less transport costs and fuels
  • We now have paper recycling in addition to our Hi-5 item recycling. Unfortunately, recycling in Hawaii (and everywhere) is going through a major shift because of China’s recent decision to no longer accept recyclables from the US; we’ll continue to do as much as we can to reduce.
  • For our events programming, we don’t allow single-use plastic (bottles, cutlery, or containers) for our events programming, and generally we are working towards being a zero-waste facility.
  • Our facility uses super energy-efficient LED lighting
  • Much of our furniture is upcycled, recycled or secondhand. DYK the long tables in the front are former bowling lanes handmade by our very own George? Or that our wooden phone booths were custom-made from recycled materials by ARCH Hawaii.

We also work with local organizations and partners for events focused on the SDGs. Most recently, we hosted the ABCs of the SDGs event to highlight local groups that are implementing the SDGs locally. Groups like Zero Waste Oahu, Surfrider Foundation, Aloha+ Challenge, Hawaii FoodBank, WorkNow, and many more were present to share their work, and how the community can get involved.

Finally, we are committed to helping companies doing well to do good, and helping those companies doing good, to do well. We see Impact Hub HNL as a unique space when we facilitate these connections with our members, partners, and the broader community.

sustainable development goals

Sort it Out! Impact Hub HNL Waste Audit Project

This week Impact Hub HNL will be conducting a waste audit to get better insight into what type and how much rubbish we throw away during our daily operations and events. And we would love your help!

Today we relocated waste bins to the kitchen area with new signage to direct you where to drop off your waste. The primary waste categories you’ll see include:

  • Food waste: all food, which includes leftovers, teabags, and coffee grinds
  • HI-5 items: all soda, beer, and water cans and bottles with the Hawaii 5-cent refund
  • Plastics: Any plastic container that is not HI-5 (cleaning bottles, condiments, etc)
  • All glass and metal: Any glass or metal container that is not HI-5 (wine bottles, soup cans, mason jars, etc)
  • All Paper: We’ll be sorting paper from waste bins near the printers, and collecting all paper including newspapers, magazines, paperboard, receipts and more.

All bins will be labeled clearly with the type of waste and a list of examples of each so that you can determine what goes where. And we will keep our large HI-5 recycle bin for all the returnables, and keep the large rubbish bin for anything miscellaneous that doesn’t fit into the bins.

This waste audit will help Impact Hub HNL in our commitment to sustainability and our goal of creating less waste, both to be better stewards of our island ecosystem, and also to align ourselves more closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Evaluating our waste over the course of this week will give us insight into the small changes we can make to lessen our footprint. Thanks in advance for your help sorting this week!

Photo by Lacey Williams on Unsplash