Maui sunflowers, sustainability and self sufficiency featured at Akakū event, June 15

Conversation on the current status of the circular economy on Maui including renewable energy, food sustainability, and regenerative farming is the focus of an upcoming Akakū Upstairs salon event, taking place June 15, 2023.

The Third Thursday topic features speakers: Bob and Kelly King (Pacific Biodiesel), Autumn Ness (Maui Hub), and India Clark (Oʻahu Resource Conservation and Development Council). 

• Pacific Biodiesel has been producing biodiesel in Hawaiʻi for more than 27 years. Today its founders, Bob and Kelly King, are sustainably farming sunflowers and other crops for “food then fuel.” Pacific Biodiesel is spearheading expansion of regenerative agriculture for clean energy to help fight climate change and support energy security, food security and economic diversity for Hawaiʻi. 
• Autumn Ness is the Director of the Hawaiʻi Organic Land Management and Farm Support Program of Beyond Pesticides, and the President/Co-founder of Maui Hub. She works in coordination with Hawaiʻi’s farming community to build systems that support the large-scale increase of local organic food production, with a goal to build a regenerative island economy around sustainable agriculture.
• India Clark is the owner of Hawai’i Regenerative Food Movement and actively works with Oʻahu RC&D to support the growth of the Women Farmers Network and farmer-to-farmer learning around soil health and farm business viability practices. In addition to serving as a consultant for local agriculture organizations and businesses across the islands, she is also a recent owner and operator of a 5 acre regenerative farm and nursery on Oahu’s North Shore.

Register is available online for free, but seating is limited. Register at: bit.ly/Akaku-Upstairs-Circular-Economy.

The event will be held at Akakū’s Upstairs Media Lab, Suite 205. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. to allow guests to connect prior to the salon, which runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. This salon will be recorded and will later air on Akakū Blue – Channel 55, on demand on akaku.org and on the mobile app MauiStream.