Climate Change Portal

Dante Hirata-Epstein was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and attended Williams College where he majored in Asian Studies with a focus in Political Science. After graduating in 2020, he returned home and worked as a legal assistant at a real property law firm. In 2021, he began working as a Constituent Services Specialist for the Office of the Governor where he learned about statewide community concerns, governance, and how to manage angry callers.

Over his next year as a VISTA, he hopes to develop some direction on what kind of career can effectively and meaningfully help his communities. In particular, he hopes to familiarize himself with the role that financial institutions play in promoting social and climate justice. He hopes to keep his garden alive through the end of his service year and have a successful ‘uala harvest.

Based at the Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority (HGIA), he will spend his service year working to expand public communication efforts to increase awareness of HGIA programs, developing tools to increase organizational efficiency, and creating materials, awareness campaigns, and school curricula to increase energy literacy, through efforts such as an energy exchange with Moldova.