2021 Hā O Ke Kai Collection

The Hawai‘i Climate Commission is partnering with the UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series (BTSS) to organize a series of informational events on climate action. The collection of events, titled “Hā O Ke Kai,” meaning “Breath of the Sea,” is paired with the Commission’s statewide conference series of the same name. It will coincide with planning for a strong Hawaiʻi presence at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference.

See our official press release of our partnership!

upcoming speakers

Our clean energy future: the case for faster, bolder transition

APRIL 21, 2022 // 6:30 PM HST // UH MĀNOA ART AUDITORIUM

SPEAKER: leah stokes

Leah Stokes’ research examines public policy, public opinion, and political behavior, with a focus on energy, environment, and climate change. Her award-winning book Short Circuiting Policy examines how interest groups have tried to weaken clean energy laws across the American states. Other ongoing projects include examining protests against energy infrastructure, political staff in Congress, environmentalists’ electoral participation, violence against environmental activists, and effective water conservation policy in California. She is a professor of political science and environmental studies and UC Santa Barbara and a Senior Political Advisor at Evergreen Action and Senior Policy Counsel at Rewiring America. Trained at MIT, Columbia, and the University of Toronto, Stokes has been published in top scholarly journals, as well as the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Atlantic

CLIMATE ACTION FOR PACIFIC SURVIVAL

SPEAKER: TINA STEGE

Tina Eonemto Stege is the Climate Envoy for the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Born in Saipan, raised on Kwajalein and Majuro, and educated in Honolulu, she brings a Pacific focus to her community-based work on a range of issues, from the impacts of nuclear testing to sustainable development and climate adaptation. Stege received her BA from Princeton University and her M.A. in Anthropology from the Université d’Aix-en-Provence.

PREVIOUS SPEAKERS

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet

OCTOBER 15, 2021 // 12:00PM HST

GUEST SPEAKER: DR. MICHAEL E. MANN

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State and director of the Earth System Science Center. A specialist in combining theoretical models and observational data to understand the Earth’s climate system, Mann has published more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications and five books, including The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet (2021). He is an IPCC lead author, co-founder of RealClimate.org, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Going All In: Levers for Climate Action

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 // 12:00PM HST

GUEST SPEAKER: DR. KIM COBB

Climate scientist Kim Cobb is Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology and director of the Global Change Program. Her research areas include oceanography, paleoclimates, and isotope geochemistry, and she has been published in Science and other journals. She is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 Report, and she is the recipient of the European Geosciences Union’s Hans Oeschger Medal.

Cobb will be joined by Governor Ige, who has set some of the most ambitious climate goals in the country, and by Kevin Chang, co-director of the nonprofit KUA, which advances community-based solutions to Hawai‘i’s environmental problems. Our moderator is Victoria Keener, Senior Research Fellow at the East-West Center.

THE HIGH COST OF FREE PARKING

AUGUST 18, 2021 // 12:00PM HST

GUEST SPEAKER: DONALD SHOUP

Donald Shoup is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. Author of the landmark book The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup is a world-renowned authority on transportation, public finance and land economics. His research shows how better parking policy can make cities more affordable, liveable and sustainable.

The Commission’s statement on mitigation includes parking policies as a key driver for implementing climate action. Through our proposed work on multi-modal mobility hubs on state parking facilities, we intend to develop strategies for reducing vehicle miles travelled (VMT), or how much we drive alone.