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>> UH Narrator Emilie Howlett: Aloha and welcome to UH News. I'm Emilie Howlett, a UH Manoa
student. We are Garden Isle-bound, where sustainability has become a top priority at Kauai Community
College.
>> Narrator: Kauai Community College is home to Hoouluwehi, the Sustainable Living Institute
of Kauai. Started in February 2011 by the college, the institute's main objective is
to prepare students and the community for sustainable life. It started with embedding
sustainability principles in the curriculum.
>>Program Director Eric Knutz: It's everything from English all the way through to nursing.
Culinary, for example, is working recycling oil, cooking oil, so that when the students
graduate, they can go off to restaurants and it'll be natural for them, and they'll actually
lead their work groups and say 'Hey we can do this and that to be more sustainable here.'
>>Narrator: Kauai Community College is also working toward creating a formal certificate
in sustainability. Student Marcus Yamaguchi is participating in the program and is building
a hydroponics greenhouse to grow strawberries.
>> Student Marcus Yamaguchi: One of the values of being part of a program like this is it
puts me in a position to really talk about some of those bigger ideas that are facing
our generation now.
>>Chancellor Helen ***: Our students know they're growing up in a limited resource environment
and they want to make a difference. They're optimistic, they're energetic, they're idealistic
>>Narrator: and they also want to be employable when they leave college. Yamaguchi's work
in hydroponics could lead to a career. Carpentry students at the college are beginning work
on remodeling storage containers like this one into affordable housing that will cost
34% less than a standard home that size. The work will not only expose students to sustainability
concepts, it'll give them real work experience.
>> Eric Knutz: That's our goal is to be able to bring that skill set to our students so
they're prepared to really take on those jobs.
>> Helen ***: To be able to match their interests and their skills with something that will
give them a job and help them make a difference in their community is exactly what I want
to be doing and I think what the college needs to be doing.
>>Narrator: the affordable container housing project is part of a twenty-unit sustainable
living center that will include a community aquaponics garden and a beehive. Even solar
energy. It's about making sure sustainability works economically, environmentally and culturally
and making sure Kauai Community College students understand that synergy.
>>Marcus Yamaguchi: We're trying to prepare for the future. We're trying to foresee a
time when we have to rely on our own innovation in order to continue to grow and to prosper.
>>Narrator: Aquaponics is a big part of the college's sustainability push. the school's
program coordinator explains.
>>Kauai CC Aquaponics Program Coordinator Bernie Tsao: My name is Bernie Tsao, I'm the
program coordinator for aquaculture and aquaponics at KCC. Basically what we do is we offer workshops,
and these workshops are actually open to the general community and not only college students.
Sustainability really starts with the individual. I mean if you take responsibility for your
own household and feed your own family then guess what? The entire island is going to
be sustainable if everybody does that. The cool thing about aquaponics is that it doesn't
require acres and acres of space to grow a lot of food. Matter of fact, I have this system
here that only takes up a footprint of four feet by six feet and you can grow enough food
to feed a family of four. It's pretty awesome. Another thing about aquaponics is the water
usage is only one-tenth of the amount you would use compared to traditional agriculture.
It's fully re-circulated. The water from the fish, the fish waste, effluent, is actually
being cleansed by the plants so that the water can be re-circulated over and over again.
So I think aquaponics is really a potential answer to some of our sustainability problems.
Especially on the island of Kaua'i, you know, where 85 percent of our food comes from the
mainland. It's really a cutting-edge technology in intensive food production if you think
about it.
>> Emilie: Mahalo for watching UH News. I'm Emilie Howlett. For more videos and stories,
please go to www.hawaii.edu and click on UH News.