Former Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer will be in town Tuesday to headline a conference about Hawaii’s sustainability, clean energy and smart growth initiatives.
Gore, known for his passion for climate change education and the 2006 film "An Inconvenient Truth," is scheduled to speak during a free public lecture Tuesday evening at the Stan Sheriff Center about how renewable and sustainable energy, water use, climate change and other environmental topics relate to the isles.
Boxer, a Democrat from California, is the first woman to lead the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.
The University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program worked with U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to convene a conference in Hawaii focused on creating a sustainable future and engaging local high school and college students in the problem-solving process.
"In no other place is the concept of sustainability more important than being located at least 2,500 miles from the nearest major land mass," Chancellor Tom Apple said Thursday in a UH Sea Grant news release. "We welcome the opportunity to be a part of this movement."
The event, dubbed "Ascent: Developing a New Social Contract for Public Investment in a Green Future," is an all-day conference that will feature national and local experts interested in examining risks and proposing solutions to energy and water resource security concerns and the complexities of climate change, according to the news release.
Speakers include but are not limited to:
» Geoffrey Anderson, president of Smart Growth America, a national organization that researches and teaches communities how to grow strategically.
» Kyle Datta, co-founder of the Ulupono Initiative, a Honolulu-based for-profit investment firm that promotes food sustainability, renewable energy and improved waste management.
» Hermina Morita, chairwoman of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
» Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii.
After the invitation-only daytime conference, Gore will give a free public lecture at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center, which seats about 10,000 people. Tickets are no longer available, but more could be released on a first-come, first-served basis at the door if seats open up because of no-shows. UH announced the Gore lecture in January.
"I am continually impressed by Hawaii’s innovative thinking, from clean energy to water to transit," Gore said in a statement released in January by UH Sea Grant.
On Wednesday, Schatz plans to hold a field hearing for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at the East-West Center focused on how sustainability goals can be met in Hawaii and the Pacific.
"As a national leader in clean energy development and sustainability, Hawaii is the perfect place to hold this important summit of local experts and global leaders like Vice President Gore," Schatz said in a news release. "By teaming together we can tap into new resources and move forward with solutions that are good for our state, the nation and the world."
The UH Sea Grant program organizes the Stephen and Marylyn Pauley Seminar in Sustainability series, which draws prominent figures such as Gore to Hawaii to speak about academic, social and cultural issues.
