Last month, at the E Malama ‘Aina Sustainability Festival Richard helped organize, I was interested to see that there was a Robotics exhibit.

I asked Art Kimura, Education Specialist for the Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium at UH Manoa, to define Robotics for me and he replied that first of all, robots don’t have to be cartoon-like, science fiction things.

He defined a robot as “a mechanical device that does human-like tasks,” and told me that we have robots all over the place, though we don’t call them that.

“A traffic light is a robot, for instance,” he said. “It’s instead of a policeman standing there in the street. Or a fire alarm, instead of someone there sensing that there is smoke.”

My other question to Art: Why a Robotics exhibit at a sustainability festival?

He had a good answer. “Most of the efforts toward sustainability, which involve things like alternative energy, require a generation of workers that have innovation and technical skills,” he said. “No matter what, we have to rely on improving technology to make some of these things happen. Workforce development, to have students that aspire to become part of the solution to sustainability problems, is a critical piece of that.”

The Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium at UH Manoa is a NASA-funded group “developing an educational foundation focused on scholarship, research and exploration, enabling scientists and engineers of the future.” Robotics is just one of the projects it supports.

Art said that every state has Robotics. “But what’s unique about Hawai‘i is that we have a state organization that helps to coordinate and support these programs,” he said. “More than a million dollars was spent on Robotics in Hawai‘i this year alone. We actually had legislation passed in support of a statewide program.”

“It’s really a beautiful situation we have in Hawai‘i,” he said. “I don’t hear of any other states with this type of support.”

Hawai‘i’s schools’ Robotics programs – six different types of programs, which have existed here for 11 years and involve kids from grades 1 to 12 – use Robotics to get students interested in STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Art said that the evidence is compelling that Robotics inspires students. “Many become engineers,” he said. “Waiakea High School can list all these kids that went into engineering, and the kids will tell you it was because of their experience with Robotics.”

“And we need kids who are in the trade industry, too; who are able to weld, do electronics. More importantly, Robotics teaches life skills like problem solving.”

He talked about how students have to collaborate to build their robots, and use them in a sport-like competition as part of a team. “There’s disappointment, failure, success. They have to communicate their goals and compromise,” he said. “Everything we like in a good worker.”

There was a Robotics competition this weekend at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in Honolulu. High school teams from Hawai‘i competed against others from Hong Kong and California.

The Big Island’s Kohala team was undefeated through the first seven matches, and the Waiakea team made it all the way to the final match. Both will go to Dallas in the spring for the next competition.

In September, a combined Waiakea and Hilo High School team competed against college students in Japan. There were 83 entries from 19 universities and only four high schools. Impressively, the Big Island high school team won several significant awards and ended up in the top three.

“They’re learning things that in the past only college students learned,” said Art. “They don’t know it’s too hard for them. They do it because it’s fun.”

“Most Robotics is after school,” he said, “and you’ll go by there at 6:30, 7:00 at night and there are 20, 25, 30 students there, just hanging out. One of the complaints I get from teachers is that the kids don’t want to go home. That’s a good complaint.”

One of the Hawai‘i Robotics programs teaches a concept they call “gracious professionalism.”

“The idea is that we want to raise the bar and not be satisfied with where we are now,” said Art. “The students collaborate. They’re encourage to share, even their designs, even though they’re competing.

“Sharing makes everybody better.”

Living sustainably doesn’t have to mean growing your own food. Richard and some of our other agricultural gurus can do that for us.

It can also mean making the best use of what you already have, and then passing it along to someone else when you aren’t using it anymore.

That’s where Freecycle comes in.

“It’s a conservation movement, really,” says Sonia Martinez, who moderates the Freecycle Big Island group. “It’s a place – an Internet place, there’s no actual physical location – where members who have things they don’t use any longer, but that still have use, they offer it. And members who are looking for something like that apply for it.

“We have members who post ‘wanted’ posts, which can jog the memory of someone else: ‘Oh yeah, I have something like that in my garage but I’ve never used it.’”

Sonia founded the Big Island’s Freecycle group four years ago and it now has more than 2000 members.

“When I first moved here,” she says, “I started hearing about how the Hilo landfill is filling up and we are taking truckloads of trash over to Kona. Back on the mainland, they would just build a Mt. Trashmore, and cover it with dirt and then cover that with grass.

“I read an article about Freecycle and thought, this is exactly what we need here,” she says.

“It’s amazing the amount of stuff we keep from going to the landfill,” she says – everything from coloring pencils and paper to Jacuzzis, refrigerators and freezers. “Sometimes a contractor is redoing a hotel or house,” she says, “and he has a bunch of bathroom sinks or commodes that are too good to trash, and he will offer it. People on the island who are building their houses use a lot of Freecycle material. It gives items a second and third life.”

“And it’s free; no strings attached,” she says. Swaps, trades and barters are not allowed. (Though those are also good options for recycling, that’s not how Freecycle works.)

Sonia and some Freecycle member volunteers set up a booth at the recent E Malama ‘Aina festival, where they offered a unique, in-person, Freecycle experience. Members donated items to display at the booth, and anybody could go by and take something for free.

“There was a Hello Kitty electric fan,” she says, “a lot of books, fruit, mugs, a camera lens. Most went. The few things that didn’t go, a member volunteered to take the books to the Pahoa library, and took the rest to Goodwill. We didn’t have anything left.”

Now that’s how it’s supposed to work!

To learn more or to join Freecycle, click here.

I sat on a panel discussion yesterday at the Hawaii Energy Challenge 2008, which was held at the Fairmont Orchid at Waikoloa.

Derek Kurisu of KTA Superstores and I were there representing the topic of Food Security. Steve Bowles represented Water Security; Tony Hanley, Matson’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Ocean Freight; Nani Lee, Executive Director of the Food Basket, Social Services; Peter R. Ingram, who is Executive Vice President of Hawaiian Airlines, Business, & Randy Perreira, Executive Director of HGEA, Unions.

It was very easy and conversational, though the subject was serious. We talked about how the new energy agreement with the state, HEI and the Consumer Advocate would impact our sectors. The panelists all recognized that current, low oil prices are temporary, and that we need to act now for the benefit of future generations.

I told them the Farm Bureau is in crisis management this month because many farmers are going out of business due to rising energy costs this past year.  I told them it’s not rocket science. “If farmers make money, farmers will farm.”

I also talked about how we were able to get a renewable energy farm loan bill passed this last session of the legislature. Energy projects are mostly infrastructure, and financing with cheap money is very attractive to farmers. There’s no fertilizing, pruning or harvesting – you just build it and make and/or save money. Its objective, I explained, is to help farmers make a little money so they can be competitive with imported products. This, I said, might help us with future food security. “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.”

Nani Lee of the Food Basket told us that the number of clients served by the Food Basket has increased from 18,000 a month last year to close to 36,000 a month now. I mentioned that we were able to donate thousands of pounds of bananas before the recession; but now we are not able to.

She went on to ask if everyone understands what “Malama ‘Aina” meant. She talked about how Hawaiians look at things with a long-term perspective. They consider many generations from the present.

I told the audience that I agreed with Nani – that we must have a long-term perspective. And to that end, we must make sure that agriculture is included in any energy plan that is developed. I told them a person can avoid using a utility, but we cannot do without food. So it is paramount that we include food when we plan for the future.

It felt good being part of a group trying to do what is best for future generations. Everyone interacted for the greater good.

It was quite a contrast with the Comprehensive Management Plan meeting held at Keaukaha Elementary School the other night. There, the people were angry and distrustful of the University of Hawai‘i. One cursed the children of the Hawaiian moderator. Another said she was going to be a certain researcher’s worse nightmare. Another just swore at the UH people.

I try to understand how people can feel so abused that they would do those kinds of things to their brothers and sisters. And I still don’t understand it.

By contrast, the people at yesterday’s meeting, where there were a fair number of Hawaiians in the audience, were happy to share what they know. I enjoyed this conference where everyone seemed to be moving, together, down the road to the future.

But still, I imagine that the people who were so passionate against the University of Hawai‘i the other night could have absolutely made a difference in this important forum yesterday. Their weight and passion would have had a major impact.

We’ve been telling you about the E Malama ‘Aina Sustainability Festival that Richard just helped put together. Here’s a short video that shows the festival and gives you a real sense of its flavor.

• What inspired them to make these changes in their lives. • How they do it, and what the rest of us can learn from them.

Stay tuned!