What’s New
Hindsite 2020
We’re pleased to present a new non-denominational, faith-based weekly program with Rev. M. Kalani Souza and guests, highlighting the impacts of the previous week’s news and how it affects our communities, our families, and our regenerative capacity. It is broadcast live on most Sunday mornings. Subscribe at YouTube>
The Practice of Positive Change: An Indigenous Approach
This is a free series of six conversational online meetings presented by Kapi’olani Laronal and Claire Pavlik Purgus, board member and associate director respectively of the Olohana Foundation, with Sophie Mendelson, MS Agricultural Education & Agroforestry, beginning June 25, 2020.
In the wake of the tragedy of George Floyd many companies are messaging their support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). However, some don’t know where to begin. This series is for those who are interested in learning and developing new ideas for DEI approaches in our public and private sector spaces.
The objective of these six weekly conversations will be to develop a working group of committed individuals and to introduce an approach to working with Communities of Color. This webinar is organized in 2-Parts: 1) as a group, learning from Indigenous leaders and scholars; and 2) engaging in smaller group discussions to develop ideas for DEI initiatives for individuals in their specific organizations.
Materials from this program will be made available here at its conclusion.
A FREE Session! Learn about the 10’x25’ Micro Food Forest that can fit into your yard
Tuesday March 10, 2020 10am at the Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, HI
Community directed long-term partnership with UH NDPTC, PRiMO IKE HUI, NOAA CSC/PSC, IPN, AgroforestryNet, Lomikai Media and The Olohana Foundation for the implementation of regenerative adaptation strategies to address disaster preparedness and mitigate resource degradation at household scales supported through Virtually Interconnected Community learning curriculum.
Register by sending your name, contact information, and “VICTREE Gardens” to
Past News
(oldies but goodies!)
We Shall Stand, Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019
Rev. M. Kalani Souza gave a special guest presentation for MLK Jr. Day on January 21, 2019 at Christ the King Church in Kahului for the 7th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Service. This year’s theme, “We Shall Stand” honors Dr. Rev. King Jr.’s legacy of equality, nonviolence, and faith while calling upon Maui’s community to rise together to defend our future.
M. Kalani Souza with Olivia Clementine:
How Much Sin Can We Hold?
M. Kalani Souza with Ayana Young on
For the Wild World:
Click to listen>Personal Preparedness in Advance
Our survival demands our action and engagement and make no mistake, our actions, no matter how small, either add to the collective harm or collective healing.
Do we choose to be predators or participants in life?
The Other Favorites Hawaii Island Tour 2018
Check out The Other Favorites in Hawaii for the first time.
March 8, 2018, Thursday – “Hiilani EcoHouse” in Kukuihaele 6pm Potluck, 7pm concert
March 10, 2018, Saturday – Waimea house concert 6pm
March 14, 2018, Wednesday – “Waimea Brewhaus” 6pm.
Kalani’s January 2018 Visit to New England
1/15/2018:
Dartmouth College Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Members of the Olohana team, Kalani Souza, Sarah Purgus, and Alex Meffert visited New England in January 2018, stopping for presentations at Dartmouth College, Zen Center North Shore, Brandeis University, and The Grange, in Montague, Mass.
2/1-3/2018:
Yale University Annual International Society of Tropical Foresters Conference
Kalani Souza participated as a panelist at their annual forestry conference, “Attending to Socio-ecological Complexity in Tropical Forest Landscapes,” and other events around campus including “Building Working Relationships with Indigenous People for Environmental Management,” at the Native American Cultural Center.
A New Story For Humanity:
Change the Story, Change the World
“A New Story for Humanity” is a documentary film about the New Story Summit which took place at the FindHorn Foundation in Scotland in late September 2014. It was “a sold-out multicultural, multi-generational enquiry into a new story for humanity, attended by change makers and activists from over 50 countries.” The film premiered in 2016 and is currently being screened in countries around the world. Olohana Foundation’s Founding Director, Kalani Souza, was invited to participate in the summit and was among the key speakers featured in the film.
#10KFoodForests
The Olohana Foundation and team are proud to announce
1002 Homegrown FoodForests (aka #10KFoodForests). Working with 100 communities in Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, U.S.-affiliated islands, and internationally, in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of Victory Gardens, we will plant 10,000 food forests and conduct a national indigenous phenology study. It is a proposal to the MacArthur Foundation for their 2016 100&Change challenge. Learn more>
Teaching Indigeneity and Sustainability
with University of Wisconsin-Madison
Members of the Olohana Foundation and Intertribal Council on Utility Policy were guest lecturers in late January 2017 at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin Madison. The Olohana team broadcast from Hawaii using a multiple-camera setup with Bob Gough on webcam from North Dakota for an interactive presentation and Q&A with students in the Seminar Environmental Studies 402, INDIGENEITY AND SUSTAINABILITY: Cross Pollination of Transnational Indigenous Knowledge Systems led by Professor Alberto Vargas and Project Assistant, Reynaldo Morales.
Public Community Event, Honoka’a, HI
Hamakua Uprising… an evening of music with M. Kalani Souza and friends was held at Hi’ilani EcoHouse in Honoka’a on Sunday, January 8, 2017. He was joined by musicians Dagan Bernstein, Thomas Kearns, Adam Crowe, Jeff Quin, Chris Shaeffer, Larry Miller, Brad Bordessa and others.
Watch and listen to Kalani sing “Waiting,” a song he wrote for his mother, Lorraine, 17 years ago and which he sang at this event. Kalani is accompanied by Maraya Ben-Joseph on fiddle, Sarah Purgus on ukulele, Chris Shaeffer and Alex Meffert on guitars.
The Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group at Haskell Indian Nations University held their 2016 conference on September 22-23, 2016. The conference, which marked IPCCWG’s 10-year anniversary, was titled “Climate CHANGED: Reflections on our PAST, PRESENT and Future Situations.” Kalani Souza presented on the topic of “Climate Changed: Envisioning the Future.” Conference agenda>
Pacific Business Center
Program, University of Hawaii’s
2016 Hawaii Pacific Global Breadfruit Summit
August 27-31, 2016
Polynesian Cultural Center Imax Theater Auditorium, Laie, Oahu
The Summit brings together national and international experts on breadfruit from ground to table, including the most current research developments regarding the health aspects of the fruit in curtailing diabetes and obesity rampant in the territories.
Learn more at the Summit website>
Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network’s
2016 Protect Our Public Lands Tour:
For A Just & Renewable Energy Future
The 2016 Protect Our Public Lands Tour (POPLA) took place from July 18-31, 2016. More than twenty indigenous activists toured locations in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Illinois, and at City Hall in Philadelphia, Penn. Tour participants gave testimony at the Summit for a Clean Energy Revolution on July 23. John Foran, who was there, writes about the experience in “The Power of Indigenous Activists at the Summit of the Climate Justice Movement.”
The video below shows images from LiKEN’s story-catching during the POPLA tour by Paper Rocket Productions and the POPLA caravaners. Julie Maldonado, LiKEN Research Director, describes the power of equal collaboration between Indigenous science and scholarly science.
(You must enable Flash Player to watch.)
The video was produced as part of a panel on collaboration with affected communities was moderated by Natasha Udu-Gama of the American Geophysical Union and features Julie Maldonado, Juan Declet-Barreto of the Union Of Concerned Scientists, and Vivek Maru of Namati. It took place in Washington D.C. during the 25-26 July meeting of the Science and Human Rights Coalition of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS).
Learn more about the tour at the LiKEN Facebook page.
Rising Voices “Storytelling for Solutions”
Kristin M. Wegner blogs from Rising Voices “Storytelling for Solutions,” a three-day summit in Hawaii, July 6-8, 2016: