Due to shrinking water and arable land supplies caused by over-population, and the increasing energy cost to transport food to and within Hawaii, our people may eventually be forced to grow crops in their own homes and yards using very efficient farming methods that use less water. It is vital that young people begin learning, practicing and innovating methods of reducing, reusing and recycling waste resources as growing mediums to grow organic plants faster and more efficiently.

Please describe your innovation?

We plan to create a cross curricular sustainability program for Kahuku High & Intermediate students using our donated 2 acre agricultural site next to the campus. The core objectives of the program are to study, discover and share methods of creating rich compost soil that accelerates organic plant growth and reduces irrigation. Waste products used for composting will include discarded food and milk, pathogen-free sewage sludge pellets, shredded paper and discarded wood pallets burned to create biochar. Vermicast, worm tea, composted green waste, EM-1 micro-organisms (using waste milk, rice water, molasses), Bokashi fertilizer and glycerin would be introduced to explore effects on microbial growth compost production speed. Mycorrhizal fungi, fish droppings, peat moss, vermiculite might be added to enhance soil quality and water retention. We will explore the use of heat energy from the compost piles to heat a small greenhouse for sprout production.

What is the problem or situation that your innovation seeks to address?

Our innovations seeks to address Hawaii’s food dependence and vulnerability caused by our reliance on one shipping company to transport 90% of its food supply. Our food source is vulnerable to politics and economics outside our control. We wish to educate our youth about our food supply and our potential food crisis. At the same time, we want to provide them with practical knowledge and tools for circumventing the problems. Future Hawaii lawns could be replaced by sq. foot gardens to grow fruits and vegetables and aquaponic systems that would provide perpetual sources of organic food and clean water, rather than green lawns. In addition, growing food at home using enriched soil could help minimize the impact of a sudden pandemic, terrorist attack, or other disaster (hurricanes, tsunamis) that prevents access to centralized food sources. By educating our youth with our innovative program, we can shift Hawaii towards sustainability.

What effort have you made to test out your new idea?

Teachers have received sustainability training from The Green House Hawaii, BYUH Sustainability Program, Olomana Gardens, Kolea Farms, McKinley High School’s Biochar program. Students in our agriculture, AVID and sustainability programs started a composting project in January 2012. They are sorting and weighing all liquid, food, tray, recyclable bottles and cans, refuseable waste from the school cafeteria each day, thus diverting the liquid and food waste from the dumpsters and putting it into compost piles (see graph). They maintain worm farms to add vermicast, worm tea, and worms to the compost piles. Students also add shredded paper and dried mulch. We are collecting used wood pallets, which normally end up in dumpsters, to create biochar. We have started a Green Team on campus to coordinate soil composting curriculum from science, culinary arts, AVID, agriculture and construction.

What is particularly noteworthy or novel about your innovation?

We have discovered ways to tie in our sustainability initiatives, particularly those dealing with soil and energy, into the Hawaii Department of Education’s standards, and into the federal Green Ribbon School requirements. As students participate in our sustainability program, reducing, reusing and recycling will become habits. They will understand problems that our food supply faces and will acquire skills and knowledge on how to make rich organic soil to speed up plant growth and reduce water consumption, and how to grow food in their yards. Growing organic fruits and vegetables, and learning to prepare and eat them will alter the ways in which our young people view food. We believe this can help change the eating habits that have resulted in this generation's poorer health and lowered life expectancy.

What impact do you expect your innovation will have on the problem or situation described in the previous question?

Diverting food waste minimizes the amount of rubbish being accumulated in landfills and also provides a free resource to enrich soils for healthy, organic food production. We would like to create rich, organic soil to transform our schools from the asphalt, 'prison yard' look to attractive edible schoolyards that can provide students with fresh, organic produce anytime they are hungry instead of being dependent on processed foods that are prepared miles away from the school cafeteria. Our innovations will help families in our community learn how to grow healthy plants quickly, affordably and easily from waste products that are readily available. We would like to grow healthy food in our own organic soil next to the cafeteria to save money and to provide an alternative to processed food. Creating rich organic soil could provide the foundation for growing and serving healthy food in cafeterias.

What other community partners will you need if your innovation is to scale beyond your organization?

We invited Kahuku High alum Jack Johnson (Kokua Hawaii Foundation founder), General Michael J. Terry of the Hawaii Sustainability Command, officials from Ulupono Initiative, Malaekahana Hui and the City and County of Honolulu federal workforce program, and a Synagro plant manager to help kick start our green initiatives. On March 12, 2012, our school was selected and recognized by the State of Hawaii and Senator Hirono to be a Green Ribbon School. Our program has been enriched from the generous efforts of many community volunteers, students, teachers, custodial staff, and administrators, and soldiers from the Hawaii Sustainability Command. We are consulting with waste management consultants from the US mainland and Canada in case we have the financial means to expand our program. Our Green Team members hope to pursue a masters program in campus sustainability later this year from the University of Vermont.

Why are your organization, partners, and key personnel suited to take on this project?

Our sponsors, partners and key personnel are best suited for this project because they have a common goal of educating our youth in methods that lead to a sustainable Hawaii. Many of these sponsors have expertise in sustainable agriculture to grow and maintain sustainable food sources. We have teachers excited and willing to introduce sustainability methods in to the STEM programs at our school. Glenn Martinez of Olomana Gardens has suggested we expand STEM to include Agriculture: STEAM. By including Hands-On-Training to our learning model, it becomes - HOT STEAM! Our high school advisors are using our program for students that need remedial help since students seem to relate better to real-life applications of STEM education. Counselors can refer students to do community service projects during the lunch hour, even lock-out students can help with our soil projects. Our goal is to have students teach sustainability on video so we can share our curriculum with more students.