Oahu to host Blue Planet Summit

HONOLULU
Oahu to host Blue Planet Summit

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Dozens of local and national energy experts, environmentalists, business leaders and others are scheduled to gather on O'ahu in April to discuss ways to increase renewable energy programs.

The three-day Blue Planet Summit, planned by Honolulu-based nonprofit Blue Planet Foundation, aims to foster and bring attention to clean energy initiatives in Hawai'i and around the world.

"We want to see what we can do to help Hawai'i become that model for clean energy elsewhere," said Stephen Reed, executive director of the Blue Planet Foundation.

"If Hawai'i can help show how these things can be done in a way that's economical, that's environmentally friendly, then you can export that concept, that technology, that business model to other places."

Reed said the summit will be an annual event here. The summit — to be held at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa — is expected to include about 60 participants, including environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Geographic Society explorer Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey, former U.S. Congressman Pete McCloskey, Stanford University environmental studies professor Stephen H. Schneider, and Bullitt Foundation CEO and coordinator of the first Earth Day Denis Hayes.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and University of Hawai'i President David McClain are also scheduled to participate.

The summit will be closed to the public, but part of the event will be taped to air nationally on public television, and other segments will be recorded to be made available on either DVD or the foundation's Web site, or both, Reed said.

"We want to raise the level of the dialogue, to help the public be that much better informed about what the issues are," Reed said.

Inouye said in a statement that the summit "will provide a unique window on the world with Hawai'i in the spotlight for its diverse test beds in renewable energy efficiency, generation and distribution.

"In the end, we must each take a measure of personal responsibility to help ensure that what we leave succeeding generations is better than how we found it."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.