Earth Month 2008

On April 22, 1970, Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson and 20 million people across America gathered on the first Earth Day to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Through the combined efforts of government agencies, grassroots organizations and residents like you, what started as a day of national environmental recognition has evolved into a world-wide campaign to protect our global environment.

The City and County of Honolulu Storm Water (SWQ) Branch of the Department of Environmental Services's Earth Month Theme - the mauka to makai connection - be an everyday environmental hero is a call to action conducted with the hope that our keiki will teach their families what they learn in school, take personal responsibility for minimizing polluted runoff, and continue to manage the runoff as adults. Because our keiki will ultimately be the decision-makers for the neighborhood, teaching personal responsibility for minimizing polluted runoff early on can only benefit the neighborhood in later years.

The ultimate goal of this outreach effort is to encourage people to change behaviors that will minimize urban runoff. In order to reach this overarching goal, our educational initiatives will accomplish the following:

• address public perceptions and attitudes regarding the urban runoff and storm water quality. Improve understanding why storm water program exists
• increase public awareness about urban runoff and its impact on the City and County of Honolulu's resources
• educate the public about land-based pollutant sources and what can be done to minimize urban runoff problems
• encourage participation in City and County of Honolulu storm water pollution prevention activities that embody ecosystem-based stewardship, with focus on partnering, a sense of place, civic responsibility and environmental stewardship
• achieve greater compliance of regulatory requirements through individual action

SWQ and its public education and outreach watershed partners will strive to make Earth Month 2008 relevant for the local community with hands-on activities designed to develop a greater sense of place and an ethics of environmental stewardship that follows the children home. The following are ideas and values that these themes represent:

Sense of Place

• Local streams are unique and inspiring
• Getting to know your streams, wetlands, and the ocean will help you to appreciate it and should lead you to want to care for it
• Individually and as a whole, people are a part of the web of life, affecting and being affected by other living things
• Each of us is a part of our "home" ecosystem. These same "sense of place" attitudes should be transferred to our home ecosystem, and include the ahupuaa concept.

Civic Responsibility and Environmental Stewardship

• We have a civic responsibility for protecting and caring for our streams, wetlands, and the ocean
• Protecting and caring means learning about urban runoff problems and getting involved
• Our lifestyle and daily habits can be adjusted to minimize pollutants to our streams, wetlands, and the ocean. It is important to realize that behavioral change will not happen overnight. Patience and persistence is important on your part

Storm Water and Sanitary Sewer System
Laws and ordinances
Pollution Solutions

You may already include many water protection practices in your daily routine. Perhaps you'll find new ideas to try today. Working together we can make a difference. Start by getting involved!

Calendar
Be an Everyday Environmental Hero
2007 Earth Month
2007 Earth Month Photos
Photo Gallery
Mayor's Proclamation
Earth Month Teen Video and Photo Essay Contest


Mauka to Makai Expo and Cleanups on Saturday, April 12, 2008

• 1st Annual Mauka to Makai Environmental Expo and Cleanup PDF

Mauka to Makai Expo
Jump on the trolley to the Waikiki Aquarium; its free, for the 2008 Earth Day Mauka to Makai Expo from 9-2pm, sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii Department of Health Clean Water Branch and the Waikiki Aquarium.  You are welcome to observe the moi release next to the Waikiki Natatorium sponsored by the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resource Division of Aquatic Resources, 11-11:30 am.  Various agencies and organizations and hands-on activities will be announced in the coming weeks.
 
Mauka to Makai Cleanups
City and County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services is sponsoring the Manoa-Palolo Canal Adopt-A-Stream cleanup project, an exciting collaborative effort with the Ala Wai Watershed Association and Kaimuki High School.  A total of 300 volunteers are needed to remove litter and cutback streambank vegetation along the Manoa-Palolo Canal bank adjacent to Kaimuki High School, from Date Street and Waialae Avenue between Date Street and Waialae Avenue.  Work tasks will be assigned based on physical abilities. 
8:30 - 11am
Meet at the Manoa-Palolo Drainage Canal near the Date Street bridge
Karen Ah Mai, 955-7882
 
Malama O Manoa Adopt-A-Stream Cleanup
Total Volunteers Needed:  25
8:30-9:30am
Meet at the Woodlawn Bridge
George Arizumi, 988-5069
 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pacific Regional Visitor Center
Fort DeRussy Beach Cleanup
Total Volunteers Needed:  25
9-10 am
Meet at the Pacific Regional Visitor Center, Battery Randolph, Fort DeRussy, above the Army Museum
Garland Ireland, 438-2815
 
Kaupa Adopt-A-Stream Cleanup
Total Volunteer Needed:  25
8:30 -11 am
Meet at the Kalihi Waena Elementary School parking lot
Barbara Natale, 536-6999
 
Volunteer Information
To register, please also go to www.cleanwaterhonolulu.com and click on contact us, select volunteer.
Age:  13 years and older
Supplies and refreshments will be provided
Volunteers should wear covered shoes, long pants, hat and sunscreen.  Dress to get dirty and bring a change of clothing. 
 
Food Donations For Needed (hotdogs, refreshments)
Please contact Karen Ah Mai at the Ala Wai Watershed Association at 955-7882.


Partners on storm water public education and outreach efforts for Earth Month 2008

City and County of Honolulu, Department of Environmental Services
Storm Water Quality Branch
www.cleanwaterhonolulu.com

Honolulu Board of Water Supply
www.hbws.org

State of Hawaii Department of Education
MS4 Program

State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR)
www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar and www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/cwrm

State of Hawaii Department of Transportation,
Highways Division, Oahu District, MS4 Program
www.stormwaterhawaii.com

Ala Wai Watershed Association
www.alawai.org

Kamehameha Middle School
kapalama.ksbe.edu/middle

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
www.epa.gov/region09

State of Hawaii Department of Health, Environmental Health Administration
Clean Water Branch, Polluted Runoff Control Program
hawaii.gov/health/environmental/water

Navy Region Hawaii
www.cnic.navy.mil/hawaii

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Pacific Regional Visitor Center
www.poh.usace.army.mil

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
www.hi.nrcs.usda.gov

U.S. Department of Commerce
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Marine Debris Program
www.marinedebris.noaa.gov

Waikiki Aquarium, University of Hawaii at Manoa
www.waquarium.org

Waikiki Improvement Association
www.waikikiimprovement.com

Malama Hawaii
www.malamahawaii.org