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What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is to provide the needs of the present generation while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability integrates social, environmental, and economic systems.
The term originated from ecology as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions and productivity into the future. To be sustainable, nature's resources must only be used at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. In recent years, scientific evidence has shown that humanity is living in an unsustainable way, by consuming Earth's limited natural resources faster than being replaced by nature.
Today, a collective human effort to keep human use of natural resources within the sustainable development aspect of the Earth's finite resource limits is an issue of great importance to the present and future of humanity. Sustainability has also become a vital asset in education, business and technology (architecture, agriculture, engineering, etc.)
Here is what UHM students say about "Sustainability":
Danielle Herman Fisher, Zoology
“Sustainability is creating buildings, clothing, food, jobs, etc., even lives in ways that can be maintained for generations to come without depleting the natural resources of our planet or damaging any of its fragile ecosystems, it's a system in which everyone profits.”
Tamara Armstrong, Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Sustainability
“Sustainability is a concept: it is a way of thinking about society that considers the delicate balance between ecological, social, and economic stability.”
Vance Araki, Business
“Sustainability is our ability to sustain social, economic, and ecologic well-being; it is a value system of zero resource waste, including human and financial capital. This overarching value system seeks to design socio-economic systems that coexist harmoniously within the larger ecosystem it’s housed.”
Sustainability Programs:
Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP)
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At the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning is an academic discipline that fosters a multidisciplinary set of intellectual and practical tools to help us chart our future in an age of uncertainty. We strive to improve the quality of life for present and future generations, both locally and globally, through planning, public policy and social collaboration.
Our mission is consistent with the system mission of the University of Hawai`i which is: "to provide an environment in which faculty and students can discover, examine critically, preserve, and transmit the knowledge and wisdom that will help ensure the survival of present and future generations with improvement in the quality of life." The Department of Urban and Regional Planning serves students, researchers and practitioners in Hawai`i, the mainland, and around the globe, especially from the Asia-Pacific region.
We provide planning education, engage in a broad range of research and enhance professional practice in the areas of multicultural governance, community development, environmental protection, resource management, and infrastructure planning.
Contacts:
Makena Coffman: sustainable energy policy and climate change mitigation
Kem Lowry: Sustainable community and marine protected area management
Luciano Minerbi: Sustainable land use planning and environmental management
Jim Spencer: Sustainable economic development, shelter and services
Karen Umemoto: Community planning for sustainability
Sharon Miyashiro: Sustainability policy in Hawaii
Resources, Events, and Volunteer opportunities:
Mānoa Career Center does not endorse any specific resource on this page. We suggest that you conduct research before providing personal information to any of the sites listed below. External sites open in new windows. Please disable your pop-up blocking software to access these sites.
Student Organizations
University Students of Urban & Regional Planning
Fosters a multidisciplinary set of intellectual and practical tools to help us chart our future in an age of uncertainty. We strive to improve the quality of life for present and future generations, both locally and globally, through planning, public policy and social collaboration.
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Sustainable Saunders
We are a student led organization at UHM working to evolve Saunders Hall into an inspiring model of sustainability for the campus and beyond! We love new energy and have many ways to get involved from internships and teams to throwing the Sustainability Fest and Concert. Join us any time!
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View Events Calendar
Join Email List
Engineers Without Borders at the University of Hawai'i
We are students assisting disadvantaged communities in our local Hawaiian islands and around the world by improving quality of life through sustainable, environmental and economically sound engineering projects.
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Sierra Club at UHM
The UHM Sierra club meets every Thursday at 5:30 PM at the Awesome Energy House. Often we have hiking or other activities before our meetings and movie nights to follow. We are a small, diverse group of people passionate about sustainability and the environment and always love new company. There is no admission, no commitment, and we have fun. (We love fun!) Feel free to join us this or any Thursday!
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Campus Organizations
UH Recycles
Your link to everything to do with campus recycling including guidelines, posters, locations, internships and FAQs.
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Mānoa Career Center
Our primary mission is to partner with both University and Non-University employers to empower UH Mānoa students to engage in career life planning through awareness, exploration, experience, and reflection..
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The UHM Sustainability Council
UHM's portal to sustainability curriculum, research, organizations and more!
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The Kuleana Program
Is designed to recruit, train, support, and recognize faculty and staff volunteers who make a commitment to adopt sustainable ways of working in their buildings and departments.
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Mānoa Climate Change Commission
Established to address one of the greatest challenges facing Hawai'i and the world in the 21st century, the University of Hawai'i at Mānoaʻs Climate Change Commission promotes a multidisciplinary approach to conducting critical research and advancing outreach programs regarding the nature, causes and consequences of climate change.
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Non-Profits
Sustainable Saunders
We are a student led organization at UHM working to evolve Saunders Hall into an inspiring model of sustainability for the campus and beyond! We love new energy and have many ways to get involved from internships and teams to throwing the Sustainability Fest and Concert. Join us any time!
Visit Website
View Events Calendar
Join Email List
Sustainable Hawaii
Sustainable Hawaii is a Grass Roots Volunteer Organization that works to promote Sustainability in Kohala and the State of Hawaii.
Sustainable Agriculture In Hawaii
Across Hawaii, farmers and ranchers are experimenting with different ways of producing agricultural products, novel approaches which aspire to bring social, economic and environmental well-being to both farm families and to the rural communities in which they live.
Community Links Hawaii
Community Links Hawai`i (CLH) is a nonprofit organization that provides high-quality, cost-effective administrative infrastructure, shared services, and organizational development to nonprofit groups that share a commitment to a just, healthy, and sustainable Hawai`i.
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Links
Educational
http://www.EcoEmploy.com
http://www.eco.org
http:// www.learningforsustainability.net
http://www.sustainable.org/information/jobs.html
http://www.epa.gov/Sustainability
http://www.sustainable.org
http://www.sustainablemeasures.com
http://www.sustainability.org
Global & Local jobs
A Woman's Guide to a Sustainable Career
http://www.ejobs.org
Local Community
http://www.hawaii.edu/sece
http://manoa.hawaii.edu/careercenter/fulltime_jobs.php
The Sustainability web feature is a joint venture between Mānoa Career Center, Sustainable Saunders, and DURP.
What Employment Programs does Mānoa Career Center offer? View all Job Programs
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