January 15, 2025
WAILUKU, Maui (January 2025)) — The County of Maui Office of Innovation & Sustainability (OIS) launches its second year of monthly Mayor’s Sustainability Speaker Series, covering theme of resilience hubs to support sustainability and solidarity across Maui Nui. The January Mayor’s Sustainability Speaker Series will highlight the important initiative around resilience hubs models focusing on the emerging movement across Hawai’i to coordinate and create a Celestial Constellation Strategy for Maui Nui.
The inaugural Mayor’s Sustainability Speakers Series lecture for 2025 covers operationalizing equity in residence work crafting creative partnership between county government and community members . The talks, on January 16, identify actionable solutions to increase self-determination in a system of sustainability dedicated to disaster readiness and reduction in a month long Regenerative Human Rights and Resilience Hubs Hawaii Series and Maui Nui Summit.
Kristin Baja, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Embodied Ecosystem and the Resilience Hub Collaborative, will deliver two lectures covering “Comprehensive Community Action and Human Rights Based Approach to Increase Resilience in Our Islands: Transformative & Trust Building Hubs,“ at 11:30 a.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room and the community forum will cover “Shaping & Shifting Power to Communities Through Action Centered Resilience Hub,” at 5:00 p.m. at the University of Hawaii Maui College Open Air Hale.
Baja is the originator of the Resilience Hub concept and has been working on Resilience Hubs for over a decade throughout North America and Internationally. She supports identifying, leading, and supporting innovative projects that actively transform local government processes, shifts power to community, and centers racial and environmental justice. She holds a Masters of Urban Planning and a Masters of Science from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Biomimicry from ASU. In 2016, she was recognized by the Obama Administration as a Champion of Change for her work on climate and equity Baja (she/ki) is an energy rooted in empathy, love, and compassion. She coaches, facilitates, and leads workshops, retreats, and trainings that nurture heart-centered self- and collective-liberation while supporting deeper connectivity to nature’s genius and shifting of power.
The Celestial Constellation Model is centered around culturally relevant solutions envisioned with engaged community. The Regenerative Human Rights and Resilience Hub Hawai’i Series and Maui Nui Summit focuses on Maui Resilience Hubs Collaborative approach supporting an ecosystem of care centered in a 'whole human- whole species- whole system' theory of change.
The Mayor's Sustainability Speaker Series features individuals dedicated to caring for our planet, sharing their stories and strategies to protect Maui Nui for future generations. This series aims to facilitate essential conversations on climate change and how we can come together to create a more sustainable Maui Nui and a collective world.
According to Mayor Richard Bissen, “This series provides dynamic discussions and innovative ideas to address the multi-faceted nature of sustainability. It encourages us to mobilize our islands to tackle climate challenges and secure a more resilient future. The aim is to create and coordinate actionable strategies to save our island earth and ensure kama‘aina prosperity, peace, and partnerships.”
“This series was created to bring people together to drive action in our daily lives for climate justice, said Joshua Cooper, Chief Sustainability Officer for the OIS. The creative and courageous conversations are designed to inspire and initiate a culture of rights, resilience, and regenerative public policy around the most significant challenge of our times. We aim to educate and engage policymakers to prioritize sustainability, as well as empower our community to be active participants in promoting sustainability and social justice. Together, we can generate a wave of support to protect our planet across Maui Nui.”
For more information, please contact Joshua.L.Cooper@MauiCounty.gov.
OIS, under the Office of the Mayor, is committed to driving environmental and social progress in through policies, programs, and initiatives, building a resilient community for sustainable prosperity and economic health for current and future generations.
In today's world, our natural environment faces numerous threats, from climate change to habitat destruction.
