 Welcome to another edition of Hawaii Rotary, People of Action. I am so happy to introduce you to Steve Mazer today. We have the president of the Eco Rotary Club, the Rotary Eco Club of Kakaako, and he's going to tell us all about this fascinating new club. So we're just going to jump right in, Steve, if that's okay with you. Sure. Great. By the way, my name is Janet Schaeffer. Again, I am the public image chair for the District 5000 for Rotary in Hawaii, and we come to you here at 10 o'clock every other Thursday morning, bringing you all the news of Rotary in Hawaii. So again, Steve, welcome. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. Great. Thanks for having me. I grew up in, well, I was born in Chicago, lived in a big city until I was very young, moved down to Florida, and grew up close to the beach where I felt very connected to nature and the ocean. In 2008, which is when the economy sort of tanked in Florida and globally, it was a good time to hit the reset button. I applied to the MBA program to University of Hawaii. I found out they were giving scholarships for business school at Scheidler. And so I applied, and in 2008, I moved out to Oahu. And so the first almost two years that I was here, I was a full-time business student completing my MBA. And right after that, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do or what I would do. And I discovered Revolusa and a startup solar company. They were about six months old at the time with an office in Chinatown, and I ended up getting into commercial solar development. Oh, that's the interest in the environment. Yeah. It checked all the boxes, finance and business, but also helping us move away from a fossil fuel-based economy. Absolutely. A very, very noble business to be in, and Revolusa has done amazing things in our community. So I know that you're very interested in the environment in other ways, and it's entered your rotary life. We are here today to talk about this brand-new, amazing concept for a rotary club. It's a topical rotary club, the Eco Rotary Club of Kaka Ako. Am I saying that right? You got it. Oh, okay. Eco Rotary Club of Kaka Ako. Steve is the current president, and it's a fascinating new concept for a club. A new club started recently. Please tell us the vision. Why did you begin the club? Well, we find a group of us informally were discussing the idea, and Winton Showman, the district governor, actually had heard about this concept popping up in a few other places. Rotary International has identified climate change and environmental issues as sort of what the next generation is going to need to focus on. It's going to be one of their biggest campaigns, possibly ever. It's the biggest thing that's facing us and the children that are growing up. The environmental problems are getting worse, despite all the efforts that are being made. So, how do we prioritize the good work that people want to do in their community? We have many options, many good causes to support. This is one that is no longer a small little niche. It's coming to the forefront. So that's kind of how it started, and when approached a small group of us to see if there was interest from people that I think he knows either specialize in some of these issues or are more passionate about it and might want to put together this club. So when did you start? How many members? What's your format? How can people find out about it? We'll talk about that later too. Okay. Well, things are still evolving just like any startup. We met a few months back at Revluson's showroom. They have a community space that they provide for no cost to nonprofits. So we started meeting there informally to gauge interest, and then very quickly, so we had about 40 people come through and 15 people sign up that they're committed. They want to be part of this new club, this new movement. So that's kind of how it started, and then we started to discuss some of the local as well as global issues that we might be able to focus on. We'd love to hear more about that as well. But first tell us, when do you meet? How many people, what's the goal for 2019, what's your year? Okay, so for this year, we really want to expand on our strategic plan, launch some new projects as well as support some existing projects in our community and grow our membership. That's the most important thing to start with for a new Rotary Club. So how would you like me to expand on that? Yeah, well, when do you meet? Okay, sorry, that was the first part of the question. So we meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Revluson showroom, which is located in Salt. It's on the second floor above Moku Kitchen. So currently, we are not meeting on the third Tuesday of the month. We were meeting on the first, second, and fourth Tuesday. So hard to remember, but we are sending emails out as well as Facebook events to promote when we are meeting in case anything changes. But at this point, that's what we've established is Tuesdays at 6 p.m. The formal agenda goes for about an hour, and then we usually hang out for up to another hour after to socialize. People in the community that may know nothing whatsoever about Rotary that want to participate in your projects that are going to support things like global warming and environmental issues impacting Hawaii, of course, we are at the epicenter of the global warming problem. If people pay attention to local news, it is a severe issue here because of our remote location in the world. So if people want to find out more, can they just walk into your Rotary Club at 6 o'clock on Tuesday at Salt? Absolutely. Of a Revluson? I mean, it's such a broad, interesting topic. There's so many people interested in that. The best thing someone can do if they're curious and interested in getting involved in some cause, just come to a meeting. All of our meetings are open to the public. We welcome everyone, and we encourage people to come and check it out. More than half of the people that have attended a meeting so far are not familiar with Rotary, which is also something of interest to us strategically. It's how do we find a way to connect with more people in the community that maybe are not familiar with Rotary, and we have a feel that's a little bit different than the traditional Rotary Club. Exactly. A traditional Rotary Club, as many of the viewers out there know, doesn't have a topical focus. It has a broad focus of community involvement, community service, and also our polio focus worldwide. And that's why I find this so fascinating, and I've been in Rotary myself for 12 years. It's the first club I've ever heard of that is going to focus on one specific area. I can imagine that your club can have a greater impact on this issue by not only bringing it to the attention of the community, but also making an actual impact on certain projects and issues when you're really focused on the one specific issue. Yeah, that was a question that came up. So there's two parts to it. First of all, why use Rotary as a platform? That was a question that we had to face. There's hundreds of very focused environmental groups out there that any volunteer could potentially be involved with, like Surfrider Foundation, Sustainable Coastlines, and many others. Sierra Club. The list goes on and on and on. Yes, exactly. So where does Rotary fit into that? And then why have a Rotary Club that's focused? So starting with the focus part, you know, we find that a lot of people don't know what Rotary does, but they might be interested in these issues. So it's a way to attract people who might want to work on these types of projects, but don't know exactly what they want to do. They want to find a group to be part of. Once they come to a meeting, then they also find out about this giant global organization working on thousands of projects all over the world, spending over 80 million dollars a year with their foundation grants. They learn about this whole big network that this platform offers, and then we figure out how can we leverage that for the specific types of projects that we're interested in. And that's fascinating because of our grant process. You could make a terrific impact here with some of the issues facing our Hawaii because of the power of the Rotary International. And just as a side note, Rotary International is having their international convention this week in Hamburg, Germany, another country that is dealing with global warming issues head on. And I think that if you go, if you've ever been to an international convention, I've been to one, the International Convention of 2020 is going to be right here in Honolulu. That's going to be an incredible opportunity for you. But when you go to these international conventions, there are hundreds of booths from hundreds of Rotary clubs talking about all of these projects that Steve just mentioned. And I can just imagine the Rotary Eco Club of Kakaako being involved on a global scale because this is so unique, it could have a great impact worldwide. So I'm definitely going to be attending one of your meetings because it's very exciting. Great. We'd love to have you. It'd be great. I know that you have specific initiatives, projects that you're exploring. Can you touch on maybe the top three or four that your board and your club, your members, are currently looking at engaging in in the coming year? Okay. So one of the parts to most Rotary clubs is to have a, you know, we have a community presence. We're the first Rotary Club in Kakaako. So initially we wanted to start off and make sure that we are involved in some projects in Kakaako. Kamehameha Schools has provided some land in Kakaako, Makai, in partnership with Surfrider Foundation to have a community garden. And it's actually a very large space. There's an organization called Permablits that helps transform landscapes into edible landscapes. Food is a big issue. Climate change is disruptive to all agriculture. And we import most of our food here in Hawaii, even though we have this amazing climate and soil suitable to grow just about anything. And yet, yet we import almost all of our food. So we're supporting this community garden. It's, they're meeting regularly where you can actually get your hands dirty and dig in the dirt and plant some trees. You end up learning a lot about gardening and you also learn about these food issues at the same time. And hopefully that will inspire people to invite Permablits to come out to their homes and plant their own edible landscapes. So that's, that was our first local project that we're going to promote and support. You know, the idea is that several other organizations have their own networks and they can all encourage them to support that project. And that's across the street from our meeting space right in front of the medical school. It was a big plot of land in front of a parking lot full of weeds and full of litter just sitting there. Perfect space for this type of project, an urban edible garden. Fantastic. And I know that community gardens have been popping up all over the mainland. People are planting them on their rooftops in New York City and places like San Francisco. We've got a couple in, like Peoloni Park that I've seen. It's incredible. We'll have something in the urban core and it's going to be seen right from the highway. So this is something I would be very interested in as an avid gardener myself. So we're going to take a short break. I want to hear a little bit more about all the wonderful projects you're going to engage in for next year. And so we'll be back with Steve Mazer from Rotary in Hawaii. Full of action in a few minutes. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. My show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 AM. Aloha. Hey, Aloha. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii, airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech, Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me, because security matters. Aloha. Welcome back to Hawaii Rotary, People of Action. I'm joined here today by Steve Maser of the Rotary Eco Club of Kakaako. We are learning all about the projects that the club is going to be embarking on in the coming year. It's a brand new club. You will tell you all about how you can find out more about it. If you're interested in things like global warming and all of the issues facing our environment and our world environment, and basically have the opportunity to take action on this, just like people of action in Rotary. So welcome back, Steve. Thank you. We were asking Steve before the break to talk about his projects. He talked about the community garden. I'm an avid gardener. I am fascinated by this. I would love to be able to go do some gardening on my lunch hour in downtown Honolulu. What other projects does the club look like they're going to be embarking on in the coming year or year, Steve? So one of the reasons why our members took an interest in using the Rotary platform is the opportunity to tap into a global network and do projects abroad. Especially a lot of our younger members. We have a member as young as 21 who love to do mission trips and travel to other countries. Rotary is excellent for that access to global grants to fund projects that we can do overseas. And then there's Rotary clubs in other countries. So one of the biggest issues that the world is dealing with is single use plastic as well as other types of marine debris, plastic marine debris from commercial fisheries all over the world, litter going into the rivers all over the world. And we know about it in Hawaii because tens of thousands of pounds of it wash up on all of our beautiful beaches every year and organizations are weighing it. We know that we're filling up dumpster loads of plastic and we know that most of it is coming from all over the world. So we're looking at where we're putting together a project potentially in Southeast Asia to help work in local communities out there where I believe there's about five rivers that account for the majority of the marine debris entering our ocean every day. So it's a small number of rivers in countries that lack the infrastructure. And in places like Bali and other places in China and Southeast Asia, they have an opportunity to leapfrog the developed world and go from having no waste management to a zero waste format. So right now we're putting together plans for a proposal to work on a project overseas. And when you say Southeast Asia, are we talking the Philippines? What part of Southeast Asia are we referring to that? So the Philippines is one and Indonesia is another. But depending on the partners that we establish in those places, we might shape where, if we want to start the project in one location in one small community, or if we want to do something bigger through the global rotary network. So I have an interest in this as a sailor with a boat who cleans the debris around our boat in the Alawai regularly. And we see it washing down from the mountain streams, basically litter, people littering plastic. And we even see the impact on marine life with turtles and whales and dolphins here. Can you talk a little bit about the global problem with this? A little bit more specifically, what is the actual impact of this debris in our oceans, if you would? Sure. So if you go out and troll for fish and you catch an ono or a mahi mahi or any of our favorite fish that we eat, it's almost 100% guaranteed that you will find traces of microplastic in every single fish. And that was the aha moment for me. I think that was about eight years ago that a research vessel came into Oahu. They had some fresh fish that they had caught on their way. And they just picked a fish out of the cooler, filleted it, opened the gut up, and said, I guarantee we'll find microplastic. And they did. And they knew for sure that they would before they had opened this fish up. So at that point, I realized, OK, this is scary. Because what it's in our food chain, it's in our food source. And so that's one of the issues, not only the collapse of the fisheries from overfishing, but the fact that plastic is choking so much marine life. So that's one of the major issues. Another issue is the marine debris is damaging infrastructure. It's washing up on all of our beaches. But the microplastic issue is one of the scariest things. It's threatening all seabirds globally. We're finding it in 100% of birds that are marine seabirds on the Northwestern Islands. If you find any dead bird, you will find plastic inside. And that's just what we're finding on the surface. We don't even know how much plastic has made its way to the bottom of the ocean. And in Hawaii as a sailor, we're aware of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is an area larger than the size of Texas. So we have friends that sail between the mainland and Hawaii. And one of the most important things is to not hit debris. Because if they hit debris, sailing at 20 knots or 10 knots, it can damage your rudder. It can cause all kinds of problems. But it's just everywhere. And it's just becoming a magnanimous problem, especially for those of us that live in the islands. So it's just wonderful that you folks are taking this issue head-on and actually trying to make some sort of an impact locally first and then taking it globally. So if you are interested in helping with this issue, you need to reach out to Steve, who is available on Facebook, Rotary Eco Club of Kakaako. He is also available, the website's not quite up yet. The club just started in March. You can find them easily on Facebook. So let's talk about your club specifically. I know we touched on this a little bit earlier, but the purpose of the club is to be able to do projects locally and also internationally about the ecological systems of our world. You're starting with a community garden, and then you're going to be looking at other opportunities. What is the process the club is going to use to identify future projects? What are some of the big, big ideas that maybe you don't have materialized yet that you'd like to tackle as a club? Right, yeah. So we have formed a group of members with various backgrounds and experiences, and we're putting that together as we develop our strategic plan. Where do we want to see the world in five, 10, or 20 years, and we start from there and we work our way backwards to what are the specific projects that we need to do immediately, locally, and globally. So we sort of work backwards from a very high-level vision. We're looking for new members who want to focus on either various projects, membership, fundraising. So there's multiple things that people can gain experience in, which is useful for their professional lives. And that's attracting a lot of our younger members as well. And then our general structure, we have an executive committee and then different campaign leaders. And we're still looking for new leadership to come in and help us with these different parts. I wonder if I can be a member of two Rotary clubs. I think you can't. I think you can't. But the thing about Rotaries, we all end up helping each other and collaborating. You could do visiting trips to your club, but mostly we can support each other's projects by just showing up at the community gardens or what have you. I just think it's fascinating. I find it incredible that a group of younger Rotarians are tackling this project head on, this problem head on in Hawaii from a Rotary perspective, which our four-way test of being open and honest and giving and helpful really applies to all of the areas of your club. So I wish you great luck with this club. I look forward to coming out to the garden. When does the garden project begin? So the garden is organizers are hosting events. I think they're having a community day monthly at this point. And they're also promoting those on Facebook. So you can check with Sir Frider Foundation, Oahu, or Hermablitz, two of the big organizations. Can you spell that? Hermablitz? Hermablitz. Blitz, like blitz. A blitz where an army shows up and tackles a problem together. Very good. Very good. So again, I want to invite you to check out the Eco Rotary Club of Kaka Ako. They meet every Tuesday. Dave Maser here is the president. He's inviting you to find out more about the club. You can find him on Facebook. You can find him every Tuesday except the third Tuesday of every month at the Revolution showroom at the second level of salt right above Moku's kitchen, which we all know and love. So I will be checking you out very, very soon. I want to bring you folks out there up to date on what's going on with Rotary worldwide. Of course, this week 30,000 to 40,000 Rotarians are meeting in Hamburg, Germany for their annual Rotary International Conference. We have lots of local Rotarians there. And I'm sure that you're all aware, because I've talked about it in the past, that next year we're meeting at the convention center. The Rotary International Convention will be here for the first time since the 1960s. 30,000 Rotarians approximately will be descending on the shores of Hawaii. And there are opportunities that will amaze you. I happen to be working on the sponsorship committee because I'm a marketing person. And so if you are, by any chance, a company out there or a person that wants to be involved in the Rotary Convention next year, reaching a global audience, you can contact me. And I'm going to give you my phone number for my company, which is 521-1160, Mon amines communications. You can reach out to me to find out more about sponsorship opportunities for the 2020 Rotary International Convention, which we're all so excited about. So we have a little bit of time left, Steve. If you have anything else you can add about the club that you didn't get to cover. OK, well, I hope that everyone comes out to visit and you will find a great group of your new best friends. It's very much a social organization where we enjoy working on these issues together. And I think that's what keeps people coming back. And so I just encourage everyone to come see for yourself. We're very welcoming. Come to a meeting and bring your ideas, bring your energy. And we look forward to meeting you. Exactly. If you or someone out there that has a great idea for the environment, this is a place that you could share that, run it by the committees, and find out if this club would be able to help you accomplish taking on that project or initiative. So that's a wonderful opportunity. So we're going to sign off. I want to thank you very much, Steve, for being with me today. And don't forget, the Eco Rotary Club of Kakaako Tuesday Nights at Salt. 6 PM, be there, except the third Tuesday. I am Janet Sheffer, your public image chair for Rotary District 5,000. And I am so happy you joined us here today on Think Tech Hawaii. We will see you here again in two weeks for another edition of Hawaii Rotary, People of Action. Mahalo.