 Good afternoon and thank you for joining me on Code Green. I know that your usual host looks a little different, but I am Rachel James filling in for Howard Wigg on today's Code Green. And today we'll be talking about youth leaders in climate change action. And to help us have that conversation, I am speaking with Griff Juergens, the Education Coordinator from Blue Planet Foundation. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here. Awesome. We're glad to have you. All right. What do you do as Education Coordinator? What do I do? Well, basically I go to all K-12 schools around the islands, private, public, charter, and even home schools. And I give presentations, I run hands-on activities about kind of helping educate kids and get them more used to the terminology in clean energy and renewable energy. Oh, staying. Yeah. It's really fun because I get really creative in how we attack that and, like, you know, get hands-on. So they remember it longer, but then also with the presentations and video and work like that. Super cool. Now, do you do this across the state? I do. Yep. Try to get to every island about two times a year. That's outstanding. Do a little education tour. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool. Not to put in competition islands, or competition between islands so much, but do you find differences in how the students are receptive or kind of nuance and information that they're picking up as you travel through the islands? There's a lot of schools that are doing really good work around sustainability, which and especially when you get to Molokai, I know Lanai and Big Island also have very strong ties to renewable energy or just sustainability movements, you know, like no single-use plastic and things like that and holding campaigns around those. So it's really nice when I go there that the, I guess the level of intrigue is very high in those places. Nice. I'm glad you get to visit there. Yes. I do too. Cool. Yeah. So some of the things that you do in the classroom presentations, you mentioned include videos, hands-on activities, and this is K-12 that you're working with, or do you? Yeah. Yep. Can you share a few of the activities that you do? I should have brought some of them. Oh, we should have. All right. So usually kind of break it up to K to third-grade-ish, and then fourth through six, and then eight middle school, and then high school, but we do a lot with energy efficiency. So with the younger ones, we have a online animated series called the Blue Planetiers. Oh. And so it's, we have clean energy superheroes that help kids learn about, you know, sustainable energy efficiency and renewable energy. So they watch that, and then we have, for the young ones, we have activity books where they'll go through. They can color some pages. They fill out answers about their home and their energy use. And then we have, like, pledges where they can sign the pledges. They take it home. They talk about the tall, tattooed, scary guy that came in and talked about energy. Yeah. And then, yeah, so they bring that pledge home and have their parents sign it. And then they know that there's a, you know, school-to-home connection there. Nice. That the kids can become the teachers in those times. Awesome. But yeah, and then the middle school and the high schoolers are creative director, David Aquino's a master with video work. He's made some outstanding ones. So we use a lot of those, like, small, kind, ridiculous, and then videos just kind of about Blue Planet, like, introduce us to the classrooms that haven't heard of us. So they kind of get the feel of what we're doing, why we're doing it, and that kind of sparks the conversation around that. Cool. So one of the things I think is a Blue Planet thing, and if I get this wrong, totally correct me. It's okay that we're live. Shoot. But I think the Planetiers, you guys have the poster, like at Ward on the okay? Yes, you're right. You nailed it. Excellent. And it's funny because I'll mention the Blue Planetiers to the kids. And they're like, the Planetiers, and now they go, you ever go to the movies at Ward? And they're like, I've seen it. It's like on the wall in the parking structure. Yeah. So, yes, they're famous. They're all over. Okay, that's cool. So they connect the dots, then they're like, oh yeah, they're on Ward. I hadn't realized. Well, like I saw the Blue Planetiers. I didn't realize that. That was your, like, an elementary focus platform. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's great. Awesome. And we're always, and I had, some of the kids will create their own characters. Oh. So they get really creative out there. That's fun. Yeah. Okay. I think you guys do a lot of amazing work across the board. I won't ask you to delve into all of the programs, but I know you have a couple other things that you do that are student-focused. Do you mind sharing some of those things? Sure. Well, it leads in nicely to the Student Energy Summit, which is an annual event that we hold. This year, our 2019 Student Energy Summit will be November 10th and 11th, and it will be at the Convention Center again this year. Oh, nice. It's super nice, as you know. Yes. Thank you for helping us out last year. Can I ask you again this year? But yeah, so it's a great opportunity for 250-plus students from all over the islands to come in and kind of learn about and really dive into clean energy aspects and maybe opportunities that are going to be there after high school. And so it's for all middle school and high school students right now. Actually, this year, we're looking to make it international, so we're hoping to get some schools or groups of students from other countries to come in, too. Wow. It should be really awesome. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. We're excited. What kind of stands out to you as you work with students in terms of, like, their ideas about energy or does it ... I mean, I think as we look through kind of different age groups of people, they kind of have a different understanding of why are we having this energy conversation. Right. So I'm curious as you're working with those different age groups of students or maybe just students broadly, like what is their reception in kind of why are we talking about energy and energy efficiency and clean energy goals? Right. How are they picking that up? Yeah. I think with the younger ones, just getting them to make that connection between what humans are doing and the CO2 that's being put in our atmosphere and our actions are causing these natural disasters. And once they make that connection, they are so excited that they can actually do something. Yeah. So these things that they can be more energy efficient at home. And they're like, oh, I'm going to run with that. I'm going to tell my parents about it and all my friends and they get so excited. And then with the middle schoolers and high schoolers, I think it is what can we do, but it's more about maybe policy or campaign work I found that they really want to make a difference in their community or at their school and just kind of thinking a little bit bigger picture. And of course, not using single use plastic and unplugging your phone charger, those kind of things are really important. But to reach our 100% goal is going to take bigger change, more systemic change, as you know. So yeah, I think it's getting them along the line to start thinking about that in that way, which they're very receptive of. Nice. So your work in classrooms is the student energy summit. You mentioned a little bit how I was there at the student energy summit last year. But it sounds like you work with a lot of partners. And I'm guessing that includes both teacher partners as well as kind of energy community partners. Can you talk about how you establish some of those partnerships? For sure. Yeah. Some of our work is with like Hawaii Energy. So we do a lot of energy efficiency work with them in the communities and then the schools. But also I think it's just we were talking about this yesterday is getting out into the community and going to other organizations events and showing support and being there. And I think it's really about making those connections and seeing what kind of synergy there is. Because there's a lot of people doing good things. And it's all in kind of the same direction. But it's like, let's utilize each other's strengths instead of like, oh, I'm going to work on this pocket. And you work on that pocket. And let's work together on it. So I think that's really important. But reach out to HCAT or UH Law. There is, I mean, Hawaii kids can for policy. And it's like, there's so many different aspects when you are trying to reach 100% goal. And it's not just engineering and clean energy. It's like it's going to take a village or a state in order to get it done. A really big village. It's interesting to think about the partnerships that are required to reach 100% goal. It's increasingly interesting. I've been in a few classrooms where the teacher will kind of ask, where will you be by 2045? So even as they're thinking about these clean energy things that we're talking about, then they just kind of put in context like, oh, I'm going to be, and it's funny when kids do things like, oh my gosh, I'm going to be so old. And I'm like, oh, and they're going to be like 20 something? And I'm like, oh, gosh, guys. So old. Yeah, I get that a lot. But it's neat to hear them understand and kind of process that this world that we're envisioning, these pieces of information that we're giving you now, that they have some ownership in implementing those things in their future. And when they're in their smart home, or their smart apartment, or when they're not driving their car because they use public transportation. So it's really neat to see how you didn't pick up these ideas. I think in having those conversations, how they can also inform kind of how we as old people process the information we're sharing and how we go about our life choices. So if you could talk just briefly, we're going to introduce our audience and leave them on a cliffhanger. As we talk about partnerships and things that you've been able to do with other organizations, can you talk about something that you've done recently? For sure. Well, partnering with you and Chase Livingston, it kind of is super grassroots. We came up with an idea of getting high school students to energy conferences. Giving them exposure to these conferences and exposure and the ability to meet and talk with legislators, government officials, people in the energy field. When I was younger and growing up, I didn't have any of those opportunities. I had no idea about 90% of the jobs that were out there. And I think this exposure is really important. And once they are kind of comfortable with that, it's like, OK, now let's make an impact. I'm like, let's start doing stuff now. It doesn't matter if you're in high school or not. Like, you're graduated. Like, let's make a movement right now. So yeah, I feel very fortunate to be partnered up with you and to be working with you on that. But then, you know, it's how is that funded though, right? Non-profit, Blue Planet, you can't just, like, magically come out of there. No, what equity doesn't play for airline tickets. Exactly. So it's really important to get those sponsorships or donations that want to help support get these kids through these opportunities. And so we're hoping to continue that work in the coming years. Very cool. So one of the highlights for me in working with the students is that they, and you mentioned this a little too, how they really take ownership when they realize that there's something that they can do. But I also appreciate how many of the students push the envelope. And so in their participation, they're certainly receptive and grateful to have been able to get the information. But inevitably, in each of our experiences, I find that the students are always asking, like, well, then what more can we do? Like, we have this information. Like, we know some of the things that could be done better. And then they're always like, who makes the decision to make it better? Like, what is that going to happen? So I'm hopeful that they maintain that sort of envelope pushing that little bit of angst. There's some angst there, too. Just because climate change is really having tangible impacts and it's things that they're able to see in their day to day, and especially for the kids who have, like, families on the mainland. And just know people in different places of the country and the world who are experiencing climate change impacts. So sometimes I feel like their call to action is because they're feeling the things now and imagining what it could be like in the future. With our 2045 goal, helping them understand how that can parallel and hopefully really benefit an overall global impact. Pretty, like, it's empowering for me to be able to participate with them. But they encourage me to be my best self, too. Absolutely, yeah. Very cool. Yeah, it's amazing what they'll take that and just really run with it. And that's the hope, right? Yes. Put them in a position to succeed. That is, I think, an excellent way. Oh, I almost wish you would have saved that for the end. We might come back to it. We might come back and use that again. We might see that again. So as we kind of talk about engaging students and in your work specifically with Blue Planet, we talk about partnerships, one of the things I like to be able to leave the audience with is how they can engage. We're not gonna jump into that now. We're gonna leave that as a cliffhanger. And I believe we have a break upcoming and we'll be back in just a moment on Code Green here on Think Tech Hawaii. Hey, loha, 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 coworkers safe, your family safe, keep our community safe. We wanna teach you about those things in our industry that may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because security matters, aloha. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Oh hi, Mabuhai. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment we aim to enrich and lighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, maraming, salamat po, Mabuhai, and aloha. Welcome back and thanks for hanging on to that cliff, waiting for what we had to share here on Code Green with Griff from Blue Planet Foundation, Blue Planet Foundation's education coordinator. So when we left off, we talked a little that we might share how people can get engaged. We'll still continue to keep them waiting, but hopefully actively engaged in our conversation and eagerly awaiting that information. We chatted a little over the break about a statistic that I think is pretty phenomenal from your Student Energy Summit, was that last year? Okay, can you share a little? Yeah, that was last year for our Student Energy Summit, 2018 one. We had over almost 73% was female participation, which was great. And it's really sparked kind of me thinking about my upcoming year and what my focuses will be. Definitely kind of the hard to reach areas and women, females in the STEM fields, which is, but that was really nice to see and I've been kind of brainstorming and I need to talk with you more about it. It was like, how do we kind of navigate that? And how do we get more participation and confidence in those fields? Outstanding. It's super exciting for me because I recently went to a project drawdown event and one of the things project drawdown is a book by Paul Hawkin. And in the book, and I'm certainly minimizing, but in short, the book goes over a series or 100 steps that we can, as a collective, like we, the collective global we, can take to reverse climate change. And while they are ranked in terms of the amount of impact they can have, the takeaway that is hoped that people will take from this is that in all these 100 things, everybody can do something. But one of the things that it's in the top 10 is educating girls. And I thought that was super powerful because in a number of different instances we hear about how educating girls, particularly I think in developing countries and how educating women and like family planning, how that's important, just for social sustainability and kind of developing a healthier fabric in communities. But it was interesting to see that highlighted specifically in relation to reversing climate change. And so the 73% statistic for your, at least the last student energy summit is pretty, pretty uplifting. Right, and for next year, that's a goal of ours is to be, I think, either 50 to 60% at least, you know, like, yes, 70% again, but yes, I'm thinking about getting another 50 to 60% of women coming to the student energy summit would be ideal. Super sweet. Okay, so you've got a whole bunch of Wahine at the student energy summits. Can you talk about some of the other, I guess, milestones in this energy work and in your partnership work. So with the energy use, or the, yeah, the students attending energy conferences. Can you talk about some of the milestones there? For sure. I think it started with the Verge Conference when that was here on Oahu. And, you know, we got together, we started brainstorming, like, how do we get student voice in it? Student voice is often left out of these conferences or different, maybe gatherings or events, but it's so important to start incorporating that to get that perspective and to lend them the ability to like be around these talks and this communications and the energy kind of terminology at a younger age that when they are older or right now, but like when they're buying the cars or the air conditioners and the houses and voting and, you know, they'll be so much more prepared, which I think is a very important thing. And also it's good for adults to have to actually explain things, you know, that they might not like know a term, but like, okay, can you explain it to a child? Yeah, you know, so I think that's good practice for both parties. Yeah, but the Verge, and we called this group Converge. So we had a group of about 10 kids from, oh, let's see, was it Oahu, Big Island, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai. So we had, across the board, they came in and really just, it took ownership of it. It was amazing. They were ready to go, they sat in the breakout sessions, they asked questions, and then at the end, they came up with a declaration. You know, and so like, what were they gonna be able to do when they went back to their communities, or what was their promise to themselves or their communities? Actually. Pocket declaration? I think, I have it right here. Wow. So. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We had the pocket declaration, which we shared with some of the mayors and some of the legislators and encouraged them to take steps and supporting them with that also. And those are just small things, you know, right? That they could do, that we hope gives them confidence to continue that work. Yeah, and then the next one was just, recently was the Hawaii Energy Conference on Maui, which was great. We had 14-ish students coming in, Big Island, Oahu, and Maui. And really they came in for the day and were able to kind of, they had a table that they rotated through to talk to the attendees about what their plans were. How do they get in the energy field? Maybe what their campaign at their school that maybe they started at the Student Energy Summit. But then actually getting climate allies. And that's what the hot term we're gonna be using is climate allies. And so having this kind of agreement between the person in the green field and the student to say, hey, can I reach out to you if I have questions? Can I reach out to you if I'm looking for a mentorship? Do you support me in what I'm doing in trying to change this climate crisis? Which I think is a great connection to have and it's really well needed. Yeah, I think both of them are huge successes and I'm excited to continue that work with you. Super cool. Yeah, how did you feel about it? Now, I thought it was great. I'm always just inspired by how people engage. And I think being able to work with the students and have a better understanding of how we can best prepare attendees to engage with the students was something that I learned between the Verge Conference and then the Hawaii Energy Conference just a couple of months ago or last month. And so I think we did, I think we prepared the students as well as the attendees better to have a more successful engagement. And the students just impressed me. They just continued to impress me. Absolutely. And it was really nice to see the attendees really rise to the challenge of being a climate ally and having the students meet with the council member, actually a couple of council members in the council chair and having them be very supportive of student engagement. So much so that they encouraged them to attend the Hawaii State Association of Counties Conference in June. So I think it's a really wonderful thing to have students who are interested. It's an even more powerful thing when you have adults who kind of capture that interest and are able to do something with it. So it's been really a true pleasure to be able to work with you to do that. Thank you, I appreciate that. All right, now that that's over, one last thing. All right, so people getting engaged. As an example of engagement and continued engagement with this information in the classroom, student energy summit, attending conferences, Blue Planet has one other thing up their sleeve. Actually, many more things, but we'll talk about one more. Can you share the change makers? Yeah, so we gotta make it cool, right? We have to make clean energy cool. So that's why I hired an intern that's freshman in college to make it cool. No, so we have, it's called the change makers campaign and it's a Instagram campaign. Students, if they do not have Instagram, they can definitely send it in via email. But there's two weekly challenges where we have focuses for the week, like the first week one, the challenges were about getting to know Blue Planet. So they got on the website, they checked out some of the videos and they would post the videos and that's how we know they completed one of the challenges. And for each challenge that a student completes, they get a prize. So anywhere from Blue Planet t-shirts to water bottles, reusable water bottles. And then actually, one of the prizes right here, I brought you a Blue Planet boba straw. Sading, so? Really? I did. Oh my. Yeah. Wow. So you get the Blue Planet boba straw with clear. Thank you. Shut the front door. I know. Boy, I tell you. So those are the cool things. They're like, they're simple things that students can do. But around their little hooey is like, oh wow, you unplug your phone when you're not using it or you wash your clothes with cold water. And so those little things, like they may have heard of it, but they never do it, right? But then they see their friend doing it and then they hear it again. And then they see that friend doing it. And that's the idea is these behavioral changes kind of just kind of like a ripple effect and I just move out from each person. And we have over 111 students signed up right now. Which is great. Last year, I think we were at 40, but now we've just really blown those numbers out of the water. Cool. Very exciting. Yeah, and the intern, Tabby, she's at UH10. She's just amazing. Oh, she's really doing a great job with that. But it's another way to be involved, right? For students. Non-profits, we're always looking for volunteers, right? And if you can't volunteer and you donate, right? And then this is another way to kind of show your support and help out a non-profit that's trying to do good work is by spreading the word in your little pockets of the community. I think it's awesome because my daughter does it. So in like, I'm like, gosh, I'm like, hey, doing energy stuff, which she could probably care less about sometime. I'm like, do you know what I do? And she's like, oh, you know, trying to save the world. I'm like, yes, son, thank you. And then I see her Instagram post and she's like, hashtag change makers. And I'm like, you looked at Island Pulse? You're like, I want to have a conversation with you about this. And what did you learn? Well, I learned that today we only use 19% renewable energy. I'm like, oh, the planet. Nice work. Doing the work, right? It's so great because they're getting exposed to different, you know, like resources out there, like Island Pulse. And that's a big focus. That was last week, was Island Pulse in it and trying to understand our energy intake, right? Energy's such an abstract thing. You don't see it cruising around. But to understand, like, how many megawatts we use here on Oahu is pretty daunting. And so just being aware of that and trying to do the little things to help out. It's the little things, adding up to the big thing. That's kind of how we got here, this whole climate change thing. So we can do that and reverse it, though, hopefully. So as we come to a close, do you have any last comments that you'd like to leave our listening audience with? I didn't prepare you for that. No, you didn't. No, I think for adults, it's be open to having these conversations. And actually, maybe spark these conversations with younger people. I think a lot gets lost because maybe they don't feel like they know a lot about it or there's an intimidation factor of the student bringing it up to an adult. But I think the more open we are to having these conversations and to listening, even if someone doesn't agree with you, you know? I think that's a very important part of us reaching 100% renewable, but just reaching a being better than what we were kind of goal. So yeah, have those tough conversations and be a good listener. OK, that's a tough tip, and I should have prepped you because that's a heavy one. But we'll leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been great to have you. Thanks, Rachel. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. No worries. And thank you for joining us here on Think Tech Hawaii with Code Green. And you heard it from Griff. Get engaged, be aware of what Blue Planet is doing if you can volunteer, do so. If you can donate, do so. And if you can just help support students and youth and children who are interested in clean energy and are wanting to take action and are looking for more information, please be in contact with Griff at Blue Planet, but also be in contact with the youth in your community. Thank you for watching. Until the next time, aloha.