 4 p.m. Hawai'i Standard Time, and that means that it's time for working together on Big Tech Hawai'i. I'm your host, Cheryl Crozier-Garcia, and in this show we talk about the changing face of business and work. And today we're particularly lucky to have with us three of Hawai'i's most promising young entrepreneurs, all of whom are involved in businesses that rely upon the environment. So I'd like to introduce these environmental entrepreneurs to you right now. We have Jason Otero and Jason Fieldman from Hukua Beach Supply, and Matthew Yetter from O'Dang Farms. And if you have questions for them, or for me, or regarding any aspect of the show, you can call in at area code 415-871-2474, and we will be able to hear you here in the studio. You can also feel free to tweet us on at Think Tech Hawai'i, or you can join us on our Facebook page, Think Tech Hawai'i as well. So guys, thank you so, so, so, so, so much for joining us. I'd like to start by asking each of you why you were so committed to a career as an entrepreneur first, and then secondly, why the business that you're in right now. So Jason, why don't we start with you? Sure. Well, thanks for having us, Cheryl. I really appreciate it. I've been an entrepreneur since 2000, so I started my first business in 2000 in Denver, and I think since the time that I started college, I knew that I wanted to do this for myself. I can't really think back to a time where I said, well, I really want to work for somebody else. I don't have a model for entrepreneurialism in my family, so I'm sort of the first one out of the gate to do this. And since 2000, I've been starting businesses. The longest I've had is art and anthropology, which is my design business, and I've had that for roughly 17 years. And my newest business with Jason is Hukui Beach Supply. Jason, what about you? Yeah, so, you know, I spent a lot of time in the Army, and I spent a lot of time working for the government, and I came to a point where I said, you know, I want to create my own path. I want to use my experiences in life and professional work, and then also, you know, some hobby as well, and something that I really enjoy. So when I met up with Jason, we came up with a great idea. That's something that would have a great impact on our local community and the environment as well. So we created Hukui Beach Supply for many reasons, but it was a great opportunity for us to, you know, expand on our businesses. I sell real estate as well with Waii Life, who I have real estate brokers. So for us, it was something to start together and, you know, build upon what we've already created in the past and use both our, you know, strengths to build on. Okay. Matthew, what about you? Actually, kind of ditto to an extent. But most of my income's from my parents. I grew up on a farm originally from the Midwest in Oklahoma. So you kind of grow up with that hardship of seeing the struggle that goes on with that, with the weather changes, with the difficulties of the seasons, with life itself requiring what it does of you. And then found myself in the manner of corporate jobs and then several years in the Marine Corps. And at this point, after finishing up additional education here with Hawaii Pacific University, I just really wanted to find my own path and had the luxury, I guess you would say, of having some parents who are already branching out in that way. So here in the future with O'Dang Farm, I would like to generate a Hawaii branch with O'Dang Farm, honey. Both of your business ventures require a very solid physical environment. In your case, for the two Jason's, you need beautiful beaches, clean water and well-tended reefs and sea life in order to provide the bait for your customers. For Matthew, people are so largely disconnected from the sources of their food, so that bees, we mostly think of them as those things that everybody's afraid of getting stung by, rather than as not only producers of delicious honey, but also as the people who, the people, yes, the people who fertilize most of our food crops without bees, we wouldn't be eating food, basically. So I've got to ask you guys, and I want to start with Jason Fieldman. How important is it for young entrepreneurs, particularly those who are interested in the physical environment and doing something that capitalizes on what Hawaii has to offer environmentally, how important is it that we work to protect our environment, things like climate change and pollution in a general way, over development, over fishing, over beaching, all of those kinds of things. How important is that to keep your business a going concern? It's very important. So I know for us, for instance, when we say, for instance, we're on the west side of Oahu and we go to certain beaches, we can see firsthand when there's a lot of pollution going on, whether it's something that's dumping into the water and you can see it physically or stuff that's washing up on the shores, so for us, you know, and we like to educate our guests on that as well. I think that's key. I think more people these days are more cognizant of the different environmental issues, not necessarily more on a global stand, but not necessarily in Hawaii, and I know for when Jason and I take people on private tours, we ensure to add that in there so people understand what's going on here. That way, you know, when they see stuff, they can understand what they're looking at, and it gives them a sense of place as well. Have you ever had opportunity, well, two questions. First, have you ever had opportunity to tell your customers about the huge plastic continent that is growing sort of out in the Pacific doldrums? That's my first question. And secondly, we've heard a lot about detritus from the Fukushima tidal wave and earthquake washing up onto beaches in California and other places. Have you observed, both of you, have you observed any of that kind of flotsam coming up onto our beaches that you can clearly trace to, say, Japan because of the labeling or whatever? In regards to the gyre, I don't think we can trace it directly, but like Jason said, when you go out to the beach and you prepare for a stand-up paddleboard tour or snorkel, you can see what washes up. It's evident. And so it's one of those things where, in many ways, I wouldn't say we're lucky, but we get the benefit of seeing it firsthand physically. And it does open up a conversation about how does that get there? How do we relieve it? How do we mitigate that from happening further? So it does give us an opportunity to start to address that question. I think we're in a unique spot because tourists tend to come here because they want to escape reality to a certain extent. And so our goal is to try to balance the reality of the situation with also entertaining their desire to escape. And so it's a careful balance. And I think we want to educate but not burden. And I think that we're in the first year and a half of our business and that conversation will continue to go on and grow as we continue to grow the business. How do you balance between overburdening someone with bummering somebody's mellow when they're on a tour like this? When you see things like plastic six-pack rings washing up on shore or seeing, perhaps, sea creatures that have ingested things or have things wrapped around their bodies, how do you walk the line between burden and education? Well, you know, I think when somebody gets on top of a mountain and they have 250 feet of elevation and they're looking over a beautiful coastline, that kind of takes that away a little bit. And then, you know, I know, for instance, we took people out, you know, out of Pokai Bay and we were out there and dolphins came in, which was great. And we were on paddleboards. But then you saw there was a rope wrapped around dorsal fin with a dolphin. So it's extremely sad to see that. And, you know, but, you know, you look back and you see beautiful mountains and, you know, at the same time it's so it is a balance. But I think people, you know, because they're overwhelmed with the beauty and overwhelmed with the views that they can absorb both at the same time and not be depressed or make it depressing. So in the case when you saw that dolphin with the rope wrapped around his fin or hers, were your, were your, was your tour group upset or did it spawn discussion? Did you, did you hear anything that gave you hope for the future? Yeah, well, you know, on the way out there, I said, and we always do this is I always pick up plastic bags. That's the biggest thing you can see everywhere. And it's, you know, it's sad. And I always pick it up and I tie it to my board. So when I come back in, people are always like, what is all that trash on your board? I'm like, well, I'm cleaning up. And that's what, so I always tell them, if you can grab something, knowing that they're a lot of times beginners, right, they might be able to or calling the overall help. And then so what yeah, I did, they were able to see that the sum of the change and see that we do have issues with, you know, with litter in the water and it affecting marine animals. So it did, it did spark up a conversation. And then, you know, they want to know if that's ever happened before. Have you seen stuff like that before? And we explained that that was a conversation that went into our plastic bags. So now we tell them that you can't, you have to purchase them now they're biodegradable and it's different. And so it went into that conversation. Yeah. And then people are more willing to grouse less that they have to pay 50 cents for a bag or bring their own or whatever it is. And they and they're cool with that. They are once they figure out why and they see it, you know, first hand, it definitely is the aha moment. It's an ongoing conversation too. So the education always has to happen. And so, you know, one of the things we're trying to do is talk about a visit to the islands as an exercise and reciprocity. So, you know, you come to enjoy the islands and you in some ways you have to give back. So we're working on the potential of ecotourists that allow, you know, our guests to enjoy the island, but also give back in some way with their time, either by helping clean up the beach, or doing a trail hike where they clean up after themselves. So there are a number of ways that we're trying to, you know, build that into our education components. So it's not a burden, but rather something that's exciting and something you want to participate in. Well, that's good. Because I have to say, I learned to swim at Pokai Bay. And it does not look now the way it did in the early Jurassic period when I learned to swim. So and the changes have been, well, sad in terms of there used to be beautiful reefs, not too far. I mean, kids, six year old kids could snorkel out to the reefs and see them see the fish. And now not so much. You have to go much further out to see what you used to see almost literally right up at the low tide line. And that's sad, because it means not only do I get to see what I saw when I was a kid, but my children, nieces and nephews, your kids, you've all got kids. At the age when I was looking at that stuff at age six, yours have to wait a couple years till they're old enough, and strong enough swimmers to actually get to the places where the reefs are. So that's kind of an issue. And now let's jump to land based animals. And probably one of the nicest land based animals we know, Matthew, and bees. You know, people look at bees, a bee is the one insect that will stop traffic. Have you noticed that? There's one bee and it goes, Oh, bee, don't sting me. And we're more afraid of the sting than we are of losing what bees provide to our ecosystem. So just briefly, if you could tell us why bees are important to those of us who like to eat food? Well, you know, I have the luxury and what I'm doing to have an animated movie with Jerry Seinfeld to assist me. Yeah, the bee movie. And I think that educated more than I think people will probably even give it credit. The easiest way for me to actually get my own family excited, my son, most specifically, who's six, was to watch that movie, which directly explains the impacts of bees in, you know, a comedic and yet entertaining way, yet educational at the same time, if you look at it in that manner. Yeah. I think yes. Let's continue the story of six year old kids and bees. Right after we do a little bit of business for the channel. So once again, this is working together on Think Tech Hawaii, we're going to do some business. Don't go away, we'll be back in just a couple of minutes after we share with you some of the other great programming that we have to offer. Aloha, my name is Justine Espiritu and I co host Hawaii Farmers series with Matthew Johnson of Oahu Fresh. We talk about Hawaii's local farmers and their supporters. In order to have a vibrant and sustainable local food system. Farmers are always the foundation, but there's so many other people involved in the community that help support those farmers. So we bring those folks onto our show every Thursday at 4pm. We get their backstory, their history, find out a little more about them, and we find out why they love what they do and their perspective and their advice on how we can continue to have a dynamic and vibrant and sustainable local food system. So we again, we broadcast live every Thursday at 4pm. And you can also catch us on Think Tech's YouTube channel, as well as Alelo 54. So we hope you tune in and join us. Welcome back. This is working together on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host, Cheryl Crozier Garcia, and we are joined today by three young entrepreneurs who are focusing on the environment and doing well for their businesses by doing good for the ecosystem. Matthew Yetter is a soon to be beekeeper who is interested in doing a business that would provide organic honey to the Hawaii market as well as any other markets that he can produce for. Before the break, Matthew, we were talking about Bee Movie and how that provided some education about why bees are important to any ecosystem. And you mentioned that it was particularly educational for your son. He's six now, right? So you've got a six-year-old, Jason, you've got a six-year-old, and you've got a six-year-old. What were you doing? No. That was a busy year. Yeah, I should say. Busy bees. That's right. Busy bees. How are all of you working with not only your children, but also with other kids that you may come in contact with their classmates, say, or Sunday school participants, etc. What do you do to assist them in understanding that it is important for us to respect the physical environment in the same way that we would respect any other loved one in our families? Because face it, without a clean environment, there is no family. So how do we communicate that to kids? And I ask you that from the perspective of fathers, because I think that that's the best place to get started in the relationship the parents have with their children, and how they begin to teach those kids about what respect and dignity mean, not only in how they treat the two-legged animals in their lives, but also how they treat the four-legged and the six-legged and the eight-legged, and the trees and the plants and the no-leggeds. So Matthew, let me let me start with you. How do you how do you work that into the parenting that you do for your son? For me personally, I'm very blessed to have a young man who has the energy of a six-year-old, as most do, and greatly adores the outdoors. And we are blessed to live in such a beautiful place as Hawaii, where even the most downpour torrential of rains that doesn't stop you necessarily from hitting a good hike, and just knowing you see an even more full waterfall at the end. And surprisingly, it's easier than I think even I believe that it would be in something like picking up a piece of garbage on a trail to the next time we hike, my son's lugging out trash bags and can't wait to pick up garbage, and he's almost as excited about that as he is about getting to the waterfall at the end. I think it's continuing to show the importance of that in something like what I want to do with bees, the full environment is involved, everyone is affected, and continuing to reiterate that to my son and keep him involved, I think is the most important way, and through my own personal actions. If I'm not willing to bend down and pick up the trash on the trail, how do I possibly expect my son to want to do the same? So you're modeling the behavior that you expect him to carry forth when you're not around. Exactly. Jason, how about you? You've got a son, did you say? Two. We've got a six-year-old and a four-year-old son. You have been busy. OK, so two boys. And how do you model that behavior for them? You know, that's a really big onion to unpeel, because Hukua Beach Supply is actually part of a longer-term life strategy for my wife and about living intentionally. And so one of the things that we wanted to do is, you know, we talked about modeling behavior. We wanted to live a life where we are, we intended to do the things we wanted to do with it. And that's, that's good or bad. So, you know, we moved here as part of an intention to live a life where we could enjoy it more, be outside more. And, and so Hukua, for us, was a way of showing our sons how to go for what you want, you know, and to integrate at every lot part of your life intentional planning and thinking and design. So, so how that works on a day-to-day level is our sons are out, our kids are together all the time. We go out to the beach, they're out there with us, we're constantly talking to them about wasting the water and the need to pick it up, even if they didn't put it there. Because I think for a child, it's really hard to think about themselves, outside of themselves. And so, we try to show them that, you know, even though you didn't litter, it's really good to pick that up for the benefit of everyone. Our sons are avid recyclers, they love to pick up, you know, we go for a bike ride or picking up bottles, you know, we don't curb that, we want them to be, to get accustomed to that. So, you know, and we involve them, my sons are involved in we deliver our beach, they're there with me sometimes, and they're part of that entire transaction. So, you know, they're, we really didn't want to create a filter between what we do with our lives as entrepreneurs and parents and what they're doing as our children. We want them to see that at every level, you know, this business impacts us and impacts our guests. Yeah. Now, Ava is six. Does she go out with you on tours and things too? Yeah, well, not necessarily on tours. But more, when we go out to the beach, like Saipokai Bay or we're out in Hawaii Kai, Ava's the same way. She loves to pick up trash. And she sees that bike because that's my passion as well. So, you know, and I explained to Ava, hey, you know, I'm like, Ava, what would that bag do if a turtle came by or a hen who came by, you know, oh, he might try to eat that. Let's get that daddy. So, again, I think living by an example and also just educating your kids. But I will say now, compared to when we were kids, the school does such a great job, especially here in Hawaii, is that they, you know, talk about reusing, they talk about reducing and recycling. And, you know, I'm remember when Ava was in kindergarten last year, you know, she's like, oh, look, daddy, somebody's a litter ladder. Which was funny. It was cute. But they're using rhymes to get attention. And then she's like, they shouldn't be doing that. That's bad, right, daddy? Like, yeah, that's bad. I said, you know, we'll pick that up. And then so I think it's when it's reinforced at school, it's reinforced at home. And then, you know, you'll see it on TV as well. And then I think it's just going to be, it's one of those things that will be second nature, I'm hoping, with the new generation. And I think, you know, we have that responsibility. Yeah, I think it's important. We see YouTube videos of turtles that have straws up their noses and they're heartbreaking. And I don't think anyone intentionally said, hey, let's throw this straw in the water so a turtle can get it up their nose. But I think we are thoughtless about our cousins who live in the ocean or who fly in the sky, or who don't walk on two legs, that we need to be creating an environment that is safe and clean for them, just like it's safe and clean for us. So these issues, I think, become very important, and particularly in Hawaii, because the tourist industry, which you both are involved with now, and Matthew, you probably will too, as you try to sell Hawaii honey to people from other places, right? Definitely. We have been using our environment as tourist bait for centuries, really. And so how do we maintain that tourist bait in its tastiest and most inviting form to make people come back? And that's hard to do when 80% of the arable land within the state of Hawaii is on the island of Oahu, and that's also where 80% of the people live. So you have your choice. You obviously, well, I don't say obviously, but you probably can't grow crops on the same piece of property where you have a house. And people that are drinking water deprive, say, animals and plants from drinking water, that we all require water. So how do we deal with those issues going forward, I think, is a very important aspect that you all can have a great role in telling that story. Now, I also want to touch kind of briefly on the, without getting into politics, the issue of climate change, because it's obviously something that not whether or not it exists. Okay, we're not going there. But how important is it to your respective business ventures to have a relatively predictable climate? So how important is it? Well, I mean, for us, it's hugely important. Obviously, I mean, the effects of climate change, I believe you can say we've been felt. And if you look at the reefs and how they're dwindling, and I know that they say the bleaching is kind of a natural cycle. But when you go out on a tour, and you see very few fish, and you see dead reefs, I mean, it doesn't do good for tourism, you know, and so not to sound as if that's the the the ultimate, you know, the ultimate thing. But I do feel like the more vibrant our reef structures are, the more vibrant our sea life is, the better it is for tourism. So it's in our best interest, just as from a financial perspective to just make sure that we mitigate any any more harm. Matthew, how about you? How important is it that bees find flowers? Yeah, obviously, it's the most important part, right? Pollination and food source for them. But whether changes and any environmental change can directly affect your local crops or growth of any kind, whether it be your fish populations to your your trees, their growth, their health, and that directly impacts anything that relies on those such as bees. But of course, increasing that bee population also assists in maintaining and increasing that growth at the same time. So in some ways, obviously they they're directly impactful on each other, I believe, which is obviously one of the main factors and the importance of maintaining something like a bee farm in Hawaii to keep that fauna to keep our land growing as strongly as possible. And hopefully that will assist in healing our lands as we move forward. You know, the thing I noticed that's different between honey that you can get, say here, that's produced locally by local bees and harvested by local bee keepers. And then honey that you might buy in the supermarket that came from elsewhere is that with Hawaii honey, you can literally taste what the bees were tasting. You are what you eat, right? Yeah, I've got to assume it's the same for a bee. Well, because I've had honey that was farmed from bees whose primary source of food was guava and you could taste the guava in the honey. Same thing with bees that had been feeding primarily on mango. You taste the mango in the honey and I can't say that I've experienced that with honey from other places in the U.S. or in other parts of the world. So I think that also creates a situation where we need to be sure that we're protecting not only organic crops, but also shall we say, wild plant life as well. That's my way. Yeah, because I mean, there is nothing worse than taste. Well, yeah, there's nothing worse than tasting a guava that is not right inside. It's nasty. And I would imagine that honey made from guava that is not right inside is equally as unfortunate. So, yeah, pretty terrible stuff. And I think our challenge, too, I think it's taking that same idea and applying it to Starbucks is you are where you swim. You are where you hike. And so I think that, you know, we just have to constantly remind people that the same the same holds true for us, that if you are swimming in that same place like Pokai Bay and you see that those that those bays are getting, you know, are deteriorating, that there's runoff into the I mean, that's that's only not going to affect you for so long. Yeah, so I think we have to it's ongoing, consistent education in order to get people just to to mine the gap between mine. The gap like you're in England. Yeah. Now, and I'm sorry, that's a terrible place to end, but it's a great place to end because our time is running out. So gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Matthew Yetter, Jason Fieldman and Jason Otero. I'm Cheryl Kerzer Garcia. Thank you for joining us on Working Together. And we hope to see you in two weeks. Same bat time, same bat channel. So take care, everybody.