The 2015 Full Circle and Annual Meeting was consolidated into one full-day event which took place on August 8, 2015 at Honey's Restaurant at the Ko'olau Golf Club. For those who missed it, the following is a report on the programs and discussions that took place.

By Kau‘i Lucas

April brought more than showers to Hawaii shores.  Some of the worlds leaders in addressing Climate Change visited the islands, as well.  UH Sea Grant & Sen. Brian Schatz brought together national and local leaders to develop, promote, and finance sustainable solutions to the problems we face in Hawai‘i along with key stakeholders from government, industry, academia, the private sector, on April 15th to recommend specific action steps.  Presenters included former Vice President Al Gore and US Senator Barbara Boxer.  The following week Bill McKibben, author, environmentalist, and founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, spoke to a packed house, at UH Art Auditorium.  Gore and McKibben were both passionate and fact filled.  Gore, ever the politician, sounded the alarm more gently than McKibben, but one fact both shared was this stunner: The total amount of man-made global warming pollution surrounding the planet and the atmosphere today now traps enough extra energy every 24 hours to equal the energy release by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs going off every single day. (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gore-energy-release-equal-400000-hiroshima-atomic-bombs-going-every-day)

Not surprising then that the take home message was: we can win this, but we ALL have to take action NOW.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell finally named the appointees to Honolulu’s Arborist Committee, which includes our very own Susan Spangler, president of the East Honolulu Outdoor Circle (center right in green and white dress). Congratulations to all the appointees!!

“We are delighted to have the honor to serve the City in this capacity,” said Susan Spangler. “Honolulu’s Exceptional Trees need our attention, if they are going to endure well into the next generation.”

This is a major first step in The Outdoor Circle’s Exceptional Tree Initiative, our new program to ensure Hawaii’s public greenspaces — and especially their Exceptional Trees — are well-maintained.

Arborist Committees are established by state law to implement the Exceptional Tree Act of 1976 at the county level. In each county, this committee is responsible for addressing tree-related issues, including the identification of new candidates for “Exceptional Tree” status. Honolulu County has been without an Arborist Committee since Mayor Caldwell took office in 2012.

Watch for your membership renewal postcard in the mail!

The Outdoor Circle will be mailing membership renewals for all members in the beginning of April.  

To be efficient, we encourage you to submit your membership form and annual dues online by clicking here.  This not only saves our trees, but reduces the costs of printing, postage, and data entry. 

Renew by June 1, 2014 to ensure you are on the list to receive important updates, including an invitation to our Annual Meeting and election of officers to be held in August and our next convention of members, "The Full Circle."  
 
If you have renewed your membership since the Fall, then your membership is current and you will not be receiving a postcard in the mail.  Your membership will be up for renewal on June 1, 2015. 

If you mail in your membership dues to the office (1314 S. King St. #306 Honolulu 96822), then please be sure to include a note indicating the branches you would like to join and your email address.  Click here to download a membership form. 

If you have any questions about the membership renewal process, call the office at 808-593-0300.

This is also a great time to help new members join The Circle. Ask your friends and family if they appreciate the natural beauty of Hawaii -- and if they do, then they should help support The Circle's work by becoming a member.