Volunteers from our five branches on O’ahu worked hard to stop the passage of Bill 69, which would have allowed billboards on the outside of city buses.  Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, chair of the Budget Committee, committed to deferring the fundraising measure for one year.  The City Council passed a buget that restores key bus routes without resorting to bus billboard advertising to raise funds. 

The challenge now is to identify additional sources of revenue for the City that can help to sustain basic city services (like buses and parks) without undermining the best interests of our community.  Some of your suggestions for revenue sources have been proffered to the Council members in private meetings.  Stay tuned as this issue continues to be discussed.

In the meantime, continue to build support for maintaining Hawaii’s ban on billboards by collecting signatures of the petition against bus billboards, talking to your Neighborhood Board and City Councilmember, and supporting The Outdoor Circle.

Local woodworkers volunteered to turn trees killed by vandals into beautiful works of art, and donate the majority of proceeds to the Waimea Outdoor Circle. 20 years ago, WOC helped volunteers landscape and plant trees in the newly opened Anuenue Playground.  Two years ago, vandals stripped the outer bark from seven of the trees, ultimately killing them.  While WOC volunteers set to work re-planting the playground with Ohia trees, woodworkers set to turning the dead Koa trees into bowls, bracelets, and another beautiful works of art.  The woodworkers have generously given 75% of all proceeds from the sale of these pieces to WOC in support of keeping this amazing community clean, green, and beautiful. 

Read more:

http://northhawaiinews.com/sections/news/salvaging-something-positive.html

Huge News!!! 

SB 632 just passed both the Hawaii Senate and House. This is huge.  Below is the statement we made to the press. Thank you to everyone who supported this bill along the way -- and a special thank you to Jan Dapitan on Maui and Chris Woolaway on O`ahu for their long-standing commitment to getting this bill passed. 

Stay tuned for more updates as we work to ensure this bill passes the Governor's desk and further support the actual implementation of the new Environmental Courts in Hawai‘i.

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.

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.