Thomas Heaton

3 weeks ago | civilbeat.org | John Hill |Kevin Dayton |Thomas Heaton |Ben Angarone

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1 month ago | civilbeat.org | Thomas Heaton

Hawaiʻi is the home of surfing. Could old surfboards provide residents with new environmentally friendly homes? As Hawaiʻi suffers a chronic housing crisis, inflation increases building costs and counties struggle to find space on the islands for new landfills, one Maui organization is looking to surfboards for a solution.

1 month ago | civilbeat.org | Thomas Heaton |Megan Tagami

Hawaiʻi’s food security is already weak. Nearly one-third of children in the state live in a food insecure home and the demand for food banks is on the rise. Hawaiʻi farmers and hunger advocates are calling on the Legislature to plug new holes in food security as the Trump administration culls federal initiatives that help feed children and bolster the local food supply.

1 month ago | civilbeat.org | Thomas Heaton

The Attorney General is uneasy about such protections, fearful they would break interstate commerce rules. France has Champagne. Italy has Parmigiano-Reggiano. Should Hawaiʻi claim poi? Some farmers and poi producers think so, enough to lobby the state government to protect the name, prevent offshore crops from being pounded with locally grown poi products and stop foreign operations from co-opting the dish.

1 month ago | chronicle-tribune.com | Thomas Heaton

An unusual coalition of Hawaiʻi airline executives, farmers and ranchers, and fuel refineries is eyeing a new crop they hope will be almost as big to the islands as sugar was in its heyday. The Hawaiʻi Renewable Fuels Coalition sees the camelina plant, a brassica and close relative of canola, as a multi-win crop. Farmers could plant it between food crops to improve soil and its seeds can be harvested and pressed for oil, while a byproduct of that processing can feed poultry and cattle.