Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii

We just wrapped our largest festival of the year: Sustainable Ghostlines Festival! Not only are these celebrations fun for our crew and the community, but they hold positive impact, too.

On October 19th, the Sustainable Ghostlines Cleanup Festival in Kaimukī was an amazing success. With the power of over 700 community members joining throughout the day, we cleaned an estimated 2,300+ lbs of debris from over two miles of Pālolo steam and the neighborhoods of Kaimuki. In addition, volunteers restored 200+ native plants to the banks of Pālolo Stream. Our festival was a fun and educational experience where even our costume contest and haunted ocean were opportunities for keiki and adults to dive deeper into the issue of plastic pollution and the solutions. Before our festival, our (re)Learning Team impacted 1,400 students in 4 Title 1 Schools throughout Kaimukī, bringing them in on the conversation of plastic pollution!

One of our highlights of our large-scale events is always striving towards creating a Model Event, which in short is thoughtful care around eliminating waste, socializing concepts of reuse, and sourcing things in the most sustainable way possible. Whether thats through providing water stations by our parters at Kōkua Foundation, working with vendors to allow attendees to use their own container, or having our Resource Recovery Program hard at work sorting through waste, this is always a high priority for our crew. During Sustainable Ghostlines Festival, our Resource Recovery Program recovered 70% of the resources throughout the event that would have ended up in a landfill or incinerated.

Ultimately, in order to truly protect our coastlines, we have to reestablish the connections from mauka to makai and inspire everyone to be a part of the change. Mahalo to everyone who supported our efforts with time, donations, and hard work.

For an in-depth look at this impact, visit our website.

BIG MAHALO to everyone who came out to our Sustainable Ghostlines Festival this past Saturday 👻

From the cleanup + restoration, to the community market + live music, we can’t thank you enough for your participation and support 💙

As our team takes some time to rest and recover, please enjoy these photos recapping the fun times we had 🤙🏽 We’ll be back soon with more from the festival, so stay tuned ✨

Who wants their own Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi t-shirt?! 🤩 Get yours screen printed for FREE at Saturday’s Sustainable Ghostlines Festival on your own pre-loved cotton t-shirt 👕

This year, instead of just making brand new merch for a one-off event, we thought… why not allow our community the opportunity to bring in their own shirts for screen printing? Not only are we mitigating the demand for new textiles, but we’re also upcycling and using what we already have and giving old shirts a new style and life! All you have to do is bring a pre-loved cotton t-shirt to the festival, we’ll get it screen printed for you, then you get to take it home ✨

And remember to participate in festival activities to be entered into our raffle for epic prizes 🤩🎟️

Comment what color pre-loved cotton t-shirt you’ll be bringing below ⬇️

If you still haven’t registered for our Sustainable Ghostlines Festival happening this Saturday, October 19th, check out the link in our bio 🤙🏼

Get in the Halloween spirit at Sustainable Ghostlines Festival by participating our upcycled costume contest! 👻

Transform trash into treasure and use what you already have or can find second hand to make a creative reused, repurposed/upcycled, and/or “trashy” costume 🤩 The most innovative, eco-friendly designs will be celebrated, so bring your unique vision and a spirit of sustainability!

There will also be a costume swap with Wardrop Shop! Bring old costumes to give them a second life. This is your chance to share, get creative, mix and match costumes, and use your costume swap creation to enter our costume contest! No costume left behind. We will donate all remaining items to Goodwill down the road 😊

Encourage a friend to enter the costume contest, too, by sharing this post with them ✨

Can’t wait to see your spooky and sustainable costumes on Saturday!

We can’t wait to see you all in 5 days for Sustainable Ghostlines Festival! In addition to a cleanup + cleanup restoration activity, vibrant community market, food trucks and activities, we have some epic live performances happening!

We can’t wait to welcome + friends for an evening of a blend of folk, blues, rock, and reggae! Paul Izak is versatile musician from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi and is also an organic farmer. Through his platforms, Paul’s music has been heard by millions of people around the world and he has just returned from his first European tour. At this year’s festival, he’ll be joined by other talented local musicians for a special full band performance 🎶🤙🏼

In addition to Paul Izak, enjoy hula by Hālau Hiʻiakaināmakalehua, a live DJ, and more 🪩

Can’t wait to see you there on Saturday, October 19th, 3pm - 8pm!

Send this to someone you want to jam out to free live music with the Saturday or, tag them in the comments below 🕺🏼

Itʻs that time of year... and REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

We are hosting our Sustainable Ghostlines Festival, offering a vibrant community marketplace, cleanup and restoration volunteer opportunities, live music and festive activities, all keiki to kupuna friendly!

The festival returns on Saturday, October 19th at Aliʻiolani Elementary School, from 3P - 8P. Last year’s event boosted over 30 eco-conscious local vendors and over 1000 attendees. Last year alone we activated 630 volunteers to remove over 2000 pounds of debris from the community and stream, and planted over 150 native plants along Pālolo Stream, with the work spanning 141 acres of land.

This year, the first half of the event will offer two stations to choose from for volunteer activities – a neighborhood cleanup throughout Kaimukī and a restoration workshop along Pālolo Stream. The entire festival will be going on from 3 - 8PM with these two volunteer offerings happening simultaneously off-site for those that want to get dirty from 3 - 5 PM. While cleanup and restoration work happens, attendees can enjoy live music, shop at local vendors, dine at food trucks, and interact at educational booths with activities hosted by nonprofits. In addition, there will be an upcycled costume contest (for both keiki and adults), live t-shirt screen printing of pre-loved cotton t-shirts, valuable raffle prizes, and more.

Send this to a friend youʻre bringing this year 👻

This year, the Olympics pledged that the Games will be “historic for the climate,” yet, it is sponsored by the world largest plastic polluter 🤔?


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🧐 Despite attendees not being allowed to bring single-use plastic bottles into the Olympics, will sell an estimated 6.4 million single-use plastic bottles and are using various excuses to bypass the Olympics sustainability goals—one being using reusable cups at venues.⁠
One media outlet reported that Coca-Cola is pouring beverages into reusable cups from single-use plastic bottles. ⁠
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💥 Instead of using more plastic and excuses, Coca-Cola needs to stop creating plastic pollution. ⁠
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Article by Politico linked in bio.⁠
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Join us this Saturday July 27th (and every last Saturday of the month) at the Nation of Hawai’i in Waimānalo for an ‘Āina Workday!

Be part of sovereignty and mo’olelo in action as we talk story, cleanup, and get our hands in the soil to restore the land.

On June 29th, our SCH team and community came together to clean up a portion of Pa’akea Road that is consistently burdened with illegal dumping. It is easy to point fingers at the act of littering in cases like this, but we see an opportunity to help the ‘āina while calling attention to the very nuanced issues of waste in our societies.

How we dispose of waste, where we dispose of it, and who has access to this disposal is oftentimes an issue of equity that we fail to address in our society. Rather than cast blame it is important that while we clean together, we think about how this problem arose in the first place and work towards proactive solutions for helping to stop it in the future. Mahalo to all who continue to support SCH and the communities we serve.

With Aloha,
Rafael Bergstrom, Executive Director, SCH

Photos by 📸

We can’t say mahalo enough to this community of volunteers who make the work we do possible! 🙌

Our crew is incredibly lucky to have spent the morning with them, clearing over 10 tons 🤯 of land-based debris from Pa’akea Road! A big shoutout to our friends at , Uncle Rusty and his crew, , and all of our incredible partners and sponsors that support our work throughout the year.

As our team takes a second offline to recoup, we hope you SAVE THE DATE 🗓️ for our next large scale cleanup event (which will be the biggest festival we have this year), our Kaimukī Cleanup Festival! Saturday, October 19th.

Stick around as we share our impact report from the West Side Cleanup, coming soon 👀

Photo 📸

Our crew tackled this marine debris at our monthly Kahuku cleanup yesterday!

Microplastics: Tiny particles, big problem!

They say the less we know the better, but in this case, the opposite is true. Awareness could make all the difference in the world! Most microplastics are small enough to go undetected as they move through the ocean, and those even smaller end up in places like our food (both packaged and freshly caught), drinking water, and even the air we breathe. Microplastics are dangerous to the human body for many reasons, one of them being that they can contain harmful additives used in their production, such as phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and flame retardants. These chemicals can leach out and be absorbed by the body, potentially disrupting endocrine function and causing other health issues. They can harbor harmful microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, which can cause infections and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Although research is ongoing, it is evident that these little guys pose serious threats to both marine life and human health. So what can we do to end their reign?

To name a few:
1. Reduce Single-Use Plastics: Switch to reusable bags, bottles, and straws.

2. Participate in Beach Cleanups: Join local efforts to keep our coastlines clean.

3. Support Legislation: Advocate for policies that reduce plastic production and promote recycling.

4. Choose Sustainable Products: Opt for items with eco-friendly packaging and natural fibers.

5. Educate and Inspire: Spread the word about the impact of microplastics and encourage others to take action.

Microplastics may be a tough issue to tackle, but if each of us works to make mindful changes to our everyday lives, we will begin to see the changes unfold in real time!

It's no secret that plastic is Big Oil's Plan B... and that they'd rather draw 25 than produce less of it👀🃏

Big oil companies are central to the production of plastic pollution because they produce the raw materials—primarily derived from fossil fuels—used to make plastics. These industrial companies refine crude oil and natural gas into ethylene and propylene, key components for producing polyethylene and polypropylene, which are the most common plastics. With the growing demand for plastic products, big oil has invested heavily in expanding petrochemical production facilities across the world. This increase in production contributes significantly to the creation of plastic waste, much of which is not recycled and ends up as pollution in landfills, oceans, and ecosystems across the globe. Furthermore, the industry's promotion of single-use plastics exacerbates the pollution problem, leading to widespread environmental damage and health risks to our ocean friends and people.

The term “coastal restoration” encompasses many different practices. It can range anywhere from transplanting healthy corals into degraded reefs, to installing structures such as groins or breakwaters for sediment entrapment along beaches or marshes. As effective as many of these things may be, they are not always accessible for the general public.

Among each of these are actions we can take in our everyday lives such as removing invasive species from along the shoreline. Invasive species often outcompete native plants for resources such as light, water, and nutrients. Removing invasive species allows native vegetation to repopulate and thrive, restoring the structure and function of the ecosystem.

Join us tomorrow, June 1st as we partner with .tv to do our part in restoring our coastlines with a day full of cleanups, invasive removal and park beautification. We can’t wait to see you there! Register using the link in our stories🙌🏽

Each Last Saturday, our crew has the opportunity to volunteer at the Nation of Hawai'i 'Āina workdays!

If you were able to spend Earth Week with us, you might have come to our last event of the week here where we replanted native trees and removed invasive plant species that have grown over rows of lo'i terraces. Join us for a day of invasive plant species removal, cleaning up rubbish, and working to restore these ancient terraces every last Saturday of the month (this Saturday, May 25th)!
Register to participate here: https://donate.sustainablecoastlineshawaii.org/event/may-25th-nation-of-hawaii-last-saturday-workdays/e585421

To each and every one of our incredible volunteers, partners, and sponsors, mahalo for making this impact possible!

The work we do cannot be done without the power and stewardship of the community around us. Throughout the week, we had the chance to engage with partners throughout the Waimānalo Ahupua’a, bringing volunteers into the hands-on, immersive work our programs do to combat and mitigate plastic pollution.

A special shoutout to for making Earth Week possible!

See our website for the full impact report ✨

Happy Mothers Day from all of us at SCH!🫶🏽

In addition to celebrating the mothers who gave us life, we are also celebrating Mother Earth, the original life source for all🙌🏽 Like all amazing mothers out there, the Earth nurtures us and holds us very dear to her heart. She protects us and gives us all the support we need to not only survive, but THRIVE🌱

Our love for her is what drives our passion and determination in keeping her happy and healthy. Sending lots of love to our very special mother on her very special day🌹🌷

When do you feel most connected to Mother Earth? Let us know down below!

Nation of Hawai’i restoration day on film😍

If pictures are worth 1,000 words, these are novels about the power of community and stewardship. You can almost feel the mana radiating out of each photo. Once again, we’d like to express our utmost thanks to all of the volunteers who came out to celebrate Earth Week with us, as well as those who support our efforts in other ways near and far. Every donation, volunteer registration, post share, tag, etc. is seen and appreciated. This community is the foundation of everything we do, and how well you’ve all watered these roots is the reason we’ve been able to blossom. Mahalo nui loa to every single one of you🫶🏽

Will you be joining us at the last Saturday workday of this month? Let us know in the comments below and tag a buddy you want to bring with you! 👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽👫🏽

Pov you hire SCH as your personal stylist for the 2024 Met Gala🎟️📸

The theme this year is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” It’s all about reintroducing the audience to pieces they’d long forgotten in the world of fashion and art. What better way for us to adhere to the theme than by using items that are typically forgotten and overlooked in our everyday lives: microplastics.

Microplastics are a result of larger plastics breaking apart over time. We interact with microplastics daily through food, water, and air contamination, as well as through personal care products and synthetic clothing shedding fibers. While we may not use them like this in real time, our team works hard to make sure the microplastics we remove from the environment are repurposed in ways that not only keep the plastics off the coast, but inspire communities to care for coastlines with the resources and tools they have! 🙌🏽

Interested in helping us collect these little guys off our shores? Register for our James Campbell Wildlife Refuge cleanup happening this Thursday (5/9/24) using the link in our bio! Be sure to sign up by TODAY (5/6/24) to be granted access to the grounds.

Can’t wait to see you there!🫶🏽

Community.

One of the pillars that has built the foundation of the work we do, mauka to makai! We’re so stoked on this beautiful community of passionate people who have come out to support and give back to organizations throughout the Waimānalo Ahupua’a with us this past Earth Week. The work that has been done wouldn’t have been possible without you and the many partners and sponsors that get excited about creating a regenerative future with us.

As we reflect on this past Earth Week, or team is taking some time offline to recharge. We appreciate your support and patience!l as we get to your inquiries!

Photos by