SEES Fellows: Re-localization and Sustainability - Linking industrial and political ecology on Molokai and the Big Island, Hawaii

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The study of sustainability, an inherently social and ecological concept, requires simultaneous consideration of social, economic, and environmental systems, the feedback loops between those systems, and the long-term viability of those systems. One approach to sustainability is "re-localization" - a movement to encourage sustainable production and consumption of food, energy and goods in the same geographic region. This research will integrate the approaches of industrial and political ecology to assess re-localization efforts in Hawaii, and their implications for sustainability. To determine whether and how re-localization is a viable pathway to sustainability, this project will examine the different ways in which re-localization is articulated, the conditions that enable or disable re-localization, and the ecological, cultural, and socio-economic effects of re-localization on the islands of Molokai and the Big Island within the Hawaiian Islands. The research will qualitatively examine the politics of re-localization, how are 'local' boundaries defined, whose interests are represented, and who wields the power to re-localize, as well as quantitatively measure baseline material flows and the material change that is precipitated by re-localization movements.This project will involve significant engagement among a variety of stakeholders, including academic researchers, government agencies, NGOs, and civic organizations, as well as educational opportunities via visits to local schools, mentoring of undergraduate students, and community forums. Findings from this project will elucidate potential spaces for collaboration between various demands for re-localization within the context of ensuring the sustainability of local communities. This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.