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FeedEnvironmental Heroes 2009
Meet some ordinary people whose super power is an unflagging commitment to Maui's natural environment.
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They help protect life on this planet. Revealing their identities? That’s a good thing.
Photography by Nina Lee and courtesy of Forest and Kim Starr
One of the pleasures of putting together our environmental issue is getting to recognize a few of the many individuals who are working to make a difference on behalf of these islands. One of the challenges is narrowing that list to five—a feat we only achieved this year by counting as “one” two couples who have woven activism into the fabric of their marriage. Whether their efforts come as part of the job, as volunteers, or a combination of both, Maui is fortunate to have the passion, enthusiasm and insight of environmental heroes like these.
Leading Man
At the start of important meetings, even before he introduces himself, Chris Luedi, Fairmont Kea Lani Maui’s general manager, likes to stand up and chant in Hawaiian.
“Almost immediately I have acceptance, because people understand the importance of perpetuating the Hawaiian culture,” Luedi says.
It’s typical of the way Luedi operates: leading by example rather than by mandate, with a genuine enthusiasm for what he shares. At the Fairmont, Luedi imparts not only his love of Hawaiian culture, but also his passion for the environment.
When Luedi took over as GM in 2001, he put together a “Green Team” of representatives from every department as a base for environmental and sustainable efforts. “It’s a way for all the employees to buy in,” Luedi says.
The idea has worked so well that Maui County has featured the Fairmont in its “Tour de Trash,” a behind-the-scenes look at recycling and waste-processing operations.
To date, the hotel has successfully implemented nearly fifty environmentally friendly initiatives, such as placing recycling bins in guest rooms, treating swimming pools with rock salt instead of chlorine, conducting daily beach cleanups, and recycling laundry water. Green Team members meet every month to ensure the programs continue to grow.
“In the process, we’ve been able to change the attitude of our employees, not only at work but at home,” Luedi says.
More than 500 Fairmont employees have made personal commitments to the environment through Kanu Hawai‘i, a nonprofit organization that encourages individual efforts toward a sustainable Hawai‘i. Fairmont gives everyone who signs up a free tote bag made from recycled materials.
“We’re not forcing them, but encouraging them to make a commitment to take environmentalism to their homes, to replace light bulbs, to use a shopping bag instead of plastic bags,” Luedi says. “The next step is taking this to our guests.”
In 2001, the hotel began placing cards on the beds, asking guests to indicate whether they wanted their linens changed daily or every three days. Recently, Fairmont took it one step further, with cards stating the sheets would be changed every three days to conserve resources.
“We were afraid, but on the contrary, guests actually applauded,” Luedi said. “Ten years ago, it would be unimaginable to think that a guest who spent $2,000 a night wouldn’t get fresh sheets on their bed or new towels every single day. Now green is popular; everybody has an interest in it.”
For Luedi, who was born and raised in Switzerland, environmental concerns have always been a part of life. “In Europe, much is mandated by the government,” he says. “It’s something I grew up with . . . because I spent most of my life outdoors in various adventures.”
With the same zeal he brings to conservation efforts and Hawaiian cultural study, Luedi pursues a wide range of “adventures,” including triathlons, ultra-marathons and long-distance canoe paddling—really long-distance. A founding member of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society, Luedi recently completed a 430-mile journey encircling the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Luedi points to the way the ancient Hawaiians lived in the ahupua‘a system as inspiration. “Sustainable living from the mountains to the ocean is the essence of Hawaiian life, and it’s a great example to talk to our guests about in our Hawaiian cultural tours,” he says. “It all ties together; it’s all one and the same.”
—Sky Barnhart
Stellar Observers
While we’re standing in front of the Starrs’ Olinda home, an Anax strenuus passes some ten yards away, looking like a skinny little bird. Kim points, names it. “That’s the endemic dragonfly, the big blue one.” Forest points toward my leg. “You’ve got a Vespula checking you out,” he says. It’s a stocky little wasp hovering near my notepad.
Forest and Kim talk simultaneously, completing each other’s sentences: “The western yellow jacket . . . arrived on Maui in 1980 in a shipment of Christmas trees. . . . They’ve been decimating island insect populations. . . . They cut off the legs and appendages and carry the bodies back to their larvae . . . had an impact on native forest birds.” In twenty seconds I get a ten-minute lesson in the natural history of an invasive species. “We talk at the same time,” says Forest, grinning. “In stereo,” says Kim.
For sixteen years, this duo has made a career out of noticing and compiling scientific data on the plants, bugs, and birds that usually go unnoticed—work that is invaluable to anyone in the state who labors for environmental causes. Last year the Starrs found 300 species of plants in Hawai‘i no one had ever documented.
Snooping around the brackish coastal ponds of leeward East Maui, they spotted a damselfly that had been presumed extinct. Not long ago, they discovered an entirely new species of beetle in, of all places, Kahului, a long-horned wood-boring beetle now known as Plagithmysus kahului. So far it’s only been seen at Kanaha Beach, but Forest and Kim are still looking. That’s what they do—look. When they see something they don’t recognize, they note it and publish the finding. That simple, rare service is their passion.
“We got six new records on Kaua‘i when we were on our honeymoon,” says Forest.
Working with “soft funding” (which means they have no fixed salaries and live from project to project), the Starrs have systematically traveled every road on Maui, using GPS technology to map 120 plant species. They have studied most of the state’s offshore islets. Every year they tally the Haleakala silversword population. They’ve studied ants and done surveys of commercial nurseries.
“We take a picture of every single plant we look at,” says Forest, and these images go on their website, available for free to all. The site (www.hear.org/starr) gets 10,000 views a day.
As volunteer organizers, Forest and Kim have led efforts to save and restore seventy-five acres of coastal dune ecosystem at Kanaha Beach, where they like to surf. But their personal mandate (and profession) is to provide biological information to conservation managers.
The Starrs met while studying at Cornell University, she in hotel school/marketing, he in business. They found their truer natures through rock-climbing, canoeing, and outdoor education. Eventually, Forest brought Kim to Maui, where he was born and raised. Together they trained themselves to be as sharp a pair of naturalists as you’ll find. A true pair.
Forest takes care of the big vision, says Kim; “I take care of the details.” “We work together,” Forest agrees. “It’s our schtick.”
Or true love.
—Paul Wood
