Image via: Algalita Marine Research Foundation

We must recognize that everything we create as a society has a future that we cannot see. Every product we make lives on after our brief interaction with it. Nowhere is that more apparent than the plastic legacy we are leaving in our oceans.

Via dirtshirt.com

Most people use washing machines to remove dirt. A company in Hawaii sells shirts dyed with the impossible-to-remove volcanic red dirt of the islands. Why? A 1992 hurricane threatened to sink the company when red dirt blew in and stained all of its white T-shirts.

Shopping at the International Marketplace in Honolulu, Hawaii, is like shopping under a Pandora hometree from the movie "Avatar." You don't need 3-D glasses. You don't even need sunglasses.

photo: tata_aka_T via flickr

Being pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it's no great secret that Hawaii is utterly dependent on imported energy.

Shark fin soup can even be found canned, in Chinatown in Honolulu. Photo via istolethetv

Shark fin soup is one of the primary reasons why sharks are disappearing from our oceans at frightening rates.

Photo: Flickr, CC & Seal of the state of Hawaii

Nissan Picks Hawaii as an Early Launch State
Hawaii residents will be able to get their hands on the Nissan LEAF electric car a bit earlier than the rest of us.

I'm in Oahu to speak at the NextLevel conference, my second Hawai'ian island trip in all (I visited the Big Island in 2001). When one lands in Honolulu, the first place you go to is your hotel, usually in Waikiki. While it's certainly beautiful with scenic island decor, you feel enveloped by tourism and civilization... The high rises remind you that this is Hawaii's most populated island, and the 11th largest metro area in the United States.

photo: J. Novak

Fish farming has become a reality within an industry that over fished its way through global fish stocks at a remarkable rate. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 75 percent of the world's fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted, or recovering from overexploitation.

Amphibious Hyposmocoma larvae on silk line underwater by Patrick Schmitz, Rubinoff Lab

Scientists at the University of Hawaii have discovered the first truly amphibious insect.

Image credit: Friendly Aquaponics & Makine Mekanik

While some folks may be busy debating whether soil-less agriculture can be organic or not, there's a lot of momentum behind aquaponics.