A cookbook, picture books and podcasts are some of the university’s opportunities Hawaii In Mānoa, business students raise awareness of the global fight against climate change. The projects were part of Instructor Constantio Paranal III‘s summer 2022 marketing course titled “Imagination, Entrepreneurship” at Shidler College of Business.
“It’s important to include climate change in business and entrepreneurship education because we are the generation that has the capacity to make changes.”
– Raina Casamina
“The need to include this topic in every discipline, not just economics and entrepreneurship, has never been more important,” Paranal said. “For current and future leaders, climate change education is key to developing sustainable and meaningful businesses. I believe education is key to advancing all causes and inspiring young civic engagement and now is the time to act.”
Raina Casamina, a Master of Science in Marketing Management, led the team that created a recipe-style cookbook on how to reduce our carbon footprint through daily activities. Like any recipe that counts calories, the Laulima Society recipe book counts the carbon footprint of an activity.
Some of the recipes include coffee for the workplace, roasted chickpea gyros and chocolate chip cookies. The book is not limited to food. It has other activities to reduce its carbon footprint, including upcycling t-shirts to make a reusable bag and creating a zero-waste kit. Students also encourage others to create their own recipes.
“It’s important to include climate change in business and entrepreneurship education because we’re the generation that has the capacity to make changes,” Casamina said. “We just want to emphasize that there are so many things people can do in our daily lives to help fight climate change. Although this impact may seem minimal now, when we come together as a community, we can make a difference. It can be so easy to reduce electronic consumption to supporting sustainable brands.”
Other student teams created two children’s picture books featuring two siblings, Micah and Kalei, who are determined to save our ocean and their sea creature friends; and three podcast episodes featuring professionals, students and activists talking about how to promote and take action on climate change.
-Through Marc Arakaki
