Join AAG leaders in a frank discussion with Hawaiian leaders about the challenges and mutual benefits of AAG’s 2024 annual meeting in Honolulu. What themes, speakers, and activities might enable hosts and guests to share and experience Hawaiian values of ho‘okipa (hospitality), aloha ʻāina (love of the land), and ʻimi naʻauao (seeking wisdom)? How would the integration of indigenous values enhance the field of geography? How might our Honolulu conference support a paradigm shift to manage Hawai‘i tourism in a responsible and regenerative manner?
This is the first in a series of virtual learning opportunities planned ahead of the 2024 AAG annual meeting. These webinars feature a broad spectrum of speakers, perspectives, and thought leadership representative of the Native Hawaiian worldview. These discussions illuminate Hawaiian ecological insights and perspectives on how to live in harmony with the environment; explore ways that those views may align or differ from the perspectives of others; and foster professional and personal growth of our members, discipline, and the AAG. They also help frame our purpose for convening in Honolulu and underscore our determination to visit as respectful guests. We are excited by these opportunities and invite you to join us on the journey.
Part of our Preparing for the Honolulu 2024 Annual Meeting webinar seriesSpeakers
Aurora Kagawa-Viviani
University of Hawai‘i – Manoa, Professor & Researcher
Aurora Kagawa-Viviani
Aurora Kagawa-Viviani identifies as an ecohydrologist and a geographer. She also identifies as an urban Honolulu-raised kanaka ʻōiwi, which informs her relationship to Hawaiʻi and its peoples. Prior to earning her Ph.D. from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, she worked across the Hawaiian Islands in conservation and education, supporting ʻāina-based (place-based) and Indigenous STEM program development. These experiences shape her vision for integrated research, teaching, and service underpinned by a desire to address societal and environmental problems related to global change. She strives to conduct research that is both responsive to community needs and also advances fundamental understanding of water, ecosystems, and the roles of humans on the landscape.
In addition to serving on the faculty of the Department of Geography and Environment and the UH Water Resources Research Center, she also serves (unpaid) on the Hawaiʻi Commission on Water Resource Management (2021-2025), is a Ford Fellow, and is a parent of two small kids.
Mahina Paishon-Duarte
Waiwai Collective LLC, CEO & Co-founder
Mahina Paishon-Duarte
Mahina Paishon-Duarte is co-founder and chief executive officer of Waiwai Collective, a regenerative urban oasis, a kīpuka, for weaving community, culture, and commerce. As a social entrepreneur who has also led several educational and cultural organizations, her vision and mission are one and the same––to catalyze positive, lasting change for Hawaii in one generation. Most notably, Mahina is the founding executive director of Paepae o Heʻeia, the first modern Hawaiian fishpond that created ground-breaking ʻāina-based education programming for students from preschool through post-doctoral levels. She gained public sector experience as a policy program manager with NOAAs Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, which at the time was the worldʻs single largest marine managed area, advancing the integration of both indigenous and western scientific methodologies. Mahina also served as head of school for two accredited award-winning culture-based charter schools. Today, Mahina is a part of the ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures movement to address long-standing socio-economic inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored; and to bring to life a resilient economy through our core value of ʻāina aloha—a deep and abiding love for Hawaiʻi’s communities and natural environments.
Ulalia Woodside Lee
The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, Executive Director
Ulalia Woodside Lee
In her professional career and as Kumu Hula, Ulalia Woodside Lee is dedicated to thriving lands, seas, people and culture in Hawaiʻi. Ulalia is the Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Hawaiʻi and Palmyra program where across the Hawaiian archipelago and to Palmyra Atoll, TNC protects and restores native forests, collaborates with communities for healthy coral reefs and fisheries, and develops cutting-edge research and interventions.
Prior to joining the Conservancy, Ulalia oversaw Kamehameha Schools’ portfolio of agricultural and conservation lands, place-based education, and natural and cultural resources management programs. She is also an author and invited speaker on ecosystem services and indigenous peoples’ approaches and relationship with nature.
Volunteer leadership is an important part of her community service, and Ulalia serves in leadership and advisory positions for Hawai‘i Green Growth, Mālama Honua Public Charter School, Kauahea Inc., Lālākea Foundation, Daughters of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiʻi Investment Ready ʻĀina Aloha Economy Fund. These organizations contribute locally and globally to sustainability, the advancement of traditional cultural practices, and the preservation of the Hawaiian relationship to nature.
Neil Hannahs
Ho‘okele Strategies, Founder & CEO
Neil Hannahs
Neil J. Kahoʻokele Hannahs is Founder and CEO of Hoʻokele Strategies LLC, a consulting enterprise to support the emergence and growth of values-driven leaders and enterprises that forge a thriving environment, robust economy and social equity. Hannahs previously directed the Land Assets Division of Kamehameha Schools, responsible for 358,000 acres of agriculture and conservation lands in Hawai`i. He also co-founded the First Nations Futures Program and Hawaiʻi Investment Ready Program. Hannahs is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and received BA and MA degrees from Stanford University. In 2019, he was inducted into Stanfordʻs Alumni Hall of Fame in celebration of his “distinguished accomplishments and outstanding contributions to our community and society.” Hannahs currently serves on the boards of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Hawaiʻi Land Trust, Aloha Kuamoʻo ʻĀina, Hawaiʻi Investment Ready, Awaiaulu and the State of Hawaiʻi Commission on Water Resources Management.
Rebecca Lave
AAG, President
Rebecca Lave
Rebecca Lave is a Professor of Geography at Indiana University and President of the American Association of Geographers. Her research takes a critical physical geography approach, combining political economy, STS, and fluvial geomorphology. She has published in journals ranging from Science to Social Studies of Science, and is the author of two books: Fields and Streams: Stream Restoration, Neoliberalism, and the Future of Environmental Science (2012) and Streams of Revenue: The Restoration Economy and the Ecosystems it Creates (2021, co-authored with Martin Doyle).
Gary Langham
AAG, Executive Director
Gary Langham
Gary Langham is a broadly trained scientist with 20+ years of experience working on science-based solutions for people and the environment. He has published peer-review papers on a wide range of topics, including climate change, biogeography, seabirds, evolution, genetics, physiology, animal behavior, and conservation. In 2019, he was recruited to become the Executive Director of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Before this, Gary was Vice President and Chief Scientist at the National Audubon Society, where he directed Audubon’s wide-reaching scientific initiatives and studies. In 2000, he founded the Neotropical Grassland Conservancy to foster grassland research with grants and equipment. He completed a National Science Foundation Bioinformatics postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, and he received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University.