By Alexis Attanasio ’00

Think of the Punahou Carnival, and “eco-friendly” might not be the first word that comes to mind. Yet, in keeping with Punahou’s commitment to environmental sustainability, several noteworthy steps have been taken to bring its most popular fundraiser in line with the 2016 Sustainability Challenge.

Building on the strides made last year to reduce excess waste and conserve energy, this year’s Junior Class is devoted to promoting a sustainable future by making a number of critical decisions. One of those decisions was to use organic cotton for their carnival shirt. “The class agreed early on to go organic,” Carnival Coordinator Lee Ann Ichimura recalls. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

From a green perspective, choosing organic cloth was the right decision. A United States Department of Agriculture study, conducted in 2000, revealed that 84 million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on cotton in the U.S., ranking it second behind corn. Taking into account toxic herbicides, fungicides and defoliants that are also sprayed on conventionally grown cotton, as well as chlorine bleach, heavy metal dyes and formaldehyde resins used during processing, the decision to support sustainable farming practices simply makes sense.

Speaking of corn, all 11,000 ears of it will be organic and locally grown for this year’s Carnival. Not only will this be good for the health of carnival-goers, but it will also be gentle on the environment. Local, organic produce has a relatively light carbon footprint because it does not travel far from where it is grown, and organic soil stores more carbon than its chemically pumped counterpart. Reflecting on this significance, Marcia Wright, Punahou’s Director of Food Services, notes, “Because Carnival is done on such a huge scale, it’s not always feasible – financially, or even logistically, feasible – to buy locally grown, but relatively pricey, organic produce.” Through the help of the O-Men, however, Wright reports that Punahou was able to work with Alec Sou, the President and General Manager of Aloun Farms, at procuring affordable organic corn, which also supports our local farmers.

Corn will not be the only healthy food option at the Carnival. Wright was pleased to point out that many of the foods served at Carnival are in keeping with Punahou’s goal of providing healthy food on campus. “Making healthy food choices is one of our sustainability goals…and, in fact, most of the food at Carnival is not that bad for you. Many of our dishes are made from scratch, so you don’t have to worry too much about preservatives and artificial ingredients [as you would with processed food]. Our chili uses a combination of beef and lean turkey to lower its fat content, our noodles and Portuguese bean soup are full of fresh vegetables, the chicken [in our chicken plate] is prepared from fresh whole chickens that are cooked in a rotisserie [rather than fried], and our hot dogs are not made from fillers but from grass-fed beef.” Smoothies are another healthy option at the carnival. This year, the smoothie booth will be adding acai shots, containing a blend of 19 different fruits and a host of antioxidants, to its menu.

To help reduce the amount of food packaging, both Wright and Ichimura are proud to announce that several booths will be using bio-compostable plates and boxes instead of Styrofoam. “Ideally, we would have liked to discontinue using Styrofoam [with compostables that break down more easily in landfills], but this just was not possible,” states Ichimura. Wright explains, “We were able to use “Styrophobia” [a bio-compostable] at several of the booths – Chicken Plate, Hawaiian Plate and the hot dog chili dish served at the Waikiki hamburger booth – but the Portuguese bean soup is so hot and wet that we couldn’t risk somebody getting burned.” (The bio-compostable bowls are less sturdy than their Styrofoam counterparts.) “We’re not done,” Wright continues, “but we’ve certainly made progress. And that’s what our Sustainability Initiative is all about. It’s a process. As a school we need to keep asking ourselves ‘What more can we do?’”