Our Mission

The Sustainable Living Institute of Maui is committed to optimizing Maui’s economy by helping people build skills that are compatible with the community’s cultural choices and economic aspirations; developing Maui as an exemplary and prosperous island; sharing eco-effective methods with other communities throughout the world; and serving as a living laboratory and classroom for building and managing holistic communities.

Core Values

SLIM aims to help guide community decision making processes in harmony with the cultural values and principles sustaining the Hawaiian culture and environment. SLIM’s development paradigm is based on three fundamental values of sustainable development:

• Equity – Strengthen the social support system and develop and enable people to improve the quality and vitality of the community
• Ecology – Care for, protect, preserve and enhance the environment
• Economy – Optimize financial investment and generate sustainable profits to enable individuals and companies to thrive

Vision

The Sustainable Living Institute of Maui strives to be the premier institution for fostering sustainable, innovative methods of community development and management. The Institute draws students not only from Maui, but also from the entire state of Hawai’i and around the world to learn about and apply the sustainable sciences. These sciences are grounded in the watershed management system and draw inspiration from the Native Hawaiian land management system embodied in the ahupua’a. The Institute serves as a catalyst to make the island of Maui a prototype for the development of sustainable island communities.

Core Principles of Sustainability

SLIM’s core principles of sustainability harmonize its core values with the principles that are indigenous to Maui and Hawai`i.

• Ho`ohanohano – Honoring our island cultures and traditions and recognizing our interdependency
• Mālama`āina – Safeguarding our land, water and fragile habitat through responsible ahupua`a stewardship
• Po`okela – Excelling in the provision of services and products that achieve distinction in the marketplace, without jeopardizing the other two values

Goals

• Gather information, foster innovation, generate new knowledge and develop and validate appropriate eco-effective technologies
• Develop and enable people through formal education and training to become the leaders who will implement a new way of thinking, planning and executing future growth
• Share information, knowledge and technologies with the community
• Contribute significantly to improving the quality and vitality of life for Maui and Hawai`i’s communities