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A helpful and hopeful book about Kaua`i for Kauaians everywhere. 

Tending the Garden Island (TTGI) is an inspiring progress report on community- building that integrates recent work in "social capital" and "ecological economics" and applies it to the Kauaian style of living in ecosystems and a history of initiative in this isolated rural place.

Book Chapters

1. WHY WE ARE GARDENERS
2. WHERE WE ARE NOW
3. WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
4. WHERE WE ARE HEADED
5. HOW WE MEASURE PROGRESS
6. HOW WE AVOID THE WORST
7. HOW WE NURTURE THE BEST
8. WHY WE JUST DO IT
   

Featured Data

TTGI presents the first-ever tabulation of local economic indicators from 1970 to 2000. These time-series have been updated through 2006 here.

Related Writing

TKI's Ken Stokes also posts the lastest sustainability science and best practices from an island perspective on SusHI, the top "green" blog in Hawai`i.

Tending the Garden Island

Written by a seasoned champion of community networking, TENDING THE GARDEN ISLAND presents a well-reasoned assessment of strategic forces shaping Kaua`i, and a detailed guide for Kauaians who wonder what we can do to help create a more sustainable island future.

More than a first-hand account of one plantation-cum-resort island on the edge of over-development, this forward-looking assessment charts a course for dramatic change in how Kauaian community resources are managed and island sustainability attained.

If you care deeply about sustainability on Kaua`i, this book is for you.

Book Reviews

"A data-packed little book full of solutions to Kauai's complex problems. Should prove indispensable to residents and visitors alike."
Joan Conrow, Kaua`i Journalist

"Using an artful mix of demographic data, environmental indicators, and ecological theory-but all based on traditional native Hawaiian cultural understandings-Stokes demonstrates how to weave together an attractive vision of how to do sustainable development in ways that are at once politically, economically, and demographically feasible."
Dr. Oliver Markley, Retired Futurist: 

"Ken Stokes has obviously studied his subject thoroughly. This book is well-written, informative and inspiring. Those of us on the mainland (really just a bigger island) can benefit from the approach Ken takes in his work on rejuvenating Kauai as a true "Garden Island". This simple approach offers fundamental lessons on sustainability, not only for the smaller environment of the island of Kauai but for the planet as a whole, which is really the larger garden within which we all must learn to make our living in order to survive with dignity and provide for a future that is both healthy and nurturing."
Thomas Elliot, Colorado Visitor:

"Definitely a people's book...a MUST read!"
June Shimokawa, O`ahu Activist

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