{"id":180622,"date":"2023-07-20T15:29:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T01:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=180622"},"modified":"2023-07-20T15:29:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T01:29:09","slug":"honolulu-cc-students-genki-balls-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/20\/honolulu-cc-students-genki-balls-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Honolulu <abbr>CC<\/abbr>  students &lsquo;ballin&rsquo; for sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_54537\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J7YLTK7NSWE?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"HonCC Sustainability Club: Genki Ball Production and Water Testing Research Project (Part 1)\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Students, faculty and staff at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honolulu.hawaii.edu\/\">Honolulu Community College<\/a> got their hands dirty to embrace sustainability and to clean up a nearby pond, with an even bigger goal in their sights. Participants learned about the importance of bioremediation and how it can be used to restore the health of our ecosystems here in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float:right;clear:right;margin:0 0 0 15px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-5-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"Volunteers standing on the banks of the loi\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-180646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-5-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-5-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-5.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/div>\n<div style=\"float:right;clear:right;margin:0 0 0 15px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-6-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"Genki balls in a bucket\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-180643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-6-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-6-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-6.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/div>\n<p>In May, the group made 423 tennis-sized balls&#8212;containing a mixture of clay soil, rice bran, molasses, water and <abbr>EM<\/abbr>&bull;1 solution (an organic soil amendment)&#8212;known as &ldquo;Genki balls.&rdquo; The Japanese word genki means &ldquo;healthy&rdquo; or &ldquo;well, full of energy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Genki balls have been effective in cleaning up other waterways, such as the Ala Wai Canal. The Genki balls were fermented for a couple of weeks, then were tossed in the <span aria-label=\"Loi\">Lo&#699;i<\/span> Kalo Mini Park pond, a short walk from the campus.<\/p>\n<p>The student-led project also conducted water quality testing before and after the addition of the Genki balls. Roughly half of the balls were thrown into the pond in June, and the other half in July.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As an institution deeply rooted in the Kalihi neighborhood, Honolulu <abbr>CC<\/abbr> is dedicated to making a positive impact through sustainable activities,&rdquo; said Michelle Nathan, assistant professor of natural sciences. &ldquo;The Genki Ball-throwing event at <span aria-label=\"Loi\">Lo&#699;i<\/span> Kalo Mini Park is a wonderful way to teach sustainability while fostering a sense of togetherness among our students, faculty and the community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A second Genki ball making event will occur in late August. In September, the group hopes to begin throwing Genki balls into the Kap\u0101lama Canal, an approximately one-mile long waterway that roughly follows the original course of the former Niuhelewai Stream from Honolulu Harbor to near Houghtailing Street.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-2.jpg\" alt=\"Wide shot of the loi, plants and a blue sky\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-180639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-2.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/honolulu-genki-balls-2-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Students, faculty and staff made 423 Genki balls to throw into the <span aria-label=\"Loi\">Lo&#699;i<\/span> Kalo Mini Park pond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[62,73,71,56],"class_list":["post-180622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180622"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180655,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180622\/revisions\/180655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}