Q. What are you reading?

A. The first of three books on my table now is "Deep Economy" by Bill McKibben. The essential message is returning to economies that are more local in scope and are reflections of local cultures. The second is called "Testament of Hope," collected speeches and writings of Martin Luther King Jr. It's interesting because he was writing at a really tumultuous time in American history, but a lot is directly applicable today. And the third is a biography of Einstein called "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson. That's just because I like biographies and reading about people that are way more brilliant than I could ever hope to be.

Q. What did you take from "Deep Economy"?

A. One interesting factoid I took away from the book is that material wealth makes you happy only up to a certain point, and that more wealth then correlates with less happiness. The argument the book makes is that at that point you substitute material goods and wants for things you actually need for happiness like relationships, time or communing with nature. You sacrifice those things for material gain. ...

Q. Did McKibben's book give you any tools to work with as Kanu inspires a new vision of local activism in Hawai'i?

A. Part of the reason I like the book is it affirms the work we're trying to do, and reading about examples of communities trying to do this really made me feel like Hawai'i is advantaged in some ways. We know these things intuitively.

... I found it really encouraging because I feel like we're finally at a point in Hawai'i's history and in global history that we can start making this happen. And that's what Kanu does - Kanu is really about empowering people to live that way and be a part of building that kind of economy and society through their personal actions.