Discovering Place-Based Solutions to Global Challenges
Impactful Experiences Begin with Place
The experience of ICWF begins in Hawai’i. On the island of Kauaʻi, in the North Shore town of Kīlauea, we will gather on land known today as Common Ground.
The history of this remote place sets the stage. It is a place where the focus naturally turns to land, food and community. The heritage of Kauaʻi is steeped in the soil. It’s in the chronicles of the canoe plants and the indigenous knowledge that brought them here. Once a piece of the Kīlauea Sugar Company, and later the heartbeat of the 500-acre Guava Kai Plantation, Common Ground’s campus holds the history of Kauai’s conflicting and consequential plantation era.
Through a lens of both local practices and global perspectives, Common Ground’s campus has become a platform where intersections can ignite passions and purposes that ripple outward from our immediate circles.
Hawai’i is also a place that must grapple with complicated realities: high-volume tourism, the presence of the military, and of Big-Ag, struggles of its native population, limited resources, high costs of living, little affordable housing, and constantly-threatened food systems. But we hold these truths right alongside others: Hawaiʻi’s government makes efforts to support regenerative travel. These are islands of great diversity in both cultures and traditions. People who genuinely want to make a difference are drawn to this remote home.
To be in such a place of paradox brings perspective and a deeper understanding of the many tones that make up even a paradise like Hawai’i. To recognize the history of this land is to acknowledge the necessary and at times uncomfortable conversations that come with addressing the complex realities of our world. This sets the table for conversations and interactions that bring us together to explore how we eat, how we connect, how we solve challenges, and how we leave a better future for this planet.
At ICWF, place sets the table – with the food, foodways, history, and communities of Kaua’i anchoring our wider explorations of a regenerative food future. It asks that we be considerate and thoughtful guests, taking seriously the complexity of issues we seek to improve and listening actively and openly to those with whom we share stories and meals.