While the sugar cane plantations of the last century have left Hawaiʻi, our modern economy still struggles to free itself from the unsustainable business model they left behind. Today, the racial divisions among settlers and the dispossession of Kānaka Maoli, the wealth and power gaps between landowners/corporations and workers, and the reckless dumping of poisons in our environment continues.

Too many chambers of commerce in Hawaiʻi have rewarded leadership that perpetuates these short-sighted, dysfunctional practices which have hurt our customers, our workers, our communities, and our long-term economic sustainability. 

Listed below are some specific policy issues that highlight the differences between the Chamber of Sustainable Commerce and the other Chambers of Commerce. If your values and success as a business owner are more closely aligned with those of our Chamber of Sustainable Commerce, please join our efforts to show Hawaiʻi’s leaders that we can strengthen our economy without hurting workers, communities, or the environment.