Discover a Hawai’i Grown Solution to the Global Climate Challenge on Wednesday May 4 at 5:30 pm

KIHEI, HI –  Learn how the startup company Symbrosia is working to solve climate change by reducing livestock methane emissions with seaweed that’s grown sustainably in Hawaiʻi, at a free Zoom presentation offered on Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30 pm. The presenters will be Daisy Stock and Kylie Tuitavuki of Symbrosia.

This Zoom presentation is offered as part of Maui Nui Marine Resource Council’s Know Your Ocean Speaker Series, supported by the County of Maui Office of Climate Change, Resiliency and Sustainability. Admission is free, but preregistration is required. To sign up, visit https://bit.ly/SymbrosiaWebinar.

“Symbrosia has been developing a breakthrough seaweed supplement that, when sprinkled into animal feed, increases growth rates and reduces the methane emissions from cows by over 90%,” Tuitavuki reports.

The seaweed is Asparagopsis taxiformis, which Symbrosia views as the sustainable feed material of the future for the world’s millions of farmers and billions of farm animals.

“We are collecting, cultivating and partnering with ranchers and farmers throughout the Hawaiian Islands, to support local food systems and the local economy while also fighting against climate change,” notes Stock, who is the R&D Manager at Symbrosia. “Our team is currently scaling up sustainable production in Kailua Kona, HI at Symbrosia’s pilot facility.”

“The United Nations has declared 2020-2030 the ‘decade of ecosystem restoration’,” said Tuitavuki, a member of Symbrosia’s Business Development team. “While seaweed has long been touted for its impressive array of restorative ecosystem services, only recently has research started to uncover algae’s potential within the food, animal feed, and biofuel sectors.”

“Maui Nui Marine Resource Council is pleased to offer this talk as part of our Know Your Ocean Speaker Series,” comments Meredith Beeson, who coordinates the monthly speaker series. “We look forward to helping our community learn about a potential solution that can help address livestock methane pollution, which currently accounts for 6% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

“If enough cows, sheep, and goats start snacking on this methane-vanquishing seaweed, it will prevent gigatons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere and will bring the entire animal agriculture industry one big step closer to being carbon neutral,” reports the Symbrosia website. “This will make a huge difference in the fight against climate change.”

To learn more about Symbrosia, please visit https://symbrosia.co.

The Know Your Ocean Speaker Series is hosted by the nonprofit Maui Nui Marine Resource Council on the first Wednesday of each month and is funded in part by the County of Maui Office of Climate Change, Resiliency and Sustainability and by donations from individuals and businesses in the community. To learn more, visit www.mauireefs.org.

To reserve your free spot at this talk, please visit https://bit.ly/SymbrosiaWebinar

About Daisy Stock
Leading the R&D team at Symbrosia, Daisy investigates novel approaches to A. taxiformis strain selection and development. Prior to joining the team, she worked in a NASA laboratory investigating the origin of life through isotopic analysis of meteoric material. While earning her B.S. in Marine Science from UC Berkeley, Daisy completed her undergraduate thesis on light sensory mechanisms of sea urchin and contributed to marine conservation research in Panama, Mo’orea, Hawai’i, and California. Daisy is passionate about inclusive, community-oriented science and is excited for the future of marine based approaches to climate change mitigation.

About Kylie Tuitavuki
As a member of the Business Development team, Kylie facilitates outreach, community building, and story-telling for Symbrosia’s partners throughout the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to her work at Symbrosia, Kylie is a current graduate student at UH Mānoa investigating the long-term sustainability of indigenous cropping systems and their potential for revitalization that would support local food systems.  While earning a B.A. in Anthropology and Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, Kylie completed her senior thesis on the impact of long-term agricultural management strategies on soil health and has worked on several community-based research projects in Vanuatu, Mo’orea, and Hawai’i. Kylie is passionate about equitable, inclusive, and community centered research and is thrilled to uplift local and underserved communities in the fight against climate change.

About Maui Nui Marine Resource Council

Maui Nui Marine Resource Council (MNMRC) is a Maui-based non-profit organization working for clean ocean water, healthy coral reefs and a restoration of abundant native fish for the islands of Maui County. MNMRC is recognized for its ability to work with the community to plan, fund, enact and manage culturally appropriate, science-based solutions to serious problems undermining nearshore ocean water quality and threatening local coral reefs. To learn more, visit www.mauireefs.org.