by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Efforts to go green continue to get bigger and for the fourth straight year the University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability's Annual Island Sustainability Conference does so as well. As sustainability initiatives and projects continue to be pursued and implemented, it's only fitting that this year's island sustainability conference focuses on solutions for a more sustainable future.

"The purpose is to engage the community in actually thinking of where we are at and where will be in the future and in that we have to start to conserve, preserve our environment and think about how we can minimize the importation of goods and maybe start thinking and developing how we can develop that in our own island," said coordinator Elvie Tyler.

The annual conference kicked off today at the Hyatt Regency Guam featuring nearly a dozen vendors and even more presentors representing the private and public sector and the business community. "They are here as our vendors to actually speak on energy and alternative energy systems on island and also engaging all of our students to actually know what it's like to go to a conference like this," she said.

And with experts and scientists on hand along with notable speakers including STEMX Nationwide Network's executive director Margaret Ashida and Goldman Environmental Prize recipient Noah Idechong, Tyler she hopes other will be inspired. "We have talked about saying let's save our environment, we've spoken about lets save our energy on island, it's now time to do it, for people to participate," she said.

The conference continues until Friday where the final day will feature tours of the Humatak Watershed, the Masso Reservoir and the Navy Base energy projects.