The Hawaiian name for this seaweed is limu kohu,
which means the supreme seaweed.
And it was traditionally eaten by the Hawaiian royalty.
Unlike its green relatives,
red seaweeds produce specialized compounds.
When you use this red seaweed as a cattle feed additive,
it has a dramatic reduction of their methane emissions.
Increased demand for beef and dairy has created
a livestock industry so large
that it's responsible for almost 15%
of total global greenhouse gas emissions.
This seaweed showed so much potential to reduce the impacts
of climate change that I moved to Hawaii
to start one of the few companies
that completely transforms modern agriculture.
Climate change is happening now.
It's affecting communities all over the world.
Is there a future and is it better
than the one that we're currently living in?
Cows actually produce a lot of methane
as a byproduct through burps.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that has about
30 times the warming potential as carbon dioxide.
So for every ton of methane
that's emitted into the atmosphere,
it's equivalent to emitting 30 tons of carbon dioxide.
Our ability to slow methane emissions
could have a quicker effect on global warming
than just focusing on carbon dioxide.
Symbrosia is not just reducing methane on a global level.
Symbrosia is also leading the charge
in sustainability in Hawaii.
Climate change is a huge thing in Hawaii.
We see the instant impacts
If we drive along the coastline, I see sandbags now.
I know that things have changed in my lifetime.
Rising sea levels, changing in temperatures,
what we're doing to our climate
is directly impacting the islands.
The land is everything to us in Hawaiian culture,
which is why we need to take care
of the land 'cause the land takes care of us.
Symbrosia is a cleantech startup,
based in Kailua Kona, Hawaii.
that when incorporated into livestock feed
can reduce their methane emissions by over 80%.
This could have a dramatic effect on slowing climate change.
we had a lot of pushback around our solution.
to mentors in the business community to seaweed scientists.
But being young has provided
a different perspective on entrepreneurship.
Being an ecopreneur, to me,
means leading with people and planet over profit.
As a startup we're chasing a pretty big problem
with a new and innovative solution.
We are all seeing the effects of climate change,
and knowing that the livestock sector
makes up part of global emissions,
that means we need to tap in
to making changes in that sector.
Symbrosia's work directly impacts livestock
and that is a worldwide concern.
Our product is called SeaGraze.
It's a supplement that takes up
less than 1% of a cow's feed.
This seaweed prevents the formation of methane
during the fermentation process in the cow's gut.
Just a sprinkle of SeaGraze into the diet of livestock
can reduce their methane emissions by over 80%.
For her to cultivate SeaGraze
and make it a usable product on land,
What she is doing, it's a game changer for the world.
Red seaweeds grow very slowly.
They're notoriously difficult to grow.
It has a very complex reproductive cycle on the reef.
Our first challenge was building a sea bank of the species.
The product that she's working with, it's hard to get.
It's normally found in rough areas of water.
Having a young team from the start
has given us an advantage.
We have tenacity, so we snorkeled the coastlines
and collected over 500 different individuals,
brought them back to our laboratory
and started screening them
for traits that were advantageous for our SeaGraze product.
When I was a young girl I wanted to be a scientist,
because I want to leave a better planet
for the people who are coming after me, the new generations
Growing algae is a hard process.
This algae has never been grown before at scale.
they need the proper amount of sunlight and good nutrients.
Sometimes it dies, sometimes grow really well.
we need to be really careful what we feed the algae,
and monitoring like pH, the temperature,
we can check it on our phone, and just to see it,
how it's growing or how it's not growing.
But when I see the algae growing,
when I see the beautiful red, it just fills me,
that we are helping our planet to be better.
We grow our seaweed on land
using a process called aquaculture.
This is a lot more sustainable than wild harvesting
from the ocean, which can affect the reef ecosystem
and the livelihoods of fishermen.
We use technologies all across the production cycle.
Starting with the seed, we use multiple genetic tools
to measure their success and performance.
We use different water quality assessments
as they move through their lifecycle.
We use automation to control
all of the different vessels that the algae grow in
to make sure that they continue to survive.
All of these different innovations come together
to allow us to produce this algae at scale.
Hawaii is one of the most isolated places on earth.
We bring in most of our food from the continent.
It is vitally important whenever possible
that we start producing our own food.
As part of our work in Hawaii,
we're working on local food sustainability and security.
Symbrosia provides a local sustainable feed option
We are partnering with Symbrosia
because we believe in what they're doing.
We believe in reducing emissions
through the additives of SeaGraze,
and doing all that we can do on this dairy farm
in order to make it as climate friendly as possible.
Not too many people know or understand
that living on an island,
we're limited to resources and feed for our animals,
which is why it's more marketable to send our cattle
to the mainland where the feed is cheaper.
The protein levels in SeaGraze will give us the chance
to feed the animal here, keep the animal here
and have 100% sustainable life with the cattle industry.
As a startup, iterating and innovating
Fast forward four years, we've seen real impact.
we've increased our production capacity by 20x.
On partner farms and in real commercial settings,
we've proven time and time again
that we can reduce methane emissions by 80%.
Basically, every cow on SeaGraze is equivalent
to conserving four to six acres of forest.
Symbrosia's work is important
to reduce the emissions from cattle.
It's a big part of the ingredient
that allows us to be sustainable.
So in the next five years
we will have more ponds and bigger ponds,
so then we can feed the cows around the world.
and look at all of our seaweed, I'm in awe.
The dedication needed to be an entrepreneur
But on the flip side, the entrepreneurial process
is one of the most rewarding things that you can go through.
Alexia and Symbrosia gives me so much hope for the future.
They're breaking down the door
for sustainable living in Hawaii,
which will be a direct impact
to the State of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture.
Doing my job here at Symbrosia,
I feel connected to Mother Earth,
and it feels that we are doing something to help her.
We can do something to change the world.
There's a lot of optimism and hope
that keeps us coming back day after day
to create a viable solution.
Symbrosia's work is more important than ever now.
They're a model for the world of what's possible
when people come together and work on these problems
and solve these problems and innovate,
it's really pretty exciting.
So there is great hope, there is great hope.