Each week Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding hosts The Hot Seat, our opinion-page blog that brings in elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was Suzanne Case, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i.

Here is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. To see the full conversation, go to The Hot Seat blog at www.honoluluadvertiser.com/opinion and click on "The Hot Seat." (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Greg: I keep hearing about the reefs being killed, not just in Hawai'i, but elsewhere around the world. If true, this is devastating. What role does global warming play in all this? Got solutions?

Suzanne Case: Yes, it's true that reefs around the globe, including Hawai'i's, are under increasing threat from global warming — directly because even small increases in temperature above normal range stress the organisms making up the reef, and also from ocean acidification from the increased levels of carbon. The first solution is certainly to decrease carbon emissions as quickly as possible. Simultaneously, we want to protect the health of our reef systems so that they are as resilient as possible and can adapt better as we're trying to reduce the threat.

Jay from Pearl City: Did The Nature Conservancy take a position on the GMO genetically modified taro moratorium in the Legislature this year? Why is the state House so adverse to imposing a moratorium and does Rep. Clift Tsuji have some sort of interest in the industry?

Case: I know this is of concern to a number of people, and to answer it, no, we didn't take a position.

Here's a good opportunity to clarify what The Nature Conservancy's work is all about. We have a specific mission; The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. Other environmental organizations in Hawai'i do important work to protect open space, fix pollution problems, encourage recycling and urban beautification, and the like. The Nature Conservancy is able to be effective in our work by staying focused on issues directly related to our mission. When a topic is not directly related to our biodiversity mission, we support other organizations that focus on addressing those issues. When we can, we offer our help or support.

GMO taro is an issue not related to our work of protecting native Hawaiian forests and reefs, so we aren't involved in that one.

William: Now that the Superferry is up and running, are you monitoring it in any way to prevent invasive species from going from one island to the other?

Case: We don't have responsibility for monitoring, though we work closely with the Hawai'i Invasive Species Councils, who do statewide monitoring work. Our primary concern has been the movement of invasive species between islands because the Superferry is a new, potentially significant vector, though not the only vector.

In that regard, we provided informal recommendations to the Superferry as part of an advisory group they asked us to participate in on ways that it might mitigate the movement of invasive species through thorough inspection of vehicles, boats, trailers, camping /hiking/hunting gear, as well as outreach and education to its customers to help them appreciate what they should and should not move between islands and that all their vehicles, gear, etc., should be thoroughly cleaned. These kinds of measures should be considered for all interisland transport.

Tina: Any advice on what citizens should be doing daily to help preserve our natural resources?

Case: Lots! For ocean protection, check out some of the suggestions on our Web site for International Year of the Reef — don't walk on the reef, catch what you need, not what you can, pick up trash, and the like. In the forest, be sure to scrub your shoes before you hike in sensitive native forest. Take care not to spread invasive species — don't plant the most invasive ones like Australian tree fern in your yards — check out the Hawaii Weed Risk Assessment (you can Google it) to see which plants are invasive and which aren't. And of course, cut down your carbon footprint — measure your carbon footprint and consider offsetting all, or a portion of your emissions. www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

Marjorie: I want to be sure I plant the right plants but I'm not sure if native versus non-native is enough. And what's the difference?

Case: Natives are always a good choice. I have a number planted at home myself. Native plants are those that have always been in Hawai'i before humans — we have more than 10,000 species of plants and critters found nowhere else on Earth, including about 1,200 native flowering plants completely unique to Hawai'i. Consider how isolated we are and you can see how through evolution what was able to make it here and adapt in isolation creates a very unique environment. It's also very sensitive to displacement by invasive non-natives. Not all non-native plants (introduced by humans, mostly in the last century) are invasive, which could destroy our native forests. Some, like the plumeria, are introduced but don't take over — you have to physically replant a stem. Some, like strawberry guava and miconia, have juicy seeds spread by birds and wind and non-native animals, and completely destroy very diverse native Hawaiian plants in a forest. You can always Google "Hawaii invasive" and the name of the plant and you can find out if it's invasive.

Conservationist in Honolulu: What is the most significant accomplishment/achievement The Nature Conservancy has done in Hawai'i?

Case: I'd have to say the Kahuku Ranch addition to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park — 116,000 acres, increasing the size of the park by 50 percent, including some important South Kona/Ka'u native forest as well as cultural sites, going from the highway all the way up Mauna Loa, and linking a vast expanse of native forest in Ka'u and South Kona.

Carol S.: How large is your budget? Where does the majority of your funding come from? And can you give us a basic breakdown of how those dollars are spent?

Case: The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i manages programs across the state on all the main islands, as well as Palmyra Atoll. We are very local in orientation so we have field staff on Hawai'i, Maui, Moloka'i, O'ahu and Kaua'i, in forest management as well as marine conservation, and a significant number of scientists. Although we are part of an international organization, we are completely responsible for our program — both fundraising and execution. Our current budget for all our conservation programs is about $10 million, including both public and private funds. TNC has quite high program efficiency — more than 80 percent of dollars raised goes directly into conservation work.

John: Do you think that the brown tree snake will be a problem here in Hawai'i in the near future due to the pending military buildup on Guam and the uptick in the transport of vehicles and equipment back and forth from Guam and Hawai'i? What if anything is being done about this?

Case: A reminder: The brown tree snake was introduced from the South Pacific islands into Guam during World War II, and has since wiped out most of the native bird populations there. We don't want that to happen in Hawai'i! Now, the buildup on Guam of military members, their dependents, and associated movement of equipment and household goods create a significant increase in the threat of moving brown tree snakes to other locations throughout the Pacific. The Defense Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawai'i Department of Agriculture and many others, including The Nature Conservancy, are currently engaging in in-depth planning activities to mitigate this threat through enhanced capacity for inspection of cargo leaving Guam and improved control efforts for the snake on Guam. In fact, many of the experts in brown tree snake prevention and control (were) here in Hawai'i (last week) for their annual planning meeting.

Aspiring student: How can I have a career in conservation?

Case: There are many careers in conservation, here in Hawai'i and around the world. In Hawai'i, one of our challenges is finding qualified people who understand the science of conservation, community issues and can work on the ground to enact our conservation plans. To help address that, The Nature Conservancy implemented a two-year program to train local people in how terrestrial conservation works. As a result, both The Nature Conservancy and other conservation organizations hired each of those newly trained people in natural resource management positions. Similarly, we are implementing a Marine Fellow program. These are approximately two-year-long training programs and we plan to continue these.