we all have huge kuleana to recycle and reduce enviromnental impacts of the dump

The dump on Maui is a great example of kuleana. Though we can proclaim that it is a disgusting eyesore, all of us have contributed to its ever growing destruction. Taking responsibility for the trash you create by consuming a product should be made of the utmost priority. The individuals who demand products wrapped in packaging, need to understand the proper disposal methods to limit the waste that ends up in landfills or scattered throughout our lands and seas. The gasses and chemicals released from landfill sites are harmful. As rain washes through dumpsites, solids dissolve and mix with liquids which create an acidic and contaminated fluid that can pollute and contaminate drinking water. The bacteria from the breakdown of organic matter in landfills, such as fruit scraps and vegetable peelings, create a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.  These are just a few of the effects of waste mismanagement.

Individuals can sort the components of their trash and discard materials properly to severely reduce the millions of tons of trash that is produced each year by the nation. Home recycling does take a trivial dedication of time, but offers more than sufficient benefits to the homeowner and the environment. Recycling in the home can make a difference on both a local and global level.

The basics of recycling should be reviewed to ensure practical sorting skills. Papers and Carboard include newspapers, magazines, glossy printed flyers, phone books, envelopes, computer paper and paper packaging. Remove any rubber bands or plastic wrap. Carbon paper, stickers and laminated materials should not be included in paper & cardboards. Effort should be made to recycle all plastic waste. Plastic goods, bottles, grocery bags and polystyrene packaging should be carefully separated by the specific type of plastic. Glass containers are recycled according to color: clear, green and brown. Light bulbs, sheet  glass, mirrors and pyrex should be kept separate from traditional glass jars and bottles. Aluminum, Steel and Copper recyclables include food cans, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, foil packaging, copper, bronze and brass. Paint cans and aerosol are recyclable but are hazardous and need to be kept separate from other metals. Electronic goods like printers, computers and hardware along with cell phones and rechargeable batteries should be reused or deposited at appropriate e-cycling centers.

Some tips for home recycling; Visit your local recycling center, find out what is accepted at which specific centers on the island. Set up your home recycling bins according to these categories. Once a storage bin system for recyclables is established, recycling becomes an easier chore. Labeling these bins will ensure materials are separated correctly. To reduce your production of waste, purchase products with the highest percentage of “post-consumer” recycled content. Post consumer means the materials used in the manufacturing process were returned by consumers and successfully recycled. The Freecycle movement is a great idea, you can give away for free what you have and don’t need and you receive for free what you need, but don’t have. This free cycling of goods keeps lots of useful stuff out of the landfill and is about thinking globally and recycling locally. We must reduce consumption and demand only products made primarily with recycled content, so that the materials we recycle are put to use, and these markets are sustained.

Compost is one the best things that all of us can recycle. It includes scraps from our food prep, leftovers and anything that is natural or from the yard like branches, pruning waste, yard clean up waste. The best thing to do if you have space or a garden is to set up a compost area in our yards. We put all this stuff into a compost pile and after time and minimal management of the pile it turns to humus soil....the best nutrition on earth, for soil, plants and our natural ecosystems, made by Mother Earth, it is excellent for our gardens, fruit trees and anything that grows and needs nutrition. It is truly amazing to make our own compost into soil. It is alive and benefits our planet instead of becoming green house gas in the land fill. There are many helpful websites, books and local people to help us start to do our own compost. So please get educated and help us to be a sustainable island and reduce Mt. Opala......we all thank you for your contribution because it takes all of us to really have dramatic impacts that are measurable. We owe this to our children and the next generation, and our 'aina. This is an example of one of the most important things that each of us has kuleana to do, especially those of us who buy into the modern mentality of American consumerism. We have to or no more clean 'aina for our future....we cant just blame the ugly American way because we are all part of it weather we like it or not and we must prove to the politicians and controllers that Indigenous and native sustainable and organic methods are the only hope for our survival.
resources: 
Maui refuse aka the dump
http://www.co.maui.hi.us/facilities.aspx?pagenum=50&RID=5&Page=detail
This is from the maui recycling group and is awesome...you have to scroll down to read it and it is great
http://suphttp://www.menehunemagichawaii.com/technicaldata/Everything%20You%20Always%20Wanted%20To%20Know%20About%20Compost%20But%20Were%20Afraid%20To%20Ask.pdfak.com/organic_gardening/organic_hawaii/compost.htm

 This is one of the most positive pieces of information I have read in a long time because it tells me that young people really care and want us to care.....Kuleana people...mahalo for paying attention.

http://envisionplastics.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/recycling-is-important-a-young-persons-appeal/

To be sovereign it starts with being sovereign with our food sources

agroecology and rural farming in the world

Nov 4, 2011

 I really like and loved this reading on rural farming through out the world. I grew up on Ono Farms and was weeding and growing things since I can remember. My first actual day that I can recall weeding beets and thinning carrots I was four years old. I grew up having to work in the garden and having numerous chores centered around growing our own subsistence and food. Weeding, taking out the compost all the time, picking papayas and avos, bananas, sugar cane, every vegetable that grows here in Maui....you name it that is what I did until I was 11 years old and then I decided that I could finally fend for myself at school in Hana and started going to school in the sixth grade. I did not have as much time to help in the garden or the farm because I now had to catch up in school with the curriculum and stuff but we still had huge loads of work and responsibilities that we had at home on the farm. Now coming to school I see that all the stuff that I learned at home was invaluable and has enabled me to have great knowledge that was not taught in school at all and in my opinion should be from an early level like kinderGARDEN.

Ok now the article was so great and hopeful to read. This sentence "The agroecological process requires participation and enhancement of the farmerʻs ecological literacy about their farms and resources, laying the foundation for empowerment and continuous innovation by rural communities." hits it right on the head!!! this statement was also great..." the required change is impossible without social movements that create political will among decision-makers to dismantle and transform the institutions and regulations that presently hold back sustainable agricultural development." so so  true what this article articulates about our world and how backwards things are in relation to the agriculture and industry versus small farmers with organic sustainable strains and seeds as well as all the traditional and indigenous, and ancient wisdoms and traditions passed down in small farming villages all over the world. We have to get back to the kupuna generation mentality where everyone had things growing and everyone traded and shared food and knowledge instead of gigantic corporations like monsanto, costco and the government subsidizing stuff. We have to go back to the ways things were done before the great depression and before the war. We need to reinstate the circular way of living in harmony with nature as we are also nature. I could quote just about every line of this reading it was so good and had me hooked.

Mahalo,

 Annjulie

Resources:

From the book “Agriculture and Food in Crisis” chapter: 14 Agroecology, Small Farms, and Food Sovereignty

http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/3216

Monsanto trying to control Whole Foods Market and our healthy food sources of Organic origin. Read this it is heavy

http://www.eatingrightdiet.com/http:/eatingrightdiet.com/whole-foods-and-monsanto-misinformation/

This movie talks about the green revolution that is ruining our aina and small farming in the world focus on India. It also talks a lot about Monsanto trying to control the world through food and seeds.

lots of pono knowledge on organic and bio dynamic farming from one of the best films I have ever watched:

One man, one cow, one planet.

http://onemanonecow.com/

Maonsanto in Hawaii Because of Monsanto my family cannot farm organic papayas any more due to cross- pollinating of GM papayas. There are no more GM free papayas in Hawaii anymore

http://www.monsanto.com/hawaii/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.hawaiipoliticalinfo.org/?q=node/166

Rise of King Sugar Hawaii, Islands under Influence

Rise to King Sugar

Nov 10, 2011

This chapter of this book was so hard to read because it is all true, extremely depressing and just disgusting on every level. It clearly shows how the Hawaiian Kingdom was stolen, taken over by greedy businessmen namely the "Big Five" and forever changed and ultimately illegally and against the common will of the Hawaiian people annexed without documentation to the United States resulting in the complete control and dominance of the American forces and businessmen of the sugar industry, which dominated the social and economic structuring of the islands that led to Statehood. This mentality and Western way of thinking and doing business is completely opposite of the Hawaiian people and way of thinking with reverence and respect to the land that feeds us...WE ARE NATURE, NOT SEPARATE FROM NATURE. The influences of the sugar industry in Hawaii were the downfall of the Kingdom and the people. They came to dominate every town, land, water sources, economy, labor and politics it is just sickening to read this stuff. They brought in big industry, big machinery, big irrigation practices, chemical fertilizers and methods of farming that desecrates and destroys the natural ecosystems, the soil, the water flow, the forests, the reefs, the people of the land.....HAWAIIANS DID NOT HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST THESE MONEY GREEDY, CAPITALISTIC WESTERN ECONOMIC DRIVEN BUSINESSMEN. In my opinion this is still going on across America, and the world,  to the small organic and community based way of life...Look at Monsonto and what they do and represent. They have their largest research and test fields here in Hawaii and in just a short time have come to dominate food quality, and sources in the world by poisoning our soil and organic seeds with the Genetic Modification process food. And our food source with 70% of our overall food being contaminated..We cannot be sovereign from the US until we can be sovereign with our food sources/practices as well as our economy in my view. Until we start to actually implement the wisdom of the kupuna and the elder generations to go back to healthy agriculture, organic farming, composting, recycling, getting back to being sustainable on a whole I do not see any chance at survival of any humans of any ethnicity or any place on the Earth. Food production has to be in our yards, our communities with the people being in control not big industry like the "The Big Five" taking over and dominating our futures and of our children. I could go on and on about this stuff but I do not want to preach anymore....I'm scared for our children and for our planet and all of our future. We have to take some responsibility and stop the mass hegemony that is going on at a world scale. We have to be aware of our farming practices, of our purchases (they equal votes), of our dependence on unsustainable ways of living....the big powers and controllers have us hooked like junkies on crack. We all need to wake up, get more educated to stuff in a quick hurry, spread the mana'o and use Mother Earth as the mirror of how to do stuff that is pono and in harmony with Earth. I have too much to say and I can feel a heart attack coming on right now so I have to stop for now....be back as soon as I can cause we are out of time people....WE HAVE TO LOOK TO OUR ELDERS WAY OF LIVING WITH THE LAND TOGETHER IN SUSTENANCE INSTEAD OF DEGRADATION HOW THEY HAVE BRAINWASHED US INTO DOING....WE DOING JUST WHAT THEY WANT....HEGEMONY PEOPLE.....MY FAVORITE QUOTE...."DON'T BELIEVE A WORD I SAY...GO LEARN FOR YOURSELF" Kumu Kaleikoa


mahalo


Annjulie

resources:

rise of king sugar from the book Hawaii under the Influence

http://books.google.com/books/about/Hawaii_islands_under_the_influence.html?hl=EN&id=02SO-cLiJY4C

 

Definition of Hegemony (one of on google)

http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/hegemony.html

short history of the “big five”

http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=29

the big five in Hawaii Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/08/04/story15.html?page=all

we need to live off the land as our kupuna did.....Earth and ʻaina need us

Sustainability, Organic farming and Kalo and minimun streamflow issues

Nov 10, 2011

---

So these topics go hand in hand and I have been learning and following these issues for at least half of my life. My mom had began to make me aware at an early age. Then in high school I became best friends with a half Hawaiian half American girl from Keanae. We got along really good and had a lot in common in the sense that we had Hawaiian and Western values imbued into our life from infancy but we also struggled a lot because they do not mix at all they teach opposite concepts and thinking in every way especially in relationship to farming, land tenure, water-flow, social and economic views and beliefs and basically everything. We struggled a lot and felt torn all the time...of course we liked going to Mc Donalds, the newest cars, materialistic crap, shopping, shopping shopping, Disney bla....bla...bla...but we also valued the hard working life, the life of the farm, swimming and gathering in the mountain and in the streams and ocean...we loved doing things in the traditional Hawaiian way....hunting, gathering, and fishing and farming as our kupuna have done for 1000s of years...(my kupuna were not of Hawaiian ancestry but were and are amazing organic and subsistence farmers that lived in harmony and off of the land just as Hawaiians) So we both as did with most of the Hawaiian people growing up on the East side of Maui value and cherish the old way of life and doing things...We grew and pulled taro every weekend, we gathered everything we could off of the land to make cash so that we could go and "buy stuff" Western garbage as I call it now....We all get together and talk about the good old days and how fun it was and how we miss it so much....anyway I just want to say a few things...OUR KUPUNA AND HAWAIIAN ELDERS ARE THE SMARTEST PEOPLE THERE ARE WHEN IT COMES TO SUSTAINABILITY AND HARMONY WITH RESOURCES AND EARTH....WE ALL HAVE KULEANA TO PERPETUATE THIS GOOD MANA'O BEFORE ITS TOO LATE FOR HUMANS AND THE ECOSYSTEMS....I want to share this mana'o from one of the most 'akamai wahine that I know...she is Hawaiian, she is our future(to represents the pono Hawaiian in all Hawaiians), this is our last chance we can do it with this kind of thinking and awareness. As a foot note I feel proud because I not only know and respect this person but I helped raise her and influence her knowledge as well as help to
nurture the positive change occurring in the youth of Hawaii of today....we have hope but we have to board the wa'a now and continue to teach the next generation....food and sustenance come from the 'aina not big industry like Costco and Monsanto and American values.

presented by Napua Hu'eu

video#3. the voices of east maui telling their story and calling for justice to be served

For the people of a Ko‘olau (windward) facing landscape, the flow of water from mountain to sea is vital to the health of the land. A healthy land makes for healthy people, and healthy people have the ability to sustain themselves.

-Water is of the greatest significance in our beliefs and traditional cultural practices.

-Malama ‘Aina defines our sustainability efforts. By caring for the land, we maintain an comfortable lifestyle.

-Our society is based on the extended family.. ‘Ohana, living and working cooperatively with one another.

-We live in the ahupua‘a which stretches from mountain to ocean and contains everything necessary from soil and sea to support the community.

-Kalo is the core of our religion, culture and diet. We share the work it takes to grow Kalo.

We are healthy because we eat Kalo. Our survival depends on Kalo, which in turn depends on farmers, and strict resource management.

When the western world made contact with Hawai‘i, we moved away from that self-sustaining lifestyle. Hawaii’s economy was no longer based on kalo production, but rather on sale of goods and services. The population shifted away from the villages and valleys to towns and seaports..Water followed the population to plantations on the other side of the island. 

LETTERS.. East Maui Irrigation (EMI) is a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin (A&B), a corporation that operates numerous transportation, real estate and agribusinesses. For over 100 years, A&B has invested in diverting water from East to Central Maui to water their Hawaii Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S) fields. EMI operates the largest diversion of water by any private entity in the country and is the largest privately owned Water Company in the world.

NUMBERS.. The total delivery capacity of their ditch system is 445 million gallons per day (mgd). A&B pays 1/5 of a penny per 1,000 gallons of East Maui water and has been paying that same price since 1980. HC&S ships raw and refined sugar more than 5,000 miles to be produced and marketed, it is the antithesis of sustainability and food security, demanding oil from which Hawaii is so desperately trying to free itself. HC&S claims to be too vital to Maui to fail because it controls 800 jobs and contributes $100 million dollars to the economy. They claim any decrease in amount of water taken will severely impact profits. 

 The diversions have de-watered streams that once fed a vibrant Hawaiian culture and jobs of other kinds. Taro farming, fishing and subsistence gathering used to put food on the family tables throughout East Maui. Quality for stream life such as o‘opu, ‘opae and hihiwai need to be considered before eliminating entire water flows such as Honomanu stream. These diversions have caused untold sufferings to our families, who for many decades were no longer able to feed or support themselves. Of necessity, many abandoned ancestral lands that could not be made productive due to hardships. Many fell victim to addiction. With the loss of manpower and added impact of diverted waters.. many of our rivers, streams, land and lo‘i lost life all together. Some people remained behind, and struggled to keep their farms, way of life and culture. The children of absent parents were cared for by grandparents. Instilling in their grandchildren the values and traditions of their day, they opened the eyes of their moopuna to the riches of the land and we disregarded any sense of loss. We spent our weekends with grandma and papa, learning and helping with the chores of valley life. Tending to animals, weeding taro patches and picking ‘opihi.. we managed to hang on to some hope of sustainable living as Kua‘aina.. those who remained behind, bending their backs to work the land. Now years later, with age and the healthy return of our parents, together we've come to understand the benefits of living close to the ‘aina. Kuleana, once accepted.. gives life to the possibility of truly sustaining ourselves again. The challenges of figuring out how to work together is rough, hard manual labor for work everyday is tough, but these struggles can bring about great community accomplishments like food security for starters. There is a complete disregard of the benefits stream restoration could bring.

With the understanding of what we can gain from our ‘aina, we simultaneously realize the care that needs to be administered as well. If we are going to encourage better self-sufficiency, we must ensure there will be all the natural resources necessary to accommodate this. A look at the past is essential as we step into the future. Recognizing and respecting basic Hawaiian values will help guide stewardship of our wahi pana, and sacred resources.

The Commission on Water Resource Management has been identified as the entity to protect all rights. As a public trust resource, water falls under the protection of the state constitution, which declares its duty to support Hawaiian culture and protect Hawaiian gathering rights. Why is it that an agribusiness corporation controls resources that have been pledged by the state to protect? The law is squarely on the side of restoration so why is it that an agribusiness corporation controls our resources which the state has pledged to protect? The commission should perform its constitutional duties, Restoring streams are but a small measure toward repair of inestimable damage the diversions have caused. for more information you can follow the Ko'olau Hui on facebook.
Mahalo

Resources

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Na-Moku-Aupuni-O-Koolau-Hui/113049585433007

http://www.alexanderbaldwin.com/

http://www.onofarms.com/

Dinner Geography: We need to eat local pasture or wild meat & dairy NOT GRAIN FED

Annjulie Vai

Dinner Geography

October 13, 2011

My dinner(s) consists of mostly foods that I grow, gather, hunt/fish or trade from the ‘aina of Maui. I have been raised in a way to be conscious of my food choices and to hold “organic” food choices as the most healthy as well as most beneficial to our body; At the same time my mom always stressed the importance of eating off of the land from our local area and that growing our own foods as much as possible is not only the best for our overall health but for the health of Mother Earth. Having the least impact in the case of agriculture production, distribution (where it comes from), how it is processed is one of the best ways that we can make a difference in our food choices to help sustain the vitality of our Earth and all the natural resources within it. When we grow our own foods and care for them then we know exactly how they were grown we know what kind of nutrients, soil, and compost that we feed them and we can then have the control over the conscious decisions that we make that matter and ultimately benefit Earth and ourselves and everyone around us in doing so. If you do not have the ability or resource to grow your own food you can substitute shopping at the farmers market and build a relationship with them thereby knowing where and how your purchased food is grown and at the same time be a contributor to the local economy and supporting local people and families within your own community. You can also get your meat and fish from hunting/fishing or by making your purchases or trades with other local people, community based functions and stores, homemade, or certified organic outlets such as Whole Foods to ensure fresh, quality, organic, wild, and nutritious products. Thinking and doing with this type of mindset makes a huge impact in our local economy, health, Earth and every ecosystem around us, everything is connected.

My dinner is as follows: Pahole salad, wild ferns gathered from my ahupua’a in Kipahulu at Hahalawe stream, kula onions from my garden, tomatoes from Kula Dave purchased at Pukalani Supertte (family owned mom and pop store), cucumbers from the Pulehu Nui Farmers Market, soy sauce, cuttle fish, olive oil, vinegar, sugar (all not local). Some items especially flavors and condiments are not available accept from the big stores because they come from all over the world and are not produced in the islands. Next was wild fish that I caught fishing out at Nu’u Bay in Kaupo; I fried it in vegetable oil (not local), with white Diamond G rice. Included in this dinner was tartar sauce made from Best Foods mayonnaise, and Del Monte pickle relish as well as melted butter from the Best Yet brand.

For this assignment, I chose to focus on my condiments and what I call extras that are consistently part of my household’s daily food intake. I pride myself in my commitment to local produce and products but when it comes to condiments and extra flavors it is near impossible to find a local source. For the rest of this paper I will focus on butter because I use a lot of it and I want to research it and find out what is the best choice when it comes to shopping for butter. I know in my na’au that the best choice would be to have a dairy cow and make fresh butter as we did when I was growing up, but since that is not really feasible I want to find out what the next best option would be….I am guessing raw unprocessed local butter; but that is not available either so I am going to look into the health benefit and differences between Best Yet brand that is the cheapest and say an organic pasture fed butter like Organic Valley.

I think that the majority of us can agree that the nutritional content of animal meat will vary widely depending on the diet and living conditions of the animal. In doing my research I found that it is also true of butter. We all love butter, it goes with just about everything weather it is sweet, sour, meat, fruit, veggies, pasta…you name it butter makes it better. So I figured I eat enough butter it is worth knowing the general facts about our purchase choices for butter.

The majority of us can probably agree that the nutritional content of animal meat/flesh varies depending on the diet and living conditions of the animal. In doing my research I found that it is also true of butter. We all love butter and have been taught to avoid it and that it is bad for our arteries and that eating too much butter causes lots of bad affects in our body. I agree that this is true of commercial grain fed butter but opposite if it is real pasture fed butter. What I found out was appalling to say the least….basically IF YOUR MEAT AND DAIRY  SOURCE IS NOT RAISED IN A PASTURE EATING LIVING GREEN GRASSES IT IS POISON… Seriously shocking that even organic does not make such a huge difference as the nutrition that follows the animal straight to us from pasture raised or wild versus (even organic) GRAIN FED OR SWITCHED TO GRAIN FOR FATTENING DOES. Any meat or dairy from a pasture fed animal is beneficial and nutritious to our body including reducing body and belly core fat, reducing chances of cancers by up to 50% AND  providing us with healthy omega 3s that are absent in grain raised animals. The grain raised meat and dairy make us fat, sick, have huge increases for clogged arteries and cancers….every article I researched told of the health in pasture raised animals…Mother Nature knows best…all the vitamins, nutrients and omega 3s are converted by the cow from the grass and then passed to us in the meat and dairy. In fact the butter from a pasture or wild animal is nearly orange-to-yellow…NOT WHITE because that is the vitamin A, E and beta carotene from the grass….It does not exist in GM Corn fed animals.

I could go on and on about this it is horrifying what we ourselves are pretty much force fed through the American system of food production and manufacturing. Then IT TOOK ME HOURS AT COSTCO TO FIND OUT IF IT IS GRAIN OR PASTURE FED!! IT is hard to find any pasture fed dairy products at all on this Island. For meat you can raise your own, hunt or go to Pukalani Superette…(only meat that is entirely raised in a pasture on Maui for its lifetime) for the butter and dairy Organic Valley states right on the label “pasture fed” and some other brands found at Whole Foods….expensive but if you take the time to do the research worth every penny and it tastes 100% better, and sweeter, our bodies need it and our children are worth it.

This eat wild website is awesome and is backed up by many journals and articles that are from reputable sources:

http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm

http://www.mauicattlecompany.com/about/index.shtml

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/grass-fed-butter/ 

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2010/05/grass-fed-beef-2/

It is TIME to....Ho'okele Wa'a and turn to a sustainable future!

Annjulie Vai

Ho’okele Wa’a

What an awesome video. I would like to own this video. First of all I felt super proud because I could name nearly everyone on the video and am friends with many of them. Also I felt that the video had so much pono information that I could relate too and implement into my own life. (And I do a lot already) The other thing I liked was the knowledge being shared and given to the community of Maui by members of the community of Maui….not just people talking about what “WE” should do. I hate when outsiders who know nothing about Hawaii and Maui try to preach and tell us what to do when they do not know shit about the culture and stuff.

It is okay when outsiders come and teach us pono stuff but when it is garbage it is not a help for Hawaii.

I loved the knowledge presented in the video. Also it made me feel good to see the video because I have gone and volunteered at Auwahi and I have learned from Ka’ai and Luke and Art Medeiros. Also I love what all of the organizations presented stand for in Maui. They were all talking about the same message that Kumu Kaleikoa talks about in his classes and that is that Maui can be the piko or the center for the SUSTAINABILITY REVOLUTION THAT IS TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE WORLD. From watching this video it has cemented the knowledge that I have been learning. It gives me hope for Maui and the future of the next generation. This video lets me know that others feel the same way that I do and that people are doing things that really make a huge difference for the health of Hawaii, Maui, the environment, the economy, the people and my child and for all of us. It really matters and the video was truly awesome.

Mahalo to all of you for being such great teachers…..I really mean this from my heart, I am not just saying this. I wish that more people felt like all of you and ME and all the people in the film and the organizations… It HELPS. It helps me to remain strong and steadfast just like the A’ali’I bush and the people of Ka’u….to survive and thrive, even in times of hardship, pain, and sustained strong winds, severe heat and droughts and to survive among the a’a lava fields just as a strong Ali’i. It helps me to remember that change is not easy but inevitable and I must do my best to be part of the PONO changes that need to occur for survival of our species….just like the A’ali’I bush we must ADAPT to our environment…but as humans we can help the environment and live in harmony with our resources instead of destroying them for our benefit.

Click on the first link below and then click on the pdf: A strategic community development plan for people of Ka’u….I really liked it

http://www.google.com/search?q=famed+saying+about+the+a%27ali%27i+plant+of+ka%27u&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.auwahi.org/

http://mauisustainabilitylearningcenter.org/

http://turningthecanoe.org/

Concept of Conservation Change Over the Years

Annjulie Vai

 Question: Concept of Conservation Change

This is a broad question. I will relate this to Hawaii and America and what I have learned in college and my life. It depends on who you are talking about, where they are from and what time period in history to define this question of “how has the concept of conservation changed over the years?”

In the beginning most all native and indigenous cultures have practiced some form of relationship and harmony with nature and earth; thus being consciously aware of the environment and the importance for healthy survival of both man and nature.  With Hawaiians it is evident throughout the Kumulipo: A Creation Chant that everything in the Universe is connected and shares an interdependent relationship in some level or another. The Hawaiian people were true stewards of the land and lived life in a cyclical harmonious relationship with nature, air, water, earth and environment. They always practiced strict conservation when harvesting and growing food, collecting material for shelter and in their daily practices. Their entire life was dominated by reverence and respect to mother earth. Kama’aina literally means child born to the land or native born on the land; and maka’ainana(a class that cared for the land) means eyes that watch over the land; and ‘ai means to eat, found in the word “’aina” (land). You can see the interconnectedness and consciousness in every aspect of the culture and language.

In America the idea of conservation and environmentalism was scarcely even mentioned before 1962 when Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring: Sound of the Alarm. There were a select few that were aware of the issues relating to finite natural resources, scarcity, over population, food sources, and even pollution. One is John Muir, an American naturalist, conservationist, explorer, and founder of the Sierra Club who was from the era of the conservation movement (1890-1920). Muir was in favor of protection to our countries natural resources from human consumption. He spent a lot of time hiking and wandering nature, in turn his experiences led him to a life dedicated to preserving nature. He had the same view as the Hawaiian and Native American Indians.

 Nature existed foremost for its creator and that humankind must not value itself above the rest of creation. The basis of his respect for nature was his recognition that all creatures, including humans, were part of a single, interdependent community. This interconnectedness of nature prompted him to remark, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Although Muir thought that all things had an inherent right to exist, he also believed in the preservation of natural beauty for the benefit of future human generations, making him a champion of the establishment of national parks and of saving the vanishing wilderness.

Once a friend of Muir was Gifford Pinchot, his view was that the sole purpose of natural resources was to serve the needs of humans but that they also had an obligation to conserve those resources for future generations. He believed in maximizing production of those resources for human interests without regard to the huge ecological consequences of that productive effort. This view led to debate with that of John Muir and would give way to the two basic philosophies or competing worldviews of environmentalism. Aldo Leopold who graduated from Yale School of Forestry in 1909 also was a leader in the environmental movement of twentieth century. He wrote “Quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” This land ethic is the view that “there is inherent worth in the integrity of natural ecosystems apart from any value they may possess for humans.” This concept and view was the ideal harmonious relationship between humans, land and environment that Leopold help propel into modern environmental thought beginning primarily with Rachel Carson and the Silent Spring revolution of thinking.

The founding philosophers of environmental thought had a wide range of opinions and views concerning the problems and solutions to the world’s environmental issues. Thus environmental scholars have come up with two prevailing views on environmental philosophy. One view is ecocentrism and the other is anthropocentrism. Ecocentrism focuses on the ecological, Earth-centered worldview. This view is shaped mainly by Thoreau, Muir, and Leopold. This view maintains that the world was in a natural state of balance like Pono until humans intruded. This view also holds that the world will ultimately end in destruction due to how we live and impact the environment. The Kumulipo also states this view that all was good in the time of Po; and then man came and so did most of the big problems in nature and environment. However the Hawaiians still believed in the utmost care of the land and nature. “He ali’i ka ‘aina, he kauwa ke kanaka” translated, land is chief, people are its humble servants. The Hawaiians understood this invaluable interdependent relationship with environment completely.  Ecocentrism preaches reverence and care for the Earth and the humility of humanity in the face of natural laws. George Helm knew and practiced ecocentrism and awakened the Hawaiian consciousness of this revolution here in Hawaii with Kaho’olawe. (I will talk about George Helm in the second question.)

The opposing philosophy to ecocentrism, Anthropocentrism says that all human actions are by definition anthropocentric (human centered). This view admires humanity, development, cities, progress, technology, and the development of political and economic systems. The environment is regarded as a benefit and here for humans’ needs and consumption without morality or reverence for nature and environment; just like Ronald Reagan when he took down the solar panels in the White House in 1979 and changed and destroyed the newly formed energy policy from the Carter administration, thus setting back the environmental movement 30 years and doing most likely immeasurable damage that we have yet to face in the future.

These two philosophies are the foundation of how most Americans view the environment and issues related to conservation of today. You have the huge awakening and awareness towards the environment in the mid 20^th century by the “free, loving, hippy and or college drop-out generation of the 60’s and also the opposing view from the industry, government and large corporations that were more concerned with progress and  economic gain than health of the Earth. Before this time no one really questioned the government and the linear economic system that was implemented to stimulate the U.S. economy after the war in the early 50’s. This system is still in play and how the government makes profit according to Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff”.  According to the video Earth Days many people and even corporations and industry are slowly implementing more earth friendly practices; but really most scientists will agree that changes and policy need to step up and become more energy efficient, aware and conscious of environment and conservation because global climate change is of huge concern to the future of this planet and all of humanity. There is not much time. Time is running out! The scientific community agrees that the populations of the world need to live a more simple life, practice sustainability and like Stuart Udall said “get our sustenance from the earth”. We need to live more like the Native Hawaiians and Indigenous peoples of the world that malama the aina and have a reciprocal relationship that benefits both entities. According to David Gulko, marine/coral biologist his synopsis clearly relates the importance and awareness that we are all connected; He said “you can’t replace a thousand year old reef in less than a thousand years” and also that we need to understand the relationship with what are known as “key stone” species. These species are critical in understanding the “big picture” and how interconnected everything and we all are. He related them to a computer and said that” you cannot just take out a piece of the computer and expect it to run or function properly with a missing component” we are interdependent on each other.

After the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” came out, this would become the most pivotal time in recent history post Silent Spring, to the masses of American people on the state of our environment in relationship to our planet. Now people are aware of the effects of our country being addicted to oil and the serious problems there of as stated by George W. Bush. Now we have scholars, scientists, schools, nations, and people from all over the globe addressing these issues and problems relating to environment and conservation of the environment for the future and health or should I say survival of humanity.

The concluding message is that we are running out of time, we must act quickly, we must change our lifestyle, and we must educate ourselves and others to the problems. We must face the reality of what our actions in the past have created for the future; we must listen to Native Intelligence above all because they live in harmony with Earth not in conflict or degradation. We are facing a terrible future for all species and humanity if we do not act now….start a revolution like George Helm and Rachel Carson….we must our survival depends on it.

Works Cited

American Experience: Earth Days. Dir. Robert Stone. Perf. Denis Hayes, Rachel Carson, Stuart Udall, Paul Uhrlich & (more). PBS dvd release date April 20, 2010.

An Inconvenient Truth: the planetary emergency of global warming and what we can do about it. Al Gore. Prod. Melcher Media. Publisher Emmaus, Pa. : Rodale Press, c2006.

Beckwith, Martha. The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1972,[c1951] Print.

Kaleikoa Ka’eo. “Hawaiian Conciencism 290v” University of Hawaii Maui College. Wailuku, Maui. Fall semester class 2010. 23 Aug. – 16 Dec. 2010 Lectures.

Kaleikoa Ka’eo. “Hawaiian Literature in Translation 290v” University of Hawaii Maui College. Wailuku, Maui. Fall semester class 2009. 24 Aug. – 16 Dec. 2009 Lectures.

Annie Leonard: The Story About Stuff.  Lecture in Sociology class spring 2010. (you-tube).

Oasis of the Pacific: Time is running out. Dir. Adam Bromley. Publisher: Maui, Hawaii: zeroimpact productions, c2005. DVD.

De Steiguer, J.E. The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, c2006. Print.