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

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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/