Blog
News, updates, finds, stories, and tidbits from staff and community members at KAHEA. Got something to share? Email us at: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com.
Tight fit at the LUC
From Shelley:
Last month, we went to the Land Use Commission for the proposed rezoning of agriculture land to industrial land in the back of Lualualei Valley. From the moment I got there I felt lost–the actual hearing room is tucked away on the 4th floor with very little signage. The building is set with a corridor that goes around in a square with rooms toward the outside of the building and then a bigger square room in the center (although it’s not very big either). Before I realized the layout looked like a racetrack I was wandering around in a circle and ran into 4 other people looking for the LUC! I ducked into one of the offices and got directions. When we got to the actual hearing room I was shocked at how small it was! This is the room where some of the most important decisions about Hawai’i's land and our access to that land happens… in this itty bitty place?!
It doesn’t inspire confidence that the commission that decides on how the space on our island is used, haven’t done such a good job managing their own space! There are tables arranged in a long rectangle with a big empty puka in the middle! This leaves enough space for a single ring of people to sit and stand around 3 of the 4 walls of the room. Everybody else has to overflow into the hallway where you can’t hear anything! Also, the guy who has the job of passing out printed materials from the testifiers sits on the other end of the rectangle and has to shimmy along the wall behind the commissioners to get the documents. There must be a better layout!
The point of my rant is that this kind of space doesn’t encourage public participation! Moreover, having the hearings during the workday prevents many people from participating. There must be a better way!
Tell 'um, Chris Lee!
We’re liking this op-ed by Rep Chris Lee, in Tuesday’s Advertiser, on why selling state lands to fix the state budget is an exceptionally bad idea. An excerpt:
The sale of state land makes exceptionally poor financial sense and cheats taxpayers out of billions of dollars. More important, it defies our constitutional obligation to hold Hawai’i's greatest resource in public trust for future generations. Ultimately, the life of the land will not be perpetuated by selling our children’s legacy, especially when the permanent long-term loss far outweighs the temporary short-term gain.
See the full opinion piece: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100518/OPINION03/5180309/Even-in-a-crisis-selling-state-land-a-bad-idea
Homealani
From Ann Marie:
Aloha,
» “Homealani” Director: Ann Marie Kirk
Riding the Justice Bus
From Shelley:
Last weekend we hosted the third Environmental Justice tour of Wai’anae. We had a nice mix of people hailing from different parts of the island and from many different backgrounds–professors, students, locals, newcomers, young, and not so young–it was great. 
Before I begin the breakdown of what we saw, I just have to say mahalo to the Wai’anae aunties who always inspire me–if every community had a cadre of aunties like them, surely the world would be a better place. They know and love their aina and will protect her with the same zeal that anyone would fight for their grandma or grandpa.
On our tour we heard many stories about the landscape of the area. I’ve always loved the mountains in Wai’anae, but now I really see them differently! We watched the demi-god Maui being born, two lovers greeting each other in the mist, and even mano (sharks) in the mountains! We saw Hina’s cave and beautiful Makua Valley (although currently occupied by the US Military). Along the way we also saw some not so beautiful things. We drove by PVT, a construction landfill which houses especially hazardous materials oftentimes from construction demolitions. There is a giant mountain of asbestos that is literally stories high, right next to a neighborhood. We were all shocked to see that there was nothing but a thin black piece of material between someone’s backyard and the asbestos mountain, jokingly named Pu’u ‘Opala–Rubbish Mountain.
Pu'u 'Opala looking into PVT Landfill
This is the flimsy cloth barrier that supposedly protects the people who live in the neighboring community.
Look closely, that light brown line cutting the picture horizontally is the top of the asbestos hill. Much higher than the flimsy cloth barrier "protecting" the residents.
The place where the beautiful and pollutant met was at the base of the mountains, near PVT. We got off the bus and were greeted by 2 horses. This is the site that they are trying to get changed from agriculture to industrial land. I cannot imagine a landfill in such a pristine place. We held this bus tour to ask the participants to stand in solidarity with this community to fight off the “purple spot”–which is what this proposed industrial zone would look like on a map. You can go here to learn more and sign a petition!
We ended the tour up at MA’O Farms to show us a system that is working in Wai’anae, in stark contrast to the dumps and proposed dumps that are not a good fit. Mahalo to Kamu Enos for showing us around! We even got to learn about sustainable building practices using materials that were all locally sourced. MA’O answers back to all the people who think that Wai’anae is too dry to grow food!
Wai'anae is not too dry to grow 'ono food! Happy veggies.
Mahalo to all the aunties for showing us what aloha aina feels like. I loved hearing them gush about the legends of Wai’anae! I truly will never see Wai’anae the same again. Our next bus tour is July 24, leave a comment if you want to reserve your spot!
Mahalo to Candace Fujikane for the pictures!
Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai'anae
From our friends at AFSC, about a great summer learning opportunity for high-schoolers on O’ahu:
We are Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae. We are learning how to promote environmental justice in Wai’anae.
We know there is a problem – environmental racism.
We swim and play in these waters. We eat food from the land and sea here. We all have family members who are sick with asthma or cancer.
We want environmental justice.
1. Stop or reduce all harmful impacts, not just the streams, but the sources of contamination: landfills, military and industry.
2. We want the clean up of all the contaminated sites.
3. We demand a healthy environment for our community.
A healthy environment is a human right!
>><<
Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae is a summer youth environmental justice organizing training institute for youth from the Wai’anae coast to learn cenvironmental justice and ommunity organizing skills.
The program is geared to youth (age 15 – 19) from Wai’anae who care about the health and well being of their families, communities and the ‘aina. Applicants must be committed to learning community empowerment skills and using those new skills to help their community and the environment become healthier.
We will learn about issues affecting the Wai’anae community, social justice movements in Hawai’i and around the world, the basics of making positive social change, and digital story telling as a medium for shaping the vision and plan for the future of our community.
The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute runs four weeks – June 21 through July 16, 2009, weekdays from 9am to 2pm.
Most activities will take place at the Leeward Community College Wai’anae office (86-088 Farrington Hwy, Suite 201, Wai’anae, HI 96792, Phone: 696-6378). The class will take field trips to help students better understand the issues affecting Hawai’i and the depth and scope of doing this work.
Why should you join other students this summer in this life changing experience? Wai’anae is under attack. It is an assault against the community and against the ‘aina, with military bombs and toxic chemicals, contaminated landfills, water pollution, chemical weapons, destruction of cultural sites, rising costs of living and growing numbers of houseless families. The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute will give the selected candidates a way to learn skills for making grassroots community change and a forum to present their ideas on how to improve conditions for peace and justice and environmental sustainability.
Program eligibility
* Must be between the ages of 15-19.
* Must be self-motivated and able to work well in a team towards a common goal.
* Must have the desire to protect the environment and the health and well being of the Wai’anae community.
Participants who successfully complete the program will receive a $200 stipend.
Interested? Email Kyle Kajihiro at KKajihiro@afsc.org
A little explanation.
From Miwa:
I wrote the little explanation below the other day to Uncle Bill Aila, Jr. in response to an email from him. Though it was written for him, I thought I would share it here on our blog, as others may have questions about KAHEA’s support of Na Koa and Koani Foundation in their request for intervention on World Heritage Site designation for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands:
First and foremost, KAHEA fully supports legal protections promulgated in the State Refuge and the Monument, including the prohibition on commercial fishing within 50 miles of the islands. We believe deeply in a vision of full conservation of the NWHI, as it represents a significant place of refuge for cultural practice, for native endangered species, and for some of the last predator-dominated reefs remaining on the planet.
However, as you know well (!), we have had, and continue to have, some deep concerns about management in the NWHI by the state and feds. Including:
1) Lack of meaningful prioritization for activities in the NWHI, or of analysis of cumulative impacts (taking into account past activity–including legacy over-exploitation and military activity)
2) Weak and disorganized permitting – “unified” permit process not really very unified in implementation
3) No enforcement plan, failure to push for accountability/mitigations/appropriate limits on military activity in the NWHI
4) Lack of funding/focus on cultural access or study
5) No public advisory entity established for Monument and limited venues/opportunities for public participation on decision-making
6) Lack of collaboration: Monument Management Board has not met in nearly six months? Multi-agency commitment to integrated ecosystem management getting lost on turf wars.
At the heart of this, is an exhibited inability for the co-trustees to collaborate effectively. Officials on the Federal side have acknowledged “some deep conflicts” which the Federal agencies are “struggling to resolve.” Though many are eager to take credit for the protections in place for the NWHI, implementation has lacked the political will to “make it work.”
We support Na Koa and Koani Foundation in their request for intervention for the following reasons:
In many communities, the decision to pursue a WHS designation comes only after years of conversation, debate, struggle and consultation. We are concerned that Native Hawaiian consultation on the WHS proposal was indeed inadequate, conveying unified support, when this is not in fact the case.
Further, World Heritage designation does not offer any additional enforceable protections for the NWHI. Indeed, over 30 World Heritage Sites are currently threatened with de-listing, due to poor management by those in charge, including the Belize Barrier Reef System and the Galapagos Islands. In an article written this past February, Goldman Prize winner John Sinclair heavily criticized Australian officials for neglecting conservation management for his beloved Fraser Island following its World Heritage designation, in favor of facility upgrades, and recreation management (e.g. widening roads) at the expense of “natural resource management, — environmental monitoring of wildlife and ecosystems, fire management, weed control, and quarantine.”
In many cases, this designation is used to promote tourism to a site (See http://www.expedia.com/daily/sustainable_travel/world_heritage/default.asp), which ironically increases the tourism impacts to the site intended for protection.
What World Heritage designation does offer is prestige and publicity. Prestige and publicity is not a need for the NWHI, as a great deal of public attention has already been placed on the protection of the NWHI. Indeed, a TIME magazine’s feature Earth Day article (Bryan Walsh) on oceans just last week noted NWHI protections as hopeful action in an otherwise pretty dismal picture of world-wide ocean resources management.
What is needed is not more attention or prestige. What is needed is accountable, integrated and cooperative management that puts the resource and the rightholders first.
Let’s do that–let’s get there–and we’ll have a place that can really be held up as an example to the world of how ocean conservation that strongly protects cultural practice can be done well. This is our hope, and vision ahead of our efforts.
A tale of two cities?
A tale of two cities? One protected, one destroyed. Comments were due today on a proposal to protect 1,500 arces of a rare leeward koa forest on Maui. The Nakula NAR is a small, but important subset of the huge Kahikinui Forest Reserve. It is home to rare native plants and trees… what is more important is — if protected — this area will become home to many, many more species unique to Hawaii. A restored, thriving community. See our comments on the Nakula NAR.
At the same time on the same island in the ahupua’a right next door, developers propose to build 1,400 homes, a golf course, and a shopping mall over a rare dryland forest. The Wailea 670 project would threaten 20 native species and desecrate multiple inter-connected sites of cultural signficance. Public comments are now being taken on the Environmental Impact Statement for the Wailea 670 project in South Maui. To learn more and submit comments, visit www.savemakena.org/wailea.
