Got Aloha for a Teacher?
Born and raised in Hawai'i, I became heavily influenced by the sustainability movement while I went to USF and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. I work heavily in the food industry during my time at school and a few years after graduating. When I moved back to Hawai'i full-time to raise a family I was extremely surprised to find the progress of the movement here had to not been as large as I would have anticipated. Now that I've readjusted to life with a family, I'm looking to participate in local community events and activism once again.
This is the place I belong. While I have ancestors that came from all points of the globe, the ones I most identify with were the first to live on these islands. I've recently come to the conclusion that it is my responsibility, as it is for every person who lives or is connected to these islands, to protect our 'aina from ruin & destruction and preserve its fertility for future generations that will have to sustain themselves off this land.
Hawai'i is an oasis in a desert of ocean, the only pieces of earth that can sustain terrestrial life within 2000 miles in any direction. The more I learn of our land and natural history, the more I am devastated by the destruction that has occurred on my home island of O'ahu, and on other islands in our chain. I want to be apart and hopefully be a catalyst for a change in direction here in Hawai'i, one that leads away from the cancer called "development & growth" and back to sustainability and the perpetuity of our 'aina.