Share this blog with friends via email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and more. When sharing, a link to this page will automatically be added.
Why Our Community Needs Us Now - A New Year Message
Jan 14, 2010 | By James Koshiba
In February, Kanu Hawai‘i will be two years old. These first years have been spent trying to build a community – online and off – that models island values of sustainability, compassion, self-reliance, and above all, kuleana (responsibility).
We learned to crawl in 2008, attracting people committed to protecting and promoting what is best about Hawai‘i, and who are willing to lead that effort by example. We drew strength from members willing to be the change, and who were also willing to lead the change with others of like mind and spirit.
This past year, 2009, we learned to stand and take a few steps together. We added tools to our online community that made it easier for us to share stories and build relationships – we created journals for members, allowed people to post videos and pictures, brought youth bloggers onto the site, and reached out through social media. And, we gathered ourselves up in shared purpose – trying to use our group volunteerism, political voice, and consumer power for the kinds of change that none of us could achieve alone.
Our campaigns in 2009 called members to speak out together, and practice a different kind of activism - one that starts with ourselves, and tries to persuade others to change, through our own acts of taking responsibility - something we've come to call "kuleana-based activism."
Our first campaign last year was an effort to urge legislators to pass some important bills that we'd been following, including several related to energy and climate-change. To take kuleana, we swapped 500 incandescent light bulbs for energy-efficient CFLs with lawmakers and checked the tire pressure of more than 300 cars in the State Capitol parking lot. The message to our leaders: "We're willing to do our part. We ask you, our leaders, to do yours by creating some important new laws. "
The Live Aloha Campaign mobilized hundreds to work with residents of public and affordable housing communities across the islands, opening new homes, and improving neighborhoods for families in need. Our work raised awareness about the dire need for affordable shelter, and built relationships between our members and residents that continue to bear fruit today.
The Eat Local Campaign called on members to lead by their example toward a more sustainable, local food system. We smart-mobbed farmers markets, planted and harvested, and drew the support of stores and restaurants featuring locally grown food. Participating vendors, restaurants, and markets saw sales of local goods increase by 10%-20% during the campaign.
The 2009 Simplify the Holidays campaign cut waste and emissions by encouraging people to give gifts of time and service instead of just more stuff. In an act of “kuleana-based activism,” members volunteered to set up a free gift wrapping station at Ala Moana Shopping Center, where we wrapped gifts with 100% recycled paper and fabric. Again, the message was, we are committed to do our part, and we ask others to join us in the effort.
Our ongoing work to help end school furloughs calls on members to stand together for education and for keiki. Members across the islands gathered thousands of petition signatures, sent messages to our leaders, and held rallies and demonstrations.
And so, 2009 was a time to define our movement: Along with the end of building more sustainable, compassionate, and self reliant communities, we stood for particular means - an 'island-style' activism that starts with ourselves (“I will…”), and that embodies values of kuleana and aloha.
In this new year, our community needs us more than ever. Hawaii faces some of the most daunting challenges in its history: government budgets strained, an elections system faltering, schools and students still furloughed, political and public relations fights that too often prevent sensible solutions. The world is looking at Hawaii and asking what our priorities are.
Hard times can breed cynicism, selfishness and discouragement. When people lose hope, they expect the worst of others, and start to look out only for themselves. Yet, hard times can also inspire a community to pull together and reassert values of generosity and solidarity. This year will challenge everyone in our community to choose between these low and high roads.
By continuing to lead by example, the members of Kanu Hawaii can help pull our neighbors and our leaders to higher ground. We can urge them to stick with important investments during tough times, to set priorities, to invest in our future, and to conduct ourselves with respect and compassion. Kanu Hawaii can be a voice that continues to speak with aloha and kuleana in the face of cynicism, apathy, anger, and selfishness – the kind of voice our community, and every community, needs now.
This year will challenge all of us, the members of Kanu Hawai‘i, to speak out on important and sometimes controversial issues – to step beyond our personal commitments, and to be a voice for change. We are called to be a voice that models aloha and kuleana – even (and especially) when others around us may be angry or unfair; even when the stakes are high and matters urgent. We are called to be our “highest selves” in these tough times, and we will need courage and discipline to be the force for good we strive to be in the year ahead.
If we can – if we can stay the course of island style activism and effect change – we will lead our community away from cynicism and division, and toward the pulling together that's defined Hawai‘i in the past. And, we will build a movement of lasting value for Hawai‘i and the world.
Mahalo to all who learned to stand and walk with us in 2009. May 2010 be the year we run.
Please login or signup to comment.