Your Feedback is Needed: Caring for our 'Aina

July 20, 2017

I would like to hear your feedback on a few important issues in our community.

I encourage you to fill out my poll with your thoughts regarding preserving our environment, promoting sustainability, and taking care of our 'aina.

Mahalo for your participation. I look forward to hearing from you. Click here to access my poll.

Community Feedback: Caring for our 'Aina

Hawaii Conservation Conference

The City and County of Honolulu, and our state as a whole, is blessed with thousands of species of plants, birds, fish, marine mammals, and other wildlife found nowhere else on the planet. Our culture is deeply rooted in stewardship of our natural resources - our forests, streams and reefs.

Many of our families share a personal, ancestral, and spiritual connection with our natural world, which is why we must follow the example of the many men, women and keiki who are taking the steps to mālama our 'aina and kai.

This week, the Hawaii Conservation Alliance hosted its annual Hawaii Conservation Conference . This year's theme, He Wa'a, He Moku - Mālama Honua: Caring for Our Island Earth, reminds us of the need to treat the biocultural resources of our island home and earth as carefully as we would the limited provisions of a wa'a (canoe). "He wa'a he moku, he moku he wa'a" translates as "the canoe is an island, and the island is a canoe."

Here at home, like on a voyaging canoe, we must work together to ensure the sustainability of our communities, islands, and planet. Effective stewardship requires integration of cultural knowledge and practice with the best available science and technology, as well as collaboration across sectors.

With workshops like Building a Movement for Sustainable Futures, and The Community Watershed Snapshop: Local Measures of Ahupua'a Health, this conference was a place to build and share our collective voices for conservation at home and around the globe. To learn more or to get involved please visit www.hawaiiconservation.org .

Mahalo,