As part of my transitioning The Inspiring Bee to a place of climate hope, I had the great honor of speaking with Wayne Tanaka about Hawaii and what our islands need in 2025 and beyond. Let’s take a look at what the Sierra Club does and how we can all get involved to make a difference in the new year.
“Climate is going to destabilize and it’s a matter of how bad,” he says.
It’s the type of thing we might feel separate from living in beautiful Hawaii surrounded by the Pacific Ocean until Red Hill and Lahaina or even the wildfires on West side Oahu make us realize that climate isn’t a mainland thing or even a US thing. Everything we do to the earth affects us all. As Tanaka says, “You poison the water. You poison our bodies.”
Thankfully the Sierra Club in Hawaii is fighting to preserve our islands. One way is through water security and equal access to clean water. “Water is so precious and valuable, and so sacred, we can’t just hoard it for ourselves. It’s on everyone to ensure it’s equitable distribution and conservation not just for us but for future generations.”
Food is another pillar that those of us who live on an island need to think about.
“How can we enhance and rebuild our food sufficiency in a manner that doesn’t deplete but sustains ‘aina?” Looking through the lens of our indigenous ancestors as a way to malama aina or take care of the land has been shown to be efficacious. Sometimes we need to look to the past in order to understand how better to care for the future.
Lastly, Tanaka says resilience is key to addressing climate change in Hawaii.
“Social connection and networking and understanding how connected we all are.” In disasters like the Lahaina fires, he said we see how community, connection and caring for another are key.
Election results may have been a disappointment for many of us. But locally, it means there’s work to be done. And together we have more power than any individual. This means we can share this message to others. Tanaka says, “We can connect with the right people with their states jurisdiction. Not only build networks with other places and help shape the national narrative, or at least regional narrative.”
While Sierra Club is working on various issues from the coconut rhinoceros, which there are currently no good treatment for, to fire ants which threaten our native plants, the organization is busy tackling one battle to the next.
Besides talking to friends and family, volunteering and/or donating to Sierra Club, you can take less than a minute to sign this pledge to Governor Green to give the Department of Agriculture tools to stop the spread of those invasive pests.
Thank you so much Wayne! I hope to have you back here again.
And if you read this article, please let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.
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