Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 6, 1 June 2014 — Teaching keiki to mālama Mother Earth [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Teaching keiki to mālama Mother Earth

By Cheryl Corbiell More than 160 students from six Moloka'i elementary schools took a break from the classroom recently to attend Keiki Earth Day to learn about protecting the island's fragile environment. The event targeted fourth-grade students as part of the state Department of Education's curriculum on Hawaiian culture. The theme of Nature Conservancy's third annual Earth Day, held April 17 at Kūlana 'Ōiwi, was "He Wa'a He Moku, He Moku He Wa'a - Your eanoe is like an island, an island is like a eanoe," both are surrounded by water, isolated and have

limited resources. At a booth promoting the Hawai'i Division of Forestry and Wildlife, students stroked a koloa maoli preserved by taxidermy. Hawai'i's native duck "has been a part of Hawaiian fauna for over 100,000 years and is found nowhere else on Earth," said Stephen Turnbull, koloa coordinator.

Turnbull explained the koloa is on the brink of extinction fromcross breeding with the non-native domestic mallard. "The students are aware of how bringing one species to Hawai'i has consequences for a native duck," said Turnbull. Tia Brown, National Oeeanie and Atmospheric

Administration's permits and policy coordinator, and Brad Ka'aleleo Wong, Papahānaumokuākea program specialist for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, captivated students with legends and mo'olelo of the marine conservation area in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. "The name Papahānaumokuākea commemorates the union of two Hawaiian ancestors - Papahānaumoku and Wākea - who gave rise to the Hawaiian archipelago, the taro plant and the Hawaiian people," said Wong. "The students are learning culture and environment are one." Abe Vanderberg of the Maui Invasive Species Committee, meanwhile, talked about a relative newcomer - the little fire ant, a native of South Amer-

iea discovered on Hawai'i Island in 1999. Although these aggressive, stinging ants aren't found on Moloka'i, Vanderberg explained how ants spread quickly because plant materials are moved throughout the islands. "Moloka'i doesn't SEE EARTH DAY ON PAGE 19

LAND & WATER

Moloka'i Land Trust executive director Butch Haase teaches keiki about replanting native wiliwili trees at Mokio Preserve. - Photo: Cheryl Corbiell

EARTH DAY

Continued from page 13 have the ants, but we leamed why we want to keep them off of Moloka'i," said Leo Mahe, a student. The ants, known for their painful sting producing welts lasting days to weeks, ean infest homes, furniture, food, and agricultural fields and farms, damaging crops. Students also learned about fishponds, sustainable food production, restoration of native wiliwili trees, the re-establishment of the Nēnē, the Hawaiian goose, and how a video camera capturing habitat change is a conservation tool. Exhibitors included Moloka'i Plant Extinction Prevention Program, Moloka'i Land Trust, Ka Honua Momona, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Nēnē O Moloka'i, He'e Nalu Garden and Akakū Community Television. "I eame thinking younger students don't understand how important the environment is to us but learned quickly these students are aware of

environmental issues and are enthusiastic to learn more," said Apelila Ritte Camera Tangan, a Hawaiianimmersion student from Moloka'i High School who helped teach the keiki about voyaging canoes. "I have faith in the next generation now." Other members of the immersion class taught the students a chant used to launeh a canoe's journey. At day's end, the keiki gathered to perform the chant and were rewarded with robust applause. "They memorized the oli well, in a short time," said a

smiling Kuikamoku Han, one of the student instructors. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs supportedMoloka'i Keiki Earth Day with a grant. ■

Cheryl Corhi.ell is an Instnictor at the University of Hawai'i Maui. College - Molokai. and coordi.nator for TeenACE andACE Readi.ng programs.

Sfudenfs work on their drawings of a voyaging eanoe. - Pholo: Cheryl Corbiell