Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2021 — Aloha 'Āina Kākou!! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha 'Āina Kākou!!

/ LEO 'ELELE V * TRUSTEE MESSAGES *

Last month, the BOT flew to Moloka'i for our annual eommunity meeting, the first in-person meeting since the pandemic began. At a site visit to Keawanui, a fully restored and operating loko i'a, we learned about a new project propagating limu 'ele'ele. Moloka'i's south shore onee flourished with this delicacy, but human impact has stifled its growth, and it's now

hard to find. Kilia Purdy-Avelino and Hala and Kahekili Pa-Kala reminded us that if a resource is lost, our relationship with that resource will also be lost. The 'ike about how to identify, gather, and most importantly, to nourish us will not be transmitted to the next generation. And akin to the death of a canary in a eoal mine, the absence of limu serves as a bioindicator, telling us that our ahupua'a heahh needs to be remediated. Our second site visit was to Kealopiko, a company producing wearable art that preserves and teaches culture using species identification combined with olelo no'eau. At the community meeting, we learned about the challenges, but more so, about the opportunities and examples of true resilience Moloka'i has demonstrated - from the increase in farming production and distribution with Sust- aina-ble Moloka'i, to the community-led Ho'ahu Energy Coop Moloka'i working toward Moloka'i's renewable, independent energy future, to the OLA and ROOTed homeschooling programs that recognize every one of our community

members as teachers. This trip made me realize that Moloka'i is, in itself, a university. In sharing this with Maui County Council ViceChair Keani Rawlins-Fernan-dez, she recommended I read her essay, Moloka'i 'Āina Momona, published in the Value of Hawai'i 3: Hulihia, whieh states, in part: "In a subsistence eeonomy, where we mālama one another, traditional metrics for measuring success involve

ensuring the collective good, where all are properly fed and cared for. By reengineering the systems our kūpuna passed down to us, we focus our energy on industries central to our fundamental needs, such as food and energy production, while cultivating our core competencies. We are a living laboratory. "As a living laboratory designed on "'ike kupuna," ancestral knowledge, the goal is to build capacity within our own

community, while we also teach others around the world. Our kūpuna understood adaptive management and best practices to mālama our island and her resources effectively. As the planet's climate changes, and natural disasters occur more frequently with heightened intensity, the world is recognizing ancestral knowledge is an invaluable tool for our survival. "Education of course is key, and in Hawai'i ancestral knowledge was traditionally passed down from one generation to the next. We begin with a multipronged educational approach, teaching our children to identify their kuleana to our home, and then to pass that value on generationally and in perpetuity. "I ka wā ma mua, i ka wā ma hope. The future lies in the past. "The answer has always been inside of us: it is our connection to one another and to our aina." Mahalo nui to the Kānaka of Moloka'i for sharing your mana'o and great work. I look forward to your ongoing examples of aloha aina, 'oia'i'o and learning from you. Mālama pono! ■

Dan Ahuna Trustee, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau

Having ū bit of fun on our visit to Moloka'i with Ane Bakutis and the staff of Kealopiko. - Photo: Joshua Koh