Solutions or Just More Problems?: A Call For True Climate Justice For Kanaka Maoli

Lehua KaʻuhaneMay 24, 2012

ʻO wai ʻoe: Who you?

Ōpūkahonua Genealogy

Papahānaumoku - Wākea

1) Hawaiʻi 2) Maui 3) Hoʻohōkūkalani – Wākea

4) Hāloanakalaukapalili

5) Hāloa (first man)

How is climate changeAffecting Hawaiʻi?

Decreasing Rainfall

Sea Level Rise

Ocean Acidification

Hawaiʻi Energy Use Policy

70% by 2030 “clean energy” goal

Renewable = “indigenous energy”

Commitments to develop energy projects on rural neighbor islands for use on Oʻahu

Large Scale Wind Farms

Lānaʻi:• 67 wind turbines• 5,500 acres

Molokaʻi: • Potential lease agreement of

Hawaiian Home Lands Community Opposition

• Located in areas of cultural importance, alters traditional subsistence lifestyles to meet urban demand, neighbor islands as an industrial park for urban Honolulu

Geothermal Development

Renewable Energy DevelopmentCommunity Solutions

• Does not view natural environment as mere “resources” for consumption

• Allows continuation of native belief systems- fulfilling kuleana

• Ensures availability of lands & resources

• Least amount of impact on future generations

• Not solely profit motivated, but a commitment to community

• Decentralized and community controlled

Policy Solutions or Just More Problems?

• Root of CC and “solutions” both =– Loss of land and resources– Commodification of nature– Threats to cultural survival

• Communities with “real” solutions are burdened with “false” solutions

• A global conversation: Can the power structure that created the problem, solve the problem?