SDG Youth Council

Maui students reflected on the water shortages the island continues to experience. After the redirection of water from the kahawai (streams) for the development of plantations, the flow of fresh water was never returned to communities. Today, hotels and other commercial tourist industries have wider access to water than many locals in the area — which prompted conversations on stewardship and caretaking of natural resources, and who is best positioned to care for them. The students advocated for more opportunities to expand their education outside of

the classroom to engage with and steward these resources themselves and collaborate with the officials responsible with managing them. They also shared the hands-on experiences they are currently involved in, such as restoring watersheds and cultivating native plants and gardens at their schools, as a form of building and sustaining Hawai‘i’s natural resources

both now and for the future.

“I feel the most important aspect of shifting social perspective is starting through youth education. Recognizing the personal connection to, let’s say, a kalo plant by telling our keiki that this kalo plant is our ancestor Hāloa will give them a deeper connection to ‘āina in the long run and instill in them a kuleana to forever protect this ‘āina like family. Compare this to trying to tell an adult that this plant is their ancestor, they would probably brush this off. The youth are our future.”

—Haven De Silva, Kamehameha Schools Maui

Young men from Kinai ‘Eha — a workforce training program — shared their experience of volunteering on farms in exchange for mai‘a, kalo, and other healthy and locally produced foods to help cut down on the expense of groceries, noting the concern of rising food costs and the desire to eat local.

Hawai‘i is (and was!) a leader in the clean energy movement, especially in being the first state to set such an ambitious clean energy target.

“I think Hawai‘i has always been a step ahead in many ways. We were pioneers in electricity, had the first colored newspaper, and boasted a 90% literacy rate. Our ahupua‘a system was incredibly smart, and there’s so much that other countries could learn from our approach to caring for the ‘āina as if it were family.”

—Ka‘uiki Kalama Junior, Hālau Kū Mana

When asked what the youth can do to ensure sustainable transformations across the goals — especially big transformations, like a 100% energy commitment by 2045 — the students spoke to the power of their advocacy.

“Our leaders might not be here in 10 years, but we will”

—Tevyn Apo, Kamehameha Schools, Maui

When discussing the Green Workforce and Education Goal, students expressed their concern regarding the lack of high-paying jobs and opportunities for Native Hawaiians, referencing a host of issues that their communities are facing, including:

Employment

• Major Concerns: Observable and growing education and employment gap; Lack of visible opportunities: where do locals go for jobs? Fear of being pushed out: will it be too expensive for me to live here in the future?

Education

• Major Concerns: Students don’t feel like their schools are setting them up or preparing them for the future/jobs and/or success

Potential Solutions

• Mandatory restoration effort/day for people (like jury duty!) with incentives of something like paid leave, education credits, state holidays

• Economic development/business required to also benefit and uplift the lāhui and the ‘āina

• Shifts in the value of education societally (and how we value teachers, the classroom, resources, and the learning environment)

“Before colonization, “‘ōpala” [trash] wasn’t a word because Hawaiians didn’t believe in “throwing away”.

—Kaliko Teruya, Lahainaluna High School

Students provided various issues they’d observed regarding waste like the lack of education and awareness and their own experiences with waste and overconsumption as a result of moving/relocation. They provided possible solutions and steps to take to get rid of these issues, which can be further explored in the full VLR.

“For the future of Hawai‘i, I want Hawaiians to have a chance to come back to the Hawaiian Islands. I want to be able to continue cultural practices and have more schools and programs teaching the Hawaiian people about their culture. I want Hawai’i to be like in our mo’olelo, where it talks about Hawai‘i being a subsistence economy in giving and sharing to those in our community and being able to distribute what we have to everyone… For Island Earth, I want humans to actually make a change in what they’re doing to the ‘āina and see the harm we’ve all done over time. I want humans to be more mindful of what we’re doing and try our best to change our ways, or at least change one thing we do in life. I want us humans to care more about our ‘āina, our home.”

—Kwyn Joseph (Grade 7), Mālama Honua Public Charter School