This special Kūkahekahe column celebrates World Oceans Day and the many ways we celebrate our Pacific identity as Hawaiians and islanders.
In Hawaiʻi, we are truly blessed to be surrounded by the greatest ocean on earth, Moananuiākea: It is our oceanic universe, our source of food, medicine and life; the very air we breathe comes from the ocean. In recognizing the importance of celebrating our oceanic home, Tongan scholar Epeli Hauʻofa noted that the Pacific was not a vast empty ocean but a “sea of islands” teeming with life. Our identities are shaped by the ʻāina, but they are also shaped by our great ocean.
World Oceans Day 2021
The world’s oceans are a great unifier. Recognizing their importance to all life on earth, the United Nations General Assembly designated June 8 as World Oceans Day in 2008, although the idea for the day was first proposed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, World Oceans Day celebrates our shared oceans and our personal connections to the sea. It also helps to raise awareness about marine issues affecting us all, from climate change, coral bleaching and overfishing, to pollution and sea-level rise.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods.” A declaration of intentions will launch a decade of challenges to address UN Sustainability Goal 14 which promotes the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources by 2030. Virtual events will feature a number of esteemed speakers, including Nicole Yamase, a UH student of Marine Botany of Micronesian descent who recently became the first Pacific Islander, the first marine botanist, the youngest female and third woman to ever visit the deepest part of the world’s ocean in the Marianas Trench.
World Oceans Day is an important reminder of the import role oceans play in our everyday lives. As citizens of Island Earth, we have a kuleana to care for the ocean as it cares for us!
To learn more or attend a virtual event, visit the World Oceans Day website.
Moananuiākea Voyage 2022
The same feelings of urgency and energy behind World Oceans Day are evident in the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which is preparing for the upcoming Moananuiākea Voyage to circumnavigate the Pacific. May 1, 2026, will mark the 50th anniversary of Hōkūleʻa’s landmark maiden voyage to Tahiti. This voyage illuminated the ancient path known as Kealaikahiki between Hawaiʻi and Tahiti for the first time in centuries and continues to inspire others to action.
The Moananuiākea Voyage is slated to take 42 months, cover 41,000 miles and visit 46 countries and archipelagos. To ensure a lasting voyaging legacy that will continue another 50 years and beyond, the voyage hopes to inspire educate and elevate a new generation of 10 million navigators for Island Earth by 2026. It is hoped that these new leaders will possess and demonstrate the Navigator Mindset – the courage to face the coming storms, the responsibility to act as stewards for our planet, and the resilience to rise to the challenges of a rapidly changing world. Kamehameha Schools continues its leadership role by overseeing the indigenous, Pacific-wide cultural kuleana of the voyage and promoting robust virtul and in-person educational engagement.
Learn more about the upcoming Moananuiākea Voyage on the Polynesian Voyaging Society website.
KS Digital: Holomoana Website
The launch of KS Digital in 2020 opened an ocean of possibilities to our learners! Offering a highly personalized educational experience, KS Digital helps educators and learners to discover their potential to become local and global servant leaders who are grounded in Native Hawaiian identity.
Holomoana is one of the newest portals on KS Digital and provides a Hawaiian place of learning for voyagers of the world. The site is a collaboration between KS and the Polynesian Voyaging Society. It will host more virtual resources that can help our learners to connect with the upcoming voyage and beyond and to deepen their connection with Moananuiākea and our Hawaiian and Pacific identity. Our kūpuna, our ancestors, were among the greatest navigators on earth; Holomoana is dedicated to the perpetuation of their voyaging legacy among our learners.
More lesson plans and resources will be developed for this amazing site! Learn more on the Holomoana website.
HOW TO CELEBRATE WORLD OCEANS DAY
E ka ʻohana Kamehameha, there are so many ways we can celebrate World Oceans Day! Check out the Holomoana website and:
• Get involved in a beach cleanup! Mālama kai in your community by participating in or organizing a beach cleanup! Organizations like Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi or the Surfrider Foundation hold regular cleanups. It’s also easy as an individual to remove rubbish and plastic from beaches whenever you visit!
• Try to use less plastic: Make a switch to non-plastic goods and stop using single-use items such as disposable plates, straws and utensils!
• Make sure your sunscreen is ocean and reef safe! Hawaiʻi law bans reef-harming sunscreen ingredients including oxybenzone and octinoxate.
• Use a laundry filter bag when washing to prevent microplastics from your clothes from entering our water system and eventually making their way to the ocean!
• Limit your water runoff to reduce the amount of dirty water entering our oceans! If you can, wash your car on grass or use a waterless carwash! Use biodegradable soap whenever possible, in the kitchen or shower.
Kaʻūpūlehu, Hawaiʻi
Pūpūkea, Oʻahu
TAGS
cultural conversations,kūkahekahe,ho'okahua,world oceans day,aha moananuiākea pacific consortium,ks digital,holomoana website,sustainability
CATEGORIES
Kaipuolono Article, Regions, Hawaii Newsroom, KS Hawaii Home, Kapalama Newsroom, Kapalama Home, Maui Newsroom, KS Maui Home, Newsroom, Campus Programs, Hawaii, Kapalama, Maui, Department News
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