Elections are pau, what now?

The votes have been cast, elections are over, and media pundits will now “analyze” and speculate on the outcomes for the weeks and months to come, as the rest of us process just what this all means for our islands, for the country, and for our planet.  

While we are awash in uncertainty, one thing is clear: whether you voted red, blue, green or purple - it won’t matter to the next hurricane, wildfire, heat wave, food shortage or water crisis that strikes our islands. Nor will the next pandemic or regional conflict that will take lives on all sides of the political prism, without discrimination. These threats, already impacting our lives, will only worsen, as science tells us our climate *will* continue to destabilize in the coming decades - regardless of what the incoming federal administration may choose to believe. 

The real question is, as it always has been: How much of a fighting chance will we give our children, grandchildren, and the generations that *may* follow? Will they inherit a world where there is still hope, still something worth fighting for?  Will enough people share the understanding that we are quite literally all in this together—on a tiny living speck of dust floating through a (as far as we know) lifeless cosmos? That our best and last hope is to recognize that humankind’s salvation rests on our realization of our humanity, our sense of kinship with each other, and with the natural world to which our fates are inextricably tied?

The best models tell us that the next 10 years may be the most consequential in all of humanity’s existence. This is our chance to make the changes needed to spare our children and grandchildren from inheriting a future of unprecedented suffering and destruction. We do not have four years to waste.

So what do we do? At the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, we know we have no choice but to double down on our islands’ foundations of resilience and model for the rest of the world the fundamental shifts to secure a hopeful future for our keiki and moʻopuna. 

We must continue to defend the Land Use Commission and strike back against irresponsible and inappropriate land uses that would rob our children of the ʻāina that physically and spiritually  sustains us; to uphold the public trust in wai, whether in Maui Hikina, Maui Komohana, Kapūkakī, or any place where corporate and military powers may hoard, waste, or contaminate this source of life for past, present and future generations; to reinvigorate our shared sense of kaiāulu, our love for each other and for our home, critical to carrying us through the crises ahead. 

This work is more important now than ever before. But as you well know, we cannot do this alone.

Together, with your help, we can continue to help bring the power of the people to the streets (and on the trails), to the courts, and into the halls of government, to build our pillars of ʻāina, wai, and kaiāulu, as we have for over 55 years. Now more than ever we must come together to protect our islands, our planet, and all that we love.

Please consider volunteering with our Chapter, amplifying critical opportunities for action (including our latest water alert), and, if you’re financially able, investing in our work. A monthly gift of even just $5 can help us continue educating, advocating, and organizing to secure the future of our children, our islands, and our planet as we face humankind’s—and our humanity’s—greatest challenge.

With gratitude and determination, 

Wayne Tanaka
Chapter Director