This Moment Demands Action for Hawaiʻi’s Future—Make a Gift Today
The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi’s 2026 spring fundraising letters are hitting mailboxes! This season’s letter from our Chapter Director, Wayne Tanaka, shares why this moment demands action—and how your support helps power our work to hold decisionmakers accountable, protect our water and ʻāina, and build the next generation of community leaders.
Please check your mail or read the letter below and make the most generous gift you are able to. 100% of your donation will stay in the islands and go straight to our grassroots work to protect Hawaiʻi’s ʻāina, wai, and communities, ensuring a livable and equitable future for generations to come.
Aloha,
Abolitionist and renowned civil rights leader Frederick Douglass once observed that “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and never will.”
Hawaiʻi’s history has proven this truth time and again—from the Kūʻē petitions that defeated Western business owners’ attempts to execute an unjust treaty of annexation; to labor organizing that brought major reforms that challenged the oppressive plantation oligarchy and won landmark reforms for workers’ rights and gender equality; to the “Hawaiian Renaissance” and subsequent movements to protect ʻāina, wai, and sacred spaces from unchecked corporate and military exploitation.
Thank you for being a part of this history, as a community member willing to make the demands needed to ensure our and our future generations’ rights to a healthy environment, and a sustainable, just society for all.
As Hawaiʻi continues to approach major inflection points for our environmental, cultural, and social integrity, the importance of holding those in power accountable to our islands and our people grows every day. That is why I’m asking you to take action now, and make a gift to keep our organizing and advocacy work moving forward. Please consider a gift of $25, $50, $100, or even $250.
Here are just some of the ways the Sierra Club Hawaiʻi Chapter is tackling our islands’ greatest challenges head-on:
Equipping decisionmakers to meet our climate reality. Too many decisions shaping Hawaiʻi’s future still fall short of our climate reality and the needs of our communities. We are supporting efforts that help decisionmakers better understand climate impacts, community priorities, and the tools available to make informed, responsible choices, while continuing to coordinate collective action that encourages leadership rooted in accountability, resilience, and care for future generations.
Building frontline youth and community leadership. Hawaiʻi’s youth and frontline communities will inherit the consequences of today’s decisions and play a critical role in protecting our ʻāina and strengthening democracy. We are expanding our organizing program, building on three successful cohorts on Oʻahu and Maui, to reach more communities, including neighbor islands. Through hands-on trainings in civic engagement, relationship building, and direct action organizing, we support youth organizers and connect them through a peer network that builds shared knowledge, collaboration, and long-term community power.
Protecting our precious water. Hawaiʻi’s water is under constant threat from contamination, hoarding, and waste by some of the most powerful entities in the islands - and the world.We’re educating communities and engaging lawmakers and agencies to actually enforce our water laws and protect our most precious resource—from Red Hill to East Maui to Pōhakuloa.
The work we do together is more critical than ever. Our opponents have deep connections and even deeper pockets. Standing up to them will never be easy, and neither will securing the progress necessary to move Hawaiʻi forward.
But our side has one thing they don’t: people willing to do what it takes to speak the truth, make demands, and protect what we love. This movement is people-powered and people-funded. While our politically connected opponents may have overstuffed war chests, our movement is different. People are the beating heart of the Sierra Club. People like you. That’s why today, I’m asking for your support – so together, we can keep our movement growing. Give $50, $100, or whatever you can today.
You may find that I’m writing with a special sense of urgency. I’ll be honest: The challenges we face right now are daunting, and thinking of the future my daughter may inherit keeps me up at night. The good news is that we know how to overcome them—but only if we have the resources to keep on fighting.
Donors are the backbone of our work. Your dedication to our community makes all the difference in whether we win or lose.
Thank you for everything you do,
Wayne Chung Tanaka
Director
Sierra Club Hawaiʻi Chapter
P.S. All of us have a stake in the choices being made right now. Your generosity helps decide what Hawaiʻi will look like ten, twenty, a hundred years from now—whether or not we’ll have clean air and water, healthy public lands, and a thriving clean energy economy. Give $25 $50, $100, or even $250 now and secure our islands’ future.