E Mālama I Ka ‘Āina: Care for the Land
Written by Amber Manini
There is a verse from a children’s song in Hawaiian that translates to saying “Care for the land and, the land will provide for our needs.”
This song is taught to our children to help them to remember to care for the land and in turn the land will provide for you. Most children learn this song at a young age and are told to “Malama ‘Āina” to care for the land. They are told this when sneakily trying to cut corners and throw their trash away on the ground rather than walking to the nearest trash receptacle to throw away their rubbish. In today’s society, most of our public parks and recreational facilities have both a trash receptacle and recycle bin.
Although many frequented public areas have trash receptacles some people don't use them and leave trash behind that accumulates over time. The real question of the matter is what happens to this trash left behind? How does this trash impact our land?
Students in Professor Michelle Shuey’s Environmental Studies/Science 100 course, Introduction to Environmental Science, take the time to pick a local roadway, stream side, beach, path or trail to study throughout the semester. These students are required to pick a place that is meaningful to them and has enough data or trash that has accumulated for them to analyze. In a series of four data collections the students are required to clean up their study site collecting data or trash as samples.
GlennAllen capturing some data aka waste on one of his trips to Mokuola. Photo provided by GlennAllen Beavers.
These data collections are completed every two weeks throughout the semester. Students then bring the data they have collected into the classroom while taking part in discussing what they have found and how as a class they are going to classify the different types of trash found. Students will then create a data sheet allowing them to classify each piece of trash found and helping them to view both the original use of the item as well as whether or not the item is recyclable. Students are then required to take this data and write a report on their findings as well as how their findings relates to global pollution issues.
Caley Sargosa, a University of Hawaii at Hilo Freshman, enrolled in Professor Shuey’s course has picked a site on the upper end of campus on West Lanikaula street behind the Hale Kehau Dining Hall and the Hale Kauanoe Dorms. “I am picking up trash on the sidewalks of the road and part of the UH property next to the sidewalks,” said Sargosa. Caley, an Environmental Science major, says she would recommend this course to anyone because the environment is a part of everyone’s lives. “The knowledge I am learning in ENSC 100 helps me with my future because it is giving me more broad knowledge about the environment as a whole. It is showing me the connections between humans and the environment and showing me the impacts. This helps with my future because its letting me gain outside knowledge about how the environment works, not just one specific part of it, said Sargosa.
Caley Sargosa’s second shot of her roadway area she is responsible for cleaning and analyzing for ENSC 100.
This course is open to forty five students and is offered during both the Fall and Spring semesters. Although this course is not only taught by Professor Shuey, she does explain that her approach is a bit different than that of her other colleagues. “My approach is to connect complex global issues to the students' lives in such a way that they recognize how their own actions and lifestyles play a role in world problems, and at the same time empowers them to alter their role. In this assignment they can connect the trash they are cleaning up to the issue of global pollution. Last year I had the students develop games that taught school children environmental science concepts during UH Hilo Earth Fair,” said Shuey.
Along with taking part in assessing pollution in a student's area of choice, Professor Shuey’s students also take part in taking an online Eco-Footprint quiz that helps to tell a student how many of earth’s resources it would take if everyone consumed resources like they do. The average for the students is usually four to five earths while some students have hit the nine to ten earth range.
After the initial assessment, students take the Eco-Footprint quiz a second time under the assumption that they are living in a foreign country. Another activity students take part in is completing a water chart that helps them to calculate how much water they waste taking part in normal activities. Such as going to the bathroom, brushing their teeth, or taking a shower.
UH Hilo Junior, GlennAllen Beavers, who is majoring in Environmental Science and Geography, is currently studying the area of Moku Ola (Coconut Island). This area is an area he states is special to him being the place of his graduation from Hawaii Community College as well as a place of healing and time of refuge in the times of old.
Mokuola or as others commonly know it, Coconut Island. GlennAllen Beavers spot to measure waste in Professor Shuey’s ENSC 100 course. Photo provided by Glenn Allen.
“You don't have to be an ENSC major to take this class. The things you learn in this course are a real eye-opener and an invaluable resource. One of the assignments my class did at the beginning of the semester was to do an ecological footprint survey. If everyone on the planet live exactly like me, we would need 3.2 Earths to survive! Crazy, right? Even if I recycled and reduced my waste to the max, I would still need 2.9 Earths to survive. This class will teach you that recycling is not the cure-all to saving the planet and WHY that is. Pollution affects everyone. Pollution seeps into the soil, contaminating out crops and groundwater, which can lead to a whole mess of health problems for humans and wildlife," said Beavers.
The land is our home. It is a place that we should not take for granted or disrespect leaving our waste behind. We only have one earth to live in and we only get one life to spend taking care of mother earth. Take responsibility for your actions and live for your self as well as to take care of the earth that provides for you.
For more information about the Environmental Science/Studies 100 course please contact Professor Michelle Shuey at mshuey@hawaii.edu.
