What is now being described as the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history was created by conditions such as dry vegetation and hurricane-level winds, which are directly related to the climate crisis.
We speak with Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network and seventh-generation Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian, about the impact of this week’s devastating wildfires and their relationship to climate change. The catastrophic fires have destroyed nearly all buildings in the historic section of Lahaina, which once served as the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Lahaina Town is actually — it’s often characterized as a tourist town, but the people who live there — which should be the focus — tend to be some of the most rooted Native Hawaiians that I’ve ever met. They’re the types of — their families, from generations ago, created aquaculture, which, like, the West is only kind of learning about now. You know, I used to work with them to, like, figure out better ways that NOAA could manage, like, fisheries.
In addition, there is mismanagement of land. The original “Big Five” oligarchy in Hawaii, missionary families that took over our economy and government, they continue on today as some of our largest political donors and landowners and corporations. They’ve been grabbing land and diverting water away from this area for a very long time now, for generations. And Lahaina was actually a wetland. You could take a — like, Waiola Church, you could have boats circulating the church back in the day.
Now, I grew up in a community where it would rain cane ash on us, and it was like fun. I didn’t realize we were all getting asthma. It’s an environmental justice community. But, you know, there were people that fought against the cane burning. And the corporation ended up blaming the activists for the sugar shutting down, pitting the union workers against the community. The result now is just like a fallow, really dry land across the whole central valley of our island.
So, you know, I think that’s that sense of urgency. Even me, who is in this climate work full time and see these events unfold elsewhere, until it hits you at home and it’s people you know, grocery stores you shop at, schools your kids go to, your church actually being burned down, you’re not going to understand the urgency. Like, it is shocking. And we’re not talking 10 years from now. We’re having — these things are happening right now. It could happen to your home tomorrow.
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