Our communities across Hawaii have been rallying together to get supplies, food, water, and clothes to Maui. Many individuals have took it upon themselves to organize drives to help the survivors of the worst wildfire in the US. It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear of the stories of those who perished and families in anguish trying to find loved ones. The sun shines here but many live under the darkness of uncertainty right now.

Meanwhile, there are tourists who are still trying to go there instead of leaving our people to heal and pick up the pieces of what is left. If you have a trip planned to Maui, please make arrangements to travel elsewhere so resources can be rationed for the locals there.

We have to now rebuild the historic town of Lahaina and lives are forever changed. While Maui is still searching for the unaccounted, across our islands, many more communities are at risk for fires given the dry spells as we arein hurricane season. We all have to be vigilant in protecting each other with the actions we take like no throwing cigarette butts out of windows and keeping any source for fire risk at a minimum. Hawaii has lost so much and we have an obligation to each other to prevent another tragedy.

A wildlife expert has just shared his advice on what needs to be done to address this issue. Clay Trauernict of UH has been speaking about the factors that we now must take to mitigate risk.

“Land that was once used for agriculture is now more commonly utilized for residential communities which elevates chances for wildfires. What happens is tropical grasses or shrubs from across the world that thrive in fires take over. Non-native grasses like guinea grass and haole koa significantly increase fire potential.”

We need to establish expert advice into practice now and not put outside invasive voices into directing policies and politicians need to heed that advice into action. My heart aches for the pain for the loss of lives that are still adding up and we cannot let poor decisions turn into another tragedy.

As more information comes to light, those in the community must listen to the experts like wildfire experts who study the issue. We cannot afford to listen to the likes of Vandana Shiva, Babes Against Biotech, and the Center for Food Safety to guide policies for the communities. They come and go but do not give back when tragedy hits. It’s the locals who are getting the help in to others.

Invasive species are hazards to our state as we have seen with albizia trees after Hurricane Isselle and the ill-guided advice to not control them. We have to recognize risks and manage it before disaster happens or face the consequences. The same goes for the mosquito control project on Kauai to save the remaining native honeycreepers. The save anti-everything activists have attempted to stall this effort in the court system and not utilize scientific evidence. They are not helping but hindering a recognized problem at hand and have no solution to save those birds.

The people of Hawaii have to rise in grace through this disaster and collaborate to heal. We can’t be shattered and split by opinions and savvy social media posts with catchy slogans but focused on working as one to build a better and more resilient community to be stronger. The future of our communities can be sustainable by following that path.

Let’s more forward together with gentleness and grace for a better future and learn lessons to not repeat history.

If you haven’t heard of the news of the old whaling town of Lahaina burning down on Tuesday, there are lawyers already advertising to garner plaintiffs on Facebook. This ad by a personal injury legal firm is already looking for plaintiffs via ads posing as resources to help. They are lawyers are based in Florida acting as if they are there to provide people support through this tragedy. We haven’t even contained the fires let alone accounted for the many unaccounted individuals and the lawyers have already started to capitalize on it.

Purely disgusting to take advantage of tragedy to line your pockets.

I’ve taking advantage of the time I have to work in my garden. As a result of this work, I’ve been getting some beautiful results.

All of these things were a result of years of care and lots of sweat. I’d spend few hours here and there tending to my yard to weed, spray, and prune to get these plants growing.

It takes a lot of patience but as you can see, it does pay off eventually. Neighbors would see me in my junk clothes and always admire my garden. As things grew, I’d share a lei or some flowers and pass out jam.

My hands and clothes were always dirty and I probably stunk from all that work but the outcome was worth it.

The very things were can use everyday likely came from a farm and someone’s hard labor. The work that someone put in gave you nice soft clothing or a delicious meal on your table. If you did not grow it, someone did.

Here in Hawaii, I had hoped the pandemic helped to make more realize the importance of local farms but unfortunately, transplanted invasive people from the Center for Food Safety has decided to block efforts for food security once again by using catchy campaigns. They are trying to make one of our very few egg farms, Waialua Fresh, disappear.

Nearly 9 years ago, that same group tried to push 1 mile buffer zones in farms in an attempt to get the biotech farms shut down. Little did they realize that they also would have shut our farm down too.

We have an opportunity to really work on that dream to be more food secure only of we walk the talk to support our agricultural community. It is not about going organic or some other hyped buzzword like regenerative farming but about supporting each and every farm. It is about community.

Several months ago, I shared some heliconias with a neighbor and he called me to see if he could stop by. He gave me some fresh eggs from his hens! I even traded my Lilikoi goods for fresh ahi and ono filets with a local fisherman. When we are blessed with abundance, we share the aloha.

In this day and age of constant bad news, it is clear we need to change our focus back to communityc for the sake of our kids. They need to see where they fit in the greater picture within out community.

My kids always asks how I am always coming home with stuff. I told them that the more we share and help others the richer we are in life.