ENVIRONMENTAL MOMENT In Hawai'i there is a special care for nature and the natural environment. The proverb, “He ali'i ka 'āina, he kauwā ke kanaka”—land is chief, man is its servant— sums up this mentality perfectly. The belief that our actions and behaviors should be shaped to fit the land instead of the other way around is a common indigenous belief that has allowed the Hawaiian people to live in symbiosis with the natural world for millennia. The more we cherish and protect our environment today, the healthier it will be for future generations. The Hawaiian word for land, ‘āina, is often broken down into the verb, ‘ai, which means to “eat/consume/ be eaten”, and na, a word meaning here “that which”. A descriptive definition of ‘āina is “that which we consume” as well as “that which consumes us”. This definition of land acknowledges the circle of life and calls for our continued protection and respect for this natural, and finite, resource.
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