The field trip Friday was the best experience I've had in Hawaii and on a field trip in general. At our first stop we got to see and learn about many ancient Hawaiian tools. I found it cool that our host knew how to make some of them and let us hold and play with some of them because Kumu says on our next field trip we might see some of the tools but they will be in a museum so we won't be able to touch them.
After learning the purpose of the tools we took a trip down to the stream, and on the way we saw and pointed out all the plants we could identify. We crossed the stream and uncle brought us to a spring. I was amazed that the water was just coming out of the ground, and even more amazed when uncle climbed down and just started drinking the water. I learned that earth water is the cleanest water because it comes straight from the ground unlike stream water that could have all sorts of pollution in it. The water from the spring surprisingly was delicious; you couldn't taste the dirt at all.
Finally we went to see Uncle Danny and experienced being in a lo'i patch and learning about all the varieties of taro. It was nice to be able to see and experience everything uncle was talking about instead of reading about it in a book or newspaper. Danny also made me aware or many problems farmers face today. I was shocked that some farmers are being sued because their plants accidentally cross-pollinated with a gene modified plant, and I'm curious what effects the gene modified plants have on the aina they are planted in and on the consumers. This is definitely something to be concerned about.
This field trip is something i will never forget. I feel that experiencing someone else's lifestyle is the best way to learn about it, and that we definitely did.

Streams of Controversy

In the Ka Wai Ola's Stream's of Controversy, Liza Simons presents a water rights conflict between sugar plantation companies and native Hawaiians. A ditch system is diverting water from the Na Wai 'Eha streams unfairly, and drying out the Hawaiians lo'i.

"When Hawaiians lost their waterways to plantation ditches, it was a detrimental to the native culture as loss of land."

The the main point in the Hawaiian argument is that the streams are necessary to their lifestyle. The streams running low has affected taro cultivation, and without food they can't feed their families and are forced to move away. Many Hawaiian families have also found it hard to practice wetland kalo cultivation because of the low amount of water available to them.

A proposal was made to restore 34.5 million gallons of water to the Na Wai 'Eha streams, however sugarcane companies complain that reflowing the streams will affect their company profits. Are they only worried about profits? No. More importantly they make a good point in saying that if their ditch systems don't stay in business many Hawaiians will lose their jobs.

"We're not saying we can live off of kalo and nothing else, because we can't, but we also know that sugar has never sustained our community. No job -no matter how important it seems, should come at the cost of a resource that is essential."

This quote by a kalo farmer helped me make my final decision in where i stand in this argument. I think the waters should be restored to the native Hawaiians. They understand that there are jobs at risk, but they also know that sugar isn't essential to a community, while the rivers ARE important to their culture.