How Tropical Hawaii Keeps Its Seas Clean
Time for a trip over the border now, to meet the beautiful tropical island of Hawaii. Not all volcanos, hula dances and Kona coffee, this island in the South Pacific has many lessons to teach others about looking after its seas.
Hawaii is home to six major islands:
- Kauaʻi is ‘the garden island’ with emerald green valleys, mountains and jagged cliffs, waterfalls, rivers and tropical rainforests.
- Oʻahu is home to the city of Honolulu and popular surfing towns.
- Molokaʻi is just 38 miles long and 10 miles across, and home to the world’s highest sea cliffs and the longest continuous fringing reef. Many live the same rural lifestyle as their ancestors.
- Lānaʻi is the quietest of the islands, with few people and roads, the historic town of Lānaʻi City is near a quaint harbour.
- Maui is where the August 2023 wildfires caused so much devastation, alerting the world to the realities of climate change. Volunteers have been making food parcels, and helping animal shelters.
- Island of Hawaiʻi is a (by comparison) young and large island, nearly twice as big as the others put together. Known for its volcanoes and excellent coffee, it’s also know as the ‘big island’.
How Tropical Hawaii Keeps Its Seas Clean
It’s impossible to keep any sea 100% clean, due to the tides washing up debris from elsewhere. There is one island in the Pacific where if local people want a pair of flops, they just head to the coast, to find a pair washed up from miles away.
But here people don’t dump litter on the beach, nor pollute local oceans. Help is on hand from local boy (and surfer) Jack Johnson (the singer) and his wife. They get involved in school volunteer beach cleans, and together have even launched a reusable steel blue pint cup, to replace disposable ones.
There are water refill stations throughout the island, along with toy swaps and marine trash identification lesson plans, to get the next generation involved in helping to keep the island in good stead for future years.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Most of the world’s discarded rubbish collects into one massive mound in the North Pacific, bound by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. It’s divided into the eastern garbage patch (between Hawaii and California) and the western garbage patch (near Japan0.
Hawaii Wildlife Fund estimates that 15 to 20 tones of marine trashed are washed up on the island’s shores each year, most of which are plastic.
Kamilo Beach (on Big Island) is now listed as the most plastic-polluted place on earth, with over 47 tons of plastic removed from the shore in just 24 days. Some was actually removed from creatures by volunteers (including a Hawaiian monk seal, who had netting wrapped tightly around her neck).
Recently one of Hawaii’s endangered monk seals died, after becoming entangled from ‘jug fishing’ (when someone lowers a plastic jug to try to catch a fish).
The Devastating Wildfires of Hawaii
In August 2023, wildfires burned down 5 square miles of local homes and businesses, and will take years to rebuild. The likely cause was climate change but some say fallen power lines may have also contributed.
The fires (on Maui and Big Island) killed at least 106 people and forced thousands of people to leave their homes and hotels. The town of Lahaina was more or less destroyed. Even six months later, almost 5000 people (many with pets) were still in emergency accommodation.
The Spectacular Volcanoes of Hawaii
Hawaii is home to six active volcanoes (Mauna Kea is higher than Everest), the islands formed from volcanic eruptions.
A massive eruption ins 2018 destroyed roads and homes, and cut off power to local people. Experts say that using the heat from volcanoes as energy would not work as volcanoes are too unpredictable – collecting it would be ‘the most dangerous job on earth’.
We’ll just look at you. If you look scared, then we’ll panic. Discovery Channel crew to volcanologist John Seach, while filming at a volcano
I have seen so many eruptions in the last 20 years, that I don’t care if I die tomorrow. Maurice Krafft (volcanologist on the day before he, his wife and another volcanologist were killed on Unzen Volcano, Japan).
