Blog posts

The upcoming renegotiation of military leases in Hawaiʻi presents a critical opportunity to reclaim trust lands taken during the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and restore them to public and Native Hawaiian stewardship. There is legal basis for land return mandating that former Hawaiian Kingdom lands must revert to State control when no longer needed for federal purposes, and that it is the State's duty to actively protect trust lands rather than defer to federal agencies. There are concrete alternatives to militarization: converting military housing into affordable housing for kamaʻāina, reclaiming golf courses for regenerative agriculture systems, reopening beaches like Mōkapu Peninsula and Pōkaʻi Bay to public access, and repurposing facilities like the Hale Koa Hotel for cultural centers. Examples of other regions demonstrate that former colonial outposts can successfully transition from military dependency to diversified, prosperous economies These changes would shift Hawaiʻi toward "genuine security" that promotes in ecological health, cultural resurgence, and economic resilience. Demilitarization is fundamentally about accountability, restoration, and building futures grounded in aloha ʻāina-love for the land and people.

US military presence in Hawaiʻi began as early as the 1800's, rapidly expanding from a coaling station to constructing Pearl Harbor and a network of forts across the islands. In 1893, Marines were employed by American insurrectionists to support the illegal overthrow of the Liliʻuokalani. By 1900, the industry controlled 16,500 acres, over time commanding more land to control more than 220,000 acres today. This transformation accelerated through each major conflict: the second World War brought martial law and mass land seizures, the Cold War expanded training grounds like Pōhakuloa and turned Kahoʻolawe into a bombing range, and today Hawaiʻi serves as headquarters for US Indo-Pacific Command with 73,000 military personnel stationed across the islands

The U.S. military presence has a significant impact in Hawaiʻi. The industry currently controls over 230,000 acres across the islands and operates 118 military sites. The military's dominance has contributed to a severe housing crisis, displacement of Native Hawaiian families, increase in the cost of living for residents, and environmental degradation through live-fire exercises, fuel leaks like the 2021 Red Hill contamination, and pollution of land and water sources. This blog argues that while the military contributes $13.8 billion annually to Hawaiʻi's economy, the hidden costs—including the destruction of sacred sites and ecosystems—demonstrate that true prosperity should be measured by community and environmental health rather than GDP alone.

PAʻA team members attended the 12th International Conference on Industrial Ecology in Singapore, where they presented research on Oʻahu's material flows and indigenous water management systems as models for climate resilience. The conference highlighted emerging trends in industrial ecology, including the integration of AI and a growing focus on social equity, with keynote speakers emphasizing circular economy as sustainable resource management and urban design that prioritizes human well-being. However, the experience of learning about global sustainability innovations was overshadowed by the stark reality of the Trump administration's systematic dismantling of environmental programs and research funding back home.

This blog post examines AI's growing influence in higher education, highlighting both its transformative potential and significant risks. While AI offers powerful tools for research, personalized learning, and administrative efficiency, it threatens to undermine critical thinking skills as students increasingly rely on AI for essays, problem-solving, and even forming opinions. The post warns that AI-generated content can flood academia with convincing but inaccurate information, reinforce existing biases, and exacerbate educational inequalities based on access to technology. Ultimately, it argues that as academic institutions adopt AI, they must prioritize teaching students digital literacy and critical analysis skills to ensure AI serves as a tool for enlightenment rather than control.

AI's rapid advancement is reshaping creative industries, raising critical questions about intellectual property rights and sustainability. From Meta using pirated books to train AI models to artists battling image generators that replicate their styles without permission, creators across literature, visual arts, and music are fighting back through lawsuits and advocacy. Recent political interference in copyright regulation further threatens creative ecosystems, as tech giants push for deregulation while profiting from others' work. This tension between innovation and exploitation mirrors other extractive systems, challenging us to develop more pono approaches to technological advancement that honor and sustain creative communities.

Artificial intelligence is transforming industries globally while simultaneously imposing significant environmental costs through massive energy consumption (with data centers now using over 4% of U.S. electricity), and escalating water usage for cooling infrastructure. This blog examines how recent policy shifts toward coal-powered data centers further complicate this ecological situation, while also exploring AI's paradoxical relationship with circular economy principles—where efficiency-driven systems often inadvertently promote overproduction and planned obsolescence rather than sustainability. This tension is further illustrated by comparing energy-intensive AI systems with human cognition, which operates on just 20 watts of power while incorporating emotional and cultural intelligence, raising critical questions about balancing technological advancement with environmental sustainability and the ancestral wisdom embedded in traditional knowledge systems that have practiced circular principles for generations.

The devastating wildfires in Lahaina (2023) and Los Angeles (2024) reveal the deadly intersection of climate change and extractive capitalism, with both disasters fueled by extreme weather conditions and amplified by decades of colonial land management and aggressive development. Despite attempts to blame Indigenous stewardship and conservation efforts, these fires highlight how traditional practices like cultural burning could have helped prevent such catastrophes. Both disasters serve as stark reminders of the need to integrate traditional ecological knowledge with modern practices as communities rebuild, grounding recovery in cultural values, equity, and sustainability.

This post critiques the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics winners' work on institutional effects on prosperity. While their book "Why Nations Fail" argues that inclusive institutions drive economic success, it overlooks pre-colonial indigenous economies and how colonialism disrupted existing sustainable systems, exemplified by Hawaii's Ancestral Circular Economy.

The 2024 Nature-based Solutions Conference brought together over 800 delegates, including Indigenous scholars, researchers, practitioners, and artists to discuss nature-based approaches to social and environmental change. During a keynote presentation, Dr. Beamer and Kate Raworth explored how combining Indigenous wisdom with new economic frameworks could create more sustainable and equitable systems, inspiring hope among attendees through a mix of scientific knowledge, traditional wisdom, art, and ceremony.

In the many ways we can explore the connection between the circular economy and community health in Hawaiʻi, one is by focusing on food security. In this post, we discuss findings from the ʻImi Pono Hawaiʻi Wellbeing Survey, which reveals that Native Hawaiians experience more food insecurity compared to non-Hawaiians. We argue that the current linear food system in Hawaiʻi is unsustainable. We also advocate for a transition to a more circular food system, and highlight the significance of indigenous knowledge and ancestral circular economy principles, which can be applied to create a more resilient and sustainable food system for Hawaiʻi.

“The only option the Navy has is to safely defuel and decommission its facility.”

Kanaka Maoli attorney Camille Kalama and Dr. Kamana Beamer of the Kaʻohewai Coalition speak to Democracy Now! and a world wide audience.

Aloha Kuamo‘o ‘Āina (AKA) is a center for cultural and ecological peace, led by Keola Beamer and Dr. Kamana Beamer. AKA’s vision for the land’s future is to promote aloha ‘āina consistent with the mo‘olelo (stories) and values of Kuamo‘o.