In its first lawsuit, filed in 1972, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i joined with other environmental organizations in seeking to prevent construction of the reef runway at then-Honolulu International Airport. The runway was built, but mitigated by creation of a preserve for displaced birds. Five years later, the fledgling Hawaii chapter, founded in 1968, made waves by winning a lawsuit on behalf of a bird.
The groundbreaking case, Palila v. Hawaii, was the first in U.S. legal history to grant standing to a nonhuman plaintiff and required the state to protect the endangered honeycreeper’s habitat on Mauna Kea by fencing out feral goats and pigs. Now 50 years old, the scrappy grassroots organization has built an evergreen reputation for educating the public about Hawaii’s unique native species and natural resources, and fighting to protect them from development, pollution and invaders. The club challenged the interisland Superferry, helped engender protective fencing of Haleakala National Park and marine refuge status for Papahanaumokuakea, and successfully pushed for recycling, the state’s adoption of a 100 percent renewable energy goal and a major overhaul of
Honolulu’s sewer system.
The nonprofit organization’s vigilance also covers human needs, from farmland and clean water to recreation: From the ’60s through 2012, it worked with Save Our Surf, then the Surfrider Foundation, to stop proposed expansions of Maui’s Maalaea Harbor that would destroy a surf break as well as coral reefs. “As much as any other species, humanity depends on a healthy, vibrant planet to survive,” noted Marti Townsend, director of the Hawaii chapter since 2015, who has pushed to safeguard Honolulu’s drinking water from contamination, and for the restoration of water to West Maui streams this year.
Townsend cited partnerships such as the legacy lands project, “that divides housing taxes to purchase large areas like Turtle Bay and also to fund affordable housing.” Environmental justice is central to the club’s mission, she said. “It doesn’t do us any good to advocate for sustainability if the benefits are available only to the wealthy. It has to be for
everyone.”
To commemorate its anniversary, the organization has self-published a beautiful book, “Malama i ka Honua: Fifty years of the Sierra Club in Hawaii.” Although as with all the club’s works it was a collective, volunteer effort (guidance really comes from the members, now 5,000 members strong, Townsend said), shout-outs are owed to designer Kirsten Fujitani, lead photographer Nate Yuen and principal writer Lorin Eleni Gill, a grandniece of late Hawaii chapter co-founder Lorin T. Gill, who started its High School Hikers program and service trips.
Gill’s adroit reporting, coupled with oral histories of club leaders, reveals the personalities of its people along with the trails they built and the species they saved; Yuen’s full-page, color photos invite you to step onto forest floor or sea cliffs, breathe in the fragrances and hear birds, waterfalls, wind, rain and waves.
For the next 50 years,
implementing clean-energy goals and reducing risks
of climate change top Townsend’s list. Other priorities include helping property owners move back from the shoreline as the sea level rises; relocating the Navy’s fuel tanks at Red Hill as risks to public drinking water; and leading more excursions. “You’ll see us continue to keep people well connected to the environment, getting outdoors in meaningful ways,” she said, including maintaining trails, removing invasive species and planting trees.
One can see in “Malama i ka Honua” that Sierra Club of Hawai‘i draws inspiration from Hawaiian values, “the total integration of culture and conservation,” as co-founder Willis Moore observes, in which “they live with the land and share and care for it.”
The book can be ordered in paperback for $56.99 (hardcover with dust
jacket, $64.99) at sierra
clubhawaii.org/malama50.
