WATCH: Kauhale from Hawai‘i Community College and UH Hilo share their mana‘o: What does Lā Honua-Earth Day mean to you?

Watch the “Lā Honua-Earth Day 2020 Kauhale Video Project,” where members of Hawai‘i Community College and UH Hilo campuses share testimonials addressing the simple but profound question: What does Lā Honua-Earth Day mean to you?

Today is Earth Day, and in the new online instructional environment due to the coronavirus, the university ‘ohana is finding ways to celebrate and honor Lā Honua—Earth Day 2020.

“It is the 50th year anniversary of this event!” writes Kerri Ingliss, professor of history, in an email to the university community on April 16.

In her email, Ingliss announced the “Lā Honua—Earth Day 2020 Kauhale Video Project,” where members of the Hawai‘i Community College and University of Hawai‘i at Hilo kauhale—students, faculty, staff—were invited to submit a short (less than one minute) video testimonial addressing the simple but profound question: What does Lā Honua ~ Earth Day mean to you?

“The question can be considered in general and/or in the context of COVID-19,” notes Ingliss. “We encourage you to submit a video from your current setting and environment. It should be an experience that is easy, fun, powerful and empowering!”

Drew Kapp, a geography instructor, and Charlotte Cheek, sustainability coordinator, both at Hawai‘i CC, collected submissions and created the video compilation of all testimonials found at the top of this post and released it in the afternoon of Earth Day.

The group hopes that the activity will help keep the caring of the Earth on everyone’s mind during these stressful stay-at-home times.

“We regret that we were not able to put on our usual Earth Day Fair and Conservation Career Day festivities, nor our Lā Honua Symposium or Mālama ‘Āina Huaka‘i this April, but we hope that these virtual activities will help to keep our Honua, our Earth in the consciousness of our kauhale,” explains Ingliss. “The environment, ‘aina and our human and non-human communities can serve as a foundation in such uncertain times, as we continue to mālama them.”