Lā Honua 2026: UH Hilo Earth Day Fair, Conservation Career Day, engage keiki to university students
UH Hilo celebrated Earth Day on April 22 with an Earth Day Fair for keiki and Conservation Career Day for undergraduates.
By Lauren Aoki/UH Hilo Stories.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, in collaboration with Hawaiʻi Community College, celebrated 2026 Earth Day with the 38th annual Lā Honua, a multi-day celebration bringing the community together through workshops, conservation activities, and speakers to mālama ʻāina, and as the week’s theme says, “Huli ka lima i lalo, ola” (Hands that are turned down to do work, bring life).
Hosted April 17-24, the events included field trips for hands-on forest and ocean stewardship activities in Hilo, Puna, and Kona, as well as various keynote speaker events, exhibitions on sustainable art, and even a showing of The Lorax movie.
On Wednesday, April 22 — nationally recognized Earth Day — several events were held on the campuses of UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College, welcoming and collaborating with local K-12 schools, faculty and undergraduates, and community groups from both the public and private sectors. UH Hilo hosted an Earth Day Fair and Conservation Career Day.
Heading this year’s Lā Honua K-12 organizing committee were Professor of Education Diane Barrett, Instructor of Education Judith McDonald, and UH Hilo Instructor of Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Lisa Canale. Helping with set up, coordination, and students interactions was Professor of History Kerri Inglis, and the university’s Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement Pelehonuamea Harman began the day with a welcome kīpaepae.
“In addition to providing a wonderful Earth Day experience, the importance of Wednesdayʻs event was that we opened our campus up to the K-12 students, allowing them to feel comfortable and being able to see themselves on our campus now and in the future,” says Barrett.
Kīpaepae
Wednesday’s Earth Day activities opened at Hawaiʻi CC Manono Campus with a kīpaepae welcome ceremony led by UH Hilo Director Harman.
Students then participated in a celebration of Hawaiian culture, as well as different conservation and art workshops. There were snacks, painting with plants, weaving, recycling newspapers into samurai helmets and trashbins, and a native plant giveaway.
To Inglis, it’s important to honor the cultural connection of the day, celebrate the world, but also Hawaiʻi Island. This is in keeping with mālama ʻāina, meaning to “care for the land,” a hallmark of Native Hawaiian culture.
“It’s important to honor where we are,” says Ingliss. “Once a year, we take all of our honor and connection to really appreciate where we are. And while we’re on this island, which is our world, we remember that it’s important to take care of.”
Earth Day Fair
Following the opening Hawaiʻi CC ceremonies and activities, an Earth Day Fair filled with fun activities geared toward K-12 students was held at the UH Hilo campus. About 900 students attended from Pāhoa, Waiākea, Keaʻau and other schools.
Students visited various information tables and activities hosted by the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance, and many more.
Fun art activities had students making binoculars out of old toilet paper rolls and weaving tī leaf leis (lei lāʻī). UH Hilo students gathered on the lawn to help the youngsters at the Hui Mālama Makanalua booth; the group is headed by history professor Inglis and dedicated to honoring and perpetuating the moʻolelo of Makanalua peninsula, Kalaupapa, Molokai. The students all had fun, excited about Lā Honua, and the keiki rekindled unbridled joy in everyone present.
Professor Inglis supervised the ti leaf lei making, satisfied to see students of such differing ages positively interacting. More than that, she was proud to see older students passing their own knowledge down to the younger ones. After all, if no one teaches the new generations, who will?
“Our giving back is teaching others to give back to the land,” says Inglis, emphasizing that importance as both an educator and a member of her community.
Conservation Career Day
Shortly after the Earth Day Fair, the Conservation Career Day kicked off, geared toward UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi CC students. The goal was to expand students’ ideas on what they could do with their degree in the future.
Information tables were hosted by public and private sector agencies and organizations. In addition to the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, and Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance, other participants in the career event were Hawaiʻi Island Hawksbill Project, Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
Even though students may not walk away from the day with a solid job offer, they still interacted with the community and connected with people, organizations, companies, and programs they hadn’t before.
“They don’t necessarily walk [out] with jobs,” says Inglis. “But they walk away with connections.”
A week of events
The kīpaepae, Earth Day Fair, and Conservation Career Day were but one day of activities for the Lā Honua 2026 week-long events. Guest speakers and student presentations made up the rest of the week, as well as a Mālama ʻĀina campus clean-up event on Friday at UH Hilo’s Performing Arts Center.
Together, the week’s events emphasized the importance of community and connection in conservation and preservation.
Story by Lauren Aoki, an English major with a minor in anthropology at UH Hilo. She is literary editor at the university’s student publications Kanilehua and Hohonu.
