Earth Day 2024

Photo by Jack Kiyonaga

“I really like the international Earth Day slogan that says, ‘think globally, act locally,’” said Ed Misaki, one of the recipients of this year’s Malama Kuleana Honua Award. Misaki and the other founding members of the Molokai Cares organization, who started Molokai’s version of Earth Day back in 1992, were honored with the award.

Molokai Cares launched the Earth Day celebration along with other initiatives, like establishing the recycling center at the landfill and stopping the building of a parking lot in front of the public library. Several years after Molokai Cares established the event, The Nature Conservancy took over hosting, and moved it from Kaunakakai Elementary School to its present-day iteration at the Mitchell Pauole Center.

This year’s Earth Day theme was “learning from the past to guide us to the future,” explained Jowell Guerreiro, a program coordinator for The Nature Conservancy Molokai and one of the organizers of Earth Day.

“We wanted to recall the past. We have a bunch of old pictures from old Earth Days,” explained Guerreiro of this year’s event. “Hopefully just by remembering what has been done, we can learn from it and make more steps towards the future.”

The April 19 Earth Day celebration was, as usual, a big hit. Representatives from a variety of Molokai-based as well as off-island groups that work with the environment set up information booths. Along with food booths and music, the celebration drew hundreds of Molokai residents.