Tawny Souza
Final COM344 Project
As a group, Today Not Tomorrow, we were eager to engage ourselves in the community and work along side an organization to make a difference. Our COM 344 Final Project provided us with the perfect opportunity to do so. With that in mind, we decided to team up with the Hawaii Wild Life Fun at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and take part in their South Point Beach Clean Up. This event was held on November 13, 2010 at 6:30am to 4:30pm at South Point in Ka’u, the southern most part of the big island. Due to the strong winds and currents in this area, South Point is the most debris littered coastal line in the state. This marine debris poses danger and is a threat to the oceans wildlife. Knowing this, the organization decided this was perfect place that everyone could provide assistance.
All group members met at the University of Hawaii at Hilo near the Marine Biology Building. We were provided with free transportation as well as the tools needed to complete the beach clean up (gloves, trash bags, buckets, ect). This event was open to all university students who were eager to contribute to a cleaner environment. We chose this event due to its relevance to communication, culture and sustainability. We believe that through communication comes awareness, with culture comes Malama ‘Aina or taking care of the land and by being sustainable comes new life.
As we began planning this project we soon realized that communication played the most important role throughout the semester and was a key tool for building our final group project. Over the semester all group members used Skype, email, phone calls and/or meeting in person as a means of communication. We each communicated our ideas, our opinions, our likes and dislikes, our suggestions and our individual input and time in to the project.
Our group leader, Trisha B. did a great job at keeping our group motivated and intact. She displayed the “ask-and-empower” approach that I learned while reading Beyond You and Me. In addition, she was a great listener. She took note to all of our concerns and did with it what she thought was best. Her leadership style and communication efforts were similar to those of Robert Gilman. During his Broadening the Ecovillage Movement interview he was asked, “which method of communication have you found most helpful in your work within Langley?”. He replayed by saying, the “most helpful has been to use many different methods of communication; intentional and spontaneous conversations, telephone conversations, small group meetings and large group meetings as well as online web-based conferencing, email and video meetings”. Our team leader as well as our group utilized these methods over the course of the semester and while working at the beach clean up. Our interactions were positive, up lifting and successful. We also used effective communications skills, forming-storming--------- to address and resolve any conflicts. We have learned that communication may come in many different forms, but the important thing is that we are able to encode the information and use it to our advantage.
Through communication, we were able to learn more about each other’s values, morals and culture. Due to the different forms of communication that we utilized, this beach clean up was our first meeting that we were all able to meet physically in person. It was interesting to notice the age differences, to experience our group’s dynamics and also to hear of the different life styles or ethnic backgrounds of each group member.
Of our four group members, Jackie and Jenna are of white race and ethnic background, as for Trisha and I, we are of Hawaiian race and ethnic background. Although the cultural beliefs and practices were not exactly the same between the two races and ethnic background, we all came together to work as a team towards a common goal, which was to protect our environment. This mature understanding and teamwork definitely put our group in the right place. I also noticed that Jackie and Jenna “felt” the value and importance in cleaning up the beach, regardless of the fact it was not their home, but a home to Trisha and I. Diversity was definitely an element in our group that tied in to culture.
I appreciate the diversity within my group and also in Hawaii. I am fortunate to live on an island that is referred to as a “melting pot”. This gives rise to opportunities for meet knew people and learning about their cultural practices, while in return sharing my Hawaiian Culture. “Everyone is connected and related” (Dr. Jeffery Hiapo Yin, Our Global Kuleana).
The cultural significance to South Point is the land, the fishing area and the wind farms. The land on South Point is also known as Ka Lae or “ the point”. This site is one of the earliest Hawaiian Settlements and one of the longest archaeological records on the island. Fishing in this area provided the ancient people with the red snapper fish and the ‘ulua fish. The current in this fishing area is known as “Halaea Current”, which was named after a chief who was swept out to sea and never returned. The strong wind in this area is the reason for such powerful currents. To take advantage of the winds, a natural resource, the wind farms were built.
The wind farms at South Point are a great way to be sustainable. It is used for the production of electric power. In 1987 the Kamaoa Wind Farm started with 37 Mitsubishi wind turbines. By 2006 the turbines were in poor condition, and they were finally shut down on August 15, 2006. At the end of August 2006, the Pakini Nui project began, which included 14 general electric wind turbines constructed about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the old Kamaoa wind farm. Completed in April 2007, Pakini Nui supplies up to 20.5 MW of power to the island electricity grid of Hawaiian Electric Industries.[22] The wind farm is now operated by Tawhiri Power, LLC.
Fortunately, this is not the only way to take part in being sustainable. From module 4.4 the site entitled 400 Fruit Trees tells the story of community members working as a team to plant native trees in their community. In addition, calculating your global footprint can create awareness and change your style of living. There are many organizations, clubs and programs though out the world that are encouraging sustainability and bringing awareness to the by recycling, reusing and renewing.
My favorite part of this beach clean up experience was being a part of an organization that supported the environment. Amongst the 40 student participants from marine biology, geology and communications departments, I was proud of being a part of something bigger than myself. To me, this event brought a sense of hope for our environment. However, the most surprising aspect of the event was the type of debris that we found. Numerous amounts of plastic bottles, containers, toothbrushes, toys and broken items were found along the shoreline. The most abundant debris that was found was the oyster spacer, which is used as a buoy for the oyster nets.
Taking part in this event along side the Service Learning Corps was a great opportunity for my group and I to participate in. This event allowed us to incorporate communication, culture and sustainability to our project. We were able to visually see the pollution caused by humans and recognize the significance of communicating the message of making a change. It exposed us to the real threat that our environment and earth is experiencing.
To conclude, our group was very successful in completing all aspects of the project while making a difference in our community. I encourage students and community members to participate in events that contribute tor relate to communication, culture and sustainability.
