The erosion of Hawaiian sovereignty at the hands of settler-colonial forces was driven by economic exploitation. This system, in which Hawaiʻi remains trapped today, prioritizes profit over people, speculation over stability, and short-term gains over long-term prosperity for our lāhui.
The consequences are clear: soaring living costs displace Native Hawaiians, climate collapse threatens our islands, and a fragile economy is dictated by outside forces. These are not unfortunate side effects – they are the inevitable results of an economic model built to extract from Hawaiʻi, not sustain it.
Since the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, political and corporate leaders have treated these crises as issues to be managed rather than evidence of systemic failure.
Their approach has been to tweak policies while maintaining the status quo, as if land speculation, food dependency, and climate vulnerability can be solved with minor reforms. This delusion has led to the continued erosion of our people’s cultural integrity while decision-makers congratulate themselves for preserving a system that pushes Native Hawaiians out of our homeland.
But we are not powerless.
Our kūpuna did not build their world by asking for permission to thrive. They cultivated abundance through loʻi kalo, loko iʻa, and the ahupuaʻa system, which sustained entire communities for centuries.
Aloha ʻāina is not a slogan or an abstract ideal – it is the only viable economic model for Hawaiʻi’s survival.
Our current system depends on external markets, imports, and unsustainable growth. In contrast, an aloha ʻāina economy is built on regenerative principles rooted in Hawaiian values. It prioritizes food sovereignty, energy independence, responsible land stewardship, and Indigenous governance over our resources. This is not just an alternative approach – it is the only way to secure a future for Native Hawaiians in Hawaiʻi.
We call on our leadership to act. Lawmakers, developers, and corporate leaders must use their influence to fulfill their commitment to sustainability and the health of our fragile ecosystem. They must make decisions that serve more than donors, shareholders, and profit margins – decisions that truly benefit Hawaiʻi’s people.
It is time to abandon the outdated belief that if something is not profitable, it is not possible. The gap between rhetoric and reality forces Native Hawaiian families to bear the cost of an extractive system while those in power benefit, reducing Hawaiʻi to a name rather than a people.
The foreign economic order would prefer we believe there is no alternative – that our economic fate is preordained and immutable. But true progress requires breaking free from this imposed framework.
The status quo offers only marginal, unimaginative change incapable of addressing crisis after crisis. A true aloha ʻāina economy does not seek permission from investors or developers. It prioritizes the wellbeing of our people over profit.
The question is no longer whether change is necessary, but who is willing to fight for it.
Leaders who continue to prop up this failing system are not leading – they are caretakers of its decline, clinging to an extractive framework that profits off our lands, culture, and people.
My challenge to those in leadership is this: Will you uphold a system designed to erase us, or will you stand for an economic future rooted in aloha ʻāina? The real work of building a sustainable Hawaiʻi will not come from investing in the status quo. Our prosperity, security, and legacy must be built through Indigenous knowledge and self-determination.
Aloha ʻāina is not passive. It is a call to action. The only question left is: Who has the courage to answer it?
