It’s Monday on Sand Island in the Midway Atoll. As part of learning about the Hawaiian culture we have been learning Hawaiian words. Two words that we learned today are malama – to take care of and kuleana – responsibility. I thought about these words as we visited the islands hydroponics greenhouse, the power plant and the water purification plant.As Tracy and Matt, our U.S. Fish & Wildlife guides, talked they impressed upon us the importance of the island being self-sustaining. For instance, at the hydroponics greenhouse, we were told that the amount of vegetables grown using this system saved the cost of one transport flight to the island. This was equivalent to the salary of the hydroponics person’s for a year—not to mention the bonus of the fresh veggies we have been able to enjoy.
The idea of sustainability is lived every day at Midway. I like the quote that we learned about earlier this week where an 8th grader defined sustainability as “enough for everyone, everywhere; forever”. Sustainability as I saw from the hydroponics greenhouse does not come from want but from abundance.
photo credit: Dani Carter
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