Hawaiians Look to Tradition to Cope With Climate Change

HONOLULU, HAWAII - Hawaii faces a range of environmental problems caused by global warming, impacts worsened by practices that critics say have ignored the local ecology.

They say reviving traditional values can reduce the damage by limiting coastal erosion, reversing the rising acidity of coastal waters and lessening flooding from intense storms. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Coastal hotels and homes already are seeing the effect of rising sea levels, which could cost the state’s principal island of Oahu 40% of its beaches by 2050, according to one study. That also would harm tourism, which is the largest source of income for the islands. Even under an optimistic global scenario assuming lower greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels will rise 30 centimeters by the end of the century, according to current estimates. Under a worst-case scenario, ocean levels could rise more than 2 meters by 2100, devastating coastal regions and displacing whole communities on these islands.