Kaho'olawe Aloha 'Aina

In the swirling volcanic steam and misty rain forest of Kilauea volcano’s east rift zone on the island of Hawai’i, two forces meet head on. Geothermal development interests, seeking to clear the rain forest for drilling operations, are opposed by native Hawaiians seeking to stop the desecration of the fire goddess, Pele. Pele is a living deity fundamental to Hawaiian spiritual belief. She is the eruption, with its heat, lava and steam. Her family takes the form of forest plants, animals and other natural forces. But geothermal development interests see Pele as simply a source of electricity. When Hawaiians take the issue to court, they find that nature-based religions are not respected by U.S. law.

Recorded in 1983 during a ten-day gathering in Vanuatu, a newly independent island nation in the south Pacific that had recently declared itself a nuclear-free zone, this program takes a look at the Pacific-wide movement towards independence and de-nuclearization. 
Testimony is presented by Pacific islanders and Pacific Rim representatives who experience various aspects of the nuclear cycle, from uranium mining in Australia and Canada to nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands and Tahiti. Health, social, economic, military and political effects of the nuclear presence in the Pacific are the subject of the conference and the focus of a march through downtown Port Vila to the French consulate on Bastille Day.
 


The Hawaiian system of land use allowed access to all resources in the ahupua‘a, a land division that stretched from mountain to sea. Within the ahupua‘a, highly specialized technologies such as fishponds and lo‘i kalo (taro gardens) ensured an abundance of food. 
Our Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) ancestors achieved a rare balance between meeting their needs and enhancing the productivity of the land and sea. Their social system ensured survival from generation to generation.