Writing as a Wannabe Environmentalist

This morning I received an email about an Ocean Awareness Training happening out here in Hawaii.

I was super excited while I was reading it. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for – some kind of training or group that could link me to environmentalism and conservationism out here in Hawaii, something that I could link back to my environmentalist group- Jo-Jikum.

Those who know me well know of my Jo-JiKum project – an environmentalist group started by my cousins and I after we’d graduated college and moved back home. Jo-JiKuM, which means “your place” or “your home” is an acronym for “Jodrikdrik in Jipan ene eo eKUtok Maroro” which translates loosely to “Youth for a Greener Majol.” Here’s the description as written by our former president/mycousin Tamera Heine:

Jo-JiKuM stands for Jodrikdrik in Jipan ene eo e Kutok Maroro. (Note: E kutok maroro is the ancient Marshallese phase that is used to describe a lush, beautiful, fruitful area.)

I only lived back home for 2 years, but you don’t need to live there longer than 2 hours to notice the amount of trash littered on our island. Recycling isn’t a lifestyle the way it is out in the United States (I’m thinking of Berkeley, California specifically). Out in the Marshalls, recycling is a foreign, unknown concept for many Marshallese. Most materials and things we used in our culture in the past were always biodegradable, so we never had to cultivate an awareness of what we were throwing away. With colonization and globalization, however, came loss of a subsistence economy, followed by a toxic reliance on canned goods, plastic bags, paper towels, Styrofoam cups and plates – all non-biodegradable, all an undeniable part of today’s modern Marshallese lifestyle.

What my cousins and I identified as a need for Majuro was a group that focused its energy entirely on environmentalism. We also wanted to focus it on youth, considering the fact that Marshallese youth make up more than half the population on the island. We figured there were already Marshallese youth who were active and who cared about these issues – there just needed to be a group that served as a platform to support these youths.

I know what you’re thinking: environmentalism? Really?

This was never my cause in college, or in high school. I recycled. But I didn’t really give the environment much thought unless it was to extract images and words for my poetry. I’m also below mediocre when it comes to science and biology. My thing has always been poetry. And to that end, it always will be poetry.

But I think poets, and academics, have a responsibility to do more than to just sit in their ivory towers amongst their stacks of papers and books. The poet I want to be is the type of poet who can get her hands dirty – who doesn’t just stay in her thoughts and in her head but also engages with the people around her. How can a poet properly write about life if she hasn’t experienced it?

This isn’t too say Jo-Jikum is a smash hit. Faaaar from it. To be real, we’re just a ragtag group making things up as we go along. But it’s better time spent than sitting on our hands doing nothing.

While publishing a book has always been the most important personal goal of mine, it’s also a goal of mine to be as useful as I can to my community. This is where the UH Master’s Program in Pacific Island Studies is especially useful. I get to study my own community so I can figure out what’s the best way I can give back, while receiving what some view as an important piece of paper from the university. On the side, I’m trying my best to get involved in the Marshallese/Micronesian/Pacific Islander community here in Hawaii. This has meant taking on a position as a community liason for Micronesian high school students, training with Pacific Tongues, a spoken word organization for Pacific Youth, and now possibly attempting to take on this oceanic training, which would finally get me back in the water (it’s good for my soul). It’s not perfect, but I’m trying.

“But how can this be good for your writing?” Somebody (or maybe nobody) might ask. Lol.  Well this is my answer anyways: I see all of these activities as linked, all these interactions and work as a potential for stories, a field of images, ideas, characters and thoughts just waiting to come to the page. I just need to make sure that I remain on the page, whenever I can – at the bus stop, at the beach, waiting for a meeting, or even maintaining this blog (another goal of mine). But, yeah, I’m constantly worried that I’m overstretching myself. Make sure you don’t burn out seems to be the most ominous advice I get from all the mentors around me.

Which is why, when I came across the email for the Oceanic training, my initial reaction of excitement switched to horror. How can I possibly balance all of these activities?

I have no idea. I think maybe with proper time management and a bangin planner? Lol.

Either way, I’m still gonna try. Mainly because I see all of these as linked, and I truly believe that this is the kind of person and the kind of writer I want to be.