The majority of environmental issues affecting Hawaii today are related to pressures from increasing human and animal population and urban expansion both directly on the islands as well as overseas. These include tourism, urbanization, climate change implications, pollution and invasive species.
The waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are affected by increasing waste products like marine debris from land and ocean sources washing onto shore as well as effluents generated and released from the islands themselves. Oceans in particular are being devastated by factors including marine debris, plastic pollution, and tourism.
More information: Must/Mustn't & Need/Needn't
Marine debris is defined as any persistent solid material that is both a land-based and ocean-based issue faced across the world. The positioning of Hawaii in particular makes it a high-impact target for marine debris, given the natural ocean currents and its relative location to the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone. As a result, marine debris is not limited to waste from the islands exclusively but is also carried from other locations around the world.
Although plastic pollution remains under the umbrella of marine debris, it is one of the largest concerns affecting marine life and the most ubiquitous source of pollution across the oceans.
Historically, the U.S. military used the ocean as a dumping ground for munitions from 1919 to 1970, and the U.S. army dumped 16,000 mustard gas bombs in deep water, south of Pearl Harbor after World War II. Presently, floating plastic garbage from disposable consumer products accumulate in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, from debris eventually find its way onto the reefs and beaches in Hawaii.
Kamilo Beach, located at the southern tip of the Big Island, has been devastated by plastic pollution from the patch and was named The Dirtiest Beach in the World by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Unique to this site is the abundance of both microplastic and meso-plastic, where geologists found plastic-infused rocks called plastiglomerates; they expect this new rock become a part of the fossil record, indicating the intensity of human influence on the environment.
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Plastiglomerates are formed when melted plastic binds together sand, shells, pebbles, basalt, coral and wood, or seeps into the cavities of larger rocks to form a rock-plastic hybrid; although they were not discovered until 2012 by Captain Charles Moore from Algalita Marine Research Institute, plastiglomerates occur in other parts of the world, in part by fire-using activities such as bonfires.
The presence of plastic is harmful to marine life, including seabirds, that often get entangled in plastic or mistake plastics as food sources and consume them. Studies show that ingestion can block gastric enzyme secretion, diminish feeding stimulus, lower hormone levels, and lead to reproductive failure.
Tourism in Hawaii began in the 19th century and persists today with its tropical weather and landscapes. Welcoming over seven million visitors annually, it is one of the major contributors to Hawaii's economy.
Although it adds to the state’s economic growth, tourism is a non-geologically driven environmental issue that also degrades the island ecosystems islands, primarily Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi, the sites of the major tourism industries. Major concerns of the urban infrastructure development for tourism include habitat loss for local flora and fauna, energy use, consumer waste and pollution, and water shortages. Because of their need to satisfy travel customers, resort destinations’ reliance on the shining sun, a comfortable climate, and the beautiful sea heighten resource use.
More information: Hawaii Community Foundation
Invasive species are non-native organisms that are introduced, often by humans, to an ecosystem. However, what differentiates invasive species from non-native species is their negative impact and threat to economic, environmental, and human health, which aided by their ability to easily adapt and reproduce. Although invasive species may be introduced naturally, they are typically introduced by accidental or intentional means; intentional purposes include habitat restoration and removal of pests.
A number of plant species are now extinct due to grazing livestock, and aggressive non-indigenous species taking over the land. Almost 40% of the endangered species in the United States are Hawaiian species, while nearly 75% of all U.S. extinctions have occurred in Hawaii.
Prior to the arrival of non-natives, some bird species were made extinct, or pushed to near extinctio from the collection of feathers by Native Hawaiians. With the arrival of James Cook in 1778, a new set of environmental threats emerged. Alien species such as cats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, and rats affected a number of indigenous species.
Hawaii is known as the extinction capital of the world with the extinction of nearly half (140) of its historically recorded native bird species.
Some of the alien species that are currently affecting Hawaii include cane toads, mongoose, coquí frogs, gall wasps, Mediterranean, Oriental, and melon flies that damage crops, ants that destroy native insects, and bacteria that infect waters.
Compared with the mainland United States, Hawaii's rating on the air quality index is ranked among the best. Approximately 47% of all emissions are caused by burning fossil fuel for electricity production. Ground transport is the second biggest contributor with 22%, while air transport contributes 19%.
More information: Hawaii Conservation
of the differences between the way nature
works and the way people think.
Gregory Bateson
