50 states, 50 revisions
The air is filled with birds chirping, and the land is a tableau of soft greenery and gentle light. This is Ho'oulu 'āina, a 100-acre reserve with an unusual twist. It is linked to a community health center and is where patients come to heal the land and themselves.
As climate change accelerates and the Trump administration abandons the fight, Ho'oulu 'āina is an example of how people in all 50 red and blue states are working to restore land, clean waterways, reduce pollution and protect wildlife.
50 states, 50 fixes are a series on local solutions for environmental issues. I'll come more this year.
Twenty years ago, Ho'oulu 'āina was ignored and overrunned with trash and invasive plants. But today it is thriving.
And then, volunteers and patients who spent a long time there, removing non-enemous plants and growing vegetables, fruits and herbs, experienced body and soul recovery.
Research is growing showing how spending time in nature can improve mental, physical and cognitive health.
Older people who once relied on canes and pedestrians have regained some mobility. Diabetics have seen their glucose levels drop. The depressed teens woke up brightly. In Hawaiian, the name Ho'oulu 'āina means “growing for the land.”
“Many people within the health centre saw the land as a way and a kind of tool to improve human health,” said Puni Jackson, program director at Ho'oulu 'āina. But for the native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who make up the majority of clinic patients, the connection to nature is both familial and profound, Jackson said. “It's a sacred relationship,” she said.
Ho'oulu 'āina is a 10-minute drive from the clinic, a bushy road, crossing a wooden bridge, above a rugged dirt driveway leading to grassy fields adjacent to the forest. The land features bread and banana trees, medicinal plants and taro, organic gardens, low-haired buildings, and a small pharmacist who watches patients by Jackson, an indigenous medical practitioner of Hawaii.
