Every Day is Earth Day
By David Glenn Taylor, Marketing Director
On April 22, 1970, thousands of students, from elementary to university, across the US celebrated the first Earth Day. It had been created by Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin legislator, after viewing the massive oil spill along the Santa Barbara coastline the year before. The infamous oil spill had created an 800 mile slick that placed a jolt of adrenaline to an already-growing environmental awareness across the country, fueled by young voters.
We are entering a new period of environmental awareness and Kai Kanani is leading the way on Maui, from being among the first boats to provide free reef-safe sunscreen for passengers to working to eliminate single-use plastic used aboard our vessel by switching to compostable cups and metal utensils. The idea of having a special day to mentally remind our communities that something is worth remembering is not new. But for a company whose entire purpose is to help our guests experience Nature in its most glorious expression, EVERY day is Earth Day.
Captain Anthony, Kai Kanani’s Managing Captain and one of the most experienced seamen on Maui puts it this way: “I see that more and more people are less likely to walk past something like garbage on a beach. They stop, they pick it up. There are certain things that you see that are becoming the new norm. For instance, when we told the crew we were going to be switching to metal, reusable utensils on the boat, they didn’t hesitate. They just don’t want to use more plastic. There’s a total shift beginning to happen and it’s very cool. That whole idea of leaving a place cleaner than it was when you arrived is back and it’s changing things.”
He’s right. The other day, we were on our home beach, the pristine Maluaka in Makena and we watched a girl no older than 4 walking up and down the beach picking up small pieces of ocean plastic. Her mother was cheering her on as she brought back handfuls of colorful pieces and they discarded them together in a park waste-bin. We said ‘mahalo’ to her mother and told her we have been operating off of Maluaka for 30 years and how heart-warming it was to see a little one whose instinct was to take care of nature. The mom smiled and said, “We do what we can.”
Well said. So will we.