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John -

In Maui, the death toll from the wildfires continues to climb. It is
already the deadliest wildfire in the US in 100 years, and there are still
over 800 people missing. The stories coming from the ground are
unbearable.

Meanwhile, real estate interests are already wondering how they can
profit, and our news feeds are full of confusing and misleading
colonialist narratives that only add to the damage facing the people of
Maui. Much of the media coverage has described the severely affected area
of Lahaina — a rich and tight-knit community that was once the royal
capital of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi — as simply a tourist destination.

So we want to take a minute to look at what's really happening and what we
can learn about how to decolonize the response to future climate
disasters.

First, we already know that climate change created the conditions that
make wildfires more likely and more extreme, through droughts, rising
temperatures, and more intense storm conditions like high winds.

On top of that, internal documents show that Hawaiian Electric Co, an
investor-owned utility, was aware that preemptive power shut-offs in high
wind areas — a tactic that’s been used in California — could have helped
prevent wildfire spread, but they never adopted them. Now, Hawaii Electric
is trying to get out of culpability by filing for bankruptcy.^1 This is
yet another example of why we need utilities that are more accountable to
the public.

And now, as many people are erasing the reality facing Maui residents by
focusing on mourning their own vacations, still others have — even more
egregiously — continued to take those vacations, despite clear calls from
the local community not to come. “Leave,” Lahaina resident Alika Peneku
told CNN.^2 “Give us the chance to heal. If any one of those tourists’
homes burned down, they wouldn’t want anybody outside their home doing fun
excursions. They would want time to mourn. They would want time to
rebuild.”

This is the climate crisis at its clearest and most vicious: tied to
capitalism, colonialism, and extraction.

That’s why the climate movement needs to stand with the people of Maui
right now as they grieve, rebuild, and resist relentless colonialism.

We can help by correcting colonialist narratives and calling out efforts
that prioritize tourism or profit over the needs and wishes of frontline
and Indigenous communities.

And we can donate to the [ [link removed] ]Hawai’i People’s Fund, which is providing aid
quickly in support of the community organizers and organizations who are
already engaged in this work.

[ [link removed] ]For more information, read our full coverage of what we can learn from
Maui about decolonizing wildfire responses.

In solidarity,

Team 350

1 - [ [link removed] ]Utility Drive

2 - [ [link removed] ]CNN




 




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