Ricardo Godoy & others

I agree foremost with the introduction when it says that indigenous people are among the worldʻs poorest populations. I think that they are poor due to being robbed of their land, people (due to disease), and ultimately their culture. This was a difficult read for me because my brain automatically cringes away from readings with graphs and statistics and charts so I had to force myself to plod on through the reading. I really liked the section about the traditional use of renewable natural resources: (pg. 9)

"irrespective of traditional practices, increasing integration into the market and population pressure induce indigenous peoples to degrade renewable natural resources." (Godoy 2001)

We can see that very clearly in Hawaiʻi. With the ʻiliahi trades and with loʻi kalo abandonment. In my kānāwai class the other day we discussed how foreign demands and land seizing and the opportunity for different/new western jobs became available, how the Hawaiians deserted their usual jobs. Or families being struck with diseases couldnʻt tend to their loʻi and take care of their families at the same time. New ways were upon the Hawaiians and it took a toll on them and the ʻāina.
I find it frightening that our traditional knowledge about ecological sustainability will be lost soon. Who knows, the day could come soon where we wont need people who are skilled in knowing how to pick a tree for making a canoe. That basic knowledge could be lost forever.
I like a solution is that we should increase production in a sustainable way. Its sort of funny to me because thats how Hawaiians did things, we were all about sustainability in the old days, and our loʻi systems were a prime example of that. How we used the water from the streams and we took care of the stream because it went all the way to the ocean and through other loʻi. It wasnʻt until the westerners came with their new ways, that we forgot about sustainability and got lazy.