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Reflections on Sustainability Concepts: Aloha ʻĀina and the Circular Economy

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  • Kamanamaikalani Beamer

    (Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
    Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, Williamson S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
    Hui ʻĀina Momona Program, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • Axel Tuma

    (Resource Lab, Institute of Materials Resource Management, University of Augsburg, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Andrea Thorenz

    (Resource Lab, Institute of Materials Resource Management, University of Augsburg, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Sandra Boldoczki

    (Resource Lab, Institute of Materials Resource Management, University of Augsburg, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Keliʻiahonui Kotubetey

    (Paepae o Heʻeia, Kāneʻohe, HI 96744, USA)

  • Kanekoa Kukea-Shultz

    (Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, Kāneʻohe, HI 96744, USA
    The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi Marine Program, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA)

  • Kawena Elkington

    (Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
    Department of Geography and Environment, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

Abstract

The Circular Economy is gaining traction in the European Union and all over the world as a transition away from the extractive and exploitative linear economy. In Hawaiʻi, the cultural value of aloha ʻāina is a philosophy describing a set of values grounded in a relationship of kinship between people and the environment. Aloha ʻĀina structured centuries of sustainability and it has evolved over generations to frame community responses to crucial issues today, such as climate change, oligopolistic markets, and contemporary land management. This paper sits at the intersection of cross-disciplinary collaboration, sustainability, and sustainable development. Participative moderate observations and intentional cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge over five years between scholars and experts in the major fields of indigenous Hawaiian knowledge and industrial ecology inspired the concepts explored in this paper, which address the question of how aloha ʻāina and the Circular Economy can engage with each other in the collective effort to combat climate change, guide sustainable development efforts, and transition societies toward sustainability. Extensive literature reviews and insight gained through site visits to sustainability projects inform the discussion of best practices from opposite parts of the globe—Hawaiʻi and Germany—to put into conversation two worldviews and present resulting implications and lessons learned. Essential findings describe the benefits of knowledge exchange between members of global practitioner networks. By shifting expert and participant roles according to which projects are being observed, cross-cultural characteristics can be explored at a deeper level, which allow participants to employ best practices to their respective theories. The Circular Economy’s engagement with indigenous knowledge systems is an opportunity to ally and produce solutions to the challenges associated with changing the linear economy while addressing both environmental and social justice issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Kamanamaikalani Beamer & Axel Tuma & Andrea Thorenz & Sandra Boldoczki & Keliʻiahonui Kotubetey & Kanekoa Kukea-Shultz & Kawena Elkington, 2021. "Reflections on Sustainability Concepts: Aloha ʻĀina and the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2984-:d:513731
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    2. Kawika B. Winter & Kamanamaikalani Beamer & Mehana Blaich Vaughan & Alan M. Friedlander & Mike H. Kido & A. Nāmaka Whitehead & Malia K.H. Akutagawa & Natalie Kurashima & Matthew Paul Lucas & Ben Nyber, 2018. "The Moku System: Managing Biocultural Resources for Abundance within Social-Ecological Regions in Hawaiʻi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Julie Thompson Klein, 2020. "Sustainability and Collaboration: Crossdisciplinary and Cross-Sector Horizons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, February.
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    2. Anita Boros & Róbert Kurdi & Zoltán Pál Lukács & Attila Sarkady & Zsuzsanna Banász, 2021. "Opinion of the Hungarian Population on the Reform of Beverage Packaging Deposit-Refund System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, June.

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