Water, Wealth, and the Ancestral Circular Economy, with Kamanamaikalani Beamer

The extractive linear economy and policies focused on endless growth have produced unparalleled socioeconomic inequality and the Climate Crisis. Communities around the world are calling for new economic models that are regenerative towards people, place, and ecosystems. Ancestral ʻŌiwi (indigenous Hawaiian) economic systems were built around people's relationships and understandings of wai (water). This talk will explore the lessons that can be drawn from the Hawaiian Ancestral Circular Economy and the resurrection of peoples' ancestral relationships to love and protect water.

Kamanamaikalani Beamer is the Director of the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, and the Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature, & the Environment at the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. He also has an appointment in the Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law.

This event is co-sponsored by the UCSB American Indian and Indigenous Collective, Bren School, Environmental Studies Program, Environmental Humanities Initiative, and Legal Humanities Initiative.