Maui Youth Delegation To Paris

MISSION:
We are a delegation of five emerging young leaders  with a small support team from Maui, Hawai`i going to Paris for the United Nations COP21 negotiations. We wish to ensure that an indigenous youth voice is heard throughout these global conversations on climate change. Each of us are currently engaged in caring for and protecting the ‘āina of Maui.  We view this journey as a way to create long-lasting relationships with international and indigenous leaders and build a bridge of mutual support between caretakers and protectors of culture and the environment in Hawai`i and the rest of the world. We plan to bring our experiences back to Maui to share with our home community and use them to inspire, inform and activate our families, friends and associates toward greater love and care for the earth in practical and effective ways. For full bios of the delegates please go to:  Locals for Local Change 

ACTIVITIES:
We will be involved in specific global events and activities in Paris:

- Conference of Youth (COY11)
- Voices4Mother Earth World Wisdom Gathering
- Voice & Action for Mother Earth Ceremonies
- COP 21
- Place to B Hub


1) Conference of Youth (COY11)  Nov. 26-28 - We will be participating in a gathering of more than 5,000 international youth to build strategies for mobilization, exchange stories, sustainable practices and climate change solutions.

2) Voices4Mother Earth World Wisdom Gathering   Dec. 1-5 - An "invite-only" 5 day, deep, co-creational ceremonial gathering with Global Indigenous Elders to:
(1) create a unified vision and new paradigm, based on our sacred connection to Mother Earth
(2) design a way to present this vision and new paradigm to the world to raise global consciousness, and
(3) explore and co-create ways and processes to ensure that this new paradigm will be the foundation of all our future actions. (Only one delegate will attend)

3)  Voice & Action of Mother Earth Ceremonies 
Dec. 6 - We have been invited into a gathering which will include indigenous elders and traditional practitioners from around the world, exchanging protocol, stories and cultural preservation practices with the intention of bringing the voice of Mother Earth 'into the field' through the Elders. The focus is to answer the question: 
"What does Nature have to say to defend itself?" 
Then they will discuss how to move forward by listening to the youth and asking the question: 
"What are we going to do?" On this day we have been invited along with other indigenous youth to step into the center of this ceremony to be encircled by our Global Indigenous Elders and invited to share our vision for the future.

4) COP21 (21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -UNFCCC)  Nov. 30-Dec. 11 - We will join major public sector events and learning spaces, both sanctioned and unsanctioned, surrounding the COP21 negotiations. These forums are intended to educate and mobilize international citizens on climate issues and solutions from every imaginable angle.

Place to B Nov. 28-Dec.12 - Our place of lodging and networking (along with 600 other participants) is a hub for NGOs, journalists, activists, storytellers, bloggers and videographers co-creating the 'new story', through recorded and facilitated conversations, presentations, art and collaborative creative projects of all kinds.

Your donation will help get us there!

VISION:
Our delegation includes teachers, farmers, students, cultural practictioners and envrionmentalists involved in cultural and ecological restoration and renewal on our home island of Maui. In addition to our diversity we hold between us a powerful commitment to help create a healthy and vibrant future for the coming generations. We all agree this future must first start with our relationship to the ‘āina, (the land).

Climate change is a globally unifying issue that our generation must acknowledge and work with head-on. One of our missions is to build a bridge for the flow of `ike (knowledge) between Hawai‘i and the rest of the world. We come from the most remote place on planet earth, over 4000 kilometers away from the largest land mass. We are an island nation. Islands and coastal peoples are many of the first communities to suffer the major effects of climate change. This means that our physical homes, families and culture are in direct danger zones. We feel that it is paramount to go to Paris to learn more about where climate change action stands today, globally. We want to bring home education and ideas on these vital matters to better inform and activate our communities here on Maui.

We are eager to connect, share ideas and hā (breath) with like-minded youth from all over the world. We especially look forward to meeting our indigenous brothers, sisters and elders who can teach us their ancient ways of co-existing with this earth. We are so excited to learn and make connections!

Some important questions we are carrying to Paris:

“What is truly possible globally when individuals begin to take action locally within their own communities?”

“How do we effectively get more of our friends, family members, work associates and acquaintances on Maui to take greater and immediate responsibility through their own actions to address the larger issues of consumption and waste that are robbing from the health of the ‘aina and the earth?”

“How can we better make the connection between the global movement against GMO and Hawai‘s key role as a GMO seed production hub and as an open-air experimental lab for bio-tech’s industrial chemical agriculture? How can we make this knowledge more accessible and understood by the wider public? What larger role might Maui and Hawai`i take in the global movement against GMO agriculture?”

“What role might Hawai`ian cultural understanding and traditional land stewardship practices have to inform global transformation toward a just, peaceful and ecologically vibrant future?”

“What can be learned from the international indigenous leaders, youth activists, economic and ecological innovators who will be in Paris that can inform our ability to better care for the ‘aina of Maui and Hawai`i?”

In order to pull this off we will need the support of our community! Our trip in total will cost $30,000. This includes all of our airfare, accommodation, food and registration for events. Your donation is tax deductible! Our delegation has kindly been taken under the wing of Aloha in Action  a 501c3 non-profit organization EIN 45-1027317. If you prefer to mail your donation, all checks are payable to:
Aloha in Action
P.O Box 658 
Kula, HI 96790

By donating to our journey you are directly investing in the future that we all hold possible. This is a future where indigenous practices and the inherent Rights of Nature are always taken into consideration first while working with our rapidly evolving future.

Mahalo!

And if you are interested in participating in a COP 21 event here on Maui our working team has also decided to host local events to coincide with what will be happening in Paris! Please contact us through gofundme to learn more or get involved!