Last night's speaker Ed Lindsey, who was born and raised in Lahaina, is the president of Maui Cultural Lands and is dedicated to education and preservation. Uncle Ed shared with our group the values of his organization: Aloha (love, compassion, kokua, pono); Malama (Take care properly); Onipa'a (stay the course, steadfastness); and Ho'omanawanui (patience). These values are what hold his organization together. He stated that growth does not happen overnight, it evolves and taking on a project like saving Honolua, is like raising a child and if no one takes care of it, the developers will sell it. He is a big advocate of empowerment which leads to a responsibility to take care, a lifetime commitment. He believes the Save Honolua Coalition already has a lot of political clout and we must use it to share a common vision. We do not need validation from the so called experts, while their information is important, it is no more valuable than traditional local knowledge.

According to Ed Lindsey, the spiritual aspect of saving Honolua is very important; any voyage to save a place must come from a place of love. We need to visualize receiving a solution and if we are pono, help will come. It is crucial that people visualize and think in positive terms. Uncle Ed believes that Maui Land and Pineapple (formerly Baldwin packers) is not the enemy, they are a corporation that has given many local people jobs throughout the years. Unfortunately, when the Cameron family was squeezed out of the corporation, it lost it's heart and soul. Now it is up to the public to put back, to give MLP heart and instill spirit in those who make the decisions. The way that we handle people will determine our success. If we approach MLP with anger, we will get anger back.

That said, Uncle Ed offered a list of things we can look into to further help our cause: Intervention, title search, community action, political lobbying, work with Trust for Public Lands, lawsuit or negotiations, buy development rights, prehistoric land use, royal patents, HRS 343 as trigger for EIS. It is simple, we need to investigate different ways of saving this area and bringing it back to life. If we do nothing, we will get nothing. There is archaeological evidence that each valley in this region was self sufficient--land with water is/was very valuable, without water it is valueless and so we should also support Na Wai Eha in their petition to restore stream flow. We must be vigilant, know the laws and know what buttons to push. The struggle will never end...