Staff and management of Hawaii Tourism Oceania and Hawaiian Airlines have joined NZ Sea Cleaners and youth ambassadors from Australia, New Zealand and Japan aged between 12 and 18 years to clean up beaches on the Island of Hawai‘i – all in support of International Coastal Clean-up Day.
The effort, in partnership with Sea Cleaners, is an initiative to demonstrate the importance of sustainability and responsible travel.
Captain Hayden Smith, Sea Cleaners Founding Trustee said the youth ambassador program was inspirational as a new breed of leaders develop.
“By involving students from New Zealand, Australia and Japan, it provides a platform with a global outreach and a chance to inspire a wider group of future youth leaders, to help us share our knowledge of the issue with their own communities once they return home,” Captain Smith said.
Legendary big wave surfer, Shane Dorian an American surfer from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and his son Jackson, also took part cementing the importance of passing responsibility onto the next generation.
Shane Dorian and Jackson Dorian
“I feel like it is our responsibility to help leave the beaches cleaner than we found them’” he said.
“We need to take care of Hawai‘i’s beaches for those who are here after us, hopefully hundreds of years from now.”
As well as sponsoring flights for the youth ambassadors and chaperones, Hawaiian Airlines representatives from the airline’s staff volunteer program Team Kōkua joined the beach clean-up.
Debbie Nakanelua-Richards, Director of Community and Cultural Relations for Hawaiian Airlines said responsibility and sustainability were front of mind for the state carrier.
Ready for action. The beach clean-up team
“As the hometown carrier for 90 years, we understand the tremendous responsibility we have in caring for these Islands. Our hope this International Coastal Clean-up Day is a catalyst to bring people together to mālama honua (care for our Island Earth) and inspire others to join us in protecting all that makes Hawai‘i special,” Ms Nakanelua-Richards said.
The project will be filmed and produced into a short documentary by National Geographic, set to be released in October 2019.
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