Kamuela Yim

A community can’t survive without food and water, just as a culture can’t survive without its language. Farmer, cultural practitioner, and co-leader of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Office for Hawai‘i, Kamuela Yim believes in the well-being of both. Kamuela says, traditionally in Hawai‘i, sharing and pooling resources sustainably—from fish to kalo—was how island communities continued to thrive. “Essentially, Hawai‘i is a canoe in the middle of the water that has very limited resources,” Kamuela says. “You can either run it until the wheels fall off, or you can be in sync with the place and know how to grow or fish sustainably, so that you can do the same next week.”