It’s Time to Start Traveling Differently

“There are some who have crossed deserts, floated on ice caps, and cut their way through jungles but whose souls we would search in vain for evidence of what they have witnessed.” — Alain de Botton.

Aunty Kehau’s dark eyes lit up as she ushered my 10-year old son Nikko and I through the chain-linked enclosure. She threw back her long salt and pepper hair, pulled Nikko close, thanking him for volunteering at O’ahu’s Loko ia Pa’aiau, one of Pearl Harbor’s ancient royal fishponds. Nikko slipped his small fingers into mine and whispered, “What are we doing here? I want to swim. It’s so hot.”

This was our first time meeting Aunty Kehau, a middle-aged Native Hawaiian with a warm smile, who explained that she hopes to bring this ancient fishpond back to its former glory. She thanked us for volunteering to help her. A textbook example of a doer, Aunty Kehau saw a problem and set out to fix it. 500 years ago, Pearl Harbor housed 22 active fishponds, which is basically the equivalent of an ancient Hawaiian fish monger. Today, only three are still active on Oahu’s southwest shore. This one, Loko ia Pa’aiau, is missing half a wall and isn’t yet functional. But she’d rallied the community, the military and visitors like us to help.

Nikko and I had journeyed to Hawaii on a reporting trip for the San Francisco Chronicle. My aim was to see if I could create a truly regenerative trip to the islands in the only US state (and really the only massive tourism market in the world) adopting regenerative travel as the standard for tourism.

The tourism industry (which makes up 10% of the global economy and offers jobs to over 10% of the planet’s humans) is beginning to reckon with their role in our climate crisis and has been flirting with changing their impact. So far, it’s been baby steps like labeling themselves green if they don’t change your linens every day, calling their hotel sustainable if they have EV chargers and source microgreens from a local farm.

Regenerative travel is the next rung. Where sustainable travel inspires us to leave a place like it was when we arrived (not forcing us to truly face the impact of our flight, drive, water use, landfill additions), regenerative travel says that travelers can be a force for good, if we allow the local community tell us…