50 States, 50 Fixes
The air is filled with birdsong, the land a tableau of soft greens and gentle light. This is Ho‘oulu ‘Āina, a 100-acre preserve with an unusual twist. Linked to a community health center, it is a place where patients come to heal the land, and themselves.
As climate change accelerates and the Trump administration abandons the fight, Ho‘oulu ‘Āina is one example of how people in all 50 states, red and blue, are working to restore land, clean up waterways, cut pollution and protect wildlife.
50 States, 50 Fixes is a series about local solutions to environmental problems. More to come this year.
Twenty years ago, Ho‘oulu ‘Āina was neglected, overrun with garbage and invasive plants. But today, it’s thriving.
And the volunteers and patients who spend long hours there, removing nonnative plants and growing vegetables, fruit and herbs, have experienced a restoration of body and soul.
There is growing research that shows how spending time in nature can improve mental, physical and cognitive health, something that the stewards of Ho‘oulu ‘Āina have seen firsthand.
Older people once dependent on canes and walkers have regained some mobility. Diabetics have seen their glucose levels drop. Depressed teens have grown bright-eyed. In Hawaiian, the name Ho‘oulu ‘Āina means “to grow because of the land,” and they have.
“Many people within the health center saw the land as a means to improve human health, sort of a tool,” said Puni Jackson, the program director at Ho‘oulu ‘Āina. But for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, who make up a majority of patients at the clinic, the connection to nature is familial and profound, Ms. Jackson said. “It’s a sacred relationship,” she said.
Ho‘oulu ‘Āina is a 10-minute drive from the clinic, off a thicketed road, over a wooden bridge and up a steep dirt driveway that leads to grassy fields bordered by forest. The land has breadfruit, koa and banana trees, medicinal plants and taro, organic gardens, low-slung buildings, and a tiny apothecary where Ms. Jackson, who is also a native Hawaiian medicine practitioner, sees patients.
