Climate Change and the Lāhainā Wildfires: Raising Global Awareness as Native Hawaiians

On August 8th, 2023, Lāhainā, the first capital of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, experienced one of the deadliest wildfires in US history in over a century. Through historical and cultural data, the role of westernization in Maui's regional climate change is investigated. Since the 1800s, Lāhainā has fallen victim to climate-change-driven human activity. Whaling altered the ocean's carbon sink, the sugar industry diverted water from Native Hawaiian farmlands and increased carbon dioxide emissions, the opportunistic invasive, more flammable grasses predisposed the land to fire, and tourism perpetuated these harmful environmental impacts. Combined with climate change on a global scale, these factors contributed to the destruction in Lāhainā and to the physical and mental toll on its people, especially the Native Hawaiians. This manuscript's primary focus is to discuss the impact on Native Hawaiians given the deep ancestral connection with the land and the ancestry of the authors. As Native Hawaiians, this article serves as a platform for the authors' personal experiences to advocate for climate change awareness as future physicians and to emphasize inclusion of Native Hawaiians in the rebuilding of Lāhainā.