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Lala Nuss, Climate Resilience and Equity Manager at Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resilience states that Hawaii lacks the data needed to characterize the links between environmental hazards and structural inequities. Though diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and asthma disproportionately impact Native Hawaiians in ways that could be linked to environmental hazards, these connections haven’t been clearly made. What is clear is that native Hawaiian communities are more likely to live near environmental hazards (Caulfield 2020).

Hawaiian state agencies have also failed more broadly to collect and track accurate data on Native Hawaiians and the programs intended to serve them (despite the passing of Act 155 in 2014 which codified a commitment to policy that eliminates health disparities by identifying and addressing social determinants of health). Native Hawaiians have also lacked input in decision-making around data collection processes and in determining how data is used (Kauahikaua and Pieper-Jordan 2021).

Caulfield, Claire. 2020. “Is There Environmental Racism In Hawaii?” Honolulu Civil Beat. June 15, 2020. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/06/is-there-environmental-racism-in-hawaii/.

Kauahikaua, Lilinoe and Seanna Pieper-Jordan. 2021. “Improving Hawai‘i’s data policy to better serve Native Hawaiians.” Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi. /https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ef66d594879125d04f91774/t/60514869451e1d09b75e4317/1615939719621/Data+Justice+Report_Interactive.pdf. 

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) have all advocated for more consistent and coordinated data collection on Native Hawaiiains from state agencies, particularly the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Services, county police departments and the Judiciary (Hofschneider 2021). The Hawaii Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi have similarly urged state agencies to improve data collection and involvement of Native Hawaiians in decision-making--that is collection of data grounded in principles of Indigenous data sovereignty. See more here on data sovereignty 

Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, chairman of the Native Hawaiian Health program at the University of Hawaiian medical school, has prioritized the need to include people who are “part-Hawaiian” so that they aren’t obscured under the “mixed race” category. He also stresses the need for native Hawaiian input into how they are categorized in state data collection. Kaholokula noted that counting people who are at least part-Hawaiian means that the Native Hawaiian community makes up about 22% of the state population — far more than the 10% accounted for by the Department of Health (Hofschneider 2020).  The Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi highlight the fact that over 34% of children under age 18 are part- or full-Native Hawaiian. They emphasize that the children's "importance to Hawai'i’s future gives greater weight and urgency to the issue of collection and use of disaggregated data for public policy and program development” (Kauahikaua and Pieper-Jordan 2021).

Hofschneider, Anita. 2021. “OHA Says Better Data Is Needed To Tackle Problems Facing Native Hawaiians.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 24, 2021. https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/01/oha-says-better-data-is-needed-to-tackle-problems-facing-native-hawaiians/.

Hofschneider, Anita. 2020. “Why The State Doesn’t Consistently Track Data On Native Hawaiians.” Honolulu Civil Beat. May 30, 2020. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/05/the-state-doesnt-consistently-track-data-on-native-hawaiians/.

Kauahikaua, Lilinoe and Seanna Pieper-Jordan. 2021. “Improving Hawai‘i’s data policy to better serve Native Hawaiians.” Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi. /https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ef66d594879125d04f91774/t/60514869451e1d09b75e4317/1615939719621/Data+Justice+Report_Interactive.pdf. 

Data advocacy: The Hawaii Budget and Policy Center was tasked with analyzing state spending on Native Hawaiian-related programs but shifted to data advocacy once the center realized that data on Native Hawaiians was not consistently collected. In 2021, the nonprofit, in collaboration with Papa Ola Lokahi, released a report to urge the state to improve data collection about Native Hawaiians through legislative action. They emphasize the need for greater accountability in state programs funded to help Native Hawaiians (Jung 2021), as well as “data sovereignty,” that is, Native Hawaiian involvement in decision-making (Kauahikaua and Pieper-Jordan 2021).

Mental health support: Environmental advocates have looked at not only physical health impacts, but the “cultural, spiritual and mental health impacts of land-use decisions” (Caulfield 2020). For instance, on the Waianae Coast of West Oahu, community members worked with mental health professionals to confront the mental health burden living in an area that hosts public utilities and is subjected to the negative perceptions attached to those facilities–that is, being seen as a “dumping ground.” Ethnic studies professor Laurel Mei-Singh describes this as a process of material and psychological “dumping” that is tied into forces of militarism, colonialism and racism. All along the coast, there are public utilities that include a municipal landfill, a power plant, a construction waste landfill, and a waste-to-energy burning facility. These facilities emit volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, and carbon monoxide. People living in the area are disproportionately affected by cancer, asthma, and birth defects. However, the mental health toll of living in the area is not well studied, though census data shows that the Waianae Coast has the highest concentration of adults suffering from poor mental health on Oahu. Mei-Singh and mental health professionals hope knowledge of the history of the area can help local people recover and “reclaim their mo‘olelo (story)” (Kauanoe et al. 2021). 

Caulfield, Claire. 2020. “Is There Environmental Racism In Hawaii?” Honolulu Civil Beat. June 15, 2020. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/06/is-there-environmental-racism-in-hawaii/.

Jung, Yoohyun. 2021. “Report Calls For Better Data About And For Native Hawaiians.” Honolulu Civil Beat. March 6, 2021. https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/03/report-calls-for-better-data-about-and-for-native-hawaiians/.

Kauanoe, Ku’u and Claire Caulfield. 2021. “From ‘Sacred Place’ To ‘Dumping Ground,’ West Oahu Confronts A Legacy Of Landfills.” Honolulu Civil Beat. December 5, 2021. https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/12/from-sacred-place-to-dumping-ground-west-oahu-confronts-a-legacy-of-landfills/. 

Kauahikaua, Lilinoe and Seanna Pieper-Jordan. 2021. “Improving Hawai‘i’s data policy to better serve Native Hawaiians.” Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi. /https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ef66d594879125d04f91774/t/60514869451e1d09b75e4317/1615939719621/Data+Justice+Report_Interactive.pdf.