Heading to The Island of Hawai'i as part of a Spring Break getaway? Lucky you: its warm beaches, incredible sealife and overall sense of fun will make for a great vacation. But Hawaiians wish that visitors knew a few things that would make life easier on them—to the degree that it wasn’t that long ago that they were asking people not to come. The Pono Pledge, which you can sign online, helps outline some of the things visitors can do to have a more sustainable visit and remain respectful of the island, its people and its treasures. “I pledge to be pono (righteous) on the island of Hawai’i,” reads the homepage of the Pono Pledge website.
So far, 21,779 people have signed the online pledge.
So what does it entail? The pledge is a series of nine assertions, such as “I will mindfully seek wonder, but not wander where I do not belong.” That applies to tourists not going places where they’re forbidden, like off-limit trails at Diamond Head on Oahu which visitors infamously hiked anyway.
Another reads, “Molten lava will mesmerize me, but I will not disrupt its flow,” and relatedly, “I will not take what is not mine, leaving lava rocks and sand as originally found.” For anyone who’s ever had the scary experience of being tossed around by the surf: “I will heed ocean conditions, never turning my back to the Pacific.” And an important one, given everyone wants to touch sea turtles and fish, “I will admire wildlife from afar.”
The website contains specific information about particular species (like, you must stay 50 feet away from Hawaiian Monk Seals, 10 feet away from Hawaiian green sea turtles and 100 yards away from humpback whales) and about safety issues: how to interpret visual warning signs at beaches, which beaches have lifeguards, and what to do in situations like getting caught in a rip current or being stranded in the water when the waves increase in height dramatically and suddenly.
In a three-minute video you can watch here, people voice the pledge in Hawaiian, immediately translated to English by the person standing next to them, interlaced with gorgeous footage of surf, waterfalls, greenery and flowers. It’s definitely worth watching, and it couldn’t hurt to sign the pledge if the big island is on your itinerary. As the website points out, some of the pledge elements are specific to Hawai’i, but some are applicable to any natural place.