I’m not from Hawaii, but in March I visited Hawaii as part of a trip with my school to learn about sustainability. We did a lot of volunteer work cleaning up beaches, separating microplastics, and working on the fish ponds, and we learned a lot while doing so. While a lot of the replies here talk about effects to the tourist, I disagree. I think the dark side about being tourist in Hawaii is to be completely oblivious to the things that have happened to it in part due to tourism.
Before Hawaii was colonized the island was one-hundred percent self-sustainable. They had beautiful fish ponds and great harvests that could feed each island. Those fish ponds were destroyed by Mangroves that the white colonizers thought would help and they still haven’t been recovered—although there is some focus on restoring them. Due to Hawaii’s popularity, they are becoming more and more urban and industrialized. As such, they need more and more space for people to live. The agriculture has taken and continues to take a big hit here. When you look at an aerial view of Hawaii from 100 years ago compared to today, you see that over half of the greenery we saw then is now demolished. We learned that now, the island of Oahu is so reliant on imports that if something were to happen and they couldn’t get food from outside, they would only be able to feed everyone on the island for a maximum of three days.
Not to mention the costs that have resulted because of Hawaii’s popularity. Sure, that sucks for the tourist—you know, the person with enough money to visit in the first place. Must suck to have spent over $1000 getting to Hawaii and then realizing your gallon of milk costs and extra $2. These prices actually have little to no effect on tourists, in my opinion, since tourists aren’t going there with the expectation that it will be cheap. These costs really effect the native Hawaiians, who can barely afford to put food on their tables in a place where their ancestors lived for free and grew their own food. It’s horrible.
There’s more to say about the darkness of not realizing these truths, and more truths to mention, but I think you get the point. I would encourage anyone visiting Hawaii to spend less time on the touristy stuff and more stuff learning about and attempting to restore the culture. Go to the less mainstream beaches and support the local people. You don’t have to abandon the Polynesian Cultural Center (seriously, don’t abandon that, it’s fricking cool!) or Hanauma Bay completely, but don’t make those the main attractions of your stay. If you have time, volunteer some with organizations like B.E.A.C.H or 801 Cleanups or get in touch with the fish pond. You’ll learn more, you’ll still have fun, you’ll be out of the darkness that most tourists see. I promise you won’t regret it too!
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