April 22nd, 2017 Earth Day

Hosting a cleanup on Earth Day is a long-standing tradition for Trilogyʻs BlueʻAina Campaign. The Fairmont Kea Lani has been a Blue’Aina supporter for five years now and requests the Earth Day cleanup every year. The non-profit they have chosen to support over the last few years has been the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund. The food for this trip was donated by Leilani's who has also been a long supporter of the Blue’Aina Campaign. These organizations were joined by 54 volunteers including a large group from the Monkeypod Kitchen Restaurant who set off to clean a reef.

The Fairmont Kea Lani is a leading travel provider who is committed to preserving the places where our guests and colleagues work, live and play. In 2016 they partnered with the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund conducting sea turtle surveys along the beaches fronting the hotel. They are keenly aware environmental impacts their business can make and are taking proactive steps to reduce their carbon output and ultimately help mitigate the effects of global warming. Some of their environmental initiatives include: incorporating sustainability into all department operations and ensuring that the company’s various sustainability programs are in place, reducing energy, water and waste, and monitoring their environmental performance. Check out their website for more sustainable initiatives.

The Hawaii Wildlife Fund (HWF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Hawaii's native wildlife through research, education, and advocacy. The HWF team is made up of educators, conservationists, researchers, naturalists, communities, volunteers and donors devoted to the protection of Hawaii's fragile marine ecosystem and inhabitants. They actively engage in the community through research, education and conservation projects. Their ongoing projects are; Hawksbill Sea Turtle Recovery Project, HWF Honu Watch Project, Maui Marine Debris Removal, Makai Watch, and the Maui Reef Fund.

Earth Day started as a grassroots movement to raise awareness about environmental pollution. It provided public support for the passing of several environmental laws such as the Water Quality Improvement Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

On Earth Day 2017 Trilogy took advantage of the favorable winds and small seas and headed over to Manele Bay at Lana’i. A popular spot along the break wall for fisherman, this location usually only gets cleaned once a year by Blue’Aina volunteers. As we approached Lana’i a pod of spinner dolphins graced us with their presence and swam around the boat. Throughout the morning Leilani's kept us well fed so we would have enough energy to free dive and collect as much trash as possible. They even brought on additional employees to help us malama the reef. There was plenty of fishing line to be collected.

Trilogy hosts at least one BlueʻAina a month throughout the whole year. Head over to the BlueʻAina website for information on the next upcoming trip on May 7th. 

By Conservation and Education Director, Magen Schifiliti