Dreadlocks Editor: Mohit Prasad
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VOLUME 6/7:2010-11 Dreadlocks Editor: Mohit Prasad Image from: There Once Was an Island / Briar March Oceans, Islands and Skies ISBN 978-1-927184-02-8 Artist: Waqa Vuidreketi Dreadlocks ISBN 978-982-366-027-1 Oceans, Islands and Skies — Proceedings of the “Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change” This special issue of Dreadlocks publishes the proceedings of the “Oceans, Islands and Skies - Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change – The Role of Writers, Artists and the Media on Environmental Challenges in the Pacific.” The OIS-OCCCC was held from 13th - 17th September, 2010 at the University of the South Pacific, Laucala Campus in Suva. The conference proceedings attest to the multidisciplinary achievements of Editor: Mohit Prasad the gathering of academics, writers, artists, performers and the Dreadlocks general community in putting forward creative solutions, Oceans, Islands and Skies — Proceedings of the advocacy and awareness programs on climate change. “Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change VOLUME 6/7:2010-11 Editor: Mohit Prasad Dreadlocks Oceans, Islands and Skies Volume 6/7: 2010–11 Special Issue Proceedings of the Oceans, Islands and Skies - Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change Editor Mohit Prasad Published by Faculty of Arts, Law and Education The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. in association with the Pacific Media Centre Auckland University of Technology Aotearoa/New Zealand Dreadlocks is the Interdisciplinary Journal of the, Faculty of Arts, Law and Education FACULTY OF ARTS, LAW AND EDUCATION Dreadlocks Oceans, Islands and Skies Volume 6/7: 2010–11 ISSN: 2225-5206 Editor: Mohit Prasad Special Issue Proceedings of Oceans, Islands and Skies - Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change Special Issue Editorial Board Associate Editor: Professor David Robie Coordinating Editors: Dr Frank Thomas, Ashwin Raj Consultant Editor and Proof Reader: Barbara Hau’ofa USP Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Oceans, Islands and Skies : proceedings of the Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate change, The University of the South Pacific, Suva (Fiji), 12-17th September, 2010 / edited by Mohit Prasad.-Suva, Fiji: Pacific Writing Forum, 2011; Pacific Media Centre, Auckland (NZ). 320p. ; 21 cm. ISBN 978-982-366-027-1 ISBN 978-1-927184-02-8 1. Pacific Island literature (English). 2. Oceania--In literature. 3. Climate change – Oceania. 3. Oceania – Civilization. I. Prasad, Mohit. PR9645.5.O34 2012 Book Design: Sereima Raimua – USP CFDL/Multimedia Unit Conference Logo : Josefa Uluinaceva © Except for the purpose of fair dealing and research, no part of this publication may be reproduced in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. Dreadlocks Oceans, Islands and Skies Volume 6/7: 2010-11 Special Issue Proceedings of Oceans, Islands and Skies - Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change Introduction This special issue of Dreadlocks publishes the proceedings of “Oceans, Islands and Skies - Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change – The Role of Writers, Artists and the Media in Environmental Challenges in the Pacific.” The OIS-OCCCC was held from 13th - 17th September, 2010 at the Laucala Campus of the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva. The publication of the proceedings of the conference has been made possible by a generous grant from the Pacific Media Centre at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT). This continues the long tradition of cooperation and assistance between these institutional bodies in areas of mutual interest. The proceedings from the conference reflects the rationale that Oceania has always had at its core traditions creative expression that empowered us in our relationship with the environment. The conference papers, along with reports from the community events and the artists and writers’ festival are included in the proceedings. In sum, provide an alternative culture of determination of responses to issues like climate change. This was in line with local and global trends in incorporating traditional sustainable values on the environment, as an interface with modern awareness programs and activism on the subject. The conference proceedings included in this publication exemplifies the synergy of creative spirits in addressing environmental issues like climate change. It includes academic papers and reports from across the humanities, social sciences and scientific and associated areas of environmental knowledge to better serve the Pacific as they face coming climate challenges. This special edition of Dreadlocks, once again, acknowledges the funding from the Pacific Media Centre at the Auckland Institute of Technology. It acknowledges the valued contributions of Associate Editor, Professor David Robie, in making this edition possible. Vinaka. Supplementary funding and editorial support for this publication was provided by the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) at the University of the South Pacific. Our Oceans, Islands and Skies, can only benefit from this publication spurring on further contributions from the creative arts to the ongoing issues that challenge our fragile environment in Oceania. Vinaka Dr Mohit Prasad School of Language, Arts and Media Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) University of the South Pacific Suva, Fiji. CONTENTS Dreadlocks Oceans, Islands and Skies 1. CATHIE KOA DUNSFORD Key Note Speech Kaitiakitanga: Protecting Our Oceans, Islands and Skies by Inspiring a Climate Change of Consciousness 1 2. DAVID ROBIE Iconic Media Environmental Images of Oceania: Challenging Corporate News for Solutions 23 3. CRESANTIA FRANCES KOYA In the Absence of Land, All We Have is Each Other 49 4. KERON NILES Resilience Amidst Rising Tides: Climate Change, Trade and the Competitiveness of the Tourism Sector in Small Island Developing States: the Case of the Caribbean 75 5. SUSAN HAWTHORNE Ecology in Poetry / Poetry in Ecology 101 6. ELIZABETH M. DeLOUGHREY Pacific Literature and the Environment: Nuclear Fallout as Climate Change 127 7. OTTO HEIM Breathing Space: Ecology and Sovereignty in Pacific Island Poetry 143 8. NILESH BILIMORIA ‘Sustainable Development’ is an Ethical and Moral Ideal but does it have in Essence Practical Legal Effect? 171 9. MANORANJAN MOHANTY Human Dimension, Creativity and Environmental (Climate) Change: Implications for the Pacific 193 10. JEREMY DOROVOLOMO Children’s Writing, Drawing, Sport and Play: Making Sense of Natural Disasters 219 11. BRIAR WOOD Science in the Poetry of Oceania 241 12. SHAIZA JANIF Narratives of Lost Lands 253 13. PIO MANOA Retrospective 261 14. IAN GASKELL Tilting at Windmills 283 15. DR KARIN MEISSENBURG, Performance and Launching of Pele’s Tsunami 311 16. LINGIKONI EMELIO VAKA’UTA Oceans, Islands and Skies: An Art Exhibition on Creativity and Climate Change 317 17. DR CATHIE KOA DUNSFORD The Emergence of the Mandalas: Hawai’i—Aotearoa 321 Launching Speech: Songs of the Jahajin 324 18. DR KARIN MEISSENBURG Working Cross–Culturally with Literary and Environmental Activists 329 19. Dr Mohit Prasad Concluding Remarks 355 20. Contributors 359 KEY NOTE SPEECH Dr Cathie Koa Dunsford KAITIAKITANGA Protecting our Oceans, Islands and Skies by Inspiring a Climate Change of Consciousness n Maori culture, it is traditional to begin with a conch shell greeting and powhiri or welcome to invite you all in to share this korero together. [Play conch shell and deliver powhiri: IToia Mai] Ni sa bula, Talofa lava, Kia orana, Aloha, Namaste, Ni Hao, No mai, haere mai...[please call out any other greetings from your islands] – Tena rawa atu koutou, thanks to the people of Fiji for inviting us to participate in this ground breaking conference which is the first time in the Pacific that we, as tangata whenua of the Pacific, have been invited to bring all our creative expression and traditions to korero or talkstory about the impact of climate change on our islands, oceans and skies. Mahalo also to Dr. Mohit Prasad and the Pacific Writing Forum for initiating this creative response to climate change and to the Vice Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Rajesh Chandra, for supporting this initiative with resources and funding. Despite our vital and exciting differences, we are all one people on this planet and we need to return to our traditions, our korero, our mo‘olelo or talkstory and our art forms to find ways in which we may all survive on this planet together. Never has this been more urgent than with the huge impact of climate change we 1 face today. What we are needing to evoke at this conference is a climate change of consciousness, of Pacific initiatives, ideas and actions that have global impact. We cannot continue to survive together on this planet if we follow the rampant consumerism that has pulled many of our own people away from local, sustainable lifestyles which contained systems that prevented exploitation of resources. For instance, in Maori culture we have a rahui or ban on collecting shellfish once the resources show signs of becoming diminished. Throughout our indigenous Pacific systems, there were kaupapa in place that protected the environment in which we live. To destroy that kaupapa is to destroy the world for future generations. Collectively, we in the Pacific have all the tools from our various cultures to show the way forward in dealing with many of the problems that cause climate change. We need to return to study, implement and adapt these methods for use in contemporary life. Kaitiakitanga is the guardianship of the land, sea, skies and all resources. If we practise kaitiakitanga whole-heartedly, then we have a blueprint for our future survival together on this earth. Indigenous Pacific cultures have access to this knowledge and we need to bring this forward to apply to current problems so that our resources are protected and the balance is brought back to the planet. Living sustainably, as our ancestors did, meant living in tune with nature in all respects. Much of the modern permaculture movement is built on this indigenous knowledge and framed in the colonial mindset to fit the contemporary westernised world.