Corps, Students talk sea-level rise and cultural extinction with Hawaiian Canoe at Tangier
Channel: Norfolk District Army Corps
Date: 2016-05-18

Sound -Traditional Hawaiian Chant –

The crew of the Hawaiian canoe Hokule’a greet 6th graders from Northumberland county and Tangier Island with a traditional Hawaiian welcome chant. 

(chant again)

The kids from Northumberland are immersed in a two-year program, learning about what can be done to save Tangier, a small island of roughly 400 residents in the Chesapeake Bay. 

“The community problem solvers of Northumberland are raising awareness for Tangier so that may build a breakwater and living shoreline strategically place so they can have more time on the island,” said Rachel Perez, Northumberland County 6th grader

The group invited representatives from the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who have a jetty project in the works on the island, to accompany them on the trip.

The trek coincides with a visit from Hokule’a, which Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society says, has been traveling the world, exploring, learning and raising awareness about the effects of sea-level rise.   

“On this particular voyage it’s trying to be responsive and responsible for the things that science is telling us; it’s predicting, it’s the forecasting of just the direction of the earth -- and you’re not going to be able to protect what you don’t understand and you won’t if you don’t care,” said Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society president.

Caring isn’t a problem for these 6th graders who, according to their advisor, started out having some interesting concepts to try and save the island. 

“We’ve gone from wanting to bring one parent’s excavator over to fix everything, to learning that you need permits. They’ve gone to a board of supervisor’s meeting to learn government, they’ve had a webinar with Army Corps.” said Pam Hagy, Community Problem Solvers coach. 

Col Jason Kelly, Norfolk District commander told the children he believes they will be a part of the solution to not only Tangier, but sea-level rise issues in the future.

“The fact that you, although young, though many days before are talking about it as a way that so many other things other tough challenges our nation faces, we’ll solve,” said Jason Kelly, Norfolk District commander. 

The challenge is a big one, as Nainoa points out, the residents of Tangier aren’t just trying to protect their land, but they’re at risk of losing their culture if their homes sink under the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. 

“The parallels that I feel that we’ve seen in Hawaii and the restoration that we are in now in terms of the protection of the things that we value are very similar to what I see Tangier doing," said Thompson.

Nainoa says he is encouraged to see Col. Kelly keeping a watchful eye on the situation. 

“To me that’s at the core of leadership someone that is sensitive enough to know there is something out there, there is an issue that needs to be paid attention to and then to come and spend that much time to want to learn before you act,” said Thompson.

For the 6th graders, they learned they aren’t the only ones concerned for sea-level rise and its impacts on not only the residents on this small island.  

“We learned basically how it is important to everybody,” said Perez. 

 The students are wrapping up their first year of the two-year program; they will have the summer to reflect on their trip and to figure out what they think would be a best way forward. 
 
"They are sort of coming to if we can’t raise 2.5 million maybe we could help them get off the island a little bit. Maybe they’d have a fund where the people who really need to go could tap into that money, so it is kind of evolving that way, but you never know what is going to happen in the fall," said Hagy

Meanwhile, the Corps Jetty project is moving ahead and should be nearing the start of construction in early 2018. 

From Tangier Island Va. – Patrick Bloodgood