Milestone Meeting: 2019 Pesticide (RUP) Report Findings Shared in Whitmore, Oʻahu
Wahiawā, Whitmore Village, and Waialua are home to some of the heaviest use of pesticides in Hawaiʻi.
Over 215K pounds of RUPs were applied between Central Oʻahu and the North Shore alone, representing 60% of the total RUPs applied across the islands in 2019.
These agrochemicals can migrate through the air, soil, and waterways –– and pose potential threats to public health and the environment.
Prior to 2019, there was no access to data or information as to what amount and which pesticides communities were being exposed to. In 2018, HAPA, the Protect Our Keiki Coalition, and affected communities successfully advocated for Act 45. This bill now requires users of restricted use pesticides (RUPs), a highly hazardous pesticide unavailable to the general public, to report their usage. The State of Hawaiʻi’s Department of Agriculture released the first RUP report a year later.
Last month, we held the first community meeting to share the information residents had been demanding for over a decade.
Approximately 50 community members attended.
Mahalo to our partners in the Protect Our Keiki Coalition, State House Representative Perruso for co-hosting, and ʻŌlelo Community Media for coverage.
About the Author
Fern Holland, Community Organizer
Fern Ānunenue Holland was born and raised on Kauaʻi and has been active in local issues relating to heavy pesticide use, land management, native ecosystem restoration, food sovereignty, and regenerative agriculture locally for over a decade. She received her Bachelor of Science with triple majors in Wildlife Management, Environmental Science and Marine Biology from Griffith University’s School of Environment on the Gold Coast in Australia in 2009.
Since then, Holland has worked professionally as an environmental scientist and consultant for ecological, contaminated land and other environmental assessments, both in Hawaiʻi and overseas.
Holland was an integral part of the development and passing of Kauaʻi County Bill 2491 for disclosure, buffers and protections related to biotech experimental research practices. She also organized the 2013 March in March in Poipu and later the September Mana March in Lihue for the passing of Bill 2491. Holland worked closely on and is featured in the award winning documentary, Poisoning Paradise. She has worked for over 15 years on environmental justice issues associated with industrialized agriculture and biotech pesticide and GE experimentation in Hawaiʻi and globally.
Holland is also a graduate of HAPA’s 1st cohort from the Kuleana Academy and ran for the House of Representatives in District 14 in 2016 and Kauaʻi County Council in 2022. She is a founding board member of I Ola Wailuanui, the Kauaʻi based non profit that is working to restore the Wailua fishpond and agricultural systems and protect the former Coco Palms parcels for the betterment of community and the environment.
