Seeding Change

Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA) is dedicated to fighting for social, economic, and environmental justice in Hawaiʻi. Whether protecting communities from toxic pesticide drift or advocating for a living wage, we strive to improve the unfair conditions forced upon locals and the ‘āina through community organizing, advocacy, and education.

Our mission is critical to preserving Hawaiʻiʻs environment, ecology, and food production. Given the intersectional nature of food systems, we emphasize that food system problems are not independent of other social, economic, and environmental issues. 

HAPA has four interconnected program areas that synergistically work to accomplish our mission, which is to catalyze community empowerment and systemic change toward valuing ‘āina (that which sustains us) and people ahead of corporate profits.

Fair & Sustainable Food Systems
Community-Based Resource Stewardship
Reclaiming Democracy
SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

  • Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA)
    was born out of a fight for protection against pesticide drift.

    Since 1995, Hawaiʻi has been the epicenter for pesticide-intensive GMO test fields. Land and water resources have been routinely contaminated, affecting working-class families living near the fields. As the footprint of chemical companies expanded across the archipelago, more residents began to grow ill. In the late 2000s, spraying in a Syngenta field near Waimea Canyon School on Kauaʻi sent dozens of residents to the emergency room. Families living near test fields also reported high childhood asthma rates and constant nose-bleeds. Fed up over these intolerable conditions, local residents began to fight back.

    In 2013, people marched by the thousands and launched class-action lawsuits against the companies responsible. Amidst this uprising, the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA) was born. During this time, we served as a lead advocate with our partners in the Protect Our Keiki Coalition to pass Bill SB3095/Act 45. This resulted in the nation’s first ban of chlorpyrifos use due to its known impacts on children's developing brains. This law also mandated 100-ft no-spray buffer zones around schools to protect children from open-air spraying of Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs) during school hours. For the first time in Hawai’i’s history, it became a requirement for chemical companies to report on the RUPs they spray.

    Though great progress has been made through the passing of Act 45, Hawaiʻi continues to have the largest footprint of experimental pesticides field trials in the nation. We at HAPA will always fight to keep those large agrochemical corporations accountable. At the root of this problem is prioritizing corporate interests over Hawaiʻi’s land and people. To combat this, we have taken a more expansive approach to fighting for a more environmentally, socially, and economically just Hawaiʻi.

    We will continue working alongside our allies to amplify community voices across the archipelago, ensuring a place at the table for all Hawaiʻi’s citizens.