By Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington (PICA-WA)
The Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington (PICA-WA) is a statewide 501c3 nonprofit organization by Pasifika, for Pasifika that seeks to live out the indigenous values of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) communities in Washington state by speaking our truth fiercely to systems of power and providing social supports and cultural spaces for the community to gather in dignity.
Our NH/PI peoples are Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian, and range in U.S. citizen, undocumented, COFA resident, U.S. National, and climate or nuclear refugee statuses. We are indigenous, queer and trans, youth and elders, and our community serves in the U.S. military at one of the highest rates. We are committed to establishing deep and accountable communities through building strong global and local networks and coalitions between these Oceanic communities.
Pasifika peoples know all too well the effects of greed, ignorance, and capitalism which have not only led to the abuse of land and ocean, but also exponentially warming temperatures and rising sea levels. Our people are some of the most impacted and yet the least visible in our resistance and our resilience in maintaining our culture, traditions, and stewardship of lands and waters.
Communities in the Pacific are deeply impacted by the ongoing climate crisis despite producing less than one percent of total global greenhouse emissions. We also recognize Indigenous peoples all over the world who make up 5% of the world’s population but protect 81% of its biodiversity.
Rising sea levels, air pollution and climate change has led to the displacement and disparate health outcomes of Pasifika peoples all over the world including in Washington state. The time is now to make sure climate justice is a part of everything we do and for big polluters to not only invest in climate justice solutions, but pay for the harm they have already caused. Make Polluters Pay ensures that equitable environmental policy is included in state plans and budgets which is sustainable, engages those most impacted by environmental health disparities, and holds accountable those most responsible for contributing to the climate crisis.
Our Pasifika communities have a deep connection to the lands in which we dwell, whether on our islands or here in Washington state. Caring for the land is a universal value when it comes to the many different cultures of the Pacific. We honor the land for its gifts, which provide us with the means we need to survive.
While we depend on the land for shelter, food, and basic necessities, it is also custom for our Pasifika communities to give back to the lands in which we take in the form of stewardship, reciprocity, and cultural perpetuation. And we know reciprocity to not just mean mutual exchange but doing good for and taking care of one another.
Our cultural practices and daily lives which were created and centered around the land, however, have been greatly severed by climate change causing many of our communities to change lifestyles and abandon certain customs and traditions.
Fossil-fueled floods, wildfires, heatwaves, and other extreme weather disasters are devastating communities in Washington state. On our islands in the Pacific, it is no different. The impacts of human-caused climate change have heavily impacted our islands and the vast ocean we care for, causing intense tropical cyclones, floods and droughts, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and freshwater contamination. In this, Pasifika communities are stripped of their cultural autonomy and forced to change their ways of life, which have sustained them for generations, in order to stay alive and continue caring for the ocean and their islands.
As climate impacts worsen, many Pasifika communities have also resorted to migration to keep their families safe. Those that relocate to Washington state find themselves dealing with similar impacts of the climate crisis, albeit sometimes in quieter ways, which widen the health disparities of our Pasifika communities.
Our community faces this unfortunate series of events daily, where their uprooted lives face the same devastating impacts in a foreign country which does not always value or care for them, whose land and waters are also the victims of devastation and exploitation while their most fortunate turn a blind eye.
As Pasifika peoples continue to navigate their journey across oceans and on the continent, this campaign will uplift the stories of Pasifika people and their history of caring for the land and sea. It will also highlight the historical marginalization that our community continues to experience as they transition from their traditional island homes to the United States.
By making big polluters pay for their messes, communities hit hardest by the climate crisis will be supported in recovery, adaptation, and building resilience, while also being centered in future climate solution planning.
This will not only help Pasifika peoples but all people living in Washington state as we usher in the world that we would like for our future descendants and our elders to live in.