Age: 14
Hometown: Kūmimi, Moloka‘i
Kawahineʻilikea lives with her family in an off-grid farm on Molokaʻi, a small rural island where her family has lived for more than eight generations. She is fluent in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and loves art. Her favorite hobbies are playing sports, drawing, cooking, baking, reading, and playing video games like Zelda. ‘Ilikea and her family continue many traditions practiced by their kupuna (elders) to provide for their basic needs, including caring for and restoring a loko i‘a (Hawaiian fishpond). Global warming is changing the ocean environment so quickly that it is becoming dangerous for ‘Ilikea to work in the loko iʻa. She joined this lawsuit so that her story could help hold state agencies accountable for their constitutional obligations to Native Hawaiians and future generations.
