Book Review : Looking at Hawaii in a Scientific Way

Islands in a Far Sea: Nature and Man in Hawaii by John L. Culliney (Sierra Club Books: $24.95; 352 pages, illustrated)

It’s hard to spend time in Hawaii without falling in love with the place. Even the excesses of tourism and the booboisie cannot obliterate the special character of the islands, which only begins with their climate.

Isolation is the hallmark of the islands and the key to their natural history. Formed--and still forming--by a great spewing of lava from beneath the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian archipelago is the most isolated major group of islands in the world, as John L. Culliney notes matter-of-factly in the first line of “Islands in a Far Sea.”

After living creatures arrived there in the distant past, they evolved in a unique way, ultimately becoming America’s Galapagos. “These two island groups have been contrasted by ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson as, respectively, ‘benign and harsh Edens’ in recognition of their very different climate and their roles as evolutionary cradles in the development of new and fascinating species,” Culliney writes.

Science Study of Hawaii

“Hawaiian nature constitutes an ecological and evolutionary phenomenon of world-class importance,” he says. His book is a comprehensive study of the science of Hawaii, its geology, climate, flora and fauna. It travels from the ocean floor through the seashore to the mountaintops, and nothing of geological, biological or ecological significance escapes Culliney’s eye.

But the book is not a mere scientific treatise. It is also a plea to stop humanity’s destruction of this great natural jewel.

Culliney brings the eye of a marine biologist to his description of the breadth of Hawaii’s treasures and the passion of a pamphleteer to his message. He writes:

“As the onrushing new wave of biotic destruction affects reefs, shorelines, mountain forests, streams, and perhaps a variety of specialized ecosystems, such as lava tubes and anchialine pools, the loss of life forms, we may imagine, will be obviously skewed toward the obviously sensitive native Hawaiian organisms. However, if the overdevelopment cum industrialization of Hawaii reaches a Los Angeles-level of intensity, even various kinds of introduced plants and animals--the kinds susceptible to chronic air and aquatic pollution, retreat and contamination of underground freshwater . . . and other excesses of civilization--may begin to disappear.”

Many Endangered Species

This destruction of the natural Hawaiian environment began when the first Polynesians arrived centuries ago and continues, of course, today. Since people first arrived on these islands, 70% of the species of native Hawaiian birds have become extinct. Today, one-third of all endangered species of plants and birds in the United States are in Hawaii.

But the problem that Hawaii faces--economic development versus the nature--is hardly unique to this group of islands. The Hawaiian islands are a hyped-up microcosm of the evolution of all life on the planet. So, too, the fragile situation they face today is a microcosm of the continued battle being waged throughout the world.

In many Third World countries, rain forests are being destroyed and many species of animals along with them. The leaders of those countries say that concern for the environment is a privilege of the rich, not of starving people.

Unfortunately, the same political lines form in many different environments. The fight over oil drilling off the Pacific Palisades pits wealthy Westside liberals against people from the Eastside more concerned with jobs than with scenic views.

Culliney’s book provides a compelling description of all in Hawaii that is worth saving and makes a strong and clarion call for saving it. It combines science with aesthetics, natural history with commitment.

My affection for Hawaii is unbounded. The next time I get to the islands (which I hope will be soon), I will look at them with a new eye.