Meet our fall ʻ21 intern

Aloha! My name is Tatum Okamoto, I am an excited intern for Project Kanu at Hawaii Farm Trails. Growing up in Hawaii has inspired my interests for a sustainable and food secure future in Hawaii, just like Hawaii Farm Trail’s mission. I am a current Hawaii Community College student nearing my completion of a Biological Natural Science degree. I applied for Hawaii Farm Trails because I believe in establishing meaningful connections between members of our community to local farmers. Something I look forward to during this internship is collecting real data on carbon sequestration of 'ulu trees. I hope that this data will help create real and unique figures detailed with scientific insights that support Project Kanu's initiative.

Graphic of literature review of Project Drawdown & agroforestry.

Some things I have learned so far with Hawaii Farm Trails this fall semester, is their utilization of multistrata tree intercropping on degraded agricultural land, one of the top ranked solutions according to Project Drawdown to decrease the concentration of greenhouse gases. This solution of intercropping is Project Kanu’s main focus and is accomplished by the redistribution of carbon sequestering trees that remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and re-deposit it into degraded soils. Those same trees also double as food trees supplying a native staple fruit, ‘ulu to both farmers and consumers. I think this intuitive way of applying modern solutions with traditional ecological knowledge and culturally significant entities is the best course of action for Hawaii to grow.

To address greenhouse gas emissions and to promote local agricultural practices, I hope Hawaii Farm Trails continues Project Kanu to inspire community members to get involved. I also look forward to seeing any new developments with Hawaii's diverse range of solutions for soil health, carbon sequestration and food security.