Aloha ʻĀina

Aloha ʻĀina, which literally means "love of the land", is a central idea of Native Hawaiian thought, cosmology and culture. Aloha ʻāina brings a perspective that pervades many aspects of life. Its ecological and cultural orientations are founded upon a sense of being connected to all living things. This mutuality between all things exists on many levels: spiritual, social, and the scientific.

Aloha ʻĀina also means Hawaiian patriotism; love for the land and its people. It is an in-depth relationship between the places and communities that hold significance to the individual. As such, it is an ethic that includes striving to improve the well-being of Hawaiʻi and engaging in experiences that foster aloha for and life-long allegiance to ka lāhui Hawaiʻi and ka pae ʻāina o Hawaiʻi. According to Jon Osorio, Professor at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies: “Aloha ‘āina is a relationship not just with the land but really with nature itself and in particular that part of the land and sea and streams and water that actually sustains life. ‘Āi is the word that means to eat and when we say ‘āina we’re talking basically about what it is that feeds not just humans but basically everything, and everything is directly dependent and interdependent with the ‘āina.”