AAG 2024: Engage in the Spirit of Reciprocity
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) brings together members of the global geographic community. We provide students, educators, practitioners, and partners with the resources they need to enter the field, develop their careers, and form professional friendships that can last a lifetime. Through annual and ongoing programs, events, and meetings, we aim to create a space in which all geographers—wherever they come from—will know they are valued, heard, and welcomed. By taking care of our community we ensure the health and vitality of the geographic discipline as it evolves to meet the challenges faced in today’s world.
Goals:
Our annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi in 2024 offers a chance for us to participate in local efforts to protect and treasure one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, the home of the Hawaiian people, and the land, water, and beings for which they are stewards. With our themes for this conference and our commitment to engage all of our members in the Pledge to Our Keiki, AAG recognizes our kuleana, obligation, to pledge, donate, and act on behalf of this special place.
Our goals for this commitment are as follows:
- 100% participation in the Pledge to Our Keiki
- Donations or service commitments from at least 1,000 of our participants
Pledge To Our Keiki
From our elders we have learned we are part of the environment, not above it. The life, lands, and waters are more than just our surroundings, they are our family.
From our children we will learn that Hawai‘i is not inherited from our ancestors but borrowed from our future generations.
So when you are welcomed here, you become part of this ‘ohana that is responsible for us and our island home too. Just as we, nā keiki o ka ‘āina, the children of Hawai‘i, pledge to care for these islands, we ask that you make this pledge to us:
For a rare and endangered place, where a destructive foreign species is introduced every day… I will bring only what is invited and be mindful of where I explore.
For an island community that defines wealth not by what is kept, but what is shared… I will give my respect and leave what is not mine to take.
For an indigenous culture that has evolved with these islands, both unique and intertwined in their existence… I will experience sacred places and practices with a bowed head and open heart.
For this birthplace of aloha that typically welcomes more visitors than has residents… I will live aloha, tread lightly amongst this beauty and make it cleaner than I found it.
For a Hawaiian people whose ancestors sailed here using only the stars to guide them in search of islands to sustain them… I will learn from your legacy and support your ongoing voyage toward sustainability.