b'DEEPER UNDERSTANDING, CONTD."Without the CastAway, I would haveKapono says he is driven to thought, \'oh, it\'s just the freshwater,\'" understand the success of the he admits. "working class coral" in his backyard and share its secrets. To him, the "I would have assumed. If you think aboutthriving reef in Hilo Bay is more than just the properties of water, it makes sense that thea study of water columns, invertebrates, and freshwater is going to sit on top of the saltwater,microbiota, it is a success story to share.but if you don\'t ever characterize it and you can\'t quantify it, it becomes difficult to take the next stepFor Kapono, it\'s a human story, too. and look at the sediment within that freshwater."Within our indigenous perspective as native "If that freshwater is the vehicle that carries thepeople from Hawaii, we believe that we have disturbance and we don\'t know where it goes, thena familial, genealogical tie to the coral reef as we will never know how it impacts the reef."humans," he explains. "I hope that nature can inspire what\'s happening in society. There are Dr. Xue Fan, Senior Applications Engineer at SonTek,some things in nature, like these coral reefs, that says Kapono\'s research may help explainandare incredibly resilient. Especially now in this time spotlightan important success story.where we\'re faced with a lot of social inequities"We often hear about coral reefs dying andand social injustices, hopefully that can inspire researchers trying to figure out why, whether it\'sus to empower our resiliency as people from all coral bleaching, rising temperatures, changes indifferent genders, occupations, races, political and seawater pH, or other factors," she says. "But it\'sreligious beliefsthat a little bit of adversity might equally important to understand how coral reefsactually prove beneficial to our survival.thrive, especially in an environment where you don\'t"It seems like such a beautiful story to tellexpect them to. It\'s a success story, and it may alsothrough science," he adds.be a roadmap for future conservation efforts. "Only once we understand why a success story like this occurs can we apply those lessons and takeCliffKapono.comaction to preserve our natural environment and protect reefs around the world."14 MISSION: WATER'