A rowboat wading in turquoise waters off the shores of a small uninhabited island in French Polynesia:Carrigan, Keone. "French Polynesia - A Paradise in the South Pacific." Exquisite Travel Group , February 28, 2020, exquisitetravelgroup.com/french-polynesia-a-souther-pacific-paradise/.
Introduction
Hugging the pristine California coast is the mighty Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest of the earth's oceans, covering over 60 million square kilometers, which is about 30 percent of the planet's surface area. In the heart of the Pacific Ocean is the continent Oceania, which consists of Australia, New Zealand and up to 25,000 XNUMX or more islands that form Micronesia and Polynesia. In this region of the world, the locals who call these islands home are heavily dependent on the Pacific industry, from fishing to tourism. The Polynesians, who are the native inhabitants of these islands, have lived off the water for generations, and date back to when their first ancestors paddled across the open sea with nothing but the stars above to guide them, eventually canoeing and settling the many islands. we associate with honeymoons such as Bora Bora, Tahiti, Solomon Islands, and so on. These picturesque islands, at one time, were once active volcanoes that spat hot melted lava, but over time, during the earth's geological history, it began to cool, extinct. It then began to sink into the ocean, creating the stunning turquoise lagoons and kaleidoscope series of coral reefs that act as a natural barrier as a by-product, thus attracting not only the vital precious organisms that make a coral reef's habitat so amazing, but also much travel and tourism centered around the stunning beauty of the South Pacific from the towering misty volcanic peaks to the sparkling crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches.
But long before it was Tripadvisor or other such places, the early Polynesians thrive on these islands for centuries when the rest of the world was just beginning to achieve modernity, simply by dictating their lives in symbiosis with the ocean. Much of their lifestyle, culture and values have not changed in hundreds of years. But with the colonization and expansion of Europeans around the world, plus with the advent of new and improved technology, their islands would become more accessible than ever for travelers and visitors visiting from far and wide to participate in world-class five-star snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing , sailing, for deep sea fishing in literal paradise on earth. With the amount of tourists coming and going from the Pacific Islands, there is a consistent exchange or flow of different cultures and identities that come along with respect for the natural beauty of Mother Nature. The Polynesians call the energy from the mountains to the oceans to all things like where, a divine energy that permeates our soul. The closest cultural neighbor who shares similar values and perceptions and is the gateway to perceive and understand the anthropology of the ancient Polynesians and their relatives, are the native Hawaiians. Although Hawaii is a US state, the lifestyle of the Hawaiian Islands has not changed too drastically compared to the mainland, even with the arrival of Anglo-Americans. Many of the locals are still very much rooted in their heritage and roots, which is why Hawaii is the closest place to learn about the origins of Polynesian culture and experience it on your own.
The Polynesians
Unlike the Hawaiian Islands, which are part of the United States, thousands of atolls and islands inhabited by the early Polynesians are far more remote and isolated in the vast South Pacific. From an anthropologist's perspective, these different islands host different groups of inhabitants descended from those who paddled across the Pacific, where at that time different cultures, ideologies and values were formed that shape the very way of life of these islanders. The one value that may be scattered throughout the Pacific is the Polynesians' reverence for water and all that depends on it. From sharks, whales, to turtles, the sea and the land form a sacred symmetry for the people who call the islands the homeland of their ancestors. But the Polynesian islands could not hide their beauty from the rest of the world, especially today with the abundance of social media apps and users who have easy access to travel related media. A large number of Instagram to Facebook posts are people who holiday on islands like Bora Bora or Fiji, and share their experiences on other people's feed. It ultimately makes one envious or motivated to participate and create their own memories.
Even without the help of social media, the Polynesian islands are a paradise where life is not determined by its place in the age of modernity, where its inhabitants have lived and thrived in the same way for countless generations, using water. The Polynesian lifestyle and culture is hospitable to visitors and travelers who have respect for the indigenous people and the island when they go on holiday. By protecting, respecting and protecting all aspects of these ancient volcanic islands from the peaks, waterfalls, streams to the sea, all these natural elements create a cohesive network of mana or energy that is tied to all things that are an essential aspect of the Polynesian culture that can be carried on by someone from a completely different culture, a memory that will serve for life. Whether by plane, sailing or cruise, men, women and children of all kinds come to these idyllic islands to escape the trials and tribulations of everyday life from work to graduate school to harness this energy. While the islands of Polynesia and Micronesia exist in their own small bubbles where their livelihoods depend on the sea and the tourism that comes with it, the influence of the outside world through foreign international interests and the impact humans have on their surrounding ecology and environments has burdened the earth itself. Ever since the birth of the Industrial Revolution, the amount of excess carbon dioxide and methane gases released and trapped in the atmosphere has accelerated climate change in our time and could have major consequences for the many islands scattered in the South Pacific.
A native Polynesian wading a traditional raft through shallow water at a resort in Tahitian:Whelan, Nathaniel. "What is Polynesia?" WorldAtlas , WorldAtlas, 23 November 2020, www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-polynesia.html.
Climate change
Many do not understand, but climate change has a much greater impact on the sea than we can imagine. Of all the Earth's spheres, from the geosphere to the biosphere, the one most affected is the Hydrosphere, which contains all the water masses on the planet. Life cannot flourish without sun and water, so if the hydrosphere is strongly affected by human activity, it can change many aspects of our lifestyle. One of the biggest noticeable effects is overfishing, which if left unchecked, can deplete entire fish species that so many humans and other animals depend on for food and nutrition. Not only can it create widespread famine, but it can also depend on the economy of the Polynesian Islands surviving from its fishing and the abundance of fish that can still exist if we change the way we approach our fishing methods and regulate who can fish where and what times, it should be the breeding season. Another very serious consequence of climate change in the warmer tropics such as the Great Barrier Reef or one of the many Polynesian islands, entire coral reef colonies are becoming ill due to the increasing acidification of the world's oceans which have begun to turn living coral reef ecosystems into desolate boneyards. shell of what it once was. This is not only destructive to the marine life that depends on the coral reefs for their own existence, but also for the tourism in these places. To be able to travel somewhere and dive is to allow oneself to look at one of nature's most beautiful arrangements of organisms anywhere, an entire community of interdependent aquatic lives that flourish from each other's success. But as the world continues to warm up gradually, future generations may never know or get the chance to look at corals with their own eyes.
But life always seems to find a way out of the brink. Conservationists, activists and artists recently in our time, have joined forces to create artificial sculptures that will attract coral polyps and other marine life to a stable structure that can serve as a basis for a future coral colony. It seems that coral reefs will exist well into the future through human ingenuity, but in the same breath, more and more measures are being taken to combat climate change as more people take a stand to increase change. The Polynesians serve as an example of what a self-sustaining, seafaring people can achieve for centuries, by respecting and protecting the land and the sea, the two aspects they hold sacred, which have made it possible for them to thrive. The whole culture of Polynesia and the South Pacific is dominated by the sea from trade, fishing, to tourism, everything is driven by their symbiotic relationship to the sea, while others are centered around materialism that sprouts from capitalism and free enterprise, while some cultures and its people do not have it either.
the conclusion
Traveling to a place like French Polynesia or one of the many thousands of islands in the South Pacific is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye with its unreserved natural beauty and wonder, but also culturally gratifying to see how such a warm and kind people live. many aspects of their lives at the mercy of the Pacific. Every morning, the day is centered around the ocean from catching fresh fish for the day, surfing on remote reef passes or viewing tourists around its beautiful islands. It has only been since the last century that people have traveled all the way down to the southern hemisphere to vacation and sunbathe in the tropical sun, coinciding with the rise of climate change and the rise of machinery and technology, making travel to these remote islands far easier than the ancestors of the Polynesians who traveled to the islands they settled by rowing a canoe. Finally, it's time to travel to these amazing paradises where the water has the same temperature as bathing water, where people can swim close and personal with some of the earth's most unique marine organisms from dolphins, whale sharks, to Manta Rays, relax in a hammock during the sunsets, and surf on some of the best reef breaks in the world formed by the coral reefs that surround the lagoons.
As we approach Asian and Pacific Heritage months in May, it is important that their lifestyles can continue well into the future, even with climate change and the rising sea on the horizon. While most of us view these tropical paradises as a resort or honeymoon destination, these sacred islands have been the home and lifeline of the Polynesians. But what many cultures may lack in Polynesians is the reverence for the sea and the energy attributed to it. Our entire weather pattern is dictated by the circulation of the oceans around the world from monsoons to hurricanes, which have recently increased in severity. What other Western cultures can learn from Polynesians and Pacific dwellers about how to treat and respect our oceans would be beneficial to all of us since we all depend on the oceans for the conservation of our species. Traveling to French Polynesia, Fiji, Vanuatu, to one of the many other Polynesian islands, exposes tourists to a culture that owes its existence to the sea and the tide, where they take the boat to the store instead of the car and where the battles of life can easily forgotten only by being in the presence of such a natural majestic beauty. Saving enough in life to explore such a place and to experience such an ocean-based culture on our own can help us appreciate what we have taken for granted by also preserving their lifestyle by demanding change. For most Californians, the ocean is always there and a place to go when it gets too hot, but for Pacific Islanders, the ocean is a huge part of who the Polynesians are.