The Rise and Fall of Sugar in Hawai'i
Thursday, September 25, 2014 - 06:40
in Earth & Climate
There's one sugar plantation left in Hawai'i, just a few square miles left of an industry that once dominated the island chain. Sugar's profits and high-paying jobs are long gone, as are the native forests and sustainable farms it devoured, thanks to a "voracious need for land and water." In her new book, "Sovereign Sugar: Industry and Environment in Hawai'i," Carol MacLennan describes the rise and eventual fall of the sugar planter elite and its consequences, both for the people of Hawai'i and the land itself.