Kilauea, the most active volcano.

What do you think about when you think about lava? For me two things come into my head, the old game we would play as kids avoiding the floor jumping from bed to bed. The second giant volcanos like the one you would make for your science fair but in this case it really is a big volcano, in fact this one is right next to the biggest one in the world. Kilauea is currently an active shield volcano and the most active one out of the five in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands. For years, Kilauea has impacted the ecosystem around it, including the people of the Big Island with its eruptions causing not just acid rains but also damaging land, homes, and lives through its lava flows.

The lava flows traveling from the eastern rift zone of Kilauea has done its share of destruction throughout the years, which has caused scientist and other government personal to figure out ways to possibly stop, slow down, evade, and redirect the flow from entering towns nearby. Through bombings, water hosing, and other methods of stopping the lava, none really had a huge effect on its process from its path. On December 2014, a new flow, again coming from the eastern rift zone, was making its way to a near by town called Pahoa. Many people had different idea of approaching the lava threat but a lot were also against it, due to religious beliefs.

The Hawaiians believe the volcano to be the goddess of fire, Pele or tutu Pele. They believe that what ever way the lava travels it is not to be messed with and you should let it take its course as a respect to the goddess herself. So, during the crisis they let the flow take its way but they did manage to come up with the idea to protect crucial things in its path, such as telephone poles. They created a barrier around them that could potentially withstand the lava and some actually worked.

During my trip to the Big Island with one of fall semester classes, we spent multiple days learning about the Kilauea and its history. We hiked to its caldera summit, explored the Hawaii volcano observatory (HVO), and hiked 12 miles to get up close and personal with some lava. We spent the whole afternoon hiking on its old lava terrain which was like hiking on gravel and glass. We stayed there till sun down and observed the night-glow of the mountain, while eating dinner on top of lava that was at least 10 feet beneath us. Making it one of the greatest experiences I have been apart of.

Link: Pele Myth and HVO