Manulani Aluli Meyer: Nurturing untaxable relationships of mutual sharing
Sat Jan 24 2026
Why have the majority of coconut trees across the Hawaiian islands not been allowed to bring coconut fruit into maturity? What does it mean to nurture communities of sharing and caring that are more relational, less transactional, and therefore less taxable? And how do Hawaiian ways of knowing — situating the intellectual and sensorial in the biocultural — fundamentally differ from Western epistemologies?
In this conversation, Green Dreamer’s kaméa chayne is joined by Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer, the author of Hoʻopono: Mutual emergence, and co-director of NiU Now!, a community cultural agroforestry movement emerging to affirm the importance of niu (coconut) and uluniu (coconut groves).
Tune in as we explore the biocultural significance of coconut groves in Native Hawaiian culture, how the ongoing work of revitalizing uluniu supports community food sovereignty in Hawaiʻi, and more.
We invite you to…
tune in and subscribe to Green Dreamer via any podcast app;tap into our bonus extended and video version of this conversation on Patreon here;and read highlights from these conversations via Kaméa’s newsletter here.Song feature: “E ʻOlu” by Pohai (ft. Pulama), via Ohana Records
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Why have the majority of coconut trees across the Hawaiian islands not been allowed to bring coconut fruit into maturity? What does it mean to nurture communities of sharing and caring that are more relational, less transactional, and therefore less taxable? And how do Hawaiian ways of knowing — situating the intellectual and sensorial in the biocultural — fundamentally differ from Western epistemologies? In this conversation, Green Dreamer’s kaméa chayne is joined by Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer, the author of Hoʻopono: Mutual emergence, and co-director of NiU Now!, a community cultural agroforestry movement emerging to affirm the importance of niu (coconut) and uluniu (coconut groves). Tune in as we explore the biocultural significance of coconut groves in Native Hawaiian culture, how the ongoing work of revitalizing uluniu supports community food sovereignty in Hawaiʻi, and more. We invite you to… tune in and subscribe to Green Dreamer via any podcast app;tap into our bonus extended and video version of this conversation on Patreon here;and read highlights from these conversations via Kaméa’s newsletter here.Song feature: “E ʻOlu” by Pohai (ft. Pulama), via Ohana Records