The Conversation broadcast live Friday from the Hawaiʻi State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, located at the end of the Ala Wai Canal.
On a recent morning down at the beach, construction crews were hard at work. Sea engineering workers hired by the city are demolishing a section of sidewalk that collapsed because of a wave surge.
The $3 million project comes just after the Waikīkī Aquarium spent $1.5 million to repair its wall. It’s also just beginning a $5 million fix to deal with outfall issues that required a new injection well on the property to process aquarium wastewater.
Next to the aquarium is the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium. That project is awaiting an updated design and cost estimate to possibly restore it and reopen it to the public. The proposal is to incorporate ways to deal with rising sea levels.
The Conversation spoke with Matthew Brown, the managing librarian at the Library for the Blind and Print Disabled. Brown had a career in the Navy where he witnessed the consequences of sea level rise in some of the most remote island chains in the world. He’s lived in Hawaiʻi for the past 16 years and began by sharing some of the changes he’s noticed.
We also heard briefly from one beachgoer who said he learned to swim at the natatorium. He lamented the wearing away of the Diamond Head end of Waikīkī where seawalls have hardened the shore and sand has disappeared.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Feb. 21, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
