Life on a Hawaiian Volcano

On the Big Island of Hawaii, you can coexist with an active volcano, Kilauea. The Big Island is home to Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, because she is said to live in the Halema`uma`u crater in Volcanoes National Park.

The Big Island has three volcanoes, Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Kilauea remains active and is considered the most active volcano on the earth. Lava pours forth from Kilauea every day sending giant plumes of steam from the ocean into the air. As a popular bumper stickers says, "The Big Island and Getting Bigger." In 1990, the lava overtook the village of Kalapana destroying 180 homes at the ocean's edge. Even today, you can drive to Kalapana until you come to where the lava seeped across the road and hardened into its icing-like presence. Cars, equipment and homes remain frozen in the same spots where they sat the day the lava arrived.

The awesome power swelling beneath a living volcano is a given. This may be why people remain surprised to hear that you can live on an active volcano without much threat. It does not seem to pose more of a threat than living on a coast with hurricanes, plains with tornadoes or on a fault line with earthquakes.

The Big Island has shield volcanoes. Shield volcanoes are built from a fluid lava flow or flows that come from vents on the sides of the volcano. The lava flows from fissures in the side of the volcano; thus, it is safer to live at the top of the volcano than at its base where the lava could flow your direction. - Banks have calculated this risk in terms of home loans. The island is broken up into lava zones, some of which many banks refuse to finance for fear of a lava flow seeping through the front door.

Trekking to watch the lava flow is a peaceful experience because you are often out in a lava field surrounded by the darkness of lava and ocean. It is a bit ironic that there is peace in watching the lava given that its essence is fire, explosions and poisonous gases. Nonetheless, the red lava punctuates black Hawaiian nights with a rich, red glow that seems to carry the essence of life in itself. The red lava carries with it such a saturation of color that it captivates artists who routinely try to reproduce the experience through paintings, pottery, glass blowing and photography. Some artists have breathtaking results, but nothing can reproduce the emotion that Pele's own handiwork generates.

Volcanoes make headlines when they erupt or harm their human neighbors, yet these massive wonders can also coexist in peace and serve as reminders that the earth continues to change and the power of nature remains at work.