August 25: Talk explores excavation of Kauai’s Makauwahi Cave

For two decades, paleoecologist David Burney and his wife Lida Pigott Burney have led an excavation of Makauwahi Cave on the island of Kauai, uncovering a varied wealth of plants and animals that have inhabited Hawaii throughout its history.

David Burney has focused his investigations on the dramatic ecological changes that began after the arrival of humans almost one thousand years ago and are reaching a crescendo today.

As part of the Natural Treasures of Hawaii free lecture series, Burney will cover many of the topics elaborated in his book Back to the Future in the Caves of Kauai, recently published by Yale University Press. In his slides showing the remarkably rich fossil record of Makauwahi Cave, Burney will detail the astonishing environmental degradation humans introduced here and everywhere, ask how and why this destruction occurred, and consider what might happen in the future.

Burnery is the director of conservation at the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kalaheo, Kauai.

What is it about human arrival in any place that is so inevitably troublesome for nature? What has happened on Kauai in recent millennia and what might happen in the near future? What can the story of Kauai tell us about the rest of the planet? Burney has built his life and career around the search for answers, and his account of his work is as fascinating as the questions themselves.

Natural Treasures of Hawaii free lecture series
Featuring guest lecturer David Burney
Wednesday, August 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
ING Direct Cafe, 1958 Kalakaua Ave.
Attendees receive one free beverage coupon