Hawaii has plenty of organizations whose primary mission is to save this part of the planet from ourselves. The Hawaii Nature Center is one such group.

The part of Hawaii they plan to save, though, is all about mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it won’t matter.

The Hawaii Nature Center is a non-profit environmental education organization. They’re out to preserve this part of the Pacific by getting at the heart of the matter—your mind. Their Honolulu Center (another is on Maui) offers nature-centered activities and hikes to the general public.

The Center is also surrounded by a 2,000 acre nature preserve, which makes the education part much easier. After all, if you talk the talk, you should be able to walk the walk. They do.

The hands-on exhibits at the Center encourage people, particularly young people, to learn about plants and animals in their natural surrounding. What more convenience could you have to accomplish that than your own 2,000 acres of nature?

One of the nearby trails (beginning at a bridge behind the Center’s environmental education center) is the Makiki Valley Loop Trail—a meandering 2.7 miles of roughage that won’t tax your hiking skills but will make you sweat a bit (it’s humid in the Makiki area during the day). Well, actually you’ll sweat a lot.

In two hours you’ll have visited the Center and read up on Makiki Valley and what to expect on the trail—and you will have hiked the entire trail at a leisurely pace.

Hawaii is the home of taro. The trail is also home to two taro patches to show the varieties of this Hawaiian staple. From there on you’ll swear you were on a mountain somewhere in the Carolinas. Rows of Norfolk and Cook Island pines beckon your eyes.

Birds beckon your ears. Including the shama thrush—a very large and noisy black bird now residing in Hawaii, by way of Malaysia.

You’ll see the kukkui nut trees. Kukui contains an oil which was used as lamp oil a century ago—and makes a great substitute for Pledge on your furniture.

Sights and sounds are not the only treats. You’ll smell fresh yellow ginger, allspice, and eucalyptus. If the sun is just right, through the brush you’ll be able to see the part of civilization that the Hawaii Nature Center wasn’t able to preserve—downtown Honolulu.

Oh, about those Fruit Loops? Leave ‘em at home.

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