Lava Land
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If you want to plan for 1 year, plant rice.
If you want to plan for 10 years, plant trees.
If you want to plan for 100 years, educate young people.
For some, the future looks like robotaxis and virtual reality. For us, the future looks more like the past. We believe, that in a radically changing world, many of the 'skills of old' are necessary for our youth to thrive in the future. Lava Land Off-Grid Life Skills Institute offers hands-on-learning experiences for young people (18-24) through useful skills in agriculture, animal care, domestics, construction, and auto mechanics on a "homestead" campus on the island of Hawai'i.
Growing Food
Animals
Domestics
Construction
Auto
Tools
What is Lava Land?
An immersive learning program
Alternative Education course
Gap year program
At the core of it, we are community of teachers, master skill collectors, builders, inventors, homesteaders, and world travelers who are passionate about teaching the next generation the skills they need to define their own path and pursue their unconventional dreams.
We ask people all the time: “Can you hook a utility trailer up to a truck and safely drive away, or reverse it down a driveway?"
Our students can.
What about growing a food garden? Baking a loaf of bread? Building a shed? Students learn how to solve real off-grid challenges, create sustainable models, grow their own resources, build solid structures, and nurture animals- all while developing self-confidence and instilling a strong ethos of reduce, repair, recycle, restore.
When our students complete a program, they receive a certificate recognizing their new found life skills and off-grid training.
Each student will have an end of program one-on-one "what does the future look like" guidance session and can request reference letters for prospective employers or opportunities.
We encourage our students to pursue homesteading, regenerative farming opportunities, CSAs, further education, work trade, travel experiences employment opportunitites or entrepreneurial paths upon completion of our programs.
Why should I come to Lava Land?
Maybe you don't know what you want to do or you've simply never had the chance to try. At Lava Land, you'll have the opportunity to do a little of everything! Whether it's harvesting fresh lettuce, leveling a foundation, changing a tire, caring for a baby bunny or reversing a trailer, you'll be in the driver's seat. You will have hands-on experiences that will benefit you for a lifetime. And when you aren't gaining valuable life skills, there's the beach.
We Believe: Climate Change is real. Our food systems are endangered. Our youth lack opportunities for experiences and skill development. A healthy, sustainable future is possible.
At the core of our program we practice Reduce, Repair, Recycle, and Restore. We cultivate these values in our students with an engaging curriculum (see sample) and thoughtful student activities.
REDUCE: Reduce your consumption. We look at all aspects of our life from our global footprint, to basic household items, personal hygiene and diet and ask ourselves "How can I consciously reduce my consumption while being able to maintain a quality of life that is sustainable for me?” Simply showering every other day can result in a savings of over 200,000 gallons of water over a lifetime.
REPAIR: Take care of your items and repair them when they break. By learning the 'care-to-repair' model, we can radically reduce how many items we use, throw away, and the costs of replacing broken items.
RECYCLE: We find creative ways to reuse and upcycle hundreds of every day items that people would normally discard. With a little imagination, a broken refrigerator is a raised garden bed capable of producing food for a whole family.
RESTORE: It is not enough to simply reduce our impact, we must begin to restore the balance between nature and humanity. By developing thoughtful engagement with the natural world, and promoting environmentally responsible, sustainable lifestyles, we hope to encourage young people to establish healthy relationships with our resources and heal our planet.
There's a metaphor that life is like a tool box, every skill a person develops is a tool to be used in times of need. At Lava Land, students will begin to fill their tool boxes with useful skills like cooking and using a drill, but the most important tool they'll work to acquire- confidence. Walking an unconventional path takes courage; and with each new tool in their box, we know their confidence will grow.
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