Over-development, over-commercialization, the influx of outside values, and the building of sprawling suburbs and dense high-rises have significantly eroded the Aloha spirit in today's Hawai'i. True communities are places where people know each other, treat each other as friends, and share values and traditions. Communities give meaning and richness to life. The community's history, landmarks and landscapes afford a sense of belonging and identity. Greens favor social policies that reinvigorate community life.

Neighborhood and community have traditionally been a basic unit of politics, a natural forum for discussion, decisions, and actions. Greens strongly believe that ordinary citizens should make decisions directly affecting their communities (see Section C).

Schools should be co-managed by parents, teachers, and students (see Section J). We believe that:

• The community is the best provider of social services. Creating, strengthening, and transforming community based associations and mutual-aid groups is the best way to care for our fellow humans. (see Section F)
• Small businesses anti cooperatives form the vibrant basis of the community's economic activities.

Neighborhoods and towns need to be redesigned to encourage neighborliness and community (see Section D10). Cities and towns need not be car centered and congested. Properly planned, they can include many places for strolling, shopping, sidewalk cafes, public gatherings, and festivities.

This sense of green community extends to the environment. Just as the individual is incomplete without a healthy community, so is the human race dependent on its supporting ecosystem.