Green bull manure
Sam Blair’s column, “From Garbage Isle To Solar Isle,” (TGI:2/20) was so silly
that one might suggest that the write up be located in Sunday’s comics section
between Garfield and Dilbert.
Anyone can play a game by suggesting that the
world will run out of petroleum or fossil fuel energy in 75 to 80 years. Mr.
Blair is safe in promoting such guesswork for his readers will not be alive in
75 or 80 years to see the truth or falsehood of the opinion he cites.
While
geologists accept the simplistic view that the world supply of fossil fuels is
finite, there is no agreement as to the rate of depletion in supply. This is so
because no one can predict the future of technology.
The minds of human
beings drive technology which in turn determines what resources are and at what
rate they deplete.
Mr. Blair has no way of knowing what human brains will
do in 75 or 80 years, so he can say nothing factual about when the world will
run out of oil.
Blair also relates the view that “steadily increasing
Earth’s temperatures will produce a global change unprecedented since the last
ice age.” But there is no scientific agreement that “global warming” is
occurring.
Last year, scientists Roy Spencer of the NASA Marshal Space
Flight Center and John R. Cristy from the University of Alabama, Huntsville
demonstrated in their 20-year study of satellite and balloon-borne measurements
that no temperature increases occurred.
“Global warming” cannot be real
with the Earth’s atmosphere showing no general increase in
temperature.
Blair uses Antarctica as an example of “global warming.” The
ice cap and glaciers there exhibit some thawing. But Blair’s gullibility for
Internet distortion is charming, and he is unaware of measurements showing
steady expansion of the huge Greenland Glacier and other Northern Hemisphere
Glaciers.
The Earth continues to be in balance. It is the best of all
possible worlds, the philosopher Leibniz told us a long time ago. Ice sheets
thaw in one hemisphere and exhibit growth in another. Such a system is not
likely to allow for rising sea levels.
In his letter, “Enough Already,”
(TGI: 2/16), Mr. David Peters said it best: “The promotion of unscientific
information that the self-proclaimed green economist and political activists
are passing around is deplorable.”
But things deplorable can be
entertaining as well. So, for my entertainment benefit, I urge Editor Sue Dixon
to increase the number of column inches on the editorial page dedicated to
green bull manure.
Douglas E. Rapozo
Kapa’a
Kauaians all want
the same thing
To the Forum:
Kauaians have a common bond. We love the
beauty, the land, the peace, the serenity. That’s why we’re here.
This we
all agree on, and no one is divided about the vision to maintain and preserve
the beauty and natural environment of this small island.
How foolish we
would be to drive ourselves out of the place we love and care for by making
decisions that would in fact shorten our lifestyle here—the lifestyle that we
all have chosen that does not give economic security to all, that has driven
the young adults off the island to other more thriving areas.
We are all
undivided about our vision for our island – we all want the same thing. So what
issues keep dividing us as Kauaians and what is the message?
The message I
am receiving is that there is a fear of growth. Growth is the question that we
are all asking and growth is our No.1 concern—growth effecting land use,
roads, consumption, waste, communities and more.
Obviously if we don’t grow
and everything stays the same we all would be “OK” and everyone could go about
their daily routine with peace and harmony knowing what tomorrow will bring.
But history can be a lesson to us about growth.
If these tiny islands could
have stayed hidden hundreds of years ago and no one came here besides the
original inhabitants then life here would not have changed. There would not
have been the decline of the indigenous people and all the other intruding
factors that altered the way of life.
The islands with all their beauty
and wonder have continued to attract people from all over the world. So many
nationalities are represented statewide that just about all countries and
cultures are represented.
As we move on in history, we look at the
population growth on the Mainland. Suppressed people came from Europe and Asia.
All nationalities have migrated to a better life and freedom to the “new
world.”
Every day we have people migrating to Kaua’i for a better place to
live and settle. Growth is inevitable no matter where you live and especially
in paradise. No one in history has ever been able to stop people from traveling
and settling where they choose to live.
What has attracted the majority of
residents that have been living here for more than decades continues to attract
more and more new arrivals.
To say we don’t want any growth or any new
businesses is unrealistic because history has proven that there will always be
growth and man’s nature to strive for economic growth to secure a more
comfortable lifestyle is as natural as women having the need to experience
motherhood.
Now let’s say we all agree on the fact that growth is a
natural phenomenon.
The question that arises again and again in the General
Plan Update 2020 is how are we going to control the growth so that the island
will not just grow helter-skelter, that growth will be planned.
We don’t
want to wake up one day and say, “Ooops, how did that get there? Or how were
they allowed to do that?” We hear continuously the disputes and dialogues about
who and who nots are allowed to be permitted for this and that. All of which
impacts every community on this island and its people.
Working together and
communicating as communities is a necessary process to help put together the
plan for growth – controlled growth, limited growth and organized growth.
To spend our time denying that there will be growth is unrealistic and naive.
The realistic and intelligent approach is to limit and control the growth so
that we will not be a Maui or Waikiki, and we all totally agree that we don’t
want to follow in their footsteps.
Kauaians have been working and
processing the General Plan 2020 for the past three years. We need to trust the
process and know that many lessons have been learned from the 1973 and 1983
GPU.
The 2020 GPU is going forward in a different way, a better way, (not
a perfect way – for there’s no such thing!) a community way.
I believe it’s
important to honor all the wonderful people that have volunteered hours of
their precious time and to the Kauaians that have attended the meetings, given
their input, communicated their concerns, love and passions.
I acknowledge
the Kauaians that have given constructive criticism to help this process come
to its full potential. To those that have been courteous to their neighbors by
listening, giving respect and honoring the differences, understanding that
there will always be different ways of looking at the issues because as people
we will see common interests differently but never forgetting the
message—”Love for Kaua’i!”
We need to work together to rise above the
differences. Dialogue the issues and live the message. The message is to live
the spirit of Kaua’i, not to live the differences!
So Kauaians let’s
continue to hold what is dear to us, and what is dear to our island and that is
the Aloha, aloha as neighbors, as communities and as an island because “it is
Kaua’i’s spirit!”
Barbara Bennett
Koloa
Are you listening, Ms.
Mayor?
To the Forum:
Every day in our business, we hear people saying
the same things about “how wonderful your little island is,” still pristine,
peaceful and quiet, with none of all that ‘stuff’ that’s over on Oahu or
Maui.
They say how lucky those who live here are.
Write to our Mayor I
beg them, write to the newspaper and planning department and tell them! Tell
them exactly how you feel because there are foul plans afoot, I tell them,
plans to enlarge our airport, plans for six lane highways, plans for lotsa
development, plans afoot to risk what is left of our small island.
When the
people of Kauai have a golden opportunity before them to make this island a gem
in the Pacific, an outstanding example of an environmentally sound island, one
who’s space and resources are not burdened beyond its means for nothing more
than Simple Greed.
Instead, those in power seem to choose the fastest track
possible to ruin it.
Mme. Mayor, you have no need to go on trips around the
world to push our little island. They know about us already-word of mouth is
your very best -and free-advertisement. The headlines of our newspaper back
this up-“Tourism on Kauai Up”. But this will no longer be if we take away the
very thing they are coming here for.
Better to spend the taxpayers money
maintaining our trails, tidying up our public toilets, beautifying the sides of
our highways instead of poisoning them. Take better care of our Most Beautiful
Island Home. They are coming here, Ms. Mayor, they are coming here in droves,
and we aren’t really ready for them. And you want to bring even more
visitors?
The people on the North Shore are in an uproar. They don’t want
spot zoning along the highway, and they sure don’t want Mr. O’Connells, or the
county’s plans to double the size of Kilauea. They don’t want to be another
Kapa’a and they are screaming and yelling about it, but are you listening?
Are you listening to the people begging you to keep our island just how it
is?
The suggested 20-year moratorium on development isn’t a bad idea. In
fact, it’s a very good idea. We recently heard about a country that allows only
6,000 visitors into it every year. That sounds like a pretty good idea as well.
There should be a limit to the number of visitors coming in order to preserve
the reasons why they come. Wouldn’t 100 percent occupancy of existing resorts
be a effective way to achieve this?
The illustrious leaders of our island
claim to want to do the will of the people. If they want to know what that is,
they should start listening! The voice of the people is there to be heard and
they are shouting loud and clear. The people of Kauai, their elected officials
and planning agencies should be working together for the good of the island,
not for the special interests of a few.
Robert Wolaver & Michelle
Carroll
Kilauea
What about energy conservation?
To The
Forum:
The papers of late have been full of electricity stories. We are
warned that a breakdown of the Lihue Plantation generator means that every
other power producing plant on the island is now barely able to keep up with
demand.
At the same time, we have rock stars filing suits to prevent a
backup generating station from being built – even though the most conservative
estimates on the General Plan Update accept a population increase.
And a
major editorial by Sam Blair calls for energy self-sufficiency (and by
inference cancellation of the new power plant) within 50 years.
This is a
wonderful idea – but no such technology is currently available – perhaps it
will become available but in the meantime we can’t live on wishful
thinking.
Building a new power plant will not necessarily mean burning more
fuel. The amount of fuel consumed is directly related to the amount of
electricity produced. It sure would have been nice this week to have had that
generator sitting around when LP broke down.
The one thing missing from all
the shouting is a call for conservation. While waiting for the magic of
self-sufficiency, the only thing we can do to reduce the amount of fuel burned
is to use less electricity. It seems as if everyone wants the other guy to ‘do
something’.
Doing begins at home. Let us ask Kauai when are those ‘peak
hours’ that they worry about – the stories never say. Then let each and every
one of us turn off something.
It might become a habit (and help the
budget) to turn off things when not needed. To limit hot water uses or install
solar. To turn off the TV when nobody is watching. A kilowatt minute here, a
kilowatt minute there will add up.
Of course such a concerted effort would
require leadership.Yet our county leaders who were so quick to jump on the Y2K
bandwagon to ‘save’ us from the electric company, are off junketing around the
world when a real potential crisis is in the offing.
Stan
Godes
Hanalei
