• Many on Kauai use pesticides • It’s true, we have no amusement park • Logic behind a County of Niihau • Together, Kauai can find solutions • Take time to appreciate the good in others Many on Kauai use
• Many on Kauai use pesticides • It’s true, we have no amusement park • Logic behind a County of Niihau • Together, Kauai can find solutions • Take time to appreciate the good in others
Many on Kauai use pesticides
I enjoy reading TGI when possible, I am also not against GMO labeling on any product. What I am against is the misconstrued thought that the GMO companies are poisoning the lives on Kauai. I have read that the combined companies (GMO corn companies and Kauai Coffee) use 16 percent of the pesticides that are being targeted as “poisoning” Kauai!
Who is using the other 84 percent of these pesticides? My opinion is the County of Kauai, landscapers and the residents who fertilize their lawns and beautiful gardens.
Steve Somers
Boise
It’s true, we have no amusement park
I was amused when I read Richard Rhyner’s letter in The Garden Island (Feb. 19), stating that “there’s nothing to do on Kauai.” Imagine that.
I guess he didn’t consider the miles of pristine beaches and hiking trails offering spectacular views as important. Mr. Rhyner, might I suggest Disneyland?
Raley Peterson
Waimea
Logic behind a County of Niihau
I’d assume Obama would call it a “transformation,” turning Niihau into County of Niihau. What could possibly encourage such an action? Casinos, exclusive private residences or resorts where individuals could smoke, escape from County of Kauai’s “big government-union” bureaucracy, lower property taxes, etc. What are your thoughts?
Or is it to be up for sale? It would surely be a lot easier to sell the island without “big brother” looking over one’s shoulder. Who would buy an island with no water, electricity, garbage collection, medical services, ag lands, gas stations, roads, fast food joints?
With such a limited market, it would have to be billionaires or the military and we all know who has more money, rather use of other people’s money, than any billionaire: Uncle Sugar, the U.S. government. If they don’t have enough, they’d just print more.
Is Obama willing to allow his “birth state (?)” to be ridden over “rough shod” by billionaires or military? Of course he is. It just takes a waiver. So get use to another county and another voting district. Maybe Obama will retire there, build his library and self anoint himself “His Majesty Obama.”
John Hoff
Lawai
Together, Kauai can find solutions
A summit meeting bringing all interested parties to the table to discuss the following must be scheduled:
1. What basic requirements must be met by all those engaged in agricultural activities on our island(s) that will meet “malama aina” practices and principles?
2. What executive, legislative, and judicial (enforcement) mechanisms need to be updated and/or established to protect and preserve our finite resources?
If it takes a series of workshops, seminars, and whatever else, those topics and activities should include whatever else needs to be focused upon. The bottom line is this: We need to establish common ground. This is our shared kuleana — all of us are part of the problem, and therefore, all of us should be a part of the solution.
We should be building upon the initial efforts to resolve the concerns and issues that have been brought to light. Let’s look for ways in which we can actualize the wherewithal to be effective in dealing with those concerns and issues that impact our environment and our health and well-being.
Everyone, from keiki to kupuna, can and should be involved in that process through education and awareness. Raising consciousness opens the doors to establishing common ground to make the paradigm shifts needed to address this monumental challenge. It’s worth the effort.
Jose Bulatao, Jr.
Kekaha
Take time to appreciate the good in others
I wonder why it is so easy for us to vilify others, rather than embrace them. The great ones have always spoken about love and compassion. When we embrace others, we not only accept their frailties, we accept our own. We seem to be more comfortable driving a wedge between ourselves and those we disagree with.
We now have farmer against farmer, one part of the island against another part of the island, politicians waving flags promoting one side against the other, a very unhealthy divisiveness. We ascribe the worst motives imaginable to those people on the “other side.”
My friend, Bernard, is now accused of being a liar and a thief. If anyone bothered to get to know this man, they would see someone who is completely incapable of separating himself from the home he loves. He is consumed by trying to do the right thing for Kauai, whether one agrees with him or not. He is a deeply religious man and the idea of stealing a couple of gallons of gasoline would be enough to send him to a hell from which there is no redemption. I am not sure there is anything more hurtful for him to live with. What is it that is so important and worth wounding a person who lives his entire life to be a good man, one who takes no joy in harming another?
All of us live on this magnificent island together and right now we are doing a lousy job of appreciating each other. Unfortunately for us all, we now live in a culture that has trivialized virtually everything. Like it or not, we have become pawns in a game being played by the rich and powerful. The only possession we have that cannot be taken away is our humanity, but we give it away when we mistreat others. We give it away when love and compassion no longer light our path.
I woke up today to one of Kauai’s perfect mornings: The blue sky holding resting clouds in its grasp, while the gentle winds bring a beautiful peace and the light plays off a landscape only gods create. We are all privileged to be here and it doesn’t matter if this has been your home for generations or you are a permanent guest like me.
Take a minute to talk to your enemy and find all that you have in common, including your frailties.
Larry Feinstein
Kauai
