• A value on life is important to all of us • Be sure to take in ‘Voyage of Discovery’ • We need to know where pesticides go • A value on life is important to all of us As
• A value on life is important to all of us • Be sure to take in ‘Voyage of Discovery’ • We need to know where pesticides go •
A value on life is important to all of us
As residents of Kauai, we are fortunate to live in a beautiful place with kind people. Unfortunately, it has been reported that some misguided individuals in our community are shooting innocent animals. Cruelty to animals is not only against the law but it reflects a lack of morality and compassion.
This fact should be of concern to all who live here. There is a well-established link between the harming of animals and the harming of people. Performing such an act indicates that the perpetrator places little to no value on life, and such a person is a danger to all of us because of his or her lack of social conscience.
This is happening to many animals in several locations around our island. The animals I’m referring to matter to their caregivers and it causes sadness and pain to lose them. While this fact almost certainly has no relevance to the shooter(s), I have to and want to believe that our community on Kauai cares.
Please, let the police or the Kauai Humane Society know if you have information regarding these killings.
It matters, lives matter.
Robyn Botkin
Managing Director
Kauai Ferals
Be sure to take in ‘Voyage of Discovery’
Please take the time to visit National Tropical Botanical Gardens at the Headquarters Complex in Kalaheo to view the “Voyage of Discovery Art Exhibition.”
This exhibit consists of 30 limited edition, finely detailed prints of the plants discovered on Captain Cook’s first voyage around the world. The accuracy and detail rendered by the artist are so fine and delicate, as to be beyond belief. Also, please be sure to see the video which does two things: (1) reconstructs Captain Cook’s voyage and (2) describes the fabrication of the copper plate engravings of the art by Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander — explorers, botanists, and philanthropists — who accompanied Cook on the 18th century expedition. These engravings have only recently been discovered and were used for these prints. The detail will blow your mind. Please do not miss it. It is the opportunity of a lifetime. The exhibition is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. most weekdays, and ends April 30. For more information, call (808) 332-7324, ext. 227.
William Hackett
Kalaheo
We need to know where pesticides go
I’m interested to know where the recently published statistic stating that the GMO companies (or biotech chemical corporations) and Kauai Coffee Co. “only use 16 percent of the pesticides” (used on Kauai?) came from. Can the writer please provide a source?
Most times when these statistics are presented the word “pesticide” is used vaguely. Are we talking herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides or all of them? When I use the word pesticide here I refer to all of them.
While I don’t have the specific numbers, it is my understanding that almost all of the pesticides applied by landscapers and gardeners, homeowners and even the county of Kauai are, for the most part, categorized as general use pesticides, ones we are all able to purchase and use if we so desire.
The issue surrounding the GMO production and experimentation here on Kauai is partially relating to the use of the more toxic pesticides, known as restricted use pesticides (RUPs) that biotech is using in tremendous amounts and incredibly regularly.
Estimates from the Department of Agriculture freedom of information request submitted by the county suggested biotech is applying 18 tones of concentrated RUPs (before dilution) every year. Estimates were that it was roughly 98 percent of all the RUPs being used on Kauai, with absolutely no disclosure or records available for the amount of general use pesticides they were using.
According to the same DOA source, all the golf courses on Kauai combined use approximately 200 pounds per year. That compares 200 pounds to something closer to 40,000 pounds of RUPs (alone) being applied each year by biotech.
Pesticides do run off into water systems, groundwater, blow in the wind as drift, contaminate agricultural lands and also can kill “non-target organisms.” It’s an important topic. Let’s have open, real conversations about where and when these pesticides are really being applied. We shouldn’t have to estimate. We shouldn’t have to guess. We should all have the right to know.
Fern A Rosenstiel
‘Ohana ‘O Kauai Director
