• Paris agreement errors • Affordable housing key to health • Safadago responsible for actions Paris agreement errors The six largest greenhouse gas emitters are China, U.S., EU, India, Russia and Indonesia. Regarding emissions per capita, the U.S. tops the
• Paris agreement errors • Affordable housing key to health • Safadago responsible for actions
Paris agreement errors
The six largest greenhouse gas emitters are China, U.S., EU, India, Russia and Indonesia.
Regarding emissions per capita, the U.S. tops the list. However, by land area, the U.S. has the second-lowest emissions of the six. On the basis of emissions per GDP (measuring the percent of incomes spent on fossil fuels), the U.S. is once again the second lowest emitter of the six.
The Paris agreement calls for large decreases in emissions for the U.S. by 2025 and small decreases in emissions for the EU by 2030. For the other four countries, the agreement allows for large increases in emissions through 2030 (climateactiontracker.org).
The best measurement of emissions is probably based on land area. China is already choking on their dense smog. They should not be encouraged to increase their emissions simply because they have so many people crowded in. Besides, in these big cities people don’t need or have room for SUVs. Public transportation works well in dense populations.
Based on land area, the U.S. is the second-lowest emitter of the six countries. Yet, the U.S. is the only country of the six required by the Paris agreement to make large reductions. Four of the six are allowed large increases.
We will probably reduce our emissions anyway, as solar PV panels get cheaper and cheaper. However, I am so thankful that we now have a president who is not willing to cripple America while letting the smoggier countries continue to increase their emissions.
Mark Beeksma, Koloa
Affordable housing key to health
Thank you, Dr. Shabert, for your astute observations of the county general plan (TGI, May 30). Additionally, plans should include psychiatric care. Mental illness is sometimes mistaken as bad behavior. One in five people in the U.S. is diagnosed with a severe mental illness every year.
We need more transitional and permanent housing for those suffering from mental illness. We need more critical care beds than Mahelona provides. We need after-care housing, so those suffering won’t become inadvertently involved with the criminal justice system.
Finally, the affordable housing should remain “affordable” in perpetuity. For some reason, every agency I know puts a limit on the number of years housing is affordable! In this expensive housing market, homes need to be affordable for future generations.
The hyperinflation we experience here does not need to be passed on to the affordable housing recipients. They usually get a low interest rate from the county, state or federal government for their mortgages. They should not “profit” from being in the affordable housing market. Those homes need to be “returned to the affordable housing bank.”
Kathy Sheffield, Kalaheo
Safadago responsible for actions
I was camping in Kalalau in April when I saw Cody Safadago on the beach. He was always intoxicated, aggressively yelling at people, didn’t have much food, was stealing from tourists and harassing women. Evidently word quickly got to the North Shore that there was a deranged thief in the valley. A boat captain went in, told him he had to go and hauled him out.
Safadago is not a Kalalau person, nor is he a Kauai person or a Hawaii person. He told everybody he was from Seattle. A quick Internet search reveals that he is a felon wanted on the Mainland and in Belize for drug offenses, spouse abuse and human trafficking. The captain didn’t know Safadago was a criminal on the run — none of us did — he only knew that Safadago was an unstable rip-off and everybody wanted him out.
There is only one person to blame for the heartbreaking death of Kauai’s beautiful young woman — Cody Safadago.
Gail Tanaka, Honolulu
