Messy island There’s been much talk about plastic bags and trash lately. I use my plastic bags and recycle them, but I can live without them if it means I don’t have to stop my bike ride to pick up
Messy island
There’s been much talk about plastic bags and trash lately. I use my plastic bags and recycle them, but I can live without them if it means I don’t have to stop my bike ride to pick up a bunch of plastic.
I feel that people who do this will just find something else to throw out their windows. I see lots of mowing on the side of the road but no trash being picked up. Where are all the workers?
(Recently) I stopped and picked up a bunch of trash where the fishermen hang out across from the bus stop. I put a big rock on some trash so it wouldn’t blow away, in order to give the workers time to get it. Well, I watched it for four days before it was picked up.
Each new year, I make a pledge to myself that whenever I go to experience Mother Nature anywhere, I will leave it better than when I got there. If we all did this, it would be much cleaner, but I can only do so much.
Visitors are a big part of our island, and they don’t like to see all our rubbish, nor do the fish and turtles want it.
This needs to be at the top of the list. We must take care of what we got, before it’s all gone.
Cherie Grant-Johnson
Hilo
Plant some gardens
The Tribune-Herald on Jan. 28 included a front-page article titled, “Proposal would fund food bank.” Apparently the Hawaii County Food Basket is having difficulty feeding more needy people with less food, and Hawaii County Council members are trying to help.
We have all heard the saying: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” It would be wonderful if the county would encourage people to plant gardens to raise as much of their own food as possible. Those who own property or who can get permission from their landlords could learn to plant gardens in their own yards. Others, including apartment-dwellers, could become involved in community gardens.
Perhaps the county could make county property available in many different locations for community gardens, and provide experts to give guidance in gardening. There is a website that provides excellent information on how to start a community garden: www.communitygarden.org.
These gardens could provide healthful, organically grown taro, lettuce, carrots, bananas, pineapples and many other kinds of nutritious fresh food, to supplement what the Food Basket can provide.
Sanford K. Okura
Hilo
Shame on Israel
How clever of the Israeli government to threaten to bomb Iran. That way, we are distracted from concern about the continuing brutality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Bunny Smith
Hilo
