Scared mountain
Scared mountain
You might not believe Mauna Kea is sacred, nor be Hawaiian, or be a lifelong resident of Hawaii. But you must agree Mauna Kea is truly one of this planet’s most beautiful wonders!
If you have never been atop this majestic mauna, go! You will feel the sacredness. You will feel the mana. You will see the beauty. You will want to protect Mauna Kea!
Many say every piece of ‘aina is sacred. Yes, every piece is! Look what happened to the many pieces we failed to protect. Mauna Kea must be protected from the bulldozing, from the drilling, from the smashing and bamming, from the asphalt and cement that will be poured onto this beautiful ‘aina.
What price will be paid? Fifty-eight million dollars to our economy? Where will this money go? I don’t know, but I do know where it’s NOT gonna go: NOT to Mauna Kea; NOT to our troubled public schools; NOT to struggling Hilo Medical Center; NOT going to ease the taxpayers’ woes. That is NOT even close enough to desecrate Mauna Kea!
Why do we need the Thirty Meter Telescope? Yes, science is very valuable, but why do we need to see so far? We only need to see a few blocks down the road to see the homeless. We need to see a few miles out to sea at the pollution, see global warming, see drug abuse, overcrowded prisons, terrorism etc. We should see, explore and solve what’s down here.
We need to see Mauna Kea! WE ARE MAUNA KEA.
Kathy Kaakimaka
Mountain View
Why all the fuss?
With all the pilikia over the use of the word “aloha” as the title of a movie, what should we do now about Aloha Tower, Aloha Stadium and Aloha Shoyu? And, of course, we used to have Aloha Airlines. I’m confused.
Bob Alder
Hilo
Stop the subsidies
The commentary, “A good enough plan,” could have been called “A scaled back plan.”
It is well-known folk knowledge that the first thing to do when you are stuck in a hole is to stop digging. In the case of destroying the environment by pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, you’d think the first thing we would do would be to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry.
In fact, President Obama has proposed a modest step in that direction every year in his proposed budget, but that has been rejected by Congress without debate every year.
How much do taxpayers give in fossil fuel subsidies each year? Oil Change International estimates direct subsidies at $37.5 billion (priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/) and that doesn’t count military, health, climate or local pollution costs.
That’s what you get when corporations control politicians instead of “we the people.”
Let’s vote!
Rico Reed
Hakalau