Letters for Tuesday, January 16, 2007

• The real hot stove

• It’s good to be Asing

• How much is enough and when?

• Get ‘er done

The real hot stove

I’m not sure how many have watched Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” but I hope you will because it’s a real eye opener. Global warming is something we all need to start paying attention to. It’s no longer “just a theory.” It’s happening, and more rapidly than anticipated.

The world’s leading science journals report that glaciers are melting 10-times faster than previously thought, that atmospheric greenhouse gases have reached levels not seen for millions of years, and that species are vanishing as a result of climate change. They also report of extreme weather events, long-term droughts and rising sea levels. If we don’t make changes now it’s predicted that in as little as 10 years we’ll have done “irreversible” damage to this planet and in 30-50 years low-lying areas worldwide (especially islands) will be submerged under water.

A big box ban, traffic congestion and bicycle paths certainly won’t matter then.

Please, everyone, take a moment and sign up to the virtual march at the Web site www.stopglobalwarming.org. It costs nothing, just a few minutes of your time. Their mission is to use strength in numbers to urge our government to join the rest of the world in addressing global warming, and urge business to start a new industrial revolution of clean energy that reduces our dependence on oil.

While 162 countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol to address global warming, the United States has not. Yet the United States, with only 4 percent of the world’s population, is responsible for 22 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions!

When federal leadership failed to lead, mayors across the country rose to the occasion. Three-hundred and fifty-three mayors representing over 53.7 million Americans have signed the Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to reduce global warming emissions in their cities. (Bryan Baptiste has signed this agreement).

There’s plenty we can do to stop global warming (all listed on the Web site), but here’s a few simple changes that we can all do today:

• Replace the conventional bulbs in your five most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the “energy star” label and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action, we would prevent more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions;

• Keep the tires on your car adequately inflated — check them monthly and save 250 pounds of carbon dioxide per year;

• Check your car’s air filter monthly and save 800 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

Once again, please take a moment to read valuable information on this Web site, see the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and sign up to be part of the virtual march for the sake of future generations. They need our help now.

Kilauea

It’s good to be Asing

King, oops, Kaipo Asing — the Kaua‘i County Council chairman — reminds me of the city of Fairplay, Colo.’s man in charge of building permits. That man told me, in person, that they listen to the objections of the citizens and then they go ahead and do what they intended to do in the first place. The public meetings are just for show. A few people show up, they talk, the politicians listen, shake their heads in agreement and then go ahead and do what they intended to do in the first place. Politicians know that most people don’t take the time to figure out what is wrong. They, the people, just keep on working trying to make ends meet. The people who really care and study what is taking place are just looked at as “kooks.” What a shame.

Kapa‘a

How much is enough and when?

It has come to the point that we Kaua‘i residents must open our eyes and be made aware of what’s happening to our once peaceful and beautiful island. At the present pace of uncontrolled developments, we will soon see our Paradise Isle too commercialized and destroyed to the point of no return. The trend today is money over value. The old saying goes, “putting the cart before the horse” by allowing reckless building first, then struggling to have infrastructure catch up ending up with we residents paying. The results can be seen by the chaos created by bumper to bumper road madness all over the island with no end in sight. A lot of rhetoric but not much done to alleviate this mounting problem or to ease public frustration. This will get worse when the Superferry brings in more people and cars to choke our island — the bubble will burst soon.

We are tempted by the wealthy waving million dollar checks in our face, thus creating a playground for the rich while our residents struggle to make ends meet and keep families together.

Our priority should be to create a lasting master plan on the map with strong community input to regulate zonings and future developments according to needs. This little island of Kaua‘i is like the palm of my hand — limited space and uncontrolled abuse will surely sink it. Our natural beauty attracts people from all over the world and greed for money and profit is destroying the very reason that drew them here. Let’s wake up and plan ahead wisely, not only for 10 to 20 years, but for future generations so that they will not have the problems of undoing our mistakes. Do we care? We have already made our money and we will be gone by then?

Another unwise suggestion was brought up recently; gates and toll charges in the Koke‘e area along with commercial buildings. Anyone can see that this will spoil the very image we are hanging on to that draws most of the visitors to Kaua‘i. Keep Koke‘e natural as it has been for decades and just upkeep the roads, restrooms, viewpoints and safety of the people, local and visitors alike.

Also, let’s not kill The Golden Goose.

Kapa‘a

Get ‘er done

I have been thinking about Mr. William Ivison’s solution (“On Mel’s finger-pointing to the people,” Letters, Jan. 11) to the bicycle pavilion “Permitgate” and have been looking at the unfinished pavilions daily. I agree with Mr. Ivison completely. The County Council should cut its losses, (no more ridiculous thoughts of the county suing itself — say what?) issue the permits to finish the roofs on the buildings and finish that bicycle path. We need our council to concentrate on important matters, like solving the unbearable traffic problems, affordable housing, etc. The idea of planting trees around the unfinished pavilions is absolutely ludicrous. The finished roofed pavilions are very attractive and are being used daily. Trees will block the view of the ocean and will not give protection to persons against the sun and rain. If you’re worried about the ocean view, move five feet. There is more ocean on either side. This is not a problem like in Malibu where views of the ocean are seen through narrow walkways between homes. The bike path/pavilions is an absurd waste of time and money, let’s get it finished and move on.

Kapa‘a