• Ride, ride, ride your bikes • Unlimited energy • Equal pay for all Ride, ride, ride your bikes Mr. Mickens states that no one uses a bicycle to commute or shop. (“Feed the masses, not the minority,” Letters, April
• Ride, ride, ride your bikes
• Unlimited energy
• Equal pay for all
Ride, ride, ride your bikes
Mr. Mickens states that no one uses a bicycle to commute or shop. (“Feed the masses, not the minority,” Letters, April 13)
I guess he did not see me carrying a load of fiberglass cloth and resin in my bike trailer as I pedaled from Puhi to Wailua Homesteads. And I suppose he has not seen me shopping at Foodland and Cost-U-Less either. In fact I even go to the bike store … on my bike!
This even without the benefit of a bike path. I would like to know, where is the bike path he talks about from 35 years ago? Is it the signs along Kuhio Highway? That is a road shoulder, not a bike path or even bike lane.
And do you think it’s possible Kaua‘i has changed at all in 35 years? And yes, I also use the East Side bike path, Ke Ala Hele Makalae. If Mr. Mickens wants to know why people don’t ride bikes more, let him hop on a bicycle and ride to his local town center.
He will soon see the problems are not hills, rain, or distance, but cars, cars, and cars. The reason people tell me they don’t ride to work is that it’s too dangerous, not too difficult.
Kurt Rutter , Kapa‘a
Unlimited energy
In reply to a letter written on Tuesday (“An open letter to the KIUC Board of Directors,” Letters, April 14) — Why is it no one can see what I see? Everyone is hopping on this green train but it seems that we still have one foot on the ground and the other on an idea.
It’s too expensive and the incentives are not there as it’s not profitable to put those incentives in place by the powers that be. Solar as a technology is great but not efficient as a source of power for a public utility due to fluctuations in weather, seasons, equipment cost, and lack of battery technologies for storage.
Wind power ruins the beautiful landscape, can have a terrible environmental impact on birds as well as humans, and is not reliable, as you can’t depend on wind to be there all the time.
These technologies are supplemental at best and still leave us dependent on an oil infrastructure as our primary source of power. We have the answer surrounding us and need to take the ropes to secure our future.
The ocean around us is the answer. There is more power in the ocean swells than we can imagine. The energy is always there, day or night, wind or no wind, clouds or no clouds. I have been working on a design for an ocean power system that sits offshore, out of sight, that will allow us a clean, non-environmental threatening source of power that will last forever, have minimal cost, and low maintenance.
There are many people on this island with the knowledge and background needed to make a system like this succeed. It can be done!
Adam Orens, Kapa‘a
Equal pay for all
At a time when the economy of America is facing a tremendous downturn, many working women are extremely concerned about pay inequity — not only for themselves, but for their families as well.
According to Economist Evelyn Murphy, president and founder of the WAGE Project, it is estimated that the wage gap costs the average American full-time woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her lifetime.
The month of April symbolizes the point into the New Year in which a woman must work in order to earn the same amount of wages paid to a man in the previous year. April 28 has been designated as Equal Pay Day. On this day, thousands of women from across the United States will join the cause in a national day of action against unfair pay.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at the national level, women are paid only 78 cents for every dollar that a man is paid. Because women earn less, they must work longer for the same pay.
Fair pay can happen, but it will take tremendous effort, and real change. We can make a difference in the lives of women. Here on Kaua‘i, the Committee on the Status of Women will join hundreds of other organizations from across the nation to educate women and men regarding pay inequity in the hopes to bring about positive change, and to offer solutions to wage discrimination.
We would like to invite other organizations within our local community to do the same. Part of the goals of our committee, is to create public awareness and understanding of the needs of women here on Kaua‘i.
At the County building in Lihu‘e, we will be accepting a Proclamation from Mayor Bernard Carvalho, acknowledging April 28 as Equal Pay Day here on Kaua‘i. The proclamation will further urge local businesses within our community to review their pay practices in order to ensure that women are not discriminated against.
Lisa Ellen Smith, Chair
Regina Carvalho, Vice Chair
Committee on the Status of Women
