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Well, folks, here's the reality of our Hands Across The Sand rally yesterday morning in Hilo Bay...ABSOLUTELY gorgeous day, with most of the participants arriving by bus, very few with 1 to a vehicle! Also, at least 3/4 of those making the statement were of Hawaiian ancestry! It was a glorious day, thanks to Moku O Hawaii, ALL the participants, and David Corrigan! Oh, and the glory of Mother Nature!!!
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2010/0...lo-hawaii/
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Thank you, Frankie, for making this happen in Hilo.
As we all stood there with hands joined, some girls and boys (about 6 or 7 yrs of age) in the edge of the water were splashing and laughing.
I thought about what is happening to the beaches in the Gulf Coast, and I thought of the words, "...where will the children play?"
Aloha
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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So what are you suggesting, CFB483? Don't be shy.
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It is understood that holding hands for a few minutes on one beach on one day is not going to turn the tide of callous uncaring that resulted in the mess that still continues in the Gulf.
Speaking for myself, that action is not where I begin to bring change and it will not be the end.
It was a few minutes in one day of a lifetime.
It was good.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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[8D]I have no problem with CFB483"s question; in fact, journalist contacts asked me the same thing.
I've spent some 33 years here on the Big Island and never seen as large a public demonstration on a political issue as the Hilo Hands Across The Sand line on Saturday. True, it took advantage of a canoe regatta gathering but this was no hard sell for Moku O Hawaii officials. They totally bought into it the previous week, promoted it among their own people, and that was a huge turnout for that early in the morning for them, because most of the people come to the regattas later in the day.
They care about the ocean and its creatures! And they jumped at the chance to demonstrate that! Do you know how radical that is for many in the Hawaiian community??? To take part in a public, political demonstration??? I was in awe! The kids were coming up to Auntie Maile and bragging about how they went down and joined in. I hope this is just the first of many times they stand up for something they believe in! (There were others in attendance at the regatta who did not go down for the line in the sand but most in attendance did.)
And why is a collective global action making a statement to world leaders and the multinational corporations who are killing the life on our planet nonproductive?
Today's NY Times has a political article entitled Spill Is Election Issue Far Beyond Gulf. A fact all politicians are waking up to...
There's another article on CommonDreams.org blog today by Paul Rogat Loeb from his book, "Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times" telling about a man in the Pacific NW has been "engaging his community to take environmental responsibility, creating unexpected alliances to broaden the impact of their voice, and in the process defeating massive corporate interests."
Most of the mainstream media (media are, after all, companies owned by mulltinational corps) gave minimal (if any) coverage of the HATS demos that took place in more than 700 sites in the U.S. alone. Thank goodness we have the blogs. Dave Corrigan's coverage on Big Island Video News was awesome and Hawaii 24/7 today gave further circulation of the statement that was made in Hilo, a factor I'm sure was repeated at communities in many places.
Our collective lifestyle in this country is based on oil, for transportation and for electricity. And, IMHO, it's not the American public who is at fault in its dependency on fossil fuels and automobiles. It's the overall system foisted on us by corporations and evolved with the complicity of our government leaders.
But if the American public does NOT stand up in some way at this time and say enough with the political and corporate lipservice to alternate energy resources and quit building nothing but byways for automobiles while ignoring pedestrians' and bicyclers' needs, then you are tacitly supporting the status quo.
Hawaii's largest homegrown corporation is HEI, head of HELCo and banks, et al, and HEI has a stranglehold on our legislature and Public Utilities Commission. Yes, you can be offgrid and not send HEI your bucks. But politically HEI still gets to designate how much alternate energy is allowed...and HEI doesn't pay full value for those homeowners feeding their excess energy back into the grid. I don't see any co-ops here that exist on Kauai and you only see the same few people at the Sierra Club meetings where they are trying to build support for alternative electrical power sources thru the citizenry.
So, beyond practicing conservation and possibly riding public transport or bikes and being off the grid, what did you do Saturday to further the cause? And today?
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My response to CFB483's relevant question would be that it sure doesn't hurt. Apathy is what allows multinationals to rape and pillage.
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This is a good thing and I'm not knocking it. But we have a big problem right here in Hawaii that is not being looked at seriously enough. WASTEWATER POLLUTION.
It's killing our coral reefs.
Causing Health problems. Namely Staff infections.
Yeah, MRSA or Antibiotic resistant staff kills 200 people a year in Hawaii. And MRSA has been directly linked to the Injection wells that seep into Kahului Harbor.
We need to redirect our treated wastewater. Not send it down into injection wells that leach into the inshore waters. I'd like to see protests, serious ones, concerning this.
There's too much apathy on this issue.
http://www.mauiweekly.com/page/content.d...tml?nav=16
http://savekahuluiharbor.com/
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
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Global warming is killing coral reefs all over the planet!
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