Big Island ideal for composting
My family has just returned from our almost yearly trip to the Big Island. We stay in timeshares for the most part. We had four other family members visit while we were there and we love the island.
But two things that always bother us are the lack of composting and the minimal use of green energy. We live in western Canada and everywhere here composting of organic waste is compulsory. We talked to several locals and they say they do it. However, the hotels and resorts and timeshares are not yet doing it. We would love to see it mandated.
Your island seems like an ideal place for a state run composting facility. You have abundant space and water and lovely warm weather. If you mixed up the compost with ground-up lava rock, of which you seemingly have plenty, you would have a very valuable product. It would also create jobs. Think about it.
We visited the NELHA facility this year and found it interesting. From papers in there for 2015, it seems that the state’s energy sources were 70 percent oil, 14 percent coal in the report. You have an admirable goal of increasingly this dramatically but it is happening very slowly, it seems.
Ten years ago we visited Turkey and I was amazed to see that every building had solar powered hot water heating on their roofs. Ten years ago in Turkey, really. We in Canada are not any better at this although our province, British Columbia, runs mostly on hydroelectric and we are having a big debate about whether to build another hydroelectric mega-project or concentrate on solar and wind. We all have lots we can improve.
We’ll see you next November, I hope.
John Miller
British Columbia, Canada
North Korea answer is diplomatic outreach
The North Koreans have fired another missile, this one theoretically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, and Donald Trump asserts that it will be taken care of. Frankly, I consider the current occupant of the White House a greater existential threat to our nation than the regime of Kim Jong Un.
If North Korea were to attack our country or allies, we have the nuclear capability to totally destroy their entire nation. I’m not advocating such a future, rather I find it inconceivable that North Korea would plunge their country into oblivion. I think that our best course of action is to strengthen our diplomatic outreach and stop any further verbal provocation from the Trump Tweet Emporium while, at the same time, restarting our space based missile defense system.
I think that our current technology has developed to the point that we could successfully deploy a system that would destroy missiles upon launch in the upper atmosphere to mitigate a North Korean nuclear threat.
Additionally, China and Russia would not like us to pursue such a course of action and would most probably finally intercede with North Korea to bring them to the table as they would not want us to deploy such a system, nor would they want to expend the capital required to duplicate our efforts.
Daniel Konigsberg
Kona
Save your judgment
I knew when I saw the front page headlines about the arrests at the homeless shelter that there would be letters just like the two that are in the Saturday West Hawaii Today.
From your letters, it sounds like you are successful, self-sufficient, healthy in every way, lucky, and have never needed government assistance.
May I suggest that you re-acquaint yourself with the rule at the heart of every religion on Earth, the golden rule. It might give you some understanding and peace regarding the very troubling issues of homelessness and drug addiction.
Patti St. Clair
Kona