Archive for July, 2013

Support Bill 79 on GMO Prohibition

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Dear Editor:

Bill 79 is historic.  It’s an opportunity to make a pro-active choice for the future direction of agriculture on Hawaii island.  To support Bill 79 is to prohibit future GMO food crops and big agrochemical corporate interests like Monsanto from controlling and dominating agriculture in our county.  Bill 79 supports a policy of aloha ‘aina.  It opens up possibilities for Hawaii County to prosper as a GMO-free food crop area.
To support Bill 79 is to make a choice for the precautionary principle when dealing with our food supply and people’s health and safety. The unintended consequences of GMO may be irreparable and far reaching.  Once the GMO Genie is out of the bottle it can’t be put back.  Supporting Bill 79  is the pono thing to do for people, plants and animals, for the land, for the water, for the air, for future generations and the earth itself.
The future of farming is not oil/chemical, monocrop, industrial based, profit driven, GMO agribusiness.  It is small-scale organic, a return to nature with complete respect for the natural processes and the environment.  It’s about reverence for, and interdependence with, all other species.  This is the big picture toward Hawaii’s self-sufficiency.  Bill 79 is an important step in the right direction.

Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Farm
P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org

A True U.S. Patriot – Hero

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Bradley

Manning

Awarded MacBride

Peace Prize

Bradley-Manning-Take-Stand

 

The International Peace Bureau announced that this year’s Sean MacBride Peace Prize is to be awarded to Bradley Manning, the US whistleblower whose case has attracted worldwide attention, for his courageous actions in revealing information about US war crimes. His trial is likely to be concluded in the coming days.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 after allegedly leaking more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, 400,000 U.S. Army reports about Iraq and another 90,000 about Afghanistan, as well as the material used in the “Collateral Murder” video produced by WikiLeaks: videos of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike and the 2009 Garani airstrike in Afghanistan. At the time, it constituted the largest set of restricted documents ever leaked to the public. Much of it was published by WikiLeaks or its media partners between April and November 2010.

Manning has so far been detained for three years — first in Kuwait, then in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico, Va., and finally at a medium-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. —before being charged with 22 offenses, including communicating national defense information to an unauthorized source and aiding the enemy. He faces a possible life sentence.

IPB’s Co-President Tomas Magnusson comments:“IPB believes that among the very highest moral duties of a citizen is to make known war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is within the broad meaning of the Nuremberg Principles enunciated at the end of the Second World War. When Manning revealed to the world the crimes being committed by the US military he did so as an act of obedience to this high moral duty”. It is for this reason too that Manning has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Read-IPB-Press-Release

Blowing the Whistle on War Crimes is NOT a Crime!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.

Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (July 26, 2013– 618th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Geothermal Update from Puna Pono Alliance

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

Geothermal Update 7/22/13
Aloha

There are several things coming up this week that I want to make sure your aware of.

Tuesday at 1:45 pm the county council will be taking testimony on:


The Hawaii County energy plan, present and future

Then on July 27th this Saturday at the Akebono theater in Pahoa Puna Pono Alliance is sponsoring

The Save Pohoiki Community Festival

Get the details below

Also if you have not signed our petition yet please sign and share it. Right after I posted it last time the petition site was crashed by hackers so if you had trouble please try again.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-pohoiki-keep-puna

as of right now we have 746 signatures on line and many hundreds more on the ones we are passing around by hand, please help us by sharing it so we an get thousands before we present it to HELCO on August 19th
 

First this Tuesday at 1:45 pm the county council will be taking testimony on the:

Hawaii County energy plan, present and future

If you can not come to the council offices Tuesday you can still submit testimony by email until 12 noon today,
Monday, July 22 .

Send testimony to counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us

Subject: Council testimony Hawaii County Energy Plan, Tuesday 23rd at 1:45

Council testimony re: Comm. 314:  PRESENTATION BY DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTRELATING TO CURRENT AND FUTURE ENERGY RELATED MATTERS IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I

There are 2 sample at the bottom of this email to help you.
 

Normally the presentation comes after the public testimony. Don’t ask me why, who knows how government expects us to comment on a presentation that we have not even heard, but one thing we do know is they will be pushing more geothermal.

Far to often they current county council seems to makes things as difficult as they can for those of us who do try and participate in the process. None the less this is a chance for you to tell the council what kind of energy future you want to see

The Hawaii County Council Committee on Water, Ag, and Energy Sustainability will hear the presentation from Will Rolston, the Hawaii County Energy Coordinator and Laverne Omori, Director of the Dept. of Research and Development on EVERYTHING ENERGY current and future in Hawaii County.

 

Again that is this TUESDAY July 23rd at 1:45 pm and public testimony will be accepted.

 

Sorry for the short notice but you can submit video or written testimony until 12:00pm today Monday July 22nd.

 

Or if you can testify in person on Tuesday the 23rd you can do that:

At the Council Chambers at the County Building in Hilo, 25 Aupuni Street, Room 1401,

In the Council Chambers at the West Hawai’i Civic Center in Kona Building A.

The Pahoa Council Office in the Pahoa (Makuu) Marketplace, 15-2660 Pahoa Village Road, Room 105, across the parking lot from Subway.

At the Waimea Council Office, at the Holumua Center, 64-1067, Mamalahoa Highway, Suite 5

And also in the Ocean View satellite council office in Ka’u.

Hope to see you there.

Then we have:

The Save Pohoiki Community Festival

We hope to see you all at the Akebono theater in Pahoa on July 27th.

Learn about what’s happening with new geothermal plants!  There will be speakers, booths, music, and fun! Get to know your neighbors and Puna Pono Alliance as we prepare for our march on HELCO to stop the RFP.

Look for our flyers around town also.
Schedule of events:

Pua’ena Ahn will be our MC, if you have not met him you are in for a treat. Pua’ena gives me hope for the future. He is young, smart, articulate, understands the issues, he is a Kamehameha grad, a family man and he has a great political sense of humor. Pua’ena is a born leader.

1 pm- Kaliko will do a pule and opening. Kaliko is a long time community leader and activist on many issues. He is also member of the Royal Order of Kamehameha.
1:10 Introduction of the issues and speakers of the panel
1:15 Panel presentation on “Geothermal Issues and Updates”

If you want to know more about what is going on with geothermal in Hawaii this will be very informative.
We have –

Former Hawaii County Mayor and Civil Defense Director
Harry Kim

                Hawaii State Senator Russell Ruderman – founder of Island
Natural markets.

                Suzanne Wakelin – Phd in Physics

And me  Bob Petricci– President of Puna Pono Alliance

1:45 The panel will take questions on geothermal issues

2:00  Hiccup Circus – fun and games!
2:20  Henry Curtis on “Alternative Energy”

If you want to know about alternative energy in Hawaii don’t miss this
 Henry is the Founder Life of the Land, and a leading expert on alternative energy in state of HI. Henry has been working on shaping HI energy policy for over a decade at the PUC and in state legislature. After his talk Henry will answer questions and then be available to talk to people.

2:50 Questions on alternative energy

3:05 Palikapu Deadman president of the Pele Defense Fund will talk about PDF’s long history on geothermal and it’s cultural impacts. PDF was instrumental in launching Puna Pono Alliance and has been a great resource for me personally as well as for PPA.
3:20 – 4:00 music by Kaliko Guys, Kaliko Kanahele
  • You may call Mr. Jay Ignacion at (808) 969-0121 and tell him you support the campaign to stop the contract.

    Puna Pono Alliance continues to grow thanks to you, please join us this Saturday.

Mahalo

Bob

To contact Puna Pono Alliance for information or to let us know you want to volunteer to do more to help the campaign click here.

Here are 2 sample testimony from one of our members for the council hearing:

Council testimony re: Comm. 314:  PRESENTATION BY DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

RELATING TO CURRENT AND FUTURE ENERGY RELATED MATTERS IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I

Dear Committee Members,

I am writing to voice my support for other alternative energy sources besides geothermal.

I have personally spent ten years, alongside my friends, developing a Permaculture farm and Foundation in Opihikao. (http://permaculturefoundationofhawaii.org) This farm would be detrimentally impacted by this development.  We are trying to do everything we can to be sustainable, and that effort needs to be supported, not hindered, by your decisions.

Puna contains the largest off-grid community in the state.  Young people come here from around the world to study the arts of sustainability.  Our leaders say they support sustainability, but locating dirty industries next to our farms and homes is unconscionable.  This area has much to teach the rest of the state in terms of how we can transition to a lifestyle of less energy consumption.

It makes economic sense to locate power generation closer to where it is utilized.  Locating another geothermal plant in Puna makes the island energy supply quite vulnerable to a volcanic eruption.  The likelihood of inundation by lava in any fifty year period has been estimated between 60 and 90 percent.

Puna already carries the burden of pollution from the oil fired plant in Keaau, and the geothermal plant that makes 20% of the power used on the island, yet Puna only uses 6%.  The environment and lifestyle of Puna should not be sacrificed to support the electricity used in other areas.

We’ve had geothermal for 30 years in Puna and yet still pay the highest rates in the state. We want to explore other alternatives that are safer, cheaper and cleaner than geothermal.

Aloha

Council testimony re: Comm. 314:  PRESENTATION BY DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

RELATING TO CURRENT AND FUTURE ENERGY RELATED MATTERS IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I

Dear Councilmembers:

Regarding the Island of Hawaii’s energy future, the public is being told fairytales about geothermal – that it is safe, clean and renewable. It is none of those.

Clean: Reinjection of geothermal fluids with it’s attendant toxic and carcinogenic chemicals endangers the groundwaters. Toxic gasses are emitted into the air by geothermal plants.
Safe: Reinjection also causes increased earthquakes, even in areas distant from the drilling. Slippage of faults is common.
Renewable: Geothermal plants in other areas have already depleted the steam there.
According to seasoned oil explorers, any time drilling is done into the earth, the outcome is going to be a surprise. PGV was surprised when they hit live magma.
What other surprises lie in store for the Big Island when many drilling companies are drilling all at once in one of the most geologically active parts of the island, in the path of the lava flow?
I have had the most profound picture of what can happen – not a vision, not a premonition, but more of a fait accompli: an uncontrollable release of toxic gasses and explosions that renders the area, then the island, uninhabitable. This is what will happen if all this drilling takes place in Puna.
For the handful of wealthy investors and landowners who stand to make a killing off of this boondoggle, it is of little consequence, as they do not have to live in the areas affected. For the poor and working class people who have poured their hearts and souls into the land of Puna, and raised their families here, trying to live self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyles, it will be catastrophic, the total loss of everything they have.
There is one road out of Puna. Try to imagine what will happen when this catastrophe occurs.
This island should be the breadbasket for the state, not the industrial dumping grounds for Oahu’s lack of conservation, poor planning and political paybacks.  Puna does not wish to become “The Pittsburgh of the Pacific”. No one came, and no one comes here, to see refineries, transmission lines and pollution. Tourism and agriculture are what we do best. Let us focus on solar and hydro for our future energy needs.
Let us abandon the antiquated model of centralized distribution, and focus on micro-grids for localities, and individual self-sufficiency. We are not obligated to provide profits for HELCOs shareholders, nor is the Big Island obligated to provide energy for any other islands.
Sincerely,

 

GMO Prohibition update (minus attachments)

Sunday, July 21st, 2013

Aloha Kakou,

On July 3, 2013, after two days of hearing Bill 79 at which 525 people signed up to testify, the County Council voted to recess the meeting until July 30th in Kona, at 9:00am, at which time they will discuss the bill.  Bill 79’s introducer, Margaret Wille, has withdrawn all previous amendments, and will introduce a newly amended bill.  No testimony will be taken at this meeting but council members may introduce amendments to this bill and will discuss it. Please show up at Kona council chambers, or any of the satellite offices and wear green in support of the bill.

Bill 79 aims for “prohibition” of GMOs, however, the use of the word “ban” is causing confusion. In effect, they both mean the same thing by law. The GMO crops covered under this bill if passed would be illegal to grow either way.  Please use the word “prohibition” to conform to the bill’s wording in your discussions and future testimony,

A couple of councilmembers have suggested killing Bill 79 by writing a bill for a task force to study the issue among all stakeholders, the goal being to forge a plan for co-existence between the organic, non-GMO, and GMO farmers.  GMO-Free Hawaii Island’s position is that co-existence only works for GMO farmers.  We urge you to look at the 2005 audit of APHIS, a regulatory branch of the USDA, which shows co-existence does not work; organic and non-GMO farmers seeds would always become contaminated, creating a win/lose situation: a win for the GMO farmers with the contaminating genes, and a loss for the non-GMO farmer due to pollen drift, insects or wind. Bill 79 addresses this fundamental issue and any further refining of the bill can be done through the amendment process. We urge you to read the two attached studies on the folly of “co-existence,” then set a meeting or just send a courteous email to your councilmember on this topic  before July 30, to urge them to discuss the bill with good intentions, propose necessary amendments and work in good faith to pass the bill.  Your help is needed to personally contact to your Councilmember at this critical juncture.

GMO-Free Hawaii Island supports an exemption to grow GMO papayas. We understand that this is already a prevalent yet struggling industry.  By working to get to know the papaya farmers, sharing farming knowledge and concerns and informing them of the premium-price market opportunities for non-GMO papaya, this industry could move towards a healthier and more lucrative market. We are all in this together- there is plenty of room on the grocery shelves, with over 90% of our food currently being imported.

GMO-Free Hawaii Island has taken the position that we do not support any other exemptions for any other GMOs. That said, we understand that in order to pass what we feel is the core intention of Bill 79, which is to restrict the further introduction and use of GMO crops, plants, seed, trees, fish, livestock, and other GMOs in Hawaii Island, certain concessions are needed.  If the final bill does contain any of those exemptions (except for growing livestock feed such as GMO corn, soy or alfalfa) at the end of the Council’s discussion, please support it because it will still be an historical step to preserve the healthy environment of Hawaii Island, provide food security and economic viability moving forward. The 2008 GMO coffee and taro ban was a much simpler ordinance with a strong message, paving the way to where we are today with Bill 79. Compared to the other islands, we are in a really good position, but once the GMOs get a foothold here, it will be difficult to remove them. Please continue to support this next step forward. Attached are a flier and handouts that you can print, post and hand out.

Mahalo,

The team at GMO Free Hawaii Island

— Please spread the word with the above message.  Mahalo
Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

Justice For All!

Friday, July 19th, 2013

Peace Vigil for Justice!
Noon Sat. July 20, 2013  Hilo Bayfront: “Justice for all” sign holding by intersection of Pauahi St.
Part of a 100 city rally for Trayvon Martin, and victims of injustice everywhere, including right here in Hawaii.  Please pass the word.  Mahalo.
Sign making at 11AM Bayfront


Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org