From Red Hill to Pohakuloa

What Military Toxins are Poisoning us?

     Governor David Ige ordered the Navy to suspend operations and REMOVE THE FUEL in the massive Red Hill jet fuel tanks whose leaks have contaminated the drinking water of 93,000 residents who are military families…with further leaks that could ruin drinking water for 400,000, one-half of Honolulu’s population! The Navy is contesting the order so the toxic saga continues.

      The Military Pohakuloa (Toxic) Training Area (PTA) is a 133,000-acres site located in the center of Hawaii Island at an elevation of 6500 feet.  It has been used as a live-fire toxic training area for more than 75 years with millions of live rounds fired annually. Everything from small arms to howitzers, bunker buster bombs, and radioactive spotting rounds for nuclear weapons training. All branches of the US military train at Pohakuloa and foreign troops as part of RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) military exercises. See A Brief History of US Military Poisoning of Hawai’i https://www.transcend.org/…/a-brief-history-of-us…/…

      Everyone on the Big Island is downwind and downhill from Pohakuloa. The land, water, air, people, plants and animals surrounding PTA, including the troops who train at PTA, have likely been contaminated with a wide range of military toxins, including Depleted Uranium (DU) oxide dust particles that can be carried long distances in the wind. In effect the entire Big Island has become a Military Sacrifice Zone. Actually the Hawaiian islands are one of the most militarized places on the planet with more than 100 active US military installations, and many more abandoned toxic sites.

      Pohakuloa, where thousands of troops come to train for war, spends up to $2 million dollars per year hauling water to Pohakuloa. In 2013, PTA in conjunction with the University of Hawaii, drilled 2 water wells and hit water at shallow depths. But to date, that water is still not being used. Why?

What Toxins are in the PTA Water Wells?

      From the Army’s Chemical Biological weapons testing in Hilo’s Water Shed, to the Navy’s Red Hill Fuel tank leaks, Pearl Harbor’s superfund site pollution, and munitions and nuclear waste dumped off shore, the military mess is extensive. To date our elected officials have done little to nothing to challenge the military, so it is good to see Gov. Ige and others speaking up now. But it’s time to do more. It’s time to de-militarize and end the illegal US occupation of Hawai’i.

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760

Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org

December 10, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1054– Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Malu ‘Aina Annual Appeal

December 2021

Aloha friends,

      Once a year, during this Holy season, we write to ask for your help to sustain the work of Malu ‘Aina.  We are an all-volunteer organization committed to justice, peace and a living planet.  What a year 2021 has been, and I thought 2020 war rough!  I hope you and your loved ones are healthy amid this global pandemic.  Let’s hope we’ll all get through this. 

     2021 marks 42 years since the founding of Malu ‘Aina.  Some of you have been with us from the start.  Others more recently.  Please know, we appreciate all of you, and we are grateful for your donations of support.  You are our base.  To maintain our independence and critical voice, we do not seek corporate or government funding.  We started grassroots and want to stay grassroots. 

     We remain committed to the principle of non-violence, kapu aloha, as our guiding light.  We believe deeply that the means we use must be in line with the end that we seek.  Currently, we are in a transition to the next generation of leadership.  It’s a slow process but we hope the vision of Malu ‘Aina will be carried forward for generations to come.  Your ideas and suggestions of next generation leaders are encouraged. 

     We continue to grow food at Malu ‘Aina to share with people in need, but with limited volunteer farm help due to the pandemic.  We have long served as an emergency food pantry.  Each week we also write a new peace leaflet for widespread distribution and conduct a peace vigil at the downtown Hilo Post Office/Federal Building.  Friday, Nov. 26, 2021 marked 1052 consecutive weekly peace leaflets, for a vigil that started the day after Sept 11, 2001.  You can read the weekly leaflets on our website www.malu-aina.org.  In addition, we continue our efforts to de-militarize Hawaii and the planet and shift resources from warfare to healthcare, education, and the environment.  Protecting the planet from nuclear war and climate disaster are two of the biggest challenges we face.  But we also have this ongoing Pandemic and the many difficulties and unmet needs that go with it. 

     We have plenty of work to do.  Meanwhile, our old farm tractor needs some major repairs or a modest upgrade.  A younger driver would also be helpful to this senior citizen turning 75!  Mahalo for your continued financial support and solidarity in the journey of protecting one another and this sacred earth — mauka to makai, from the mountains to the sea.  You are a blessing for justice and peace, and very much appreciated. 

With gratitude and aloha, 

Jim Albertini

Donations are tax deductible if checks are made to Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 ‘Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760 A Pay Pal account (Donate Button) has also been set up on our webpage www.malu-aina.org as another convenient way to make donations. To receive our weekly peace leaflets and other posts, please send me an email to ja@malu-aina.org with a request. You can also reach us by phone (808) 966-7622. Mahalo.

https://worldbeyondwar.org/honolulu-citizens-demand-the-closing-of-the-us-navys-225-million-gallon-80-year-old-leaking-underground-jet-fuel-tanks/?fbclid=IwAR1A9428vFdkFPovJM6jE-8SoJcb5kIh6xNEfLI3V-o9keTEaYI1jUmikQM

 Military Sacrifice Zones —

Pohakuloa, Red Hill, Pearl Harbor, etc.

Photo of Toxic Dust clouds from bombing at Pohakuloa (PTA) in the center of Hawaii Island

      The land, water, air, people, plants and animals surrounding the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA), including the troops who train at PTA, are all part of a Military Sacrifice Zone. That means everyone on Hawaii Island. Actually the Hawaiian islands are one of the most militarized places on the planet with more than 100 US military installations. On Oahu, 75 year old military multi-million gallon underground fuel tanks at Red Hill are leaking 100 feet above Honolulu’s main aquifer – the drinking water for more than 400,000 people. And military families are smelling fuel-like odor in their military housing tap water in the Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Red Hill areas and in water at nearby schools.

      On Veteran’s Day 2021 US President Biden finally recognized the great risk that soldiers face from airborne toxins including carcinogens when serving in overseas war zones. Joe Biden’s son, Beau, an Iraq war vet died at the age of 46 due to brain cancer. that may have been caused by exposure to war zone toxins. But what applies to overseas war zone toxins also applies to the training for war zone toxins.  Not only are troops exposed to military toxins but the communities surrounding military bases are exposed as well.  Here in Hawaii, we know that among the many military toxins, is Depleted Uranium (DU) Oxide toxic dust from DU weaponry used at Pohakuloa and other sites in Hawaii. DU is recognized by many countries as a weapon of mass destruction.  After more than a decade pursuing transparency and truthfulness of environmental and health studies, we see President Biden’s statement as the first step towards banning DU weaponry and other military toxins – followed by a clean-up of the contaminated lands. The silent killer of persistent, drifting toxins, including DUOxides will affect thousands/millions of generations to follow. DU has a half-life of 4.5 BILLION YEARS. See the following link (and more links within the article) on military toxic exposure https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/biden-administration-increase-support-veterans-exposed-toxic-burn-pits-while-n1283689

      The well known writer, Arthur Koestler remarked that if he was to name the most important date in all history he would without hesitation choose August 6, 1945, the day when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Koestler said that ”before then each person had to live with only his or her individual death in mind; after Hiroshima we have been forced to live with the prospect of the extinction of our entire species.” Dr. Rosalie Bertell, PhD, American scientist, author, epidemiologist,  cancer researcher, public health advocate, and Catholic nun said: “The last healthy generation belongs to people born before 1945.

Today, the entire planet is a Military Sacrifice Zone!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760

Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org

December 3, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1053– Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

-- 
Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 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