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We can use this discussion topic to add our list of news sources. It's great to have the Maui News, NPR/HPR and others... I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear of any organized news sources along the lines of what we discuss in class!
Read more…Hello everyone, Here's how to link your blog (or any other web address) to a wall comment: 1) CUT or COPY the URL from the desired web address (could be your blog entry) 2) Go down to the comment wall of this group (Modern Issues Class) 2) Click on the hyperlink icon above the text box (between the S strikethrough icon and the camera icon) 3) PASTE the URL you want into the box and click 'OK' 4) The CURSOR will automatically in the html text in the RIGHT PLACE in the comment box, so DON'T…
Read more…Mahalo Kumu Kaleikoa and others for posting any info you can on Maui County public hearings. This particular "discussion" should be date-and-time postings ONLY, so as not to clutter the list. (Brief descriptions would also be helpful for each posting, but save comments for other 'discussion' topics.) We can start new discussion topics based on each hearing or issue and post them separately if we want to comment... Thanks! Eliza :)
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Kupuna Mahealani Wendt: (Director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation) Recalled that she initiated many of the petitions to return water to the streams, but that they sat for many years untouched. Asked us to consider that the issue at hand is not Taro Farmers vs. Sugar Industry, but instead is a question of two different types of agriculture. To make it clear that taro farming is also agriculture.
Uncle Charlie Maxwell stated that he believes the sugar industry is saving up their water, holding onto their water rights so that it can spawn future development, and that "any lolo can tell you that!" (speaking of the issue of water banking).
Several folks asked their 'cousins' working for HCNS (sorry for the misspelling below...) to wake up, not to follow the carrot dangled in front of their noses by their company, and that 'hey, your bosses stay lying to you!'
One man came with a gallon jug as a prop, saying he did the calculations, and if A&B is really taking that much water to feed that little sugar cane, that's like 70 gallons of water per square foot! Cannot even fit that much water for that little sugar, so where is it all going?
One man (named Wes, I believe) responded to these comments by saying that his cousins raise taro in Ke'ane, but he lives city side so he has to have a job, he works for HCNS and he raises sugar. Still they eat at the same pa'ina on Sundays... cannot break the 'ohana even though the issue appears to divide them. He says it's not a carrot we're talking about, it's his job, and it's 800 other jobs that feed 800 other families.
That's what I can remember from tonight's highlights... don't know what happened after 7pm, though...
Major groups represented were:
Taro Farmers
Upcountry independent farmers
HCNS employees
Hawaiian cultural practitioners.
I spoke briefly, for about 30 seconds, mainly to fulfill the requirements of this class. (Sorry but speaking in that kind of forum just usually isn't my style... but I gave it a shot.) Here's what I said:
My name is Eliza Goodhue, I live just up the road in Ha'iku. Growing up in Boston I watched my grandmother fight for clean water in the Charles River watershed. Back in the 50's, entire towns were dumping raw sewerage into this river, which is quite large and flows directly into Boston Harbor. At that time, people didn't even think twice about it. It took 40 years, but the struggle for clean water was successful, and now that water runs clear again... so I guess my point is that we're at a time that the consciousness about water is changing.
I see the sugar cane fields, I drive past them every day on the way to work, and I've also had the chance to help out some in the taro patches. Thank you to all of my Hawaiian friends who have offered me that opportunity. I've seen that some of that taro is pretty sick... taro doesn't grow so well if there's not enough water flow, if the water gets too hot.
What I would ask the commission to consider is the question, what will we grow together? What is it that we can grow to feed our families, and our community? Just as we look back and thank our grandparents for fighting to keep the waters clean for us, the children in the future are going to look back and thank us for making sure that the water is returned to the stream, that it flows naturally where it belongs. Thank you.
"Dig in to this UNDERGROUND UNIVERSE!"
What: Class
Start Time: Wednesday, October 14 at 7:00pm
End Time: Wednesday, October 14 at 8:30pm
Where: Haleakala Waldorf School, 4160 Lower Kula Rd., across from the Kula Community Center
...A commonly held misconception in our community tells us that the Hawaiian view of women in their menstrual time were anciently considered 'dirty' or even poisonous. Even some of the male kupuna that I have spoken with (usually Christian) have perpetuated this idea. However, in my personal experiences with these practices, and in my conversation with other women who share them, they are healing and bring balance to the body and to the community...