GLOBAL WARMING

WE CAN'T RISK MAKING THE WRONG DECISION

In her commentary (July 26), Naomi Oreskes supports the conclusion that global warming is occurring and human activities are the principal cause. She suggests we "need to act today: because the longer we wait, the worse the problem will become and the harder it will be to resolve."

In his letter (July 28), Fris Campbell disagrees with her position and suggests that, "instead of assuming that human activities are the principal cause, we should be expending our efforts to evaluate other possible natural causes of climate change."

If Naomi Oreskes is right and the world takes early action to at least slow down, if not halt, global warming caused by humans, we would certainly help our future generations. If she is wrong, no harm done.

If Fris Campbell is right, that may also prove to be useful. But if he is wrong and we do not take timely action to stop being the major contributor to global warming, we will experience disastrous consequences.

I don't want my grandsons to face the possibility of living under hellish conditions on Earth.

ENVIRONMENT

PERMACULTURE CAN BE OUR WORLD'S SOLUTION

Sustainability is a Band-Aid and not sexy. The word "sustainability" reeks of monotony, ongoing near-survival efforts. Sustainability is a limited step in a global picture that is calling for urgent action of a much more tantalizing nature. It is fixing pieces of a broken system — a valiant beginning.

We now need great inspiration, solution-oriented design and cooperative action. We need thinking that reflects the reality that we are a global family sharing a planet of infinite potential and finite constraints.

Permaculture is a term meant to communicate "permanent culture" or "permanent agriculture."

Permaculture is a solution-oriented design method that can apply to homes, villages, eco-developments, and any size piece of land, islands, even entire nations. Permaculture turns any environment, be it desert, urban or lush tropics, into a food forest, supplying energy, food and water, while treating waste as resources. Our homes can enjoy the same stability and resilience as an ecosystem.

Permaculture is regeneration. The planet and our collective well-being depend on a new way through. Permaculture offers just such a way that results in abundance, beauty, health and fun along the way. It empowers each of us to be the solution here and now.

SAFETY

YOUNG CHILD PUT AT RISK IN BACK OF PICKUP TRUCK

I am a local healthcare professional and advocate for tougher truck-bed laws. What I saw the other day in Kailua shocked me — two adults in the bed of a small white pickup truck with a stroller between them with a child inside! It was blatant disregard for the safety of the child. The parents should be ashamed.

PUBLIC LOTS

VALET PARKING AN INEQUITABLE SYSTEM

The limited parking spaces in public parking lots should be available to all taxpayers at one set price and on a first-come, first-served basis.

Introducing valet parking at Honolulu Airport, Blaisdell complex, etc., is to install a system that caters to those with the ability to pay.

Removing a portion of the parking spaces and reserving them for valet parking reduces the number of spaces available to those who park their cars themselves.

PEDESTRIANS

CROSSING IS DIFFICULT AT MANY INTERSECTIONS

On the front page of the paper, you show a picture of a car driving through a crosswalk with pedestrians in the crosswalk. The headline asks, "What's wrong with this picture?" The answer is, "There are no policemen giving tickets to these people."

The writer said that with all the violations that the neighborhood watch observed, there were no police officers around. Kalakaua and Kapi'olani intersection is a major intersection. What do you think it's like crossing lesser intersections?

FISHING

DLNR WORKS TOWARD PREPLANNED OUTCOME

It is amazing how the Department of Land and Natural Resources uses the system to create support for an initiative. No science, nor sincere public input, but a predetermined outcome.

This happened with the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands action when the DLNR announced it had received over 25,000 comments to stop fishing in the region as a result of TV broadcasts nationwide. DLNR was unable to determine if the Internet respondents were Hawai'i residents.

Current national TV spots urge support of a ban on gill nets, and the DLNR has indefinitely extended the response date beyond the Aug. 8 deadline. Is this ethical?

After residents throughout the state attended public hearings on this measure, we see a campaign to garner DLNR support for its plan. Cast aside the time, energy and effort of the Gillnet Taskforce citizens group assembled by the DLNR to provide solutions. When the recommendations of a citizens group or the responses at public hearings do not fit the DLNR's plan, the environmental community runs a national campaign to deny residents a fair hearing.

MAT KUBO

STRYKER CUTOUTS ARE DISRESPECTFUL DAMAGE

Regarding the article "Little Strykers turning up all over island" (July 29). Describing what Mat Kubo has done as graffiti is ridiculous. Here are a few realistic descriptions: Vandalism, destroying and defacing a historic monument and destroying and defacing public property.

Mr. Kubo should be made to remove the steel cutouts and turn over all 319 pieces as he checks into the police cellblock.

If he wanted to "create some dialogue around the subject" (of the Stryker force), I'm sure he has done just that. The subject of the dialogue will be around him and the disrespectful damage.

HEZBOLLAH

RESPONSE BY ISRAEL REMAINS DISTURBING

I applaud the recent commentary of Hakim Ouansafi. As a Jew, I also condemn the cruel, disproportionate response of Israel to Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. That response then triggered Hezbollah's shelling of innocent Israelis and things are now out of control. Neither the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers, nor the shelling of Israeli cities is the action of Lebanon. Rather, it is the action of the Hezbollah militia, which Lebanon cannot yet control.

Israel has a right to defend itself, and I don't pretend to know what should have been Israel's response. But to destroy a nation and kill and displace thousands of innocent civilians with the prospect that some Hezbollah fighters will be killed in the process is a crime against humanity.

What Israel is doing is similar to what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurds when a group of Kurds rebelled against Saddam's Bathists. Yes, Saddam had a right to defend himself, but we labeled him a butcher for slaughtering thousands of innocent Kurds in the process.

Mr. Ouansafi correctly makes the distinction between Israelis and Jews. The Judaism I know rejects Israel's history of collective punishment, which can be tolerated only with a racist dehumanization of a population by a "master race." We Jews like to think of ourselves as the chosen people. I believe we are chosen because we follow God's ordinances, not chosen to be a master race. We Jews have had a sad experience with dehumanization by a "master race."

LEBANON DIDN'T HALT TERROR GROUPS IN MIDST

I read with great interest, Mr. Ouansafi's commentary citing the U.S.A.'s moral responsibility as a superpower to halt the killing of innocent civilians in Lebanon by Israel in response to the rocket attacks launched by the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

His comments suggest that the U.S. should intercede on behalf of the Lebanese and Palestinians, a population, in general, who either harbored or otherwise supported a huge number of fanatic Muslims who have vowed to destroy Israel. Yet, Lebanon and the Palestinians do little or nothing to halt the terrorists who set up their rocket-storage areas and launch sites near family living areas.

Could any of your readers honestly imagine that if Canada or Mexico did little or nothing to stop a terrorist organization that launched rocket attacks against the U.S. at our cities that we would sit idly by?

No, Mr. Ouansafi, the Lebanese, a benevolent and tolerant people who allegedly feared a civil war if they attempted to dissolve the Hezbollah, are unfortunately reaping the seeds of their inaction against the Iranian- and Syrian-supported terrorist groups they allowed or nurtured within their midst.

GOLF

DON'T WORRY ABOUT WINNING, MICHELLE

Michelle Wie failed to win another golf tournament. This time at the Evian Masters in France. Close, but still not a win.

Her critics believe she should have learned how to win by winning at the amateur level.

Tradition is important in golf. But Michelle has a goal and she is determined to accomplish it in her own way. Let's face it, she's a trailblazer, an innovator.

We may be witnessing the making of a great golfer. Her potential appears to be unlimited. However, only time will tell if she actually achieves her full potential. Until then, we should relax, sit back and enjoy her remarkable and steadily improving performance on the golf course. She is doing just fine. Let Michelle be Michelle.