Letters to the Editor
SUSTAINABILITY
ISLES MUST PREPARE FOR DECLINE IN OIL SUPPLY
Please take a moment to consider the role of petroleum in our lives. Not just our cars rely on petroleum, our lifestyle and even our lives depend on it.
Our clothes, every piece of our homes, nearly everything we buy in our daily routines are dependent on petroleum for their manufacture and transportation.
Our economy is fueled by it. But, most critically, the entire chain of our food supply, from turning soil for crops to driving groceries home to cook relies on oil. Even lighting the dinner table relies on oil.
Imagine a point when, for the first time, there is less oil available than we need.
All of our familiar things will begin to cost more; they will even begin to become scarce.
Please think about that unimaginable, unpopular, unprofitable, world-shattering point when production of Earth's finite supply of oil begins to decline; the point when there is not enough oil to sustain everything dependent upon it.
Well, the science is in: Petroleum production has peaked.
In this decade, for the first time in history, the world will have less oil than it needs to continue checked growth.
It is vital that our beautiful, isolated, oil-dependent state become aware of this and prepare.
Jeffrey UhrHonolulu
EMERGENCY ESCAPE
H-3 DRIVER WONDERING IF RAMP WILL BE FIXED
I am a commercial tractor-trailer driver who uses the H-3 Freeway several times every week.
I would like to know when the emergency escape ramp on the H-3 town-bound side will be repaired.
Almost all of the "catch nets" have been down for many months.
Hopefully, I will never need it, but in the event of brake failure, I would like to know it's ready.
Travis AndersonHonolulu
HOMELESS
SHELTERS SHOULD HIRE MORE SOCIAL WORKERS
A few suggestions for consideration regarding The Advertiser's Aug. 13 article and Aug. 16 editorial on the homeless and Darryl Vincent's letter to the editor:
I admit my bias here, as I am a social work instructor for both the master's and bachelor levels of Hawai'i Pacific University's Social Work Program. I am also the social-work supervisor for the River of Life Mission and, as such, direct a team of social-work students who provide all of the social services for the Lighthouse Outreach Center, AOG Emergency Homeless Shelter in Waipahu.
This team has successfully transitioned 133 individuals from the shelter to transitional or permanent housing in our first nine months of operation.
William J. HummelSocial work supervisor, River of Life Mission
MOKULE'IA
ACTION SLOW ON FIXING BEACH PARK PROBLEMS
Mokule'ia Beach Park has been closed for camping for more than two years.
The Department of Parks and Recreation has said that the plumbing is the problem. The park is now gated from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to keep people out after dark.
Not working. I have camped there after dark, I just had to move the car to the street before 7 p.m.
The homeless are still there, about five families. The bathrooms and showers still work, but all of the remote spigots are gone.
Kite surfers still use the park, tourists still stop by and chickens still run wild all over.
The parks department says it will cost $250,000 to fix the plumbing, including $80,000 just to study the problem.
This is one of only two parks between Turtle Bay and Ka'ena Point. Would we get more action sooner if this were in Waikiki or Hawai'i Kai?
I have been asking this question of government officials, newspapers, community groups and even the mayor. I still can't go camping on the North Shore.
John TatemWahiawa
WAIKIKI
HAWAI'I'S OUTRIGGERS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
Kudos to Fred Gladu of Waikiki for speaking out about gondola rides and outrigger canoe rides (Letters, Aug. 21).
My wife and I have experienced both. In Venice, singing "Volare" while locals applauded, waved American flags and joined in song was a treat.
As for the outrigger canoe rides, has The Advertiser's travel editor ever seen individuals who have never seen the ocean, the elderly or those mentally or physically challenged get out of the canoe? "Rip-off" would not be a part of their vocabulary, particularly when beach guys say, "Thanks, guys, hope you had fun!"
The outrigger is a unique experience and should not be disparaged.
Alden EspingAnaheim, Calif.
UH-MANOA
AD NOT DELIVERING ON HIS MANY PROMISES
What's with our University of Hawai'i athletic director? He can't schedule football games. Now, the resurfacing of the baseball field is falling behind. How long have we known the work needed to be done? How long have we known the preferred type of surface? So, what's the problem? He said he's not pushing the panic button yet.
The baseball field. Before that, the football schedule. We never did get the big-time track-and-field events he said he could get with his Olympic connections.
What else? He's going to "don't push the panic button" us to death.
Well, we should push the panic button — on him.
Kenneth Mamo KuniyoshiMililani
