Kaʻū News Briefs, Thursday, October 17, 2019

     County Council Chair Aaron Chung blamed the crisis on worldwide overpopulation. Unless population is controlled, "its just gonna be a slow death, sorry to say....We must do our best to try to control it." The resolution calls for changing practices; not only to contribute to slowing climate change, but also for living with it.

     The resolution points to findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, calling for practices to temper global warming to reduce risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, economic growth, and plant and animal life this century.

     It mentions recent research indicating that warming is likely to accelerate in the next decade. It refers to last year's report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, comprised of 13 federal agencies, which detailed "the massive threat that climate change poses to the American economy," and underscored "the need for immediate emergency action by every level of government to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other green houses gases."

An ʻōpaeʻula, one of the most climate sensitive and endangered organisms in Kaʻū. This photo of the shrimp was posted on Sen. Mazie Hirono's Twitter feed, celebrating National Wildlife Refuge Week.

     The resolution states that warming, with destructive climate events, is already demonstrating that "the Earth is already too hot for humanity to safely and justly exist, as attested by increased and intensifying wildfires, floods, rising seas, diseases, droughts, and extreme weather. It refers to the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice, which included "15,364 signatories from scientists representing 184 countries formally supporting the work, declaring humans have pushed Earth's ecosystems to their breaking point, and that we are well on the way to ruining the planet, as climate change and the global economy's overshoot of ecological limits are driving the sixth mass extinction of species, which could devastate much of life on Earth for the next 10 million years."
     In the resolution, the Hawaiʻi County Council declares that the United States "has disproportionately contributed to the climate and extinction emergencies, and has repeatedly obstructed global efforts to transition toward a green economy, and thus bears an extraordinary responsibility to rapidly address these existential threats."
     The resolution says that "restoring a safe and stable climate requires a whole-of-society Climate Mobilization at all levels of government, on a scale not seen since World War II, to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors at emergency speed, to rapidly and safely draw down or remove all the excess carbon from the atmosphere, and to implement measures to protect all people and species from the consequences of abrupt climate change."

Hawaiian green sea turtles live at Punaluʻu black sand beach, but nest in the northern Hawaiian Islands which have been devastated by recent hurricanes and are subject to rising waters due to climate change. Photo from Sen. Mazie Hirono's Twitter feed.

     It foresees that "actions to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and/or draw down greenhouse gases may include improving resilience to the effects of climate change, i.e. targeting food security in our region that is a critical action in the face of climate change, which will continue to place added pressure on existing food and water resources."
     The County Council declares that "the safety and wellbeing of our citizens is the prime directive of our local governments, and the cumulative impacts of climate change upon Hawaiʻi will be particularly severe over the next several decades."
     The resolution talks about islands being particularly at risk, with climate change impacts in the Pacific Islands "expected to amplify existing risks and lead to compounding economic, environmental, social, and cultural costs. In some locations, climate change impacts on ecological and social systems are projected to result in severe disruptions to livelihoods that increase the risk of human conflict or compel the need for migration. Early interventions, already occurring in some places across the region, can prevent costly and lengthy rebuilding of communities and livelihoods and minimize displacement and relocation."

Endangered birds are subject to rising waters  that cover their nesting grounds. Photo from Sen. Mazie Hirono's Twitter

     The County Council notes that more than 1,000 cities, districts, counties, and local governments across the world representing over 221 million people "collectively have declared or officially acknowledged the existence of a global climate emergency and have committed to action to drive down emissions at emergency speed."

     In tomorrow's Kaʻū News Briefs, read the resolutions' plan for the County of Hawaiʻi to tackle the climate change problem.

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THIS IS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WEEK,
observed the second full week of October each year to celebrate the network of lands and waters that conserves and protects the wildlife heritage throughout the nation.
     The National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides vital habitat for thousands of native species, from marine mammals and sea turtles to endangered Hawaiian birds and bats. 

     National Wildlife Refuges also support the economy. In carrying out the Refuge System's wildlife conservation mission, under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, wildlife refuges pump $3.2 billion per year into regional economies and support more than 41,000 jobs.
     The Refuge System includes 567 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts covering 95 million acres. A National Wildlife Refuge close to Kaʻū is the Hakalau Forest. See fws.gov/refuge/hakalau_forest/

The ‘Amakihi is a protected native Hawaiian bird in the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge. USF&W photo

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AN INCREASING SUICIDE RATE AMONG NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS has drawn the concern of Sen. Mazie Hirono and U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle. A bipartisan group of senators is calling on the Department of Defense to address recent suicide reports gathered by DoD, which found a suicide mortality rate for the National Guard consistently higher than among Active Duty and Reserve members.
     "We cannot continue to treat the National Guard as just another branch of the Active Army and Air Force while not paying special attention to their unique needs. We must ensure the National Guard has care and community that is comparable to the Active components," wrote the senators. "The National Guard maintains comparable operational tempos but lacks the support of a community that fully empathizes with their unique and sometimes isolating experience of being both soldier and civilian."
     In a letter to the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the senators cited potential reasons for more National Guard suicides, from problems finding full time employment and a lack of access to quality mental health care- particularly in rural areas - to the institutional and conditional isolation from the broader military community.
     The senators emphasized that the unique position of National Guard servicemembers as both soldiers and civilians necessitates tailored solutions for accessing mental health care and community-based support. The senators also requested that DOD provide further analysis of the gaps in existing suicide prevention programs and the factors contributing to the discrepancy in National Guard suicide rates.
     Earlier this year, Hirono introduced the bipartisan Every Veteran in Crisis Act which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve oversight and evaluation of its suicide prevention media outreach campaigns. She previously cosponsored the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act that became law in 2015.
     The full text of the letter is available here.

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