Kaʻū News Briefs, Friday, October 18, 2019

     "The utter disdain for the truth — and refusal to face their own failures and hypocrisy — shown by establishment warmongers and their corporate media lackeys is not only insulting, it's a threat to our democracy. From media blackouts, to baseless smears about Tulsi's religion and progressive record, to outright despicable attacks by the New York Times, CNN, Neera Tanden and now Hillary Clinton on Tulsi's loyalty to the country she risked her life to serve: Hillary Clinton and her establishment cronies have their knives out for Tulsi, using her as an example in their campaign to intimidate and silence those who dare to stand up for peace....they are attacking Tulsi because she is calling for an end to the regime change wars and new Cold War that fuel the military industrial complex. If they can do this to Tulsi — a soldier, a veteran and a Congresswoman — they can do this to anyone who stands up for peace.

Hillary Clinton says the Russians want a third party candidate to ensure that Donald Trump stays in office and implies that Gabbard is the candidate. Photo from National Review

     "Don't let them bully our people-powered movement into silence. Here's the truth: They are against Tulsi, against us, because they know they can't control us. They want a puppet in the White House who will blindly carry out their decades-long failed regime change foreign policy, who will maintain the corrupt and ineffective status quo. Tulsi is the only candidate willing to take on the corrupt DNC elite who cost us the election in 2016. The only candidate who knows the cost of war, and is ready to serve as our commander in chief on Day One."
     The statement ends quoting Mahatma Gandhi: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESOLUTION that passed the County Council on Thursday calls for a "Just Transition," to "an economy that is ecologically sustainable, equitable, and just for all its members" It talks about phasing out industries harming "workers, community health, and the planet, while also providing just pathways for workers into new livelihoods." It attempts to guide the county toward "just transition initiatives" to shift the economy "from dirty energy to energy democracy, from funding highways to expanding public transit, from incinerators and landfills to zero waste, from industrial food systems to food sovereignty, from car- dependent sprawl and unbridled growth to smart urban development without displacement, and from rampant, destructive over-development to habitat and ecosystem restoration."     The resolution says that "justice requires that frontline communities, which have historically borne the brunt of the extractive fossil-fuel economy, participate actively in the planning and implementation of this mobilization effort at all levels of government and that they benefit first from the transition to a renewable energy economy, and recognizing fairness demands a guarantee of high-paying, good-quality jobs with comprehensive benefits for all..." It supports these and other tenets of a Green New Deal effort "as the mobilization to restore a safe climate is launched."
     The resolution contends that "County of Hawaiʻi has an opportunity to continue to be a global leader by rapidly organizing a regional emergency climate mobilization effort and converting to an ecologically, socially, and economically regenerative economy at emergency speed, and by catalyzing a unified regional just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort this year."

Helping farmers with sustainable practices is part of the County Council Climate Emergency Resolutions. These farms are Kaʻū Coffee growing at Moaʻula. Photo by Julia Neal

     The council puts for the recommendation for the county to "implement a just, equitable, countywide emergency climate mobilization effort to reverse global warming, by drastically reducing countywide emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, and safely drawing down carbon from the atmosphere no later than 2030, while accelerating adaptation and resilience strategies in preparation for intensifying climate change impacts."
     It calls for  County of Hawaiʻi to revise "its existing policies, priorities, processes, and use and distribution of resources to implement emergency climate mobilization efforts countywide, including the development of an environmentally preferable purchasing policy to guide efficient, consistent, and just action."
     It asks that County of Hawaiʻi commit "to rapidly completing the Hawaiʻi Island Climate Action Plan by establishing ambitious goals, consistent with or exceeding State goals and objectives. The resolution asks the county to work immediately to implement the paths laid out in the plan, including "phasing out existing sources of greenhouse gas emissions and implementing initiatives such as tree planting, to sequester carbon from the air."
     Educating county  employees and residents about the climate crisis and the work needed is also on the agenda proposed in the resolution "to allow our community to more proactively respond to inevitable disruption of our communities by rising sea levels and egregious weather disasters."
     The agenda calls for the county to integrate "science-based and cultural-based approaches to combating climate change locally involving researchers, cultural practitioners, and other community organizations integral to the emergency climate mobilization effort." It asks for "full community participation, inclusion, and support, and commits to working with and keeping the concerns of vulnerable communities central to all just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort planning."

Food security is part of mitigating the Climate Emergency, as put forth in the County Council resolution, requiring bees to grow produce and other crops. These bee hives are located on a Kaʻū Coffee farm. Photo by Julia Neal

     It asks that that county be involved in reducing emissions related to transportation "by supporting both affordable housing and transit-oriented development while implementing a robust Transportation Demand Management Program calling on the Hawaiʻi County Department of Planning, Mass Transit Agency, and the Department of Public Works, alongside other appropriate local agencies, to participate in this regional emergency climate mobilization effort, as well as actively encourage and promote the use of emission-free vehicles, and enable a rapid expansion of public EV charging infrastructure."
     The resolution calls on the County of Hawaiʻi to joins a nationwide effort to transform "our region and rapidly catalyzing a mobilization at all levels of government to restore a safe climate." It urges cooperation with State of Hawaiʻi, the United States of America, "and all governments and peoples worldwide, to initiate a just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort..."
     The resolution goes to: Mayor Harry Kim; the Director of the Department of Public Works; Mass Transit Administrator;  Director of the Planning Department; Corporation Counsel; and the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission.
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