Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, July 5, 2015

   “While $10/hour is not a true living wage in Hawai`i, this is a step in the right direction, as raising our minimum also results in higher wages for mid-level staff. Doing so approaches a living wage for more and more workers. We are happy to share our success with our staff, and we all work together to make our company successful.”
      Island Naturals operated three naturals food stores on the Big Island, in Hilo, Pahoa and Kailua-Kona, with more than 200 employees.

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Na`alehu July 4th parade's first ever Pa`u Queen is Lorilee Lorenzo. Photo by Peter Anderson

MARTI TOWNSEND IS SIERRA CLUB Hawai`i Chapter’s new director. Sierra Club’s volunteer leaders voted unanimously to name her as director. 

      Townsend comes to the Sierra Club with over ten years of experience in community organizing, public interest advocacy and environmental law.
      “She has an impressive record,” said David Kimo Frankel, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Hawai`i Chapter. “She knows how to empower people so that they can effectively engage policymakers to protect Hawai`i’s resources.”
      Townsend received a certificate in Environmental Law from the University of Hawai`i’s William S. Richardson School of Law in 2005. She is a graduate of Boston University.
      “The Sierra Club is a force for good in the world,” Townsend said. “Club volunteers are fighting to uphold our right to clean energy and protect our special places throughout the islands, and I am honored to help support their efforts.”

Miss Ka`u Coffee Maria Miranda represents the thriving Ka`u Coffee industry, which includes her own family. Photo by Peter Anderson

      Before joining the Sierra Club of Hawai`i, Townsend served as Executive Director of The Outdoor Circle, a century-old, local, environmental organization working to keep Hawai`i clean, green and beautiful. In this role, she helped advocate for the establishment of Hawai’`’s Environmental Court, which is only the second of its kind in the United States. Her advocacy also supported the broad opposition to the appointment of Carleton Ching as Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Her work at The Outdoor Circle established a program to digitally map all trees in Hawai`i that are protected on the Exceptional Tree list, as well as improve and expand public greenspaces and prevent efforts to weaken Hawai`i’s prohibition against billboards.
      Prior to The Outdoor Circle, Townsend served as Program Director and then interim-Executive Director for KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance. KAHEA works to protect Hawai`i’s imperiled natural resources and perpetuate the unique Native Hawaiian cultural traditions that rely on them. While at KAHEA, she advocated to establish and enforce protections for Papahanaumokuakea in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, improve public health
protections in the predominately Native Hawaiian community, expand critical habitat for Hawaiian monk seals and uphold protections for the conservation district on Mauna Kea.

Summer Fun checks out the Poke at July 4 Parade. Photo by Teri Martindale

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CO2 EMISSIONS THREATEN OCEAN CRISES, concludes the BBC’s Environment analyst Roger Harrabin. He points to the journal Science, where “experts say the oceans are heating, losing oxygen and becoming more acidic because of CO2. They warn that the 2C maximum temperature rise for climate change agreed by governments will not prevent dramatic impacts on ocean systems. And they say the range of options is dwindling as the cost of those options is skyrocketing,” writes Harrabin.

      The BBC story reports that “twenty-two world-leading marine scientists have collaborated in the synthesis report in a special section of Science journal. They say the oceans are at perilous risk from the combination of threats related to CO2. They believe politicians trying to solve climate change have paid far too little attention to the impacts of climate change on the oceans.”

Ka`u Auto Repair brings a shocking reminder to drive safely each July 4 weekend. Photo by Julia Neal

      Professor Manuel Barange, director of science at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said, “Climate change will continue to affect ocean ecosystems in very significant ways, and society needs to take notice and respond. 

      “Some ecosystems and their services will benefit from climate change, especially in the short term, but overall the impacts are predominately negative.
      “Negative impacts are particularly expected in tropical and developing regions, thus potentially increasing existing challenges in terms of food and livelihood security.
      “We are allowing ourselves to travel a uniquely dangerous path, and we are doing so without an appreciation for the consequences that lie ahead."
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“THE VISITOR INFORMATION STATION is closed indefinitely,” reads a notice on Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station’s website. “No services, including phone, restrooms or guides, are available. University of Hawai`i closed the facility and the road to the summit on June 24 after protests caused crews to turn around when they were attempting to start construction for the second time.

      “No services, including phone, restrooms or guides, are available,” the website explains. “Please check this website (ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis) for updates before planning to visit.

      “Mahalo for your understanding and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

      MKVIS is a popular destination for individuals and groups visiting the summit and participating in stargazing organized by the station and tour companies.

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Po`o Wai U, the most traditional Hawaiian rodeo event, wrapped up yesterday at Na`alehu. Other events continue today. Photo by Julia Neal

OBJECTS VISIBLE IN KA`U’S DARK SKIES this month include planets, two full moons and nebulae. Lew Cook described them in this month’s edition of Stars Over Ka`u for The Ka`u Calendar. 

      “Saturn continues his battle with the claws of Scorpius while Jupiter and dancing partner Venus have set,” Cook said. “Venus is at its brightest this month, all the while growing larger. By the end of the month, it has become larger but has slimmed down into a thin crescent.

Bikers patriotic to the U.S. and Hawai`i during the Fourth of July Parade in Na`alehu. Photo by Crystal McIntosh

      “The full moon graces us with two appearances this month: the first and 31st of July. The full moon on July 31 is a blue moon. The term blue moon refers to a season that has four full moons rather than three. The fourth full moon was termed blue. Since there are only 12 months in a year, if you have 13 full moons, one month has to have two full moons. The moon appears to go around the Earth in 29.53 days, so one month must have two full moons. But you can bet it won’t be February!
      “There are some rare atmospheric conditions that cause the moon to have a bluish tint. Volcanic eruptions that put huge amounts of dust in the air or major forest fires can do this. After Krakatoa erupted, the moon had a bluish tint, although the sky had a lot of dust. Dust particles need to be larger than typical, lest the moon, sun and stars will be reddened.

      “Pluto, once deemed a planet but now demoted to a dwarf planet, is back in the news. The New Horizons spacecraft has been traveling for ten years to get to Pluto and this month will pass close enough to get pictures and data. Don’t expect to see many pictures, because it requires the radio signal to travel four-plus hours and three billion miles to get to the Earth. The data transmission rate will be only one kilobit per second, about as slow as dial-up was in 1972 here on earth. Pluto is in Sagittarius, and its position is marked on the chart, but please don’t waste your time looking for it, because it is very faint (14th magnitude) and in an area packed with stars. 

      “Those of you who have telescopes or large binoculars can enjoy several nebulae in Sagittarius. Perhaps the best of these is M8, but M7 was also catalogued by Charles Messier. The stars in M7 have had time to blow away the gas and dust that they were created from, but the gas and dust are still in the area of M8. That is what makes the Lagoon nebula, M8, so pretty!”

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