What's Up Hawaii?

   Aloha and Good Morning everyone in the Hawaiian Life community! How are you all on this last Monday in August? Where does the time go? There has been a lot of talk about the garbage problems in the Aloha State lately, so I thought I would post about that. I also want to make a shoutout to Hawaiis Little League. Even though you didn't win and lost to Japan, the boys from Waipahu shouldn't feel bad. You are great players and I can only imagine where that talent will take you. You made it to the Little League World Series 2010 for a reason, because you are good and THAT should make you proud!!! ;-) I'm also posting Mike's final Virtual Book Tour on his A Pecunious Life book, but that means it's time for something to ponder about...just saying! Maybe a Thousand times over!!! *smiles* ;-)

               *Hawaiis Garbage Is Piling Up! What Are They Going To Do About It?*

   What a difficult time it has been for Hawaiis garbage problems. For over five months now, massive mounds of garbage have been piling up in Hawaii waiting to be shipped somewhere.  The huge shrink-wrapped piles have been decaying in the heat in an industrail park in Honolulu. City officials on Monday signed a deal to dispose of the 40 million pound pile of rubbish. The plan is to get rid of the piles of garbage over the next 6 months by burning the majority of it in an existing waste-to-power plant. For Honolulu, which is the states largest city, that doesn't solve all their problems. They have a much larger problem trying to find a permanent home for all it's waste.

   The officials have a lone dump that is filling up way too fast. Why is there only one dump? They had been counting on a tribe on an Indian reservation in Washington State to allow them to dump their 100,000 tons of blue, plastic wrapped garbage bales each year to a landfill near the Indian reservation. The tribe strongly objected and won a court ruling last week that would put the plan on hold indefinitely. The city officials of Honolulu bent over backwards to get this plan in motion. It is clear at this time though, that all their shipping efforts is just not an option.

   To get a closer understanding to this problem, Honolulu makes up about 80 percent of Hawaiis population and it generates nearly 1.6 millions tons of garbage a year. More than one third of the garbage is incinerated so that it generates electricity. The remaining garbage is sent to a Waimanalo Gulch landfill, on the island of Oahu's southwestern coast. The problem with that is that Oahu has limited land space available. The leaders of Honolulu are reluctant to add the landfill in their backyards, because of the total beauty of the land.

   Why not just take it to another island somewhere? Local ordinances are not helping this cause. For example, the Big Island by far has plenty of vacant land. Not only that, it has a dump with 71 more years of capacity remaining. That is huge~71 more years!!  The problem with that is the local ordinances bar the importation of trash from outside that island. Why don't all these islands work together for the beautiful Aloha State! It would benefit everyone. The Yakama Indian Nation in Washington, has a degree of authority over nearly 11 million acres that it ceded to the US government in 1855, including a regional dump in Klickitat Coiunty. The Seattle based firm, Hawaiian Waste Systems wanted to ship some of Honolulu's garbage.  

   That brings us to last September.  The garbage was shredded and compressed into bales, wrapped in at least eight layers of thick plastic sheets and transported to the landfill, where it was to be covered in 18 inches of soil. Tribal members were furious that the US Dept. of Agriculture granted preliminary approval to the shipments. The tribe feels that the federal government totally ignored them, so that is when they went to court. The landfill is close to the Colombia River, where the Tribe enjoys their fishing rights. If the landfill was allowed, that would affect the waterway by rodents, insects and other invasive species that would be infested in the garbage. It would totally pollute the water they fish in.

   The tribe and environmental groups sued the USDA in federal court and last month, they won a temporary restraining order, which led to the dept. revoking Hawaiian Waste Systems permit before shipment of the first bales could take place. The company president is quite frustrated because the point of the heavily wrapped bales is to deprive oxygen to anything living inside. It is environmentally safe this way!  With the repeated delays in the shipping plan, hundreds of trash bales collected are in the company's facility in a Kapolei industrial park, far from the eye of tourists and residents. Some of the 4 to 5 foot tall bales are in shipping containers, but many more are stacked 3 or 4 high, with holes and tears and other signs of weathering.

   Monday's agreement between the city and the company requires the garbage cannot be burned to be sent to the Waimanalo Gulch landfill, which has to close by July of 2012. Around that time the city plans to start operating a third trash furnace at its electricity generating plant in Kapolei, which will allow the burning of about 902,000 tons of trash a year. That still leaves the island with a lot of garbage generated from some 907,000 residents, 51,000 military service members and families and an average of 80,000 tourists a day. Wow!!! They produced almost 1.6 million tons in the fiscal year that ended June 30th, which is a drop from the 1.8 million tons the previous year, which mainly comes from the resession and the decline of tourism.

   I hope they get this worked out soon, however even though the panel  is searching for new landfill sites, it could take years all because of the political and cultural implications. They need to work together and respect our precious Hawaii!!! Honolulu placed its sole landfill on the Leeward Coast of Oahu, a poor Native Hawaiian area. What is ironic is the original destination, with the garbage going to Washington State, was next to the Indian tribal land. The default destination will likely be the Waimanalo Gulch, next to the largest area of Native Hawaiians on Oahu.

   Alright everyone, that is it! Another Blog completed. I hope you all had a nice weekend and you have an equally good week. Stay safe and be good to one another!!! Remember, if you are new to Hawaiian Life there are lots of goodies in our Store Front! There is merchandise with Mikes quotes on them and the Hawaiian Life Logo on them and also Hawaiian music and books to choose from as well. Those Tiki's are hanging out at the Facebook Hawaiian Life Fan Page, just waiting for a good home!! ;-) I'm going to send a couple articles from Mike. He is the talented one that could talk about garbage...just saying! *smiles* lol I don't have anything to link @GregSlawson to garbage lol but you should check out his YouTube page. There is loads of talent just on that page with a link to his website as well. I'll send a recent video that is sure to relax you... ;-)

Follow Us On Twitter:

Di @DianneLittle

Mike @HawaiianLife

http://hawaiianlife.com/content/respecting-hawaiian-culture-and-way-life

http://hawaiianlife.com/content/10-ways-keep-hawaiian-island-greener

Today's Virtual Book Tour Stop with Mike:

It's the final stop and what a wonderful ride it was...Going out Hawaiian style, with a Pina Colada, a surfboard, & a Palm Tree *smiles* Congratulations Michael...waiting to Ponder... ;-)

http://deannajewel.blogspot.com/2010/08/author-interview-mike-dolan.html

http://waterytart23.blogspot.com/2010/08/guest-author-mike-dolan.html (Bats)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXjZYgVI6tY

http://www.youtube.com/user/GCCreativeVideos

Until next time, Mahalo!

Aloha,

Di