Published on Monday, October 6, 2008 by Reuters
One In Four Mammals Risks Extinction

by Alister Doyle

BARCELONA, Spain - A quarter of the world's mammals are threatened with extinction, an international survey showed on Monday, and the destruction of habitats and hunting are the major causes.

[The Caspian Seal (Pusa caspica) moved from vulnerable to endangered. Its population has declined by 90% in the last 100 years due to unsustainable hunting and habitat degradation and is still decreasing Photograph: Simon Goodman/IUCN]The Caspian Seal (Pusa caspica) moved from vulnerable to endangered. Its population has declined by 90% in the last 100 years due to unsustainable hunting and habitat degradation and is still decreasing Photograph: Simon Goodman/IUCN
The report, the most comprehensive to date by 1,700 researchers, showed populations of half of all 5,487 species of mammals were in decline. Mammals range in size from blue whales to Thailand's insect-sized bumblebee bat.

"Mammals are declining faster than we thought -- one in four species is threatened with extinction worldwide," Jan Schipper, who led the team, told Reuters of the report issued in Barcelona as part of a "Red List" of threatened species.

He said threats were worst for land mammals in Asia, where creatures such as orang utans are suffering from deforestation. Almost 80 percent of primates in the region were under threat.

Click here to see additional photos.

Hawaii must prepare for energy challenges
By Jim Dator and Manfred Zapka

Hawai'i is experiencing the initial stage of what may be its greatest challenge: the end of cheap, abundant, easily available oil.
How we respond will determine our future and that of our children and grandchildren and people who visit our shores.

The crisis isn't temporary — or political. Recent rapid increases in the price of oil are not temporary events that will soon pass.

While the price of oil may go down a bit for a while, it will increasingly head up sharply. We are in the initial stage of a permanent transformation of energy supplies and demand, which will result in a new world — and a new Hawai'i — in the 21st century. Even the conservative International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog for the industrial world, recently warned that 'the wheels might come off the oil supply' because of stagnating world oil supply in the face of strong and increasing demand.

Did this crisis catch us by surprise? Yes and no. Energy experts in the 1970s warned that peak oil would begin to affect us by the early 21st century. Early attempts were made with research and development of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), solar, wind and geothermal energy — all potential sources we have in abundance in Hawai'i. And conservation remains the most important contribution to an energy solution that we can make.

Aloha Sandsifters, and Lovers of Nature!
This Saturday Oct 4 at 9am
Please join in the Sierra Club Beach Clean Up in Kapaa
just north of Pono Kai Beach!

Where: Meet at the beach south of the Police Station shack (portable).

This is Across from the Deja Vu store and the Bank of Hawaii.
(North of Nui street)

See the Sierra Club banner at beach and our bags and sandsifters and us...

When: 9am start to 10:30 am!

East side/Easy/ .5 mile or less.

Try out our awesome SandSifters and rakes. Bags and gloves provided also.
Bring your own rakes too if you can.

Why: The beautiful beach is a wreck with lots of flotsam and Jetsam to bag and needs our attention.
Plus: We can discuss the dirty sand dredged up from the river, full of silt, and now placed on our pristine golden sand. (One day soon, do swing by the Boat Harbor across from Burger King to check out the enormous pile of sand full of silt and who knows what.)

If can come, come!

On this short and sweet Beach Clean Up, Dogs are welcome if tied up.

for more details, please call Karen at 821-8008

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Please Come help us clean up Marine Debris on Nukoli'i Beach Oct. 26.
We had a clean up there in Sept and barely made a dent. We need more people.
Please come for just a half hour, maybe an hour, and you can make a big difference. Thanks, Surfrider Kaua'i.
(There's also a clean up sponsored by the Sierra Club this Saturday, Oct-4 in Kapa'a, Details Below)

Where: Nukoli'i Beach (Directions below)
When: Sunday, October 26 9:00 a.m. sharp

Gloves and Trash Bags will be provided.
Please bring water, hat and sunscreen

Directions:
From Kapa'a turn left (maka) just past the golf course. From Lihue, turn right (makai) just after the Hilton and before the golf course. Follow the dirt road past the motocross track area to an area known as Marine Camp or Nukoli'i Beach. We'll be cleaning in front of the South end of the Golf Course
Look for the Surfrider Banner!

For more information,
please call Sheri
808-652-4648

Published on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 by the Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
Buy Local and Help Main Street

by Bill Berry

STEVENS POINT -- On the Saturday after the big financial meltdown of September, people milled around the farmers' market on the public square here as if nothing had happened. Of course, many of them knew otherwise. But what is a person to do? The tomatoes are ripe for only so long, and a long winter is ahead.

Besides, at times like this, we have to take care of one another here at home. Financial markets may have no conscience, but the rest of us can do better than that.

The farmers' market here isn't as well known as Madison's, but it's at least as historic. Most of the buildings on the old public square at the east end of Main Street are late 19th century or early 20th century vintage, and the farmers have been coming here to sell produce for that long. Those with Polish names like Slowinski have been joined by Hmong folks with names like Vang. The market survives even as it changes here on the end of Main Street.

The "financial crisis," as it has quickly been dubbed, has led to concern about what will happen to America's Main Streets, and the jury is still out. When pundits speculate about Main Street, they're speaking in hyperbole about communities big and small across the land, not streets.

Updated at 11:43 a.m., Tuesday, September 30, 2008
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080930/BR...
Plan would add 48 Kaua'i species to endangered list

Advertiser Staff

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced a proposal to add 48 species found only on the island of Kaua'i to the federal endangered species list.
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The announcement to protect 45 plants, two birds and one insect came in a 9 a.m. conference call with Interior and U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials.

The proposal is the first time the agencies have applied a newly developed, ecosystem-based approach to species conservation, they said.

The approach may be used in the future on O'ahu, in the Arctic and in great river basins of the Southeastern mainland.

"By addressing the common threats that occur across these ecosystems, we can more effectively focus our conservation efforts on restoring the functions of these shared habitats," Kempthorne said in a prepared statement. "This holistic approach will benefit the recovery of the listed species and also all the species within the native ecological community."

The American Bird Conservancy praised the action as "an important victory for the (bird species) 'akikiki and 'akeke'e, which need every bit of help that they can get. Recent population surveys indicate that these species are on the brink of extinction," said George Fenwick, the conservation group's president.

www.starbulletin.com > News > Breaking >
New rules, tighter security approved for Iolani Palace

By Rosemarie Bernardo

POSTED: 10:23 a.m. HST, Sep 26, 2008

Members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources unanimously approved new rules for Iolani Palace State Monument.

The approval comes after two separate groups — the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Kingdom Government — locked the gates and occupied the grounds in April and August, respectively.

Kippen de Alba Chu, executive director of the Friends of Iolani Palace, said he is pleased with the changes. He said security at the palace grounds will be increased and that includes the installation of more security cameras.

The project, estimated to cost $200,000, is expected to be put out to bid in the next couple of weeks.

Members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources unanimously approved new rules for Iolani Palace State Monument.

The approval comes after two separate groups — the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Kingdom Government — locked the gates and occupied the grounds in April and August, respectively.

Kippen de Alba Chu, executive director of the Friends of Iolani Palace, said he is pleased with the changes. He said security at the palace grounds will be increased and that includes the installation of more security cameras.

The project, estimated to cost $200,000, is expected to be put out to bid in the next couple of weeks.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080926/NE...
Posted on: Friday, September 26, 2008

Del Monte Fresh Produce fined for waste hazards in Hawaii
Hazardous waste violations at Kunia already corrected

Advertiser Staff

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. $190,000 for hazardous waste violations at the company's former pineapple plantation in Kunia.
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EPA inspectors in August 2007 found open and unlabeled containers of hazardous waste at the facility and evidence of a release of used oil, the EPA said.

The hazardous waste consisted of pesticides, fumigant cylinders, old paint and fluorescent light bulbs, said EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi.

Del Monte Fresh Produce has since corrected the violations, according to the EPA.

Florida-based Del Monte Fresh Produce ended its pineapple growing operations in central O'ahu in November 2006 and laid off 551 employees. After shutting down, Del Monte returned the 5,100 acres in Kunia to local landowner James Campbell Co.

"Companies must properly store and handle hazardous waste to protect the community, workers and the environment," said Jeff Scott, director of Waste Programs for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region. "I am pleased that Del Monte has corrected the violations and that the facility no longer presents a potential risk to human health and the environment."

Efforts to reach Del Monte officials were unsuccessful.

Aloha All!
Yup, it's the last Friday of the month, already!
Are you ready for Green Drinks Kaua`i?
Join us at Blossoming Lotus from 5-7 PM this Friday for great green social networking!
CU,
Ken

September 28th from 6pm - 8pm at the Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe

*We cannot wait any longer Kauai! The time is now!*

*_Mana `Ohana, LLC is holding a FINAL MEETING to inform EVERYONE of how they can get involved in helping Kauai to stop importing 90% of it's food!_*

This is NOT a government organization, it is NOT a non-profit and this meeting isn't to sit around and talk about what we "Could Do." (Comment not directed at the many organizations helping with positive change through grass roots efforts) We want people who are ready to IMMEDIATELY take action, and start moving Kauai towards sustainability TODAY! Mana `Ohana, LLC has the facilities and the plan to start to help make this dream a reality! If you are a; farmer, local products business, active community member, baker, caterer, aspiring restaurant owner, potential investor or are involved in any type of business that aspires to sustain the food/products supply on kauai through local means, or someone who aspires to increase the health, wellness or homeopathic awareness on Kauai, please attend!