As news of the discovery of the Varroa jacobsoni mite in honeybee hives across Oahu rippled throughout the state, waves of fear rushed through the Maui’s honeybee industry. First discovered in Manoa and Makiki in early April, the parasites have since been found ravaging honeybee colonies all over Oahu. Tiny, blood-sucking vampires, the mites feed on the blood of honeybee … [Read more...] about To Bee or Not to Bee
Bird Flu
On a Saturday afternoon in March, I spent a few hours with 23 Maui residents listening to Dr. Skip Hofstrand speak about what could become the 21st century’s first global health catastrophe: pandemic influenza. “We need to be proactive, not reactive,” he told the small audience in the Cameron Center Auditorium in Kahului. Wearing a bright aloha shirt over slight … [Read more...] about Bird Flu
Public Trust
During his Feb. 21 “Focus Green” lecture at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Robert Kennedy Jr. said campaign reform is one way we can help the environment. “Teddy Roosevelt said that America would never be destroyed by a foreign power but he warned that our political institutions, our democratic institutions, would be subverted by malefactors of great wealth, who would … [Read more...] about Public Trust
Sand Castle
We like to think of our island’s beaches as our playground. Kicking back on a blanket of warm golden sand while listening to the crescendo of crashing waves seems to dissipate whatever problems we might have into the air like spindrift off cresting white-water barrels. A great deal of Maui’s economy—like mega-resorts and ocean activities—rests on these beaches as well. Even … [Read more...] about Sand Castle
No More Leftovers
On Maui, people who want to raise awareness of environmental issues like clean air, sewage dumping or invasive species are often locked into a kind of traveling road show. They’re just citizens with day jobs. Usually their only hope of connecting with people face to face requires them to haul stacks of flyers and tables with folding legs to Earth Day celebrations and the Maui … [Read more...] about No More Leftovers