TRASH PICK-UP

CITY MUST MAKE RECYCLING ONLY OPTION FOR RESIDENTS

While I find the proposed citywide recycling laudable and necessary, I have doubts about its success.

My family lives in Mililani, and we have been recycling for many years. My children nagged us into it after going through the Renew, Reuse and Recycle program at Mililani Waena.

For years we dragged newspaper, plastic, glass and aluminum cans to Mililani High School, and, yes, it was a real pain.

Now we have curbside pick-up, and what I find extremely depressing is that on any given pick-up day there are only a handful of bins put out, maybe one quarter of our street. While it is possible other streets have a higher rate of participation, ours does not.

When my daughter was in college in a small town in Indiana many years ago it was not only mandatory to recycle, but all trash pick-up was predicated on recycling. If you didn't recycle, your trash was not picked up. My son, who lives in Oregon, also currently abides by an identical program.

I suggest the city adopt a similar stance. Make it mandatory! The landfill is full to bursting and it is unfair to the residents of the Leeward side to keep shoveling our 'opala there (out of sight, apparently out of mind). Additionally, the idea of shipping our trash elsewhere is crazy.

You city fathers (and mothers) want to make this work? Do not make it an option, make it the ONLY option.

RAIL VOTE

Why aren't officials listening to electorate?

Regarding the article in Sunday's paper ("Ads aim to derail Stop Rail") to put the anti-rail initiative on the ballot, House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell says it all: "Once it gets on the ballot, I think you're on the losing end. They'll (the voters) vote to stop the rail system."

Aren't our elected officials supposed to do what the majority of the voters want? Isn't this why we elected them? If the majority of the voters don't want a rail system, why are our elected officials not listening to us?

PETITIONER AGGRESSIVE IN SIGNATURE EFFORT

In Downtown Honolulu, I saw a young no-rail proponent asking for signatures from passers-by. I respect people who have different views, as that is what makes this country what it is.

However, the petitioner was aggressively pushing elderly people to sign the petition, and would not stop harassing them until they finally relented and signed just to be rid of the annoyance.

If this is how the anti-rail group is going about getting people to sign the petition, the more I am leaning toward the rail solution.

ALOHA STADIUM

BUILD A NEW STADIUM, DON'T FIX UP OLD ONE

I don't get it. Aloha Stadium has been in steady decline since it first went up in the early '70s.

We've had one refurbishing project to date, as I recall, to "strengthen" the rust that's plagued it since Day 1.

Now we're going to do it again? I really think Russ Saito and the powers-that-be need a wake-up call.

Tear it down and build another! Take a hint from all of the cities on the Mainland that are doing just that.

We'll be the laughingstock of the sports world if we go forward with this.

I enjoy going to Aloha for all of the events that it offers, but I fear the day when it'll all come crashing down.

TRASH

SHAME ON THOSE WHO LITTER STREETS, SIDEWALKS

Every morning, I have the great privilege of swimming at Waikiki Beach.

On my half-mile walk there, I am always struck by two things. One, the incredible beauty of our hometown. The second is the incredible amount of trash, litter and cigarette butts that line the streets, sidewalks and gutters along the way.

What hurts the most about the latter is that, through direct observation, the vast majority of that crud is dropped by local residents.

I and other Waikiki residents try to pick up what we can, but we are outnumbered by those who feel Hawai'i is nothing special.

Shame on all of you (and even me, at times) who refuse to change their ways. We'll all end up with the Hawai'i we deserve.

SOLAR HEATERS

FOR MANY, HOT WATER DOESN'T RAISE ENERGY BILL

In the June 16 Island Life section, under the heading, "Save the Planet," you wrote, "Yes, you know that using cold water for laundry saves energy — and plenty of it."

Actually, I don't know that. My household, along with many others here in Hawai'i, relies on a solar water heater, so using hot water for laundry doesn't cause our energy bills to go up.

For many households who heat their water with solar heaters and also use electric or gas dryers, using hot or warm water in the rinse cycle will reduce their energy bills, since their laundry will go into the dryer already hot or warm, reducing the drying time. Those who also have air conditioning will reduce their bills further, as heating more water with their solar heaters means more heat intercepted by their solar panels before hitting their roofs.

From the standpoint of saving the planet, shorter dryer times also have the additional benefit of making clothes last longer, given that dryers are very efficient laundry-to-lint converters.

Using more hot water, especially during the hot summer months, will also extend the solar heater life, which also helps "save the planet."

The worst part of this is that the people most likely to follow your advice in the spirit of "saving the planet" are very likely to heat their water with solar heaters.

CLIMATE CHANGE

TEN WARMEST YEARS HAVE BEEN SINCE 1995

Alan Lloyd (Letter, June 27) is wrong that global warming was strongest before World War II. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the 10 warmest years on record (global) have all occurred since 1995.

He is also wrong that there has been no warming since 2000. The UK Meteorological Office concludes that 2001-2007 is an average 0.44 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average, and 0.21 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991-2000 average.

In any case, global climate is a very "noisy" system and longer-term trends are more informative. According to the NCDC, satellites and ground measurements alike record global warming of approximately 0.17 degrees Celsius per decade over the past three decades.

The ocean cooling to which Mr. Lloyd refers was a mistake. It was the product of data bias in the 3,000-strong ARGO float network. A correction to that dataset, which removed the apparent cooling, was published by Willis et al. in 2007 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, but got little play in the media.

For a plot of observations since 2000 I refer the reader tohttp://tierneylab.blogs.ny times.com/2008/01/10/a-spot-check-of-global-warming/.

VETO LIST

CARGO FEE IMPORTANT IN INVASIVE SPECIES FIGHT

Sunday's editorial covered some of the important bills that are on Gov. Linda Lingle's veto list, including the potential veto of HB 2843, also known as the cargo fee bill, which would switch funding for cargo inspections from state general funds to a 50 cents per 1,000 pounds fee on incoming air and sea cargo.

The reason for the proposed change is to ensure that funding for this invasive species prevention program is tied to the level of incoming cargo and not the fluctuating state budget.

This year is a perfect example of the need for this change. Last week, Lingle mandated an all-agency 4 percent budget restriction on "nonessential services."

To adjust, the Hawai'i Department of Agriculture has had to shift all payroll savings funds from unfilled positions to keep staff and operate at least at minimum levels at all ports. Inspection services will inevitably be delayed, since there will only be a skeleton crew to clear incoming air and sea cargo.

Lingle is understandably worried about rising costs of living and working in Hawai'i. However, passing HB 2843 would switch funding for this important protection service (funded by Hawai'i taxpayers) to a much steadier special fund, dedicated to preventing new invasive species problems (funded by cargo importers, passed along to residents and visitors as pennies on the cost of imported goods).

The cost to Hawai'i's economy of the not-yet-present red imported fire ant is estimated at $211 million per year ($170 per person/year), the cost of having brown tree snakes in Hawai'i is $405 million per year ($330 per person/year), and the list goes on.

If Hawai'i residents are willing to say that $5 per year isn't too much to pay for keeping brown tree snakes out, give Lingle a call by July 8.