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LETTERS for the Sept. 22 issue

By Staff | Sep 23, 2022

Increase use of reclaimed water for irrigation

Water usage restrictions in Lahaina, with more development underway, demands immediate action. Visiting Montana, individual farmers irrigate hundreds of acres with miles of irrigation equipment. If farming families can afford to irrigate, then Maui County could, too.

Regulated and good for irrigating edible vegetation, the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility’s treated water is R-1 rated. Using renewable energy, it is possible to pump treated water through updated existing infrastructure to a higher elevation, connecting to the former sugarcane irrigation ditch system. Transfer LWRF’s recycled water back to Lahaina’s Kahoma/Kanaha aquifer through existing ditches in irrigation pipes.

Allocate the irrigation water to the areas it originated from. Distribute recycled water to benefit the public trust. Flanked by mostly state land to the north and approximately 1,200 acres of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate property to the south, Lahainaluna’s densely populated area with schools and infrastructure should be a priority.

For public safety and wellbeing, these vast parcels of agricultural land desperately need water. Hurricane Lane’s wildfire forewarned what catastrophes can happen when neglected agricultural land is dry and fallow.

Using reclaimed water, develop agriculture parks for food production and irrigate parks, schools and other public use areas. Also, with international demand and exorbitant prices, reforesting sandalwood would be the financial, cultural and environmental thing to do.

Besides recharging the aquifer, lowering temperatures with trees providing shade, addressing food security, employment opportunities, and public safety, it would be nice for the community paying water and sewage fees to benefit overall with a beautiful and healthful environment.

MICHELE LINCOLN, Lahaina

Set term limits in Congress

King Charles III vows life-long service to his country. That is the problem with monarchy and with most politicians today. They are so addicted to wealth and power that they want to keep it for a lifetime.

That is why American democracy has term limits for our president and governors. We need to have it for senators and congresspersons, too.

KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY, Woods Cross, Utah

Campaign strives to solve our violence problem

We have a violence problem. It runs through our nation like an invisible road system, touching every front door, cutting through each town and city. Mass shootings kill our children in their schools. Forty-five thousand people will take their own lives this year. An additional 14,000 are likely to be killed by gun violence.

Twelve million of our fellow citizens will experience intimate partner violence this year. More than ten million children face violence in the forms of maltreatment, verbal abuse, sexual assault, extreme neglect and physical abuse.

And all this will continue, year after year, unless we take our violence problem seriously.

In 2014, an effort named Campaign Nonviolence launched to “build a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction.”

Each year, they hold an annual week of actions, bringing together the many efforts to address violence.

In all 50 states and dozens of countries, more than 4,000 actions and events will take place between September 21st, the International Day of Peace, and Oct 2nd, the International Day of Nonviolence.

Tens of thousands of people will be organizing teach-ins, rallies, marches, protests, mural painting events, sermons on peace, trainings in nonviolence, violence prevention teams, overpass bannering, leafleting, vigils, street theater, and so much more.

With hundreds of participating groups, the Campaign Nonviolence Action Days has become an annual reminder that the systems and structures that are currently churning out violence and injustice can be replaced with viable and realistic alternatives anchored in nonviolence.

Campaign Nonviolence defines violence as more than just physical. It can take the forms of cultural violence, systemic and structural violence, emotional and psychological violence, institutional violence and more.

Conversely, the campaign also recognizes that a culture of nonviolence is constructed of structural/systemic nonviolent solutions — things like living wages, affordable housing, restorative justice, trauma healing, renewable energy, racial justice and so on.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Bernard Lafayette put forward the idea of institutionalizing nonviolence in our schools, businesses, public offices, cultural beliefs and attitudes, and more. It’s a compelling notion to imagine that the output of our society could be healing, respectful, affirming, generous, fair, and compassionate.

Social change has always come from those courageous enough to imagine it. Suffrage, worker rights, schooling for every child, social support for our elders, access for people with disabilities — all of these came about because of the vision, courage and perseverance of people who longed for a different world. Violence may be everywhere, but so are we. Tens of thousands of people will move into action between Sept. 21 and Oct 2 to bring a nonviolent world one step closer to reality. Will you?

RIVERA SUN, PeaceVoice