Plastic pollution is an important issue

I am a tenth grade student at Lahainaluna High School. I am writing to you today because of my concern for the plastic pollution issue regarding Lahaina.

Plastic pollution has been an ongoing problem for years now. It’s been affecting the health of our environment, our water quality and the state of our beaches. Animals are consuming plastic and are dying from plastic when they could be living longer.

Please consider bringing light to this topic. I feel that exposure is the best way to bring awareness.

AFNAN OLEIWAN, Lahaina

Transparency or unwarranted government meddling?

Every year we see a handful of bills at the legislature that put good intentions ahead of practical experience.

Even when the people who would be most affected by the proposals explain that they are unworkable or counterproductive, those good intentions still keep the bills moving forward.

Happily, many of these bills are usually dropped or fixed during the last weeks of the legislative session.

But sometimes, there is so much ideological support for a proposal that the dissenting voices don’t get the attention they deserve.

Such is the case with SB1057, a bill that would require all job listings to include the hourly rate or salary range so as to promote “transparency and equal pay for all employees.”

The sponsors claim that “initial experiences” with such a law in California, Colorado and New York City have “benefited employers, current employees and prospective employees.”

But that is hardly sufficient evidence or justification for the state to further meddle in the affairs of private businesses. Hawaii is already considered one of the least business-friendly states in the nation, and this would only make it worse.

Groups such as the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Society for Human Resource Management have all made it clear that the wage-disclosure requirement could lead to major problems for both employers and employees.

Pay, after all, is only part of the picture when you’re looking for a job, and the pay disclosure requirement could hurt job seekers more than it helps them by taking away their ability to negotiate their own compensations.

For example, some people are willing to take a lower salary in exchange for a better benefits package, a more flexible schedule, more vacation time or a company vehicle. Others might be happy to trade away benefits or take on more responsibilities in exchange for higher base pay.

This is as it should be. No one else knows what compensation package is best for you better than you do.

Other considerations weighing against this bill are that it would: Be an administrative headache for small businesses, where job titles and roles can be imprecise and evolve according to the business’ needs.

Hinder the ability of employers to offer higher or lower salaries than those of existing employees in response to the economy, issues within the business or other concerns.

Give a competitive advantage to large Mainland corporations over small local businesses because they could offer higher pay rates. Fuel personnel difficulties if all the employees know each other’s salaries.

Finally, it would effectively ban a valuable way for employers to find new talent — and for less qualified workers to get their foot in the door. That’s because employers would not be able to offer a lower salary to someone who doesn’t meet all the qualifications but shows potential for growth.

Yes, this bill has good intentions. Yes, it sounds like it’s about fairness. But all that doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to the real world.

The only thing that matters is that SB1057 would hurt the people it is aiming to help by hamstringing those who are best able to help them — their potential employers.

DR. KELI’I AKINA, President & CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

Church gatherings helped spread Covid

Many believe religion is not a force to be reckoned with anymore in America. However, even a little band of anti-civic Christians or Jews can make a big impact on society.

A large Christian gathering in Daegu, South Korea threw accelerant on the initial Covid outbreak in Asia. Churches in America soon did the same, under the banner of religious freedom and fuzzy doctrines like “God doesn’t care about government or public health.”

A congregation in Santa Clara County, Calvary Chapel, was one of them. A Santa Clara County judge has ordered the San Jose church to pay $1.2 million in fines for flagrantly violating mask-wearing and social distancing rules at the height of the pandemic.

Who knows how many lives might have been saved if churches all over America hadn’t been such bad citizens and acting out against public health science and authority.

Regular meetings, choir practices, weddings and funerals held by churches in places like Calloway County and Louisville, Kentucky; Durham, North Carolina; New Rochelle and Rockland County, New York; Lakewood, New Jersey; Greers Ferry, Arkansas; suburban Baton Rouge; Lynchburg, Virginia; Tampa Bay, Florida; Albany, Georgia; Warren County, Ohio; suburban Chicago; rural Minnesota; Houston, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Sacramento, California; Detroit, Michigan; and Butte County, California caused clear outbreaks and constituted spreader events. Normally patriotic Mormons flouted legal guidelines and gathered en masse at missionary homecomings at the airport in Salt Lake City.

In the early days of the Judeo-Christian tradition — that is, in the time of Moses and later in the time of Jesus — religion was the leading force in public health and science in general. Moses’ quarantine of the children of Israel during an epidemic in Egypt gave them the strength to make an exodus from that oppressive nation. Jesus told a leper he examined and healed to go report his change in condition to the priest, who was the public health officer of the day. He spent his time healing, not spreading.

Judaism and Christianity have gone from the leading edge of progress in the world to the trailing edge. God must not be too pleased.

KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY, Woods Cross, Utah