The front pages of today's papers made me sick to my stomach!!!! "Senate says no to national monument proposal". "Marine Monument Nixed"....Why? because according to the Senate, the majority of local people will not support the proposal...WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW WOULD THEY KNOW???? DID ANY OF THEM EVER ASK THE LOCAL PEOPLE HOW WE FEEL???? I'M A "LOCAL PEOPLE" AND I LOVE THE IDEA! HAVE ANY OF THEM BEEN READING THE LETTERS OF SUPPORT TO THE EDITOR???? OR ATTENDING ANY OF THE PRESENTATIONS THAT ANGELO HAS BEEN GIVING????????? ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
THANK GOD FOR TINA SABLAN AND I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT SHE CAN HANG ON UP THERE!!!!
AND FOR HEINZ AND ED WHO VOTED AGAINST THE RESOLUTION...
I began reading a book last night that Angelo gave me called "The Unnatural History of the Sea" by Callum Roberts. An excerpt from the book reads,
Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travelers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialization of the seas.
The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendor and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them.
It literally brought me to tears reading the first chapter of the book because I know first hand what the Author is talking about...I'm not a scientist, marine biologist or anything like that..but you don't have to be to see the changes in our islands waters...In the early 80's the waters in San Antonio were abundant with clams, sea urchins, fish, octopus, etc....You could walk along the waters edge and kick the sand with your foot to reveal hundreds of clams just laying there...You can't do that now..there are no more sea urchins (at least not the edible kind)...Your lucky if you swim for hours and catch a glimpse of an octopus.....so much has changed, and not for the better....
THANK GOD FOR TINA SABLAN AND I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT SHE CAN HANG ON UP THERE!!!!
AND FOR HEINZ AND ED WHO VOTED AGAINST THE RESOLUTION...
I began reading a book last night that Angelo gave me called "The Unnatural History of the Sea" by Callum Roberts. An excerpt from the book reads,
Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travelers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialization of the seas.
The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendor and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them.
It literally brought me to tears reading the first chapter of the book because I know first hand what the Author is talking about...I'm not a scientist, marine biologist or anything like that..but you don't have to be to see the changes in our islands waters...In the early 80's the waters in San Antonio were abundant with clams, sea urchins, fish, octopus, etc....You could walk along the waters edge and kick the sand with your foot to reveal hundreds of clams just laying there...You can't do that now..there are no more sea urchins (at least not the edible kind)...Your lucky if you swim for hours and catch a glimpse of an octopus.....so much has changed, and not for the better....
Anyway, I'm just really sad and dissapointed this morning....
and I hope everyone will bombard the new papers with letters to the editor of support for the monument, and I hope Angelo gets a petition going and thousands of people sign it in support, and I hope someone then takes all those letters and petitions and stuffs them down the throats of ........*RELAX* as my son would say * OOHHHSAAAA* (I have no idea what that means but your suppose to touch your thumb and middle finger together when you say it, and make some Buddhist/yoga looking pose...teehee hee!)
HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE and HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!
2 comments:
Hi Sweetie, I wrote a long comment, but somehow my comments aren't showing. I basically said I know how you feel, BUT I for one cannot take a stand one way or the other until such time that I can read more information to see what exactly is being proposed, before I decide where I stand on the issue.
No,I'm not satisfied with what is said by either side...I want to read what's the good points and the bad points myself. I'm told the "native Hawaiians are quite happy..." with their monument...I've heard not all are happy...I want to know why. Thus, I need more info, such as what kind of jobs are we talking about? Who will pay for their salaries and other needed cost to monitor and maintain the area? (I read somewhere about "co-management" between us and the feds. Who sets the terms for the agreement between us and them? Will this declared area be a Monument forever? Can we get out of the 'sea park' situation in the future, or are we binding our great, great, great grandchildren to an agreement that might nescesitate some drastic change? I just have so many questions before I can take a stand on the issue. I'd appreciate if anyone could direct me to a place I can go to read UNBIASED/UNOBJECTIVE information.
Love you, sweetie.
Mom
(for some reason i couldn't comment without having to do in anonymously)
Hi Sweetie, I wrote a long comment, but somehow my comments aren't showing. I basically said I know how you feel, BUT I for one cannot take a stand one way or the other until such time that I can read more information to see what exactly is being proposed, before I decide where I stand on the issue. No,I'm not satisfied with what is said by either side...I want to read what's the good points and the bad points myself. I'm told the "native Hawaiians are quite happy..." with their monument...I've heard not all are happy...I want to know why. Thus, I need more info, such as what kind of jobs are we talking about? Who will pay for their salaries and other needed cost to monitor and maintain the area? (I read somewhere about "co-management" between us and the feds. Who sets the terms for the agreement between us and them? Will this declared area be a Monument forever? Can we get out of the 'sea park' situation in the future, or are we binding our great, great, great grandchildren to an agreement that might nescesitate some drastic change? I just have so many questions before I can take a stand on the issue. I'd appreciate if anyone could direct me to a place I can go to read UNBIASED/UNOBJECTIVE information. Love you, sweetie. Mom (for some reason i couldn't comment without having to do in anonymously)
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