Responding to the Jan. 5 editorial on single-use plastics and a letter on fireworks residue, I challenge everyone to start the new year thinking about what and how they go about their lives and their impact on our fragile island and planet (“Recycle, reuse for a clean planet,” Star-Advertiser, Our View; “Fireworks residue washes into water,” Star-Advertiser, Letters).

I just returned from a trip to California and after days of heavy rains there, I saw firsthand the amount of plastic washed up on the beaches from runoff. The majority consisted of plastic and chip wrappers and coffee lids, and I don’t mean a few here and there — it was literally everywhere. Sadly, amidst it all were surfers and seals swimming in the waste.

Our own beaches don’t fare much better after heavy rains either, and bare witness to our wasteful lifestyles. You don’t have to look hard to see microplastics are embedded in our beaches.

I understand that avoiding plastic use altogether is nearly impossible, but if we collectively think of how and where we use and dispose of it, we can hope to make a tangible change and know that at least, we’re each doing our part.

Mark Ayers

Kailua

Hard to make a living with wages in SEC states

Sports fans are in awe of the athletic accomplishments of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), especially those of the University of Alabama and University of Georgia football. The schools that make up this sport’s juggernaut are the pride of their states.

What is not well-known are the extremely low wages and lack of benefits, such as family leave, for these states’ poorest workers, as well as the roadblocks erected by Republican politicians to suppress workers trying to organize unions.

Most states that have teams in the SEC have a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. What is worse are the wages of tipped workers in the South, who work for only $2.13 an hour.

Not a peep of this from Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green or U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama. They are too busy justifying the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, at our nation’s Capitol to fight for policies to eliminate poverty. There are no bragging rights for this, only shame.

Raymond Catania

Lihue

Democratic institutions weakening after Jan. 6

So now there is a moral equivalent between peaceful demonstrators (at Donald Trump’s inauguration) and a violent insurrection with a goal of overturning a legitimate election (“Protests, violence at Trump’s inauguration,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan 6).

How far do we sink before all of our democratic institutions are history? Unfortunately there is none more blind than he who chooses not to see.

Jonathan L. Ortiz

Downtown Honolulu

Replace bombs with sounds of celebration

I believe I speak for many, if not all, war veterans when I say those firecrackers and mini-bombs that go off on New Year’s and the Fourth of July (right in our own neighborhoods) conjure up memories we would rather not bring to mind ever again. Those sounds also fill our companion animals with body-shaking fear.

Isn’t 2022 the time to change those warlike sounds to more celebratory sounds, such as bells, chimes and meaningful music? New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July should be filled with sounds of peace we hope to remember, not sounds of war we wish to forget.

Dov Kadima

Kapaau, Hawaii island

Disregarding common sense can be dangerous

Two fools. One, consciously, intentionally and purposefully puts his arm into a tiger’s cage after deliberately circumventing the barriers placed to prevent his being there. Very few persons disagree that he brought about his subsequent mauling through his culpability.

The other, told by police he was under arrest for a duly issued outstanding warrant, turns as if to comply and positions his wrists for handcuffing. He then consciously, intentionally and purposefully resists by deliberately jerking his wrists away, getting into the driver’s seat of his car and attempting to drive off. He is killed during this attempt. More than a few persons play down his culpability.

Their commonality? Obviously the common-sense actions available to both fools, but willfully disregarded, would have prevented both outcomes with no culpability.

Kenneth F. Nelson

Waipahu

Update needed on Navy divers’ progress

How long has the Navy been skimming fuel out of the aquifer?

I am curious. The Navy has a team of divers pumping water from the Red Hill water shaft in order to remove the fuel on the surface (“Navy divers work to remove fuel contaminants at Red Hill water facility,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 13). How are they doing? Is it still going on? How much fuel has been removed? Is it getting better? Worse? Or no change?

I notice that no one has given us an update on their progress. I am hoping that they’re making progress, but will be very concerned if they’re not.

Winslow Tanabe

Manoa

Graham loses support of team; he must go

The University of Hawaii football program is at a point where it must cut bait with head coach Todd Graham. Graham lost the locker room, and he is now causing the program to lose its fan support.

From the start, Graham lacked the authenticity that is the foundation of the aloha spirit. If players and fans can’t trust the leadership of the coach, then what? He lost the locker room. He will lose the fans.

Are Athletics Director David Matlin and university President David Lassner prepared to lose the legacy of the UH football program? Time is ticking to find a new coach in time for the recruiting signing period. It’s their move.

Von Kenric Kaneshiro

Downtown Honolulu

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