HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0279.072 2022-2024 P / Council
Di( t12
COMM.279
From: PATRICIA RAVARRA
Sent: Monday,June 05, 2023 6:29 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony Regarding Hawai'i County Bill 48 and the Office of SustainabS(ity, Cr
Testimony
Equity and Resilience ; -r
Good morning, v
I would like to present the following as testimony.
I was going to send the usual kind of urging to do the right thing in my testimony, but I
happened to read two different-but-related passages in a book which I believe state the
case better than I ever could.
The first is from "Ancient Sites of Hawai 'i" by Van James: "The ancient Hawaiian(s)...were
in constant converse with nature. . .the soil , stones, plants, wood, wind, clouds, and
light all expressed a meaning-filled content. For this reason, the ancient Hawaiians
were sensitive to and revered the world around them. . .In some respects. . .their culture
exemplified how a human community could be self-sufficient and enjoy an harmonious and
mutually beneficial relationship with nature."
And then I read this, from James Michener's "Mad About Hawai 'i": When I worked in
Hawai 'i , over a period of some twelve years, 1950-1962 , my wife and I lived part of the
time. . .in Pupukea overlooking o'ahu 's north shore, and there in the evenings. . .I would
sit on the lanai and study the ocean waves. . .in those quiet times I often speculated on
what the future of these heavenly islands might be. seventy years from then [2032, nine
years from now] , in the middle of a new century, would Hawai 'i still represent the acme
of what can be accomplished when men and women who love beauty and know how to protect
it, and how to discipline themselves and their society? Or would it deteriorate to a
bruised land, overcrowded, scarred with junk and devoid of beauty? I saw then that its
future could develop in either direction, depending on the will of the people to protect
the wonders they had inherited, and I could not decide what the chances were for beauty
to prevail ." [Italics mine]
There is so much to be considered in both of these excerpts and I don't believe I need to
expound upon these quotes, other than to say this: please do the right thing by our
home. Mahalo.
Patricia Ravarra
Honoka'a
Comm. No. 'iq `t
Ref. To: Ci� u1
1 Ref. Date JUN - 7 2023