HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0482.186 2024-2026Aloha Council Members,
COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF NtaWAI:
2025 SMOV —4 PR 12: 06
My name is Kara Murphy. I am a Hilo resident, UH Hilo Alumni, educator, scientist, and conservationist.
I will keep this testimony short, as I (like many of your citizens) work during the day, and am taking
precious time out of my busy schedule to advocate for something that affects me. When making your
decision on Bill 83, I want you to consider whom this bill affects. Who benefits from this bill being
passed or not?
As a 22 year old Gen Z, I've grown up seeing the impact of single use plastic first hand. I was in
elementary school when I first saw videos of sea turtles eating plastic bags. I was in high school when I
first saw the video of the plastic straw in the sea turtle's nostril. These videos often helped to push bans on
plastics in multiple counties, some even on other islands in Hawaii. The impact single use plastic has on
wildlife is evident, and pulls on our heartstrings, but I always wondered why it took seeing an animal in
pain to sway the decision.
As an educator, I go into elementary classrooms to teach students about marine debris; where it comes
from, and how it harms our native ecosystems. We typically talk about solutions for this problem, some of
which include picking up trash, reducing litter, and recycling when you can. This year, however, there was
a new solution offered by my students. Ban plastic. In fact, it was a solution offered up in almost every
one of the nine classrooms I've visited this semester. Your children are asking you to do something that
should have been done a long time ago. The very same children who will be left with this problem once
you are all long gone. They will be the ones cleaning up this plastic that never goes away. They will have
to decide what to do when the landfills are full, the beaches are covered, and the sea turtles are gone.
Knowing this, I want you to consider who benefits if action is not taken, and who suffers down the line. I
understand there is nuance to these issues. I do not aim to invalidate any opposition to this bill, only to
offer my view, and to give voice to the students who cannot come testify themselves, as they are currently
in the classroom preparing to solve problems they did not create.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Mahalo nui,
Kara Murphy
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