HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0349.857 2006-2008 Page 1 of 1
Murashige, Laura
From: Melissa Fleming [mfleming@co.hawaii.hi.us]
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Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 8:24 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: FW: Thank you!
From: Ellen LaPenna [mailto:ellen.lapenna@comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, )uly 18, 2007 9:59 AM
To: bjaoobson@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Thank you!
Dear Councilman Jacobson,
I want to personally thank you for writing and working so hazd to pass Resolution 169-07 to protect
Punalu'u! I cried when I heard the news and am so happy that Hawaii is graced with people who have
the will and vision to protect what is sacred. I hope that with brave leaders like you, Punalu'u can be
purchased and revitalized in a way that honors and genuinely serves the community, while respecting its
rich heritage. Thank you for your brave actions.
Sincerely,
Ellen LaPenna
Albuquerque, NM
I want to offer a quote that I read recently in a book by Edward O. Wilson, The Future of Life. The
Pulitzer-Prize winning Harvazd professor states in his third chapter, Nature's Last Stand:
For most visitors and residents, Hawaii seems an unspoiled island pazadise. In actuality, it is a
killing field of biological diversity. Prehuman Hawaii was biologically diverse and unique. It
teemed from shore to mountain peak with at least 125 and as many as 145 species of birds found
nowhere else... Only 35 of the original species of birds still exist, of which 24 are endangered
with a dozen so rare they may be beyond recovery.
Hawaii's biodiversity today is still rich. But it is highly synthetic: the vast majority of plants and
animals easy to find originated somewhere else....Of the 1,935 free-living flowering plant
species recognized by botanists today, 902 aze alien, and these introduced forms dominate all but
the least disturbed habitats....Once there were over ten thousand kinds of plants and animals
native to Hawaii. Many ranked among the most distinctive and beautiful in the world. They had
descended during millions of years from several hundred pioneer species lucky enough to make
an unassisted landfall on this most distant of Earth's archipelagoes. That number has now been
drastically whittled down. Ancient Hawaii is a ghost that haunts the hills, and our planet is
poorer for its sad retreat.
(Thank you for making a difference and best wishes on the 25th! I' Il be praying for you all. It's also my father's
birthday - he was a councilman in Nashville, Tennessee who worked for minority rights and other gyyood causes.)
Comm. Na 3T'• gs'
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