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Hawaii Is Still Being Destroyed!
- Thread starter oldhifi
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I don't know what meth addiction's "footprint" look like, but yes -- that's a serious problem in Puna.
During all this trouble, most folks have been going easy on the Puna resident stereotypes, out of courtesy, I suppose.
I live in Hilo. I would never live in Puna, and it has nothing to do with the volcano. Puna is our wild west. Apart from thoughly decent people (the majority, I'd say) you have: aging hippies, meth cookers and meth users, any number of far right-wing "Don't tread on me" types, libertarians, all sorts of woo woo people, regardless of political affiliation, people who just want to live in the forests under blue tarps and be left alone, angry old white men with guns, Sovereignity activists, crazies you can't put in a category, robbers, killers, thousands of cesspools (much worse than septic systems) and, therefore, typically polluted ground water. Puna was ground zero for the coqui invasion, for Rapid Ohia Death (a terrible problem), Little Fire Ants . . . .
And let's not forget the very rich folks from the Mainland and elsewhere who buy up land, erect monster houses in gated communities and then rent them out through VRBO and Air B&B. One figure that was floating around here was that some 80% of the destroyed Kapoho houses were not owner-occupied and were not owned by Big Island residents.
The hand of county government sits very lightly on Puna, and in general Puna likes it that way.
But none of this means we can't be, and shouldn't be, sorry for and feel empathy for, Puna folks who have lost everything.
During all this trouble, most folks have been going easy on the Puna resident stereotypes, out of courtesy, I suppose.
I live in Hilo. I would never live in Puna, and it has nothing to do with the volcano. Puna is our wild west. Apart from thoughly decent people (the majority, I'd say) you have: aging hippies, meth cookers and meth users, any number of far right-wing "Don't tread on me" types, libertarians, all sorts of woo woo people, regardless of political affiliation, people who just want to live in the forests under blue tarps and be left alone, angry old white men with guns, Sovereignity activists, crazies you can't put in a category, robbers, killers, thousands of cesspools (much worse than septic systems) and, therefore, typically polluted ground water. Puna was ground zero for the coqui invasion, for Rapid Ohia Death (a terrible problem), Little Fire Ants . . . .
And let's not forget the very rich folks from the Mainland and elsewhere who buy up land, erect monster houses in gated communities and then rent them out through VRBO and Air B&B. One figure that was floating around here was that some 80% of the destroyed Kapoho houses were not owner-occupied and were not owned by Big Island residents.
The hand of county government sits very lightly on Puna, and in general Puna likes it that way.
But none of this means we can't be, and shouldn't be, sorry for and feel empathy for, Puna folks who have lost everything.
Here's a spectacular video (Facebook). Notice how fast the pahoehoe lava is moving.
And from Mauna Kea's summit (13,800'), the catwalk at the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope, here's webcam video that's just become available. Kanoa W. is a friend; he built the camera. The housing was made from an old milk can. Kanoa calls it "riftcam."
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/cloudcams/video.php?cam=cloudcam3
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/cloudcams/video.php?cam=cloudcam3
One idiot said that the island of Oahu was being evacuated! Seriously? Oahu is something like 200 miles from the Big Island (Hawaii). Between the island of Oahu and Hawaii there are Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, and Molokai. If you want a really dangerous island try Kahoolawe - it was formerly a naval target island and there is lots of un-exploded ordnance. The Hawaiian volcanos are not like Krakatoa - they do not explode and shake the world. I would have no hesitation about visiting any of the inhabited Hawaiian islands right now - just don't do anything stupid. You are more likely to be killed while crossing the street in Honolulu than from lava overwhelming your house on Hawaii.