Aloha, I flew back from Maui and upon leaving, the American Airlines pilot announced over the flight intercom, “Enjoy your flight, we are here to Make America Great.” It appears there is no lack of levity regarding our newly inherited political reality.
Hawaii is a very progressive state politically and environmentally. However, like many progressive areas of America, people are very concerned the brakes are being applied for a sustainable future.
To move our country forward and compete on the world stage, American business leaders have to ignore the Trump doctrines of insanity and ignorance and continue to move our economy toward aggressive renewable-energy initiatives in order to deal with the realities of global climate change. Many thousands of miles off the coast of the mainland, Hawaiians are very concerned regarding Trump’s stand on religious freedom, diversity issues, climate change, free speech and the federal government’s lack of support for a sustainable future.
The last of the island’s sugar cane production facilities was closed and 700-plus employees were laid off, thus ending Maui’s last major agricultural crop. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland are now being considered for alternative production. Maui has the resources to be 100 percent agriculturally and energy independent. This is only possible with a progressive federal agenda that accommodates the realities of our time.
In Germany during the 1930s, the German media was suppressed, alternative truths were spread and diversity was crushed. This is not Germany, but our democracy is threatened. All of us have to be vigilant by contributing in any way that makes sense to organizations like the National Resource Defense Council, ACLU or local community organizations like our own Greenfield YMCA.
We all need to stand up and be accountable in these changing times.
Don Simms
Northfield