State in Emergency

Amazing and hard to believe, but global warming has the strangest effects in the islands. The papers are full of stories about the storms that have been hitting Oahu in the past week, all mentioning how nobody has ever seen this kind of weather. More and more blame it on the ability of winter storms to reach farther down to the tropics, and consequently to the islands.

Fortunately things are calming down, and we are enjoying a gorgeous Hamakua day around here. The wind is blustery, but who cares considering it could be raining? The sun is out, even here in Ninole, and being inside the house is amazing. Let’s hope the weather stays this way until tomorrow, when I’ll be able to go to the beach for the first time.

How odd it must be for someone that has been living here for decades to see the weather turning so strange. People were talking about thunder and lightning, things unseen this far South. Dams broke because of the unusual rainfall; a sewage line in Waikiki spilled over, poisoning Ala Wai canal and making (GASP!) Waikiki beach unusable. Imagine thousands of tourists stuck in their hotel rooms, with the smell of raw sewage wafting in.

Hilo and the Big Island are lucky. We are far enough South that all those changes don’t affect us. There is Maui as an additional line of defense. Then Oahu, which is being pummeled right now. And even here, Brad was complaining about horizontal rain coming in and making it through the (crappy) siding. He had to caulk it all in a fury.

What are we doing to ourselves? This is such a precious planet, why waste it this way?