91Ö±²¥

‘Heritage of our night sky is worth preserving’

The state Legislature has convened for the 2026 session, and on the docket is the passage of a light pollution bill (Senate Bill 2278) that will change the way 91Ö±²¥ lights the night.

There is a misconception that dark sky initiatives means no light. What it means is better light that doesn’t pollute the sky and won’t harm night pollinators, marine life, migratory and local birds, and human health.

Like the plastics that were released into our environment without understanding the long-term impact, so too has the proliferation of high-intensity, blue-rich white lights created havoc on both nature and human health.

Think how long it took before somebody realized turtles were choking on plastic bags. So plastic bags were finally banned to protect turtles.

If you believe that all the nocturnal animals and people deserve the same kind of protection from the harm created by white LED lights, then contact your representative. If you are tired of your neighbor’s lights shining into your yard or house, if you believe the heritage of our night sky is worth preserving for future generations, then act like you do. Write, call, advocate.

There are those in 91Ö±²¥ who live where the stars can’t be seen anymore, but we can still preserve what is left in those places where it is still dark at night.

Joni Mitchell wrote in her song “Big Yellow Taxi”: “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” which was written about 91Ö±²¥ when she toured the islands and came back to see what had happened.

In the song, the famous refrain, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”

Don’t let 91Ö±²¥’s dark skies disappear. Act to save the heritage of 91Ö±²¥an star lore and its pristine night skies.

Michael Marlin

Pahoa

A day will come when Trump will leave office

It seems that daily, we see one new outrage after another coming from this president. More than a month after the law demanded the full release of the Epstein files, something like only 1% has been released.

In that time, he bombed Nigeria, deposed the head of state of another country, took funding for child care assistance in five blue states, praised the Jan. 6 rioters, threatened to end NATO by invading a nearly century long ally, blamed Renee Good for behaving badly, justifying her murder, and has begun the military occupation of an American city.

The Trump government is using power to overwhelm the country. The one thing that has always been true is that there is only so much power in the battery.

dictatorship falls eventually, often when the head of the snake dies. The Trump administration has fired every capable person in the government, which is now left with loyalists like Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Kristi Noem to run things. They are as incompetent as they are cruel. This is not a government that is going to last.

But even more persistent than evil is . Here in 91Ö±²¥, clear a piece of land and before you blink, jungle grows back. The most fundamental quality we have as humans is the desire for connection with each other — love. Life and love persist, even in the face of oppression and evil.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning, there will be a day when Trump and his goons are no longer in power. There be a reckoning. ICE agents should be reminded that there is no statue of limitations on murder.

As sure as there is still love in your heart, life will persist, long after the Trump dictatorship is gone.

Russ Button

Pahoa