Maui Coastal Land Trust might sound a little – fuddyduddy – but the name is sorely misleading.  A few years ago, I was unwittingly roped into volunteering at one of their “gala’s,” and was pleasantly surprised to discover that many of the event attendees had kept with the paniolo (cowboy) theme of the night, and were dressed with boots and rhinestones to the hilt.  This year there will also be dancing and a live auction that does not sell funky antique traveling roadshow items, but rather “Adventures for the ‘Aina,” …

Councilmem ber Mike Molina is presenting a new bill that would allow us to install wind turbines… in our backyards. Now, how do we f eel about that? Are you already calling up the wind turbine superstore or worried that a towering giant with loud blades is going to be slicing up your view of the sunset? These small, new wind turbines are just that, new, and it’s going to take tweaking and experimenting to work out the best system to use them efficiently.
For now, Molina has drafted …

This past Sunday (12/06/09) afternoon, rescuers from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary freed a juvenile Humpack.   The entangled young whale was first spotted by a whale-watching cruise on Dec 1st.  Apparently hundreds of feet of polypropylene rope was entangled through the animals mouth, around its head and behind its blowhole.
Members from NOA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office and Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) were allowed close enough to cut the lines using specialized equipment after a …