The “Three Climateers” are fighting the good fight, but they need more people fighting with them than against them (“Schatz among new generation of U.S. Senate climate hawks,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 21).

Almost everyone knows the Earth has undergone numerous climate changes over the eons. These cooling and warming periods often lasted for many thousands of years before they reversed course, and usually occurred due to the shape of the earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun, or to natural catastrophic events.

In recent decades, however, scientists have discovered that as our species has grown from a billion people a couple of hundred years ago to eight billion now, our numbers and technological advances are impacting the Earth’s climate. Their overwhelming consensus is that the Earth is currently warming at a geologically rapid rate primarily due to human activity.

Before governments impose draconian measures to deal with increasing droughts and heat waves, we must find ways to reduce greenhouse gases, if not capture them.

Robert Griffon

Makiki

U.S. can go far beyond IRA’s climate goals

Let’s celebrate the news that U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is a “climate hawk” in the U.S. Senate and that he sees the landmark Inflation Reduction Act as just the beginning of his work (“Schatz among new generation of U.S. Senate climate hawks,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 21).

The U.S. is indeed capable of far more than what the bill calls for. Take China, for example. If the U.S. bill is “a political miracle,” China’s situation is staggering.

China generates about three times as much green energy as the U.S.

China still leads the world in coal use but is transitioning rapidly and already leads in every form of zero emissions technology, from wind and solar to batteries and green hydrogen.

Hawaii, too, is showing the way by eliminating coal. We sit on top of enough geothermal energy to power us forever. All we need is a few more “climate hawks” to follow Schatz’s lead.

Carol M. Fox

Ala Moana

Candidates must commit to Red Hill shutdown

Despite the looming disaster facing the people of Hawaii — more specifically, the people who rely on water from our sole-source Halawa aquifer — there was nary a murmur from the majority of candidates about the water crisis during the buildup to the recent primary election.

We need to know who will actively fight for the defueling and decommissioning of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. We need to know who will flex all the power available to them to accomplish this, to save our water, to hold the Navy ultimately responsible for the poisoning and potential destruction of our precious aquifer.

In this time before the general election in November, every candidate for public office needs to step up to the plate and commit to shutting down Red Hill. And not by the ridiculous deadline set by the Navy of December 2024. We need to hear your voices, loud and clear, now!

Kudos to state Rep. Bob McDermott for his clear stance early on to shut down Red Hill.

Diane Choy Fujimura

Makiki

Fake news distortions about abortion, Trump

The amount of fake news published here is beyond comprehension.

Roe v. Wade was reversed because the U.S. Constitution does not mention abortion, period. Therefore, it must revert to a state rights issue. Abortion has not been denied except where the voters in each state may make it so.

Donald Trump has not been declared a criminal by anyone or anything meaningful. Quite the contrary, several congressional investigations have determined no illegal activity was conducted, period.

The Jan. 6 committee is not bipartisan, but a “hate Trump” bunch of people selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to guarantee a guilty verdict somewhere, somehow —with a Hollywood director hired to glamorize it up, all to no positive result except spending our hard-earned tax dollars childishly.

Larry Wilson

Aiea

Christian voters would put GOP in power here

If every Christian living in Hawaii would vote for one issue — the morality of this country — the Republican Party would win out on Election Day and gain control of Hawaii’s government from the liberal Democrats who control it.

The Republican Party platform supports “traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman” — a marriage designed originally by God Almighty.

The liberal Democrats support same-sex marriage. We live in a culture in which same-sex marriage is encouraged and celebrated, where gays, lesbians and transgenders are presented as the norm, even going so far as to try and indoctrinate children in mainland elementary schools.

The abortion issue isn’t political or legal; it’s spiritual. Abortions are a rejection of God’s law and principals as revealed in Scripture, and a rebellion against His authority over all of life. All of these immoral issues are supported by the liberal Democratic Party.

Melvin Partido Sr.

Pearl City

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