Organic farming can’t feed the world

Farmers have done a terrible job telling our story, but didn’t assume we had to ("State must take lead in GMO debate," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Jan. 12).

What could be more important and valued by all than 1 percent of our population growing food for the other 99 percent, with the world’s safest and most affordable food supply?

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest and most prestigious scientific society, issued this statement: "The science is quite clear: Crop improvement by the modern molecular techniques of biotechnology is safe."

One cannot be for sustainability yet reject science in agriculture. We cannot feed the world with organic farming, which takes more resources in land and water, than conventional and science-based farming.

Farmers are under attack from a very vocal minority. We need the silent majority and anyone who values eating to speak up.

We pray our elected officials will do what is right, rather than yield to the loud din of fear-mongers and Luddites.

Alan Gottlieb
Kapolei

Make parents spend time at schools, too

I am writing in response to the state’s idea offundingpreschool education forlower-income families.

I agree that children from disadvantaged homes should benefit from a good education, but this educationshould not be offeredwithout accountability from recipient families.

Those organizations who help fund education must require parents or guardians to equally invest in theirchildren, such as requiring signatures for daily at-home reading and attending teacher conferences. Parents shouldbe requiredto donate their time toparticipating schools if a free or discounted education is being awarded.

There are many ways to help our schools from home, help chaperone field trips, or help with teacher-led projects. Many private schools have a volunteer requirement for tuition assistance. State-funded tuition should not be any different.

Show support through your own examples.Our keiki certainlydeserve our full support.

Brenda Ryan
Kapolei

The poor pay for solar power for rich

Hawaii is no different than the ISS (International Space Station) in that we are totally reliant on resupply for our basic needs.

But unlike the ISS, which is able to generate all of its own power through a solar array, Hawaii imports fossil fuel to essentially power a big Honda generator for our island.

During the day we have an endless source of power showering our islands, yet we squander that free energy by burning fossil fuels to run air conditioning to keep ourselves cool.

The 4.8 percent dividend that Hawaiian Electric Industries pays to its shareholders should be used to build out our smart grid. This is double jeopardy for those who can’t afford photovoltaics, don’t drive an electric vehicle and aren’t HEI shareholders. The poorest of our community are supporting the wealthiest through their monthly utility bills. This is simply unfair.

Mark Enomoto
Waialae Nui

Krauthammer wrong about Israel

It’s disturbing that you give prime column space to this Zionist Israel-firster Charles Krauthammer ("Selective boycott of Israel nothing but anti-Semitism," Star-Advertiser, Jan. 10).

If Krauthammer were honest, he would have devoted some coverage among his many words to the bottom-line reason that Israel, and the Zionists who evermore control it and our America, are reviled and opposed (including via boycott, divestment and sanction) throughout the informed and caring world.

That reason is the dispossession and slow genocide visited sadistically upon the Palestinians whose land was invaded and occupied by European colonialist foreigners many decades ago and who have been treated with historic disdain and injustice ever since. There’s nothing "anti-Semitic" (whatever that is; the Palestinians are Semites!) or anti-Jewish about decent people acting on principle against illegal occupation and for justice too long delayed.

Robert H. Stiver
Pearl City

Chinatown’s future is headed downhill

Can someone explain how the proposed city affordable-housing deal, replacing gap-income residents with those of lower income, will benefit businesses and the rest of the Chinatown community?

Many businesses are hanging by a thread, and survive because nearby residents patronize them. As the incomes of nearby residents decrease, these denizens will not be able to afford food and goods for sale in their neighborhood.

What the city is doing is ghettoizing Chinatown, eventually turning it into a slum.

Lynne Matusow
Downtown Honolulu

UH students should get what they pay for

Students who pay $4,500 in tuition per semester, expecting to attend the university campus in beautiful Manoa Valley, should be upset if they have to travel to Kakaako or anywhere off campus to attend classes ("Construction will squeeze UH classes off campus," Star-Advertiser, Jan. 11).

Tuition should not be increasing for having to attend classes on a campus described by UH officials as a "war zone" or one that needs to be "brought into the 21st century."

Students who are paying for it now will not be around to enjoy the benefits later.

University officials should consider moving some administrative offices off campus to free up more classroom space for students during the construction period.

Maybe students should consider registering at UH-West Oahu. Maybe not. I’ve heard that West Oahu’s student fees may include charges for services that are not yet available.Will they ever get what they pay for?

Dennis Kohara
Kaimuki