Mass plastic in Pacific Ocean a recipe for disaster. Will So Maui be affected more?

KCA has been a very strong environmental voice for decades. We urged the County Council to pass a plastic bag reduction bill (successfully) and a Styrofoam reduction bill (unsuccessfully). But at least partially due to our location mostly along the shoreline of Maalaea Bay, protecting the near shore waters and the coral reef infrastructure has been a leading concern is this category, which each of these examples do, but there are myriad others as well.. ..

Generally our focus has been based on the logic of the ahupua’a, that any cause from the top of the mountain makai needs to be considered in shoreline protection. While this perspective remains, we also see the need to watch with concern what reaches this area from beyond the kai. from the other side. So far our beaches have not suffered the fate of those on other areas in Hawaii, such as “plastic beach” on the Big Island, but as winds and currents are subject to change, our time could be coming with very dire consequences.

The Pacific ocean gyres , AKA ocean garbage patches, seem to be expanding with disastrous effect to all creatures living in the ocean & landlubbers who consume these creatures with very little mitigation A recent presentation at the Maui Ocean Center (MOC) by Jim “Homer” Home offered how a small group of individuals is leading the way in doing something about this concern..

The following graphics from his power point illustrate this efforts to remove this plastic and convert it to fuel. While our belief is the major need is to stop plastics being dumped into our oceans, Homer and his team are working to show how some of the already existing can be removed, and we applaud their effort..