Instead of our usual Thursday meeting, those interested are being requested to attend this hearing in Pukalani to show our support in protecting Haleakala, a sacred site, from the proposed construction of an additional telescope. It is our belief and understanding that this construction would cause damage to Haleakala in an energetic way to an extent that, perhaps, could not be recovered from.

Kathy, who is sending us this information, is a supporter and attendee of our meetings here. Please join us in advocating for Haleakala!

BLNR HEARINGS ON THE PROPOSED ATST TELESCOPE ON

THE SUMMIT OF HALEAKALĀ

When: 6:00 pm Thursday, August 26, 2010

Where: Multipurpose Room,

Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center,

90 Pukalani Street, Pukalani, HI

The University of Hawai’i Institute for Astronomy (UHIfA) has

submitted a conservation district use permit application (CDUA)

to the State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to

construct a 14 story observatory building in a conservation zone,

the sacred summit of Haleakalā; which is also a part of the

Hawaiian ceded lands inventory. Public comment will be allowed

regarding this permit application on Aug 26 at 6 pm. Please

come early to sign up and give public testimony to keep this

structure off the sacred summit of Haleakalā. All studies done

for the proposed project indicate that, in addition to the misuse

of conservation lands, there will be major, adverse, short- and

long-term direct impacts on traditional and cultural resources.

Haleakalā is the only site that applicants looked at (out of 70+

around the world) that is considered sacred to the native local

people. We must let them know that our summit will not be

further desecrated and they should build somewhere else.

For more information go to the website of Kilakila ‘O Haleakalā

www.kilakilahaleakala.org

We were so excited talking about this virtual community – where and how to start, etc., that we did not follow what would otherwise be a typical format for these meetings:

A little re-cap of information and theory each week – how we got to the current state of the Earth, what we can do to work towards a healthy planet, how we can avoid coming to this again…

Then a forum: a sharing of ideas, working towards an understanding of healthy ecology, working towards working together more cohesively, asking questions.

Then sharing information by Art on building a homestead: in addition to a sample configuration of a homestead – where to put what – details on which trees/plants are good to use here on the islands.

We would love to have you join us – starting with our pot luck meal. We aim to sit down around 6 p.m.  A tour of our own sustainable effort here on our farm is available just before eating.

In addition to the fruit orchards we are putting in, we would love to show off the simple but solid retaining wall our awesome Kolealea Family team just built out of pallets (acquired free) and plywood on a foundation of a single layer of cinder blocks, and a deck made out of the same, working towards completing our Community Lounge.

If you can RSVP your planned attendance, please do!

Meeting at:

Kolealea Agricultural Center

1120 Kaupakalua Rd, Haiku

Meeting Room, Main House

Pot luck food to come, plenty for all – bring something if you can - please come either way!

• A little re-cap of information and theory each week – how we got to the current state of the Earth, what we can do to work towards a healthy planet, how we can avoid coming to this again…

• Then a forum: a sharing of ideas, working towards an understanding of healthy ecology, working towards working together more cohesively, asking questions.

• Art will share information on homesteading: in addition to a sample configuration of a homestead – where to put what – details on which trees/plants are good to use here on the islands. This part is really exciting and inspiring because we can walk away from each meeting with more tasks and steps that we can take to work towards sustainability – without even having a piece of land yet. Or things we can do on a small piece of land, even a backyard, even if it is not ours!  There can always be progress towards coming back to working with Nature more, and more…

We would love to have you join us – starting with our pot luck meal. We sit down to munch at around 6 p.m.  A tour of our own sustainable effort here on our farm is available just before eating.

In addition to the fruit orchards we are putting in, we would love to show off the simple but solid retaining wall our awesome Kolealea Family team just built out of pallets (acquired free) and plywood on a foundation of a single layer of cinder blocks, and a deck made out of the same, working towards completing our Community Lounge.

If you can RSVP your planned attendance, please do!

Meeting at:

Kolealea Agricultural Center

1120 Kaupakalua Rd, Haiku

Meeting Room, Main House

I’ll be making fresh tortilla chips again, other pot luck food to come, plenty for all – bring something if you can - please come either way!

Donations of any amount or type (food, service, etc.) are requested and appreciated to help compensate Art for his time and effort in coming here to speak with us.

Thank you, the Kolealea Ohana

http://www.kolealea.com/

Opening with a series of six two-hour learning seminars at Kolealea Farm in Haiku, Maui, the Forum invites you to participate in, ongoing open discussion, in person or on line at www.adaptiveecology.org or by e-mail at www.adeco09@gmail.com

So, Why Adaptive Ecology?

As the science of life, biology objectively defines the organic processes and describes the properties and diversity of plants and animals. Ecology, as a branch of biology, defines the perceived adaptive interactions of organisms with each other and with the environment; which implies interaction with themselves as individuals, with each other, as conspecifics, other species as codependents, and with the abiotic or physical environment; which, taken all together, amounts to interaction of the individual with what we think of as nature. In full recognition of the biologically determined needs of animals, adaptive ecology proposes to study the question: what do animals want? Construed as animal nature or animal intelligence, the subjective, needs and wants of individual animals determine their behavior. By observing the behavior of free-living animals we are rationally permitted to infer their emotional states and intentions.

The study of animal behavior opened up by this subjective/adaptive point of view or what we might begin to identify as the ecological point of view, may be correctly regarded as the field for a science of living; literally translating ecology from an objective science in which the observer stands outside of the environment looking in at the unsuspecting subject organism, to a subjective science, focusing the organism itself as the inside observer of its own systemic needs, symbiotic/altruistic inspirations and sentiments, adaptive imperatives and interactive lifestyle, all within the ecologically cogent and verifiable context of own its own animal nature, in fact, as the focus of self-consciousness, scientific attention and on-the-ground living.

Recognizing ecology as the science of living, furthermore, authorizes the individual to invest his on-the-ground biological needs and wants with ethical implications thus incurring personal autonomy and accountability for his behavior in nature. In the case of Homo sapiens, and, perhaps, to a lesser degree with the pre-human intelligence of other highly evolved species, adaptive ecology assumes specific significance in bringing ethically charged values, ideals, attitudes, appetites, expectations, fantasies hopes and fears into a rational perspective that allows for scientific treatment. Orchestrated as empirical parameters of adaptive and reproductive fitness, these ethically engaged scruples become definitive; constituents, constants and principles of human and animal nature, behavior and culture which, for purposes of further analysis can be conveniently studied as the adaptive instincts or imperatives. So, to return to the crucial question: What do all animals, simply by being alive and self-conscious, if not completely self-aware organisms need and want? For these are precisely the terms and conditions that we need to formulate as the theoretical principles and empirical processes of a science of living, or a sturdy individuative/adaptive ecology.

Animals want to experience well-being as a lifelong and secure condition of living. Prompted by their adaptive instincts, animals seek to optimize conditions of health, learning, peace and love as the working parameters of well-being. At the level of the individual animal, well-being can be summed up simply as the feeling that things fall together, life is good, nature works. Throughout the phylogenetic spectrum, ethical parameters of living constitute what we may define as the terms and conditions through, and by which the individual animal acts and interacts ecologically. Considered as animal nature, then, these ethical values define the goals, needs and wants of individual animals; animals strive to optimize health, learning, peace and love as necessary conditions of ecological living. On the basis of the above analysis, adaptive ecology claims credibility as a scientifically grounded metaphor for working to make the world a better place to live.