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Environment

News stories regarding Molokai’s outdoor environment

Hawaii Orchids Today

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Hawaii Orchids Today

Community Contributed

By Glenn I. Teves, UH County Extension Agent

Dendrobium orchids are a major export crop for Hawaii, and are broken into two segments, cut flowers and potted plants. Potted plant production is fairly new, and focuses on compact plants with short sprays facilitating ease of shipping.

The Hawaii dendrobium cut flower industry is based on one dendrobium cultivar, Dendrobium Jaquelyn Thomas, a primary cross of two species, Dendrobium phalaenopsis and Dendrobium gouldii. Together, the best qualities of both parents emerge in an intermediate-sized flower with a shelf life exceeding four to six weeks. This cultivar’s flower color can be found in white, pink, blush, two-tone, and purple.…

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Stuffed and Fluffed

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Stuffed and Fluffed

Taxidermy Hobby Contributes to Science

Arleone Dibben-Young crouched in her living room and gestured to her less-than-lively guests. An albatross occupied her coffee table, Hawaiian Coots gathered on her custom rugs, and a barn owl lay near her couch. She has been sharing her home with more than 40 taxidermy birds she has collected, prepared, stuffed and mounted for research.

“It’s kind of a weird hobby, isn’t it?” she laughed.

Dibben-Young, Molokai’s water bird researcher, has dedicated the last three months to clean out her freezer of birds she’s acquired for the past 10 years, making taxidermies, or skins, she plans to donate to the Bishop Museum on Oahu.…

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Molokai Mom On a Mission

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

 GMO Exposure

Community Contributed

Opinion by Mercy Ritte

Did you know that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) is not only limited to the food we eat? Here is how we may be exposed to GMOs on a daily basis without even knowing it.

Personal care and cleaning products: The next time you lather lotion on your skin or clean your shower, have a look at the product labels you are using.  Among the incredibly long list of synthetic ingredients you may come across soy protein (derived from GM soy) or alcohol and glycerin (both derived from GM corn).  Some healthier options include Dr.…

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No Proof GM Crops are Safe

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Community Contributed

Opinion by Kevin Brown

In 1992, President George W.H. Bush made an executive order stating that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are “substantially equivalent” to ordinary seeds and crops. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) then adopted a policy permitting the production of GM organisms without independent testing.

In the late 1990s, Arpad Pusztai, a molecular biologist and GMO supporter, found that rats fed GM potatoes had “…smaller livers, hearts, testicles and brains, damaged immune systems, and showed structural changes in their white blood cells….”  Pusztai expressed his concerns on a British television program and was promptly suspended and forced to retire from his position.…

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Fertilizing Your Garden

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Community Contributed

By Joe Kennedy

How do you grow a large veggie garden, like a community garden, and get enough fertilizer to make everything thrive? Going to the store and paying higher and high prices for packaged, synthetic, petroleum-based fertilizers that’s been shipped from the mainland is not the answer. So where do we get it? Look around and try to remember the things that have high amounts of nitrogen in them.

Some easy-to-find, high-nitrogen materials include grass clippings from lawns and roadsides, the leaves, seeds, pods and twigs from the monkey pod and koa, and the dirt from under these trees.…

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Rising from the Rocks

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

Rising from the Rocks

Native plants making a comeback

Editorial by Catherine Cluett

We’re bumping along a rocky track, ascending steeply through a landscape some would call lunar. Ahead of us is mostly gray—Kawela’s barren, stony slopes and gulches, topped by a thin line of green where the mountaintops meet the sky. But I can’t help turning in my seat of our all-terrain vehicle toward the view behind us—each bump expands a breathtaking panorama of Maui to the east, Lanai’s slender back, the turquoise fingers of Molokai’s south shore reef, and the slopes of Pu`u Nana to Molokai’s west.

In the years before European contact in the 19th century, these mountainsides were covered in lowland forests, according to historic records.…

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Catching Invasives

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

U.S. Department of Agriculture Molokai inspector Chevy Levasa said it was just a regular day at work for her, but a finding a fungi last year landed her some recognition. She now holds the first report in the U.S. of a strain of fungi called frog-eye spot, or P. morindae, on a noni leaf on Molokai.

“It’s such a regular part of my job, I don’t think much of it,” Levasa said.

A request went out from the USDA office on Oahu for inspectors on every island to collect noni leaf samples, and Levasa — along with Molokai Invasive Species Committee leader Lori Buchanan and her crew — responded.…

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Krazy For Kolea Kontest Winners

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

Nene O Molokai News Release

This year’s 16th annual Krazy For Kolea Kontest winner was an unusually early kolea on the grass at the Puko`o harbor spotted by Mia Evans on July 19. She will receive a Kolea Research T-shirt from the Hawaii Audubon Society and a certificate for a free scoop of ice cream at Kamoi Snack-N-Go.

The kolea or Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) has one of the longest transoceanic migrations of any of the world’s shorebirds, with some birds flying from breeding grounds in Alaska to winter as far away as Madagascar. The species has been documented migrating at speeds of up to 118 miles per hour.…

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Backyard Gardens, New Thinking

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

Community Contributed

By Joe Kennedy

We have so many problems. Write down a list of the world’s most pressing problems and it will become clear that things are dangerously close to more widespread pain and suffering. Global warming, drought, flooding, starvation and warfare are increasing. Agriculture is the world’s biggest polluter in the form of soil erosion and pesticide and herbicide use.  But on the other hand, there’s a new kind of thinking out there that latches on to a certain kind of change and it’s called quantum physics. This new way of thinking is even favorably affecting farming methods and what to do with profits. …

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Hawaii’s Golden Age of Orchids

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

Hawaii’s Golden Age of Orchids

Community Contributed

By Glenn I. Teves, UH County Extension Agent

The first orchids made their way to Hawaii around the mid-1800s via Asia, and by the end of the 19th century, wealthy individuals and even Hawaiian royalty maintained orchid collections. Soon, the average Hawaii resident learned they could grow orchids without effort in the perfect climate.

In late 1945, members of the 442nd Infantry returned home from Europe as decorated heroes, and these Nisei or first generation Hawaii-born of Japanese ancestry took up the growing of orchids as a hobby. Many were self-taught, and took orchid production to another level as they learned new technology.…

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