minor environmental issue causes big stir

Residents of Kauai blockaded the new Superferry in protest of it's possible environmental impact. To blockade this one ship is really a joke. I would like to know how many of these people work to recycle their share of the 60 million daily plastic water bottles thrown away each day in America. Or do they know that a 5 hour jet ride is the carbon footprint equivalent of driving a car for a year. How many of them shop at walmart whose environmental abuses, not to mention the low paid Chinese workers, have been documented. Or how many of them own computers and cell phones and other electronic devices from one of the most polluting industries on the planet. We all understand that throwing away your cell phone in protest isn't going to have much of an effect and that schlepping your recycle trash to the collection center doesn't make you feel empowered and united in deed. But are these things any less important? In an over whelming complex consumerist addicted society programmed by 60+ years of TV, deep down in their souls people know it's all a sham and they need to make a stand and they just don't know how. Nor do they feel empowered and so the super ferry became a symbol of unity of something they can tangibly fight. To look each other in the eye and give a shaka sign that says we're fightin' the man bra! No matter that its just a whimper in the swirling industrial behemoth of the global economy riding on worthless currency teetering on total collapse. I start out in harshly judging them as stupid and then I switch to compassion because we're all in this together. God bless our clumsy human foibles.

An addendum to this post: I soften my stance after a Kauai resident pointed out that the super ferry can carry 300 cars. So if it made 2 trips a day and dumped 600 cars on Kauai, which is a small island it wouldn't be very ecological sound as well as causing congestion on an island who's roadways are already congested. Of course I can't imagine there always being two full loads a day but what do I know.