December 15, 2004

The Green Desert

The mystery huge flowering plant of the tree tunnel. The white flowers make it almost look like some sort of cartoon creature!

I woke to a screaming headache this morning... I groaned and waited till the sun came up to see what I knew I would see... an orange sky filled with the Sulphourous gases from Kilauea Volcano. The Kona Winds have been Blowing and unlike the Santa Ana South wind of the Los Angeles childhood, which usually blew the smog out, the Kona wind brings pollution with it and makes a lot of people ill. The sky was so hazy it brought to mind the Smog Days when we had to stay in and not play outside as the air was so bad...Betcha never thought youd have smog in paradise...

Ususally we dont. We get so much rain that the air stays clean and clear. It was fine when I got back last week. Woody complained that it rained all last week... Not too unusual in an area that gets 165+ inches of rain a year, more or less. We have been in somewhat of a drought as we have had only 89 inches of rain last year year...its nearly a record dry year. This year its been a more normal 120 inches... All and All, The weather has been wonderful and other than being concerned for those souls that depend on catching rainwater for their drinking and other water needs, I would rather that it stay dry as well.

The landscape here suffers though if it doesnt rain everyday at least a little. It dries out in the heat and the plants die quickly... We live in an area that is relatively new land. This side of Hawaii island has constant volcanic activity. As recently as 1960 areas within a mile of my home have had lava flow. My house is on top of such a flow, solid rock with no top soil. Grasses, plants and even trees grow out of the very porous rock. Moisture gets trapped in the smallest crevices, and provides a hospitable environment for growing things. It dries up quickly. I have seen it rain 36 inches in 36 hours and have no puddling in the yard or drive, it sinks in that fast. Flooding happens only where there is soil, or in Hilo where they have paved over much of the town, and the streams that drain off Mauna Kea bring torrents of water down to the bay. In 2000 a huge rain driven flood did a lot of damage to parts of downtown. The current location of the shop is in a danger area. We could have some flooding at the front door area. We'd sandbag inside and outside the front door if needed.

So I tell people that I live in the Green Desert. It really is. When you drive up the Hamakua or Windward Coast you will be amazed at the water dripping off everything yet there never seems to be any bodies of water, no lakes or ponds. That's because the island is one huge water tank, a aquifer, with water seeping out under the sea and on land too. While on the Kona Side you have parched desert. Check out John's blog, Kona, Naturally!, and see his glorious photos of a spare and beautiful desert landscape. Now this year they have had twice the normal amount of rain and the hills and trees stayed green into the late summer.

I said that most people here in the Puna District use "Catchment" systems to gather the water used for bathing, toilet flushing, and if you have a really good system that kills the microbes you can drink it too. If your tank runs dry you can have it filled by the water man who brings his big truck and hose. There are water spigots along the main highway for people to get drinking water for free. In our subdivision we have a water system. This are was known since the old times for its water. "Puna" means "springs" as we understand them. Water flowing from the ground. The developers tapped it and the 5500 homes ( more or less) reap a real benefit. Our water is rated the best in all of the Hawaiian Islands. After growing up in Southern California, where the water is so hard,and full of chemicals it is the consistency of jello, (just kidding!) this is bliss, just having a glass of water. I drink a lot of it and prefer it to any other beverage. It makes superb coffee and tea too. My water bill in California was 50.00 a month (I did a lot of gardening), here its 15.00 a month unlimited usage. More Hawaiian bliss. The only thing that tastes as good as this water is the fruits that grow here in that water.

The Orchid grows on trees nourished by the rain, as do ferns and other plants.. The Bamboo Orchid that was in my previous post is not a true orchid and grows on a cane like stalk just about anywhere that it can establish. A Native of India, it was brought here by British missionaies as cuttings, as were many of the gingers and the plumeria. 90 percent of all plant and animal life in Hawaii was brought here by man including most of the plants that we think of as cultural icons of this land, the hibiscus, the coconut palm, the pineapple.

This is a fragile land... more so than I think we understand. As we change it. Bulldoze it for new homes, add landfills and waste, we damage the irreplacable. I dont know how you avoid this, for I believe in progress, but I do think that we need to take a closer look at the long term needs of "the Aina" for the land needs sustaining, or it cannot sustain us...