Kauai Efficient Cooling
There are many ways to cool down your Kauai home without AC to save you energy and money. With all the bright sunshine we get in Hawaii, cooling your home can be a energy hogging task if you use air conditioning.
Take Part
TakePart is a content-driven social action network driving citizen engagement, social action, and positive change on big issues like clean water, education reform, and environmental protection. This program encourages everyone to do their part by providing numerous ways to get involved in worthy causes, whether it’s volunteering for a local organization, making a donation, or voting for a charity to receive additional funding. TakePart is driven by the idea that a good story well told can inspire people to take small steps that drive big changes.
At TakePart.com you can explore today’s issues and decide for yourself where and how you would like to take action. You can vote to help decide which charities will receive funding. And every three months, five charities will be chosen to receive $200,000 each. There are dozens of worthy causes among a diverse group of categories like Arts & Culture, Community Development, Environment & Wildlife, Education, and Health & Wellness. You can also find the right volunteer opportunity for both your heart and your schedule through Volunteer Match. This program is designed to match volunteers with opportunities that meet their interests and availability and reward them for their time.
The website currently highlights five young women who prove that age is not a barrier in making a difference. From magic soccer balls that can power towns to an orphanage in Nepal that is saving lives, the projects from these young women inspire a whole new faith in the upcoming generation. Getting involved in something you feel passionate about is critical to making a positive impact in the world. TakePart will help inform, inspire, and activate you with tools to really make a difference.
Humpback Whale Calves
Humpback whales become reproductively mature when they are between five and eight years of age. They mate during their winter migration to Hawaii, and eleven to twelve months later, upon their return to winter breeding grounds, the mother gives birth to a single calf. A fifty foot mother will give birth to a calf approximately fifteen feet long and weighing around two tons. The newborn instinctively swims to the surface within 10 seconds for its first breath. The mother begins feeding her newborn about 100 pounds of milk each day for a period of around six months, then the calf is sustained through a mixture of nursing and independent feeding for six months more. The mother’s milk is pink in color and exceptionally high in fat content (50%) which allows the calves to gain weight quickly. It is imperative for them to develop a thick layer of blubber prior to their 3,000-mile migration back to the cold Alaskan waters. After weaning, the calf has doubled its length and has increased its weight five times, attaining a size of about thirty feet and ten tons.
In Hawaii, humpback whales typically belong to groups consisting of two to three individuals for relatively short periods of time. The longest association between individual whales is when the mother cow, remains with her calf for a year during nursing. The mother generally never lets her calf stray more than a body length away for very long. They spend the first year or so of the calf’s life together, and the calf learns valuable survival lessons in this short amount of time, and is then weaned and separated. In many instances, cow and calf are accompanied by another adult known as an escort. Escorts can be of either sex, but are most often reported to be males, and remain with them for only a short time. Usually, a female humpback will bear one calf every two or three years, with an average life span between 40 and 50 years.
Kauai History and Preparing Kapa
Kapa is a fabric that was made by native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees. It is similar to tapa found elsewhere in Polynesia but differs in the methods used in its creation. Kapa was used primarily for clothing, while other uses depended on a person’s place in ancient Hawaiian society. Kapa moe (bed covers) were reserved for the aliʻi or chiefly caste while kapa robes were used by kāhuna or priestly caste.
Families would grow their own wauke (paper mulberry) for their use. Tended by both men and women, wauke was grown around the lo`i (taro pond) and nurtured to grow straight and tall. The optimal trees for making fine kapa were from eight to twelve feet tall, and harvested when they are about one to two inches in diameter before they were two years old. As the wauke tree grew, planters cut off the side branches, so a straight trunk stalk without branch holes could later be stripped. Two of the varieties grown in Hawaii that make good kapa are called Laumana or Manalima. Laumana has a straighter growing habit that requires less attention while the Poa’aha tends to produce more branches.
After the trees were harvested, the outer skin (‘ili) was stripped within a few days otherwise it was difficult to remove. Traditionally Hawaiians used various shell implements to scrap away the layers of outer bark which consists of the rough brown bark, a layer of dark green, and pale green beneath. The inner bark fibers, called bast, were then soaked in running water, such as a high tide pool to break down the woody fibers and wash away the starch. More soakings and fermentation followed, resulting in a felted, matted, seamless mass, but leaving the fibers still tough and resilient when finally removed from the waters. At this time in the process, the women of Hawaii would often twist cordage out of the fibers, for use as fish nets (upena) and as carrying nets (koko) from which to hang calabashes of wood and gourds.
previous – Kauai History and Clothing
to be continued…
Hawaiian Shells and Shape
The mantle helps in the formation of the shell’s external features, such as ribs, spines, and grooves. For some species, these features provide protection from predators, added strength, or assist in burrowing. Shells of creatures like the nautilus have complex internal structures, such as multiple chambers containing water and gas that allow the creature to adjust its buoyancy. Most gastropods have coiled shells in the form of a logarithmic spiral, the only form of a coil that can both increase in size and retain its shape. Such an architecture is an efficient way to maintain strength while retaining the compactness of the shell. Some mollusks cement old discarded shells and other sea floor debris to their own shells. They use this technique as a means to camouflage themselves from predators, and to prevent sinking into soft sand or mud. While many mollusks have shells for protection from predators and environmental stresses, shells also have their disadvantages. Shells are permanent structures that mollusks must carry around for the rest of their lives, and its weight could slow the creature down. Some mollusks, such as the squid and octopus, have evolved by eliminating shells altogether.
Shell shape is a product of evolution which is greatly influenced by local environment and type of sea floor. A shell that is low and wide might indicate strong waves or many predators. A thinner, more spherical shell probably comes from deep water, or areas around the north and south pole that are poor in calcium (unlike rich tropical waters). On hard sea floors, crawling gastropods have coiled shells or flat, saucer-like shell cases that allow them to retreat into the shell when in danger. On a sandy or rubble strewn surface, shells have expanded shell edges that help stabilize the mollusk with its opening facing down. In calmer waters, sculpted features such as spines increase the volume of the shell, making the mollusk look more formidable against predators. This also increases the surface area of the shell, allowing other marine organisms to settle on the mollusk’s shell surface, serving as a physical and chemical camouflage. For burrowing in soft muddy or sandy surfaces, some mollusks have evolved smooth, long, tapering shells. Many molluscs are able to withdraw far enough into their shells to be beyond the reach of predators. Others are able to block their apertures with a hardened plug called an operculum.
Environmental changes, injuries, or abnormal conditions of the mantle are often reflected in the shell they form. When the animal encounters harsh conditions which limit its food supply or otherwise cause it to become dormant for a while, the mantle often ceases to produce the shell substance. When conditions improve again and the mantle resumes its task, a ‘growth line’ is produced extending the entire length of the shell. Patterns and colors on the shell after these dormant periods are sometimes quite different from previous colors and patterns. Each species of mollusk will build the external shell in a genetically predetermined shape, pattern, ornamentation, and color, while at the same time, giving itself a look all its own.
