Why Saving Paradise

Posted on March 21, 2013 by lesleycarter

I recently read a novel called Saving Paradise that I really enjoyed so I spoke with the author about why he wrote it and if it had a “bucket list” impact on his life. His passion and commitment to Saving Paradise was both inspirational and bucket list related; it’s definitely worth sharing with you.

Featured writer: Mike Bond

I wrote SAVING PARADISE to help save one of the most beautiful places on earth – Molokai. Unknown to most folks but rated by National Geographic as the world’s sixth most beautiful island, it is, as I say in SAVING PARADISE, “much more beautiful than that.”

With the world’s tallest sea cliffs on one side and the longest coral reef north of Australia on the other, Molokai is a paradise of rain forests, mountains, green bush, homeland farms, tawny savannas and near-deserts. There are no stoplights, no buildings higher than a palm tree, few places to shop, one hotel and a couple of restaurants. Residents say simply, “Molokai’s in your DNA,” to explain its seduction, why when you leave you just have to come back.

Four years ago, a group of energy companies decided to take over Molokai for a huge industrial wind project that would have sent power via an undersea high voltage cable through the National Humpback Whale Sanctuary to Honolulu. Although wind projects do not lower greenhouse gases or fossil fuel use, they have enormous negative environmental, social and economic impacts. But they do make billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies for energy companies and investment banks – money our nation has to borrow and can probably never repay.

This project would have destroyed Molokai, and after four years the island’s people have finally defeated it. But we know more dangers await us. That’s what happens when you live in paradise, everyone wants a piece.

The world was once full of paradises, but now they’re running out. Much of where the land meets the seas is now concrete – the formerly beautiful coasts of Spain, Mexico, Bali, Florida and so many other places. “Los Angeles” means “The Angels”, because once there was no more beautiful spot on earth. Even at night our earth glows with a human melanoma.

Our exploding human population will soon put an end to paradise. It will be a world of cities and deserts. So those of us who love the unknown, who love travel to mysterious and exciting places, we too must join the fight to save what’s left of the magical beauty of this earth. We too must take part in saving Paradise.

33 thoughts on “Why Saving Paradise”

yearwoodcom on March 21, 2013 at 6:38 pm said:

What an incredible story. I’d never heard of Molokai before reading this. It’s fascinating and sobering to think of what we’ve lost and could still lose.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Pingback: Why Saving Paradise | Nutrientscure's Blog
mkesling63 on March 21, 2013 at 7:04 pm said:

This is a good story. Natural beauty has more then a great view in it for all. It has health.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
JohnRH on March 21, 2013 at 7:06 pm said:

I visited Molokai nearly a year ago: http://fairplay740.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/maui-2012-day-five-molokai/ . I have about 10 posts on my Maui trip on my blog. Not only did the power company want to put windmills on Molokai and export the power all the way to Oahu, I was told they weren’t going to give ANY of the power to Molokai, or at least not for free or a discount. Surprisingly I didn’t take any pictures of the windmills that climb the north part of Maui like something out of Space Odyssey. Here is brief info about that: http://www.mauihawaii.org/maui/windmills-power.htm .

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Java Girl on March 21, 2013 at 7:12 pm said:

I never knew about this project. It’s true. Paradise areas from around the world are being affected by construction. Thanks for telling us about this book!

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Cosmo on March 21, 2013 at 7:12 pm said:

Ahhhh… I so need an island. 🙂 Thank you for the reminder.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
writecrites on March 21, 2013 at 7:20 pm said:

I’m in the middle of reading it now. Since I live in Hawaii, it hits close to home. I didn’t know, as I’m sure many didn’t, that these wind farms really don’t provide much electricity. Now I’m very glad Molokai residents fought to keep them away. Good for you, Mike, putting this out there.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Deb W. Trotter on March 21, 2013 at 7:30 pm said:

I’ve never been to Molokai, but I’m glad it is a Paradise saved.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Hannah Zhang on March 21, 2013 at 8:55 pm said:

watching Planet Earth gives me cabin fever, to know there are so many magnificent places outside of my daily hamster-wheel. thanks for sharing, Lesley and Mike.
Mike, it’s encouraging to see people who recognize that we don’t own the earth and its pieces of paradise, and strive to protect and be accountable for them.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
- Mohamed Ossama on March 22, 2013 at 2:06 am said:
  
  Exactly! Planet Earth gave us a glimpse of how our world really is, and how by every passing day it is destructed due to our ignorance and stupidity..
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply ↓
darylgstewart on March 21, 2013 at 10:45 pm said:

Molokai was originally the home of a colony of lepers!

LikeLike

Reply ↓
travelingaround50 on March 22, 2013 at 12:20 am said:

Thank you for reminding once more. The issue is very important and I also reblogged it to my site.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Pingback: Why Saving Paradise | skypream.org
Tara VanOrsdal on March 22, 2013 at 7:46 am said:

I’ve been to Molokai and loved it. Total relaxation and beautiful

LikeLike

Reply ↓
JohnRH on March 22, 2013 at 9:12 am said:

My memory being what it isn’t at my age, it was LANAI that was fighting the windmill fight last year and is still. Here is a ref: http://friendsoflanai.org/ .

LikeLike

Reply ↓
- JohnRH on March 22, 2013 at 9:20 am said:
  
  I also did a post that includes Lanai: http://fairplay740.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/maui-2012-full-day-two/ .
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply ↓
Elements of Imagery on March 22, 2013 at 10:55 am said:

I completely understand why the people of Molokai are fight against the wind farm initiative. When I was camping on the Big Island, I went to an area called South Point, there I saw what was basically a wind mill graveyard. Wind mills sound like a good idea, but their maintenance is extremely costly and it’s even more expensive to take them down. So they’re left there with blades missing and rust developing as they become an eyesore to the community. That’s not the paradise people envision when they think of Hawaii…but it’s an unfortunate reality in some parts.

Thanks for sharing this book and the author’s words! I will definitely have to add Molokai to my travel list. 🙂

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Let's CUT the Crap! on March 22, 2013 at 11:23 am said:

Yay to the people of Molokai! Sometimes big business is just WRONG and must be pushed back otherwise not only will no more paradise exist but the world will implode.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Pingback: Make you Fink on Friday | Eco-Crap
Alejandro De La Garza on March 22, 2013 at 12:09 pm said:

I’m glad Molokai residents managed to stop that wind farm madness. Not every modern technological advance is environmentally friendly and humans don’t necessarily belong in every spot on Earth.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Ja @Athlete Within Ja on March 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm said:

This calls for a beach! 🙂 I am wishing for a warmer weather soon! I am so over winter… thanks for sharing. 🙂

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Mia Simó on March 22, 2013 at 2:13 pm said:

I totally understand. I’m from the Dominican Republic, and throughout the years, several foreign companies have taken ‘their part’ of this island. It is amazing how economy threatens our landscapes and even protected habitats, instead of taking a positive advantage of them as touristic resources. Citizens have organized pacific protests in some cases. You can google ‘Música por los haitises’ (against the construction of a cement manufacturer in the National Park Los Haitises), ‘Voces amarillas’ (a concert aiming for the approval of the constitution’s supposed 4% of the GDP for education in the country), and many protest against the gold mining company Barrick Gold (this is how nearby rivers look like http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nHwuUg8GZUQ/SzysdggNfnI/AAAAAAAABRk/4K1CawJNoU4/s1600/17045_101266916570120_100000604372614_30349_5214917_n.jpg

It is a very sad situation, considering that the Dominican Republic is such a beautiful and peaceful island. You say that ‘Our exploding human population will soon put an end to paradise’, and I couldn’t agree more. We must always protect our home.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
B Gourley on March 22, 2013 at 3:38 pm said:

Good points. I didn’t even know night skies existed as could be seen from the rural Andes until I went to Peru. Nowhere else in the world have I seen sky that vivid.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Carol Wuenschell on March 22, 2013 at 8:00 pm said:

We must also fight to control population growth. We must find ways to sustain prosperity for those who are here without feeling that we need more and more people to do it. Every ecological problem we face is made worse by scale. No technology is sustainable if it done on too large a scale. Any technology is sustainable if it can be reduced to a small enough scale.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
sassiitalytours on March 23, 2013 at 5:52 am said:

Molokai is definitely on my bucket list of places as well, and I’m definitely in agreement that we should be wise and judicious about where we deploy alternative energy solution infrastructure.

But from what I’ve read in climate science circles, wind has been subjected to a giant disinformation campaign from climate denial sources. It’s well suited to pairing with solar (on days when the weather is bad it tends to be windy, and on calm days it tends to be sunny).

It should be placed where it doesn’t ruin vistas and bird habitats, but I think it’s carbon reduction potential is pretty well scientifically grounded. It’s certainly better than tar sands and coal.

But yes thanks for helping spread the word about how important saving the precious few pristine places we have left is.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
LizForADay on March 23, 2013 at 8:01 am said:

I’m definitely a tree hugger so that may a book I need to read. Thanks for the review. 🙂

LikeLike

Reply ↓
healingpilgrim on March 24, 2013 at 6:25 am said:

Would love to read that book, thnx for the heads-up! Unfortunately the scourge of globalization – with all its attendant erosion and trash – has hit places close to heart & home (in my case, Bali).

LikeLike

Reply ↓
arinanira on March 25, 2013 at 1:53 am said:

this is so beautiful! i love your blog 🙂

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Ara on March 25, 2013 at 3:16 am said:

The balance between developing our urban centers and maintaining nature is difficult without a grassroots movement that comes from all of us, or a top down, government program. I’d be curious to see how much coastland is protected by the state and federal government.
I for one, believe it’s better to sacrifice some business in order to retain nature. Once we commercially develop those natural habitats, they are gone, and it would be hard to turn back the clock.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
ealabord on March 25, 2013 at 7:07 am said:

Great post! So true. I never had a chance to visit Molokai while I lived in Maui but hope to visit next time.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Catherine Burden (@AlwaysARedhead) on March 25, 2013 at 2:51 pm said:

I’ve never heard of Molokai, now that I have, I am most certainly please it will be there for my grandchildren (when they arrive of course.) Thanks for reading the book and blogging about Molokai.

LikeLike

Reply ↓
Pingback: 2013 Bucket List | Bucket List Publications
Pingback: Accepting Defeat or Recognizing Greatness | Bucket List Publications