Page 2 - MidWeek Kauai - March 9, 2022

2 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK MARCH 9, 2022
We Are God’s Fingerprints
“The fingerprints of God are often invisible until you look at them in the rearview mirror.” — Levi Lusko
IShelf Life
f you’ve been to a store recently, you might have
It was a California sum- mer, and I was flying to Madagascar on a mercy mission unlike anything I had ever experienced.
ance and mitigate poverty. The Rev. Henri de Laulanié, a Jesuit priest and agronomist, had discovered how rice actu- ally grows. The system of rice intensification produces 100% more rice with 50% less water, 90% less seed and 10% to 20% less labor, all without micro- lending, fertilizer, pesticides or special seed. We were in Madagascar to lead an African conference and demonstrate this agro-ecological method for productivity by changing the management of plants,
tunes of the poorest farmer by doubling, often tripling, production and income levels.
noticed the phenomenon known as “empty shelf syn-
Over $1 trillion in devel- opment-related aid has been transferred from wealthy countries to Africa. We knew an overreliance on aid would trap the African people in a vicious cycle of dependency, corruption and further pov- erty. I was therefore thrilled when Jim Carrey invited me to fly with his team to witness and photograph a new model of loaning money to profitable projects owned and operated by local people. The money invested could be returned, and the cycle of reinvestment would guarantee economic growth, strengthen self-reli-
When we receive letters like the following, it becomes clear why I travel the world to share this technology and to educate farmers in achiev- ing sustainable livelihoods: “This increase in crop pro- duction means my family has more income throughout the year. I’m grateful my wife and children don’t have to migrate to the towns or cities for work to make ad- ditional money. Our family can now stay together and not be living apart.”
manently touching the lives of farmers and their families on the other side of the world.
John Jolliffe, a licensed marriage and family therapist, has been in private practice for 40 years. His humanitar- ian interests are motivated by a desire to not simply “help” the world, but to change it through interventions that have the greatest impact with the least disruption to nature and populations. Learn more at sririce.org.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Robin Stephens Rohr and Lynne Johnson.
drome.” That’s where one section is completely bare, and not necessarily because the missing items are popular. The supply chain issues we know about due to numerous reasons is just one more vestige of the coronavirus era, which ain’t over yet.
Shipping, trucking, production, personnel and micro- chip issues continue to wreak havoc with local middlemen and retailers. A produce-supplying friend of mine said he normally gets kiwi fruit (the gold ones are great, and have more folate, vitamin C and sugar) shipped from New Zea- land to Honolulu in two weeks, and plans accordingly. But during this shipping/supply crisis, the fruit takes six weeks to get here. Good luck timing ripeness, delivery and stocking issues.
soil, water and nutrients. The typical Madagas- car rice farmer can produce enough food for only four months and must therefore supplement farming with other manual labor. But this method could reverse the for-
Human beings making a positive difference by uplift- ing the lives of others are in- deed the fingerprints of God. And those fingerprints are per-
With fewer cars than ever on most showroom floors, I queried a local senior automotive executive about when local car dealers would start planning/selling 2023 mod- els, since the 2022s might not be en route here until this summer, right about when the new 2023s will start being promoted. Not a lot of historical precedent for some of these lingering problems.
with John Jolliffe
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: BRONZE
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With our isolation, these situations become even more difficult, exacerbated by the fact that so many retailers are having trouble finding employees at their locations. Again, there are many reasons for this, but the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. It’s tough to make ends meet if there’s no one working the register, cooking the food or answering the phone. So, while we all look forward to a return to retail normalcy, the human element and product scarcity issues remain a bona fide concern. When you notice your favorite products missing from store shelves, the next time when you do see ‘em, should you hoard, just to be safe? I mean, there are things that make each of our worlds go ‘round — besides toilet paper.
Last summer, food website Grocery Dive provided info from research proclaiming that 46% of consumers “have built a stockpile of supplies” as the delta variant took con- trol. But even today, stores can’t afford to over-purchase items and then get stuck, especially with food items with expiration dates. So, we start to open up, thankfully, as the new normal surely presents additional unique realities and post-pandemic ripples that will remind us what we’ve just gone through even as we seek to forget.
Think about it ...
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com