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Flying Hawaiian flags upside-down on multi-ton, gas-guzzling vehicles in support of Hawaii's aina is the definition of hypocrisy -- pretending to have principles or beliefs that one in fact does not have. This perfectly describes Maui residents with inverted flags on vehicles emitting carbon monoxide and other carbon-based pollutants. Decades ago it was VW vans (and other vehicles) at the dawn of the environmental movement displaying pro- "ecology" bumper stickers. They had no clue whatsoever that their own fossil-fuel-burning vehicles were (and of course still are) primary contributors to global environmental degradation.
Here in Hawaii the hypocrisy is heightened by the aina activists declaring mountaintops on the Big Island and Maui are sacred. All Earth's aina -- that is, the environment -- is sacred and we're all desecrating it with our lifestyles. What to do? The two most impactful changes any individual can make to combat environmental degradation is to stop driving fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, and stop eating animal-based diets, as animal agriculture is a huge contributor to climate change. Extremely few people are willing to make just these two changes. We're all contributors to the degradation of Earth's sacred aina, which of course is no more sacred anywhere in Hawaii than it is anywhere on the Mainland, or worldwide.
Long ago I became vegan, but I still drive a gas-powered vehicle while shopping for an electric one. But there are no upside-down flags or "pro-ecology" stickers on my car -- I couldn't live with the hypocrisy such symbols represent on a gas-powered vehicle.
Jerome Kellner
Kahului