FULL MOON - Wednesday September 26th, 9:46am
  HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY - Luapele: Volcano
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY - “The firebrand soars proudly over the cliffs.”

September 25, 1982:  People on Maui quickly get reacquainted with the concept of VOG - volcanic air pollution. On this day, Kilauea Volcano erupts - to everyone’s surprise. A 3/4- mile-long fissure opens south of Halema’uma’u. Lava gushes up to 200 feet in the air. Eventually dozens of homes are destroyed and the road around the south of Hawaii Island is blocked. Kilauea has been erupting ever since and recently has threatened more homes.

The term VOG is not scientific. It is a play on words, from SMOG, and lately on Maui it has become somewhat controversial. Several scientists have now said that VOG rarely comes to Maui. On the days when the trades die down, and the valley, from Kihei to Wailuku, fills with a rust colored haze, many Mauians blame VOG. Not so. It is nothing more than SMOG, from the increase in traffic pollution.

Both VOG and SMOG contain similar pollutants - including dangerous sulfur dioxide - which can cause serious lung ailments. Both have been blamed as causes for the rise in asthma in Mauian children. Read more …