D=14977/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
M/Variety
Wed, 29 Apr 2009
Saipan, CNMI - Samoa’s head of state delivered a message that a CNMI lawmaker finds
“profoundly powerful” and very relevant to all islands, reports Marianas Variety.
Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi discussed climate change during a luncheon
fundraiser for the University of Hawaii’s 2009 Stars of Oceania
Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, who attended the event said the Samoan head of
state also addressed the participants of the Pasifika Energy Summit.
Mr Tupua said the fundamental problem was arrogance and greed. “If we want to
seriously address the critical issues that face our world today we have to come up with
something that is bold enough to allow us to say the unsayable. In other words, what is
constructive in this search for answers is also what is most hard to say,” he said.
Arrogance and greed, the Samoan leader, said are human vices that speak to humanity’s
weaker side.
Arrogance, he said, is the ability to rationalize what is wrong from what is right. He
concluded that the relationship among trees, animals, ocean and mother earth should be
one of balance, with boundaries respected and protected.
However, he added, arrogance and greed have blurred the boundaries of what is right and
just.
“As we search for solutions, we must be open to the wisdom of others. What has
happened over the years as man has become more knowledgeable through science is that
that very knowledge has given us a much greater capacity to abuse the elements and
forget the need for harmony,” Mr Tupua said.
What people need is a culture of humility and sharing, he said, and “to protect the
environment one needs to be able to respect the environment.”