Pirates of South Pacific

Yeah, they did (by replacing the vegetation on half the island with pine trees and now Taiohae doesn't have enough water and once mighty waterfalls are down to a trickle), but I have to find a lot more information to cover it in the way I want to and there is painfully little of it on the web. So bear with me as I ask friends with more experience in this stuff for help.

Disclaimer: I'm aware that this is peanuts compared to the way the ecosystem of Hawai'i is being wholesale destroyed by the US occupaion, and that in contrast to Native Hawaiians, most French Polynesians appear to be in favor of remaining a part of France. I understand the nuance. Not all colonizers are created equal, and these days the overseas territories that are still a part of France have economic benefits that are hard to ignore. Stephan on Rangiroa made a great point, that Polynesia was lucky that the French came here after the revolution and not before, with all the cultural changes that brought about. Meanwhile, the US treats both its citizens and overseas territories as overt, unlimited points of extraction. The differences are very stark.

This is why I'm not going to visit Hawai'i, because I see the overwhelming pleas of its people not to. Some day, when it's independent and with the consent of its people, I would love to visit Hawai'i as well.

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