Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Musings: Still Talking

So five people (including me) sat down last night in front of a small group to talk about bees and pesticides — or more obliquely, the seed (GMO) companies — and nobody raised a voice or a sign or a fist.

Whew. Despite the polarization surrounding this issue, respectful, meaningful discourse is still possible.

Nothing was solved, but views, concerns and ideas were shared. Doors were opened. Most important, perhaps, was the humanizing effect, because there's been a lot of demonization on all sides.

As one wise lady told me afterward: “I think it was really good for people to see that others are just as passionate in their views as they are.”

Listening to the panelists speak — we had BASF rep Kirby Kester, Farm Bureau President Jerry Ornellas, Councilman Gary Hooser and Fern Anuenue, an environmental scientist and board member of Ohana O Kauai — I was struck anew by the complexities of our existence.

Heck, the challenges of addressing this issue alone are daunting. It involves food, water, environmental and human health, agricultural practices, jobs, land use, federal vs state vs county law and authority, the people's right to know, international corporations and local businesses, regulation and enforcement, public trust in government, the strengths and limitations of science. All peppered with a wide range of personalities and ideologies.

Or as Jimmy Trujillo, who organized the KBee event for Earth Day at KCC noted, “there are no easy answers to hard questions.”

But at least we now know we can still talk. We don't have to go straight to a fight.

Updates: The Garden Island has some good coverage today of the forum, and here is a link to an article on a study that affirms my take on things: it's not just one factor, but a "cocktail" of human-induced pressures that are contributing to the worldwide decline of pollinators:


Here, we argue that multiple anthropogenic pressures – including land-use intensification, climate change, and the spread of alien species and diseases – are primarily responsible for insect-pollinator declines. We show that a complex interplay between pressures (eg lack of food sources, dis-eases, and pesticides) and biological processes (eg species dispersal and interactions) at a range of scales (from genes to ecosystems) underpins the general decline in insect-pollinator populations. Interdisciplinary research on the nature and impacts of these interactions will be needed if human food security and ecosystem function are to be preserved.  

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this post. They used to teach civics, and civility. I miss both so.....

Anonymous said...

I apologize for my incivility.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a bee keeper, but a bee lover, it is easy to bee a helper by planting holy basil, and other flowers.
Everyone can help a bit, by planting flowers and herbs

Anonymous said...

I hate to ask such a simplistic question, joan, but are we going to be able to get gmos out of hawaii, or are we going to be overwhelmed by the complexity of dealing fairly with people who support death?

Anonymous said...

Sure, they will leave when the land and water are too toxic to grow ant more food.
Too many pesticides being used all at once = an unknown chemical cocktail served to Kauai. I agree they should go.But we can bee nice about letting them know they are not welcome here.

Joan Conrow said...

Dear 11:36:

I don't have an answer to your question, which is simplistic, but not simple.

Anonymous said...

how many anti-gmo organizations are there here on Kauai? one group wants to organize massive protests of the annual garden fair meanwhile the other one has already and long established a booth.

I support the idea but there must be more coordination between these organizations.

Anonymous said...

Ah you liberals. We can talk; reason with; we can even be sympathic with monsanto et al. See they're humans too. Meanwhile our one earth is being poisoned and humankind is dying. But we can smile and hold corporate hands and hope for the best. Aue.

Anonymous said...

Right. immediately execute anyone who doesn't agree with the ONE WAY

Anonymous said...

Monsanto et al do not play nice nor are they civil. They are systematically taking down small farmers across the globe. Truly, this is a matter of long term survival. There is no negotiating with those that want to patent life, that want to control our food supply and limit the biodiversity of this planet and in the process, poison our land and sea. How do you negotiate with those that refuse to be transparent? That fight like the dickens to keep us from having a choice about what we eat? Sorry Joan, they may be just as passionate about what they do as we are passionately against what they do, but some things are non-negotiable. When it comes to my right to choose non-gmo over gmo and they spend millions of dollars to fight it, I can't accept that. If I don't trust their reassurances because of a poor track record, because of their refusal to do adequate testing, because of their ungodly alliance with the FDA and USDA, than I have the right to refuse to eat gmo or feed it to my family. Not everyone has the ability to grow their own food, shop at farmers markets or afford organic. I do all of the above but there are many, especially the poor and those living in cities that cannot. There is something so explicitly wrong with the biotech industry and I do not want to see Hawaii turned into a toxic dust bowl. It's already happening on the Westside of Kaua'i and the island of Molokai.

Anonymous said...

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