Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Musings: Love-Hate, Good-Bad

The hate mail has been intensifying of late, which I always take as confirmation that I'm on the right track.

Still, I did take to heart the words of one critic: "How about one positive story?"

Hey, I can do better than that. I've got at least four. So here goes:

The Philippines Supreme Court today reversed its earlier ruling banning field trials of GMO talong, also known as Bt brinjal, or eggplant. Field trials are part of the deregulation process that determines whether a crop can be legally grown.

Of course, Greenpeace, which was shut down in the ruling, likely doesn't consider this good news.

But a lot of Filipino farmers do. They've seen the success that farmers in Bangladesh have achieved growing Bt brinjal, which fetches a premium price at the market because less pesticides are used in its production. Bangladeshi farmers are also controlling the seed, just as papaya farmers do in Hawaii.

Though the Cornell Alliance for Science was the first to report on the success of Bt brinjal, you don't have to take our word for it. Even Al Jazeera found it to be true when it actually went to Bangladesh and interviewed farmers, rather than listening to the fear-mongering and mistruths spouted by arm chair activists in the West.

In other good news, the AquAdvantage Salmon, though long reviled as “Frankenfish” by misinformed activist groups like Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, actually works to support environmental sustainability and local food production.

Why? Because it's grown in totally enclosed inland systems that can be located close to markets. This reduces the carbon emissions associated with importing tons of foreign-farmed fish, and totally eliminates the marine pollution associated with ocean-based fish-farming practices.

Here are a video and a Q&A blog post that tell more about the salmon, and the insane 20-year, $80 million deregulation process that led to its approval, making it the most intensely studied food product ever.

Of course, that's not good news to groups like the aforementioned CFS and EJ, which are making money suing the federal government over the approval process that both groups supported – indeed, demanded — until it produced results they didn't like.

Locally, the Kauai Planning Commission finally said no once and for all to the BS request from diamond broker Eddie Ben-Dor to turn his Hanalei vacation rental into a B&B. As you may recall, the planning department wasn't buying the ruse, and Eddie was even fined $3,055 for operating illegally — at a low-season rent of $5,800 per week — for several years.

But he waited six months, put his daughter on the deed and submitted a new application in her name. Once again, the commission voted to deny it.

This is great news for those who have been working to stave off the scam of pretending an illegal TVR is really a B&B in need of a permit. Though it's bad new for Ben-Dor — and all the others trying to game the system.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has launched a full-on effort aimed at eradicating invasive mammals: rats, stoats, possums and (shhh) cats. Yeah, they're kind of downplaying the cat thing because people get all emotional.

But wildlife officials and conservationists there, as in Hawaii, are well aware of how cats and other introduced mammals wreak havoc on native birds, lizards and other critters. So New Zealand plans to euthanize feral cats on conservation lands.

Could such decisive action be possible in Hawaii? It shares the same invasive species problems as New Zealand, and its native animals grew up in similar isolation, with no defense to mammalian predators.

Or will the trap-neuter-release folks like Basil Scott — close friends with Councilman Gary Hooser, btw — continue their vicious attacks on shelter director Penny Cistaro in their desperate attempt to keep their own nonprofit going?

Though a Kauai team has been working for a couple of years now on a feral cat ordinance, Scott's Kauai Ferals group is hoping to do a end-run with the help of Inge Gibson of the Humane Society of the United States.

Seems Gibson has invited Alley Cat Allies and Best Friends to help draft an alternative bill for an ordinance on Kauai to manage cats on the landscape. Or in other words, dilute and undermine the Kauai effort.

Gosh, it's so easy for the good news to careen off into bad. 

But then, as Shakespeare so astutely noted, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Still, it's hard to put lipstick on this pig, so I'll just let it rip, since it's been weighing heavily on my mind since Reuters first reported it last week: 

The earth is on track for its hottest year on record and warming at a faster rate than expected, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.

"What we’ve seen so far for the first six months of 2016 is really quite alarming," David Carlson, director of the WMO’s Climate Research Program, told a news briefing.

"This year suggests that the planet can warm up faster than we expected in a much shorter time... We don’t have as much time as we thought."
Climate change impacts. Image by Grist.
Oops.

And then there was the HUGE news of 3-year-old Prince George offering ice cream to his pet dog, which some saw as an adorable sign of generosity and others denounced as "poisoning" and "animal cruelty." Some even said the toddler should be jailed. 
Yeah, it's too bad we can't just box everything neatly into good-bad/positive-negative to suit the simplistic among us. 

But life — and the crazy mix of people inhabiting the planet — are just a tad more complicated than that.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I am correct, Costco has refused to carry "frankenfish". Good for them!! And kudos to Costco for their ever=growing support of organic foods.

Anonymous said...

Closing down any illegal B&B or non TVR is always good news! Any word on Kauai Retreat Center in Waipake? It looks closed. Joan: any chance you revisit your illegal TVR chronicles to see where they are now? How many open, closed or permitted? I know it is a lot of work, so no worries; but I have to say that was IMO your best investigative journalism yet.

Re the Prince, the dog and ice cream: Everyone has an opinion now. There are so many people in the world that are instantly connected via the internet that you literally cannot do anything without offending someone.


Anonymous said...

Here is one of many articles which speak of the downside of GMO salmon and how the FDA approved it. ((( http://organicconnectmag.com/project/examining-the-true-risks-of-gmo-salmon/ ))). Here is a quote from the article, "Part of the problem may be the regulatory framework itself. Currently, applications for transgenic animals are being considered by the FDA under the category of “new animal drugs” (go figure). And while the application process does take into account the potential effects of such “drugs” on human and animal health, it doesn’t allow for any thorough consideration of environmental hazards. Nor does it require substantive input from other agencies—like, for example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Environmental Protection Agency—that have actual expertise in areas such as fisheries and ecological risk."

Joan Conrow said...

As I said, the antis loved the regulatory process -- until it produced a result they didn't like.

As for environmental hazards, they were studied up the wazoo, even though this fish will be raised in enclosed pens, not the open ocean or any other waterway.

Anonymous said...

I think that dog should be put down for causing the Prince to lick it's saliva. Plebian cur!

Anonymous said...

@10:38. Antis have never liked the regulatory process. That is a huge part of the problem. It is often controlled by the companies who are supposed to be regulated. Like Monsanto. Monsanto conducts its own tests, and the FDA accepts those tests without conducting any tests on their own. The FDA is supposed to regulate Monsanto. The FDA hires former Monsanto executives and employees. Why on earth would anyone, especially antis, support or trust such a corrupt system? Talk about conflict of interest!

Anonymous said...

Joan is offering one side of an issue. She fails to examine arguments explaining how Gmo genes may be transferred from fish raised in enclosed pens to waterways or open ocean.

Joan Conrow said...


@10:57. Your comment reflects a real ignorance of the regulatory process. For example, the studies are conducted according to protocol and objectives set forth by the regulators, with close inspection and scrutiny of the regulators throughout. But then, I suppose it's too much to expect you to actually attempt to educate yourself by following the links I provided. As for the antis, they must support the system as they demanded AquaBounty go through it!

@10:59 From sterile fish? Not likely.

Anonymous said...

@11:14 "AquaBounty acknowledges that its sterilizing procedure isn’t 100 percent effective. Even if its failure rate is as low as 0.1 percent, when you’re talking about massive farms—and it’s not uncommon for today’s operations to entail a million fish—huge numbers of fertile fish could escape and interbreed with the already endangered Atlantic salmon, compromising its fitness and threatening its ultimate survival." (quote from 10:27 link)

Joan Conrow said...

Yes, I suppose it is possible for salmon to escape their pens and walk across land until they reach the ocean and then mate w an Atlantic salmon. Except the environmental tests showed the farm-raised can't survive for long, much less effectively mate, in the wild. But hey, if there's even the slightest possibility ANYTHING might go wrong we should not proceed. Try telling that to all the people making babies.

Anonymous said...

Remember when GMO companies promised their GMO genes would never escape into the wild? Lol. Biggest lie ever. Contaminated crops all over the world now (canola, alfalfa, etc). Had an expert from UH tell me if I didnʻt want my papayas contaminated, bag ʻem. My responsibility, not the creators of the GMO strains. So much for containment.

Anonymous said...

Here is a well researched article that also speaks about escape of GMO salmon genes into the wild. And not, as Joan suggests, by the fish "walking" over land to the rivers or sea. Have a good read, all who wish to learn more about this issue!- http://oclj.mainelaw.maine.edu/vol-17-no-1/aquadvantage-salmon/

Joan Conrow said...

Thanks for sharing. Always interesting to read something by a law student on new ways that people can sue one another.

Anonymous said...

Joan you always make me laugh with your snide comments to the commenters.

Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Yes, 1:56 PM, wittily snide and highly apropos!

Anonymous said...

@ 11:56am Joan, you are a savage!!! lol...on display during roll call at the Democratic Convention, Chelsea Lyons Kent giving the bird while camera is on the Hawai'i Delegation. Next to her in the screen shot is dylan hooser.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see that Chelsea Lyons Kent made the most of the $3,150 she raised on "Go Fund Me" for this trip to Philly. The Hawaii delegates are such a class act indeed. I hear 19 delegates voted for Sanders and only 15 voted for Clinton. Disillusioned voters to like me see no viable alternative. I guess I'll just waste my vote on either Johnson or Stein just to give my "middle finger" to the two worst candidates America could possibly come up with, the "Lying Bitch" and the "Bratty Dictator". Corporate greed wins again.

Anonymous said...

As for question about the Waipake Retreat Center their website may be down but the hotel TVR is still in full operation. Rental cars come and go on a daily basis and it is busier than ever this summer season. Those of us who live on the street see the rental cars every day. It is a daily nuisance and does impact out right to quite enjoyment of our community. We should have moved to Princeville if we wanted to be next to hotel operations.

Anonymous said...

This comment seems to have been overlooked. Good questions to begin dialogue about trusting companies that have proved themselves to be untrustworthy and also about the important issue of containment. Isnʻt this s comment as worthy of posting as one commending snide comments? You raise an issue (containment) and then disregard attempts at intelligent dialogue. So here again is my missing comment- "Where does your "expertise" on GMO containment come from. The same companies who produce the GMOs and who promised that they would be contained? Seems like they broke their promises, doesnʻt it? Why believe companies with a track record of broken promises? Can you give us one good reason to believe such companies?"

Joan Conrow said...

Sorry, 5:37, but it seems your original comment was directed to the spam folder. It happens with repetitive commenters.

The answer to your question is easy: AquaBounty has not broken promises because this is its first product. Plus it's the first animal, so it's an entirely different scenario than open air seed crops.

You have to stop looking at GMOs as all and only Monsanto and RR corn.

Anonymous said...

Just one case of GMO contamination of wild salmon is enough to spread through a whole population. If AquaBounty says that they are not 100% sure this will not happen, and many articles talk about how it can actually happen, then the question is- is it worth the risk?

Anonymous said...

Da Hoos in his gasping desperation has posted the mystery of how an Akamai voter should vote in his Blog.
Well Gary, the akamai voter should vote for Council people who support the island and ALL of her people. Yes Gary, there is a whole working population here on Kauai. You know, the unnamed minions. The minions who work. The minions who have families to care for and Tutus to take care of.
There are many citizens who are not part of the elite NS crowd that you kow-tow to.
Your infatuation with the Mainland groups that push their agenda on Kauai is contrary to the, live and let live harmony that is part of the our island.
So Gary, you can take your akamai no barbecue bills, your akamai no Big Ag, your akamai instructions on how to vote and your akamai continuous search for fame and fortune at the expense of the working people of Kauai and make your Akamai way out of elected office.
Be Akamai ---Don't vote for Da Hoos.....a man who only cares for himself.

Anonymous said...

At this point, does it matter? Climate change may be irreversible and the time to act for the sake of our children's future may have long since passed.

Dawson said...

2:45 PM said:
...on display during roll call at the Democratic Convention, Chelsea Lyons Kent giving the bird while camera is on the Hawai'i Delegation. Next to her in the screen shot is dylan hooser.

Birds of a feather?

Dawson said...

8:14 PM said:
At this point, does it matter? Climate change may be irreversible and the time to act for the sake of our children's future may have long since passed.

So true. And since producing future generations is therefore irrelevant, I'm sure all you guys won't mind having your irrelevant balls cut off.

At this point, do they matter?


Anonymous said...

"This is how I'd like to remember yesterday! Thank you Jessica Else for doing such an awesome job putting my thoughts in words."

Dylan Hooser's post referring to The Garden Island's article today about his participation in the DNC in Philadelphia. I guess we know TGI's loyalty. No mention of Chelsea Lyons Kent flipping the bird. What a show of disrespect.

Anonymous said...

To the 7:20 p.m. comment - You are entitled to your beliefs and opinions, of course - and I agreed with some of those you posted - this comment is to, hopefully, enlighten and address your use of "... your akamai no barbecue bills..." directed at Hooser and characterizing the proposed fireplace bill.
I have first-hand knowledge of how the proposed fireplace bill came to be - the fireplace bill was a result of neighbors' (plural) homes being filled with smoke from an individual neighbor's use of his fireplace - for YEARS. I am not a neighbor, bit I was in the home of one of the immediate neighbors TWICE - whose home filled with smoke when the fireplace was in use - even though all the windows were closed -and it was shocking! Picture a smoke-filled room / home wherein you are taught by fire officials to crawl to the exit to escape and to best avoid the harm of the smoke while escaping.
Many of the neighbors have documented trips to the ER, hospital stays, and doctor visits from the harmful effects of the neighbor's fireplace smoke.
The neighbors had tried to address and solve the problem for YEARS - including offering to pay for the neighbor to have an electric fireplace and calling the DOH - before they ever approached Hooser for a possible bill.
They collectively wanted to avoid a civil lawsuit, if possible, in the spirit of being good neighbors, and sought much-needed relief through possible legislation.
I still think that, perhaps, the neighbor's fireplace was built incorrectly - causing the smoke problem. It was built without a permit (permitted after-the-fact), and, perhaps did not have an appropriate inspection by a qualified inspector. The neighbors with the offending fireplace bought the house without a fireplace and added it and (not that it should matter) the immediate neighbors being negatively impacted bought their homes before the neighbor with the offending fireplace.
I grew up with a fireplace and our smoke went up the chimney and then UP outside. It did not come down and overwhelm neighbors' homes. Had it, though, I think it's safe of me to say my parents would have stopped using it after receiving complaints from neighbors, and seeing the smoke surrounding and going into their neighbors' homes, and would have worked on solving the issue before using again - an issue which is clearly seen by everyone as the smoke doesn't go UP and is everywhere!
Mahalo, Pat Hunter-Williams

Anonymous said...

Here's the precious moment provided by Mini Hoose and Chelsea Lyons Kent who has lost her credentials for the duration after refusing to apologize. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4615321/bernie-supporters-embarrass-hawaii The moment is at the end of the video.

Staged over the shoulders of both Senators and a former Governor by two capering fools who have an enormous notion of self entitlement and poorly informed appreciation of adult behavior and decorum, I hope this action is not the hallmark of "progressive activism". At any rate their party memberships should be forfeited. The do not belong with the adults and they are a carbuncles on the state body politic.

Anonymous said...

7:34 The poorly written fire place bill would have banned all smoke.
Gary shoots first and then aims.
Gary is a pox on old time Kauai values.
And his antics and of his many friends has escalated the Local/Haole divide tremendously.
Gary is a divider. He does not care about the people. He is a one issue candidate that wants a job with the big Boy Mainland environmental groups.
A vote for Gary is a vote for division, one-issue, anti-Ag, Anti-local ad nauseum.
But you had a a good attempt to explain the fireplace bill. Perhaps you can work in Gary's "spin-room" otherwise known as "how to change his lies and deceit into palatble ideas" I too have spent tons of times right next door to th smoking fireplace....big deal. Live and let live.
Gary's Bill as written would have banned all outdoor fires, hibachis and ANYTHING that irritated a neighbor or thin-skinned nuts.
My neighbor has a loud car. What next a loud car ordinance. Get real. Gary is all about headlines. A Hog for Publicity.

Anonymous said...

I am a throat cancer survivor who has been told to avoid smoke. What if my neighbor was filling my house with smoke regularly? Btw, all smoke is harmful. Why did the county enact an outdoor-burn ban if it wasn't for health reasons?

Anonymous said...

yes please! a 'loud car/scooter/motorbike ordinance'!!!!!!! please please please

Anonymous said...

Joan...forget Gary Hooser. Refocus your talent on this inept and do-nothing administration. You will do us a favor.

Anonymous said...

1:10 PM Why don't you refocus your attention on electing a do-something Mayor in two years, or better yet why don't you run? The best you could do was Barca? Stop being a sore loser and do something about it, fricken whiner!

Anonymous said...

9:50am...not a sore loser at all. I supported winning candidates ever since. Maybe you should run for mayor, sore loser you...lol!