Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Musings: Yeah, Well….

OK, so I watched “Aina: That Which Feeds,” paying $3.99 to download the 22-minute film, which was less painful than it would've been to spend $10 to sit with the deluded true-believers at the Kauai Performing Arts Center.

The film was part Hawaiian romanticism, part anti-GMO apocalypso, part tourism promo and pretty much all bullshit, starting with how, according to Stacy Sproat-Beck, the Hawaiians “established a relationship with nature and the environment” when they arrived that allowed them to “live sustainably for over a thousand years.”

Yeah, well, except for all the birds they drove to extinction, and the lowland forests they slashed and burned and the streams they diverted to grow vast monocrops of taro.

Kawika Winter, one of those sitting on the supposedly objective Joint Pesticide Fact-Finding Group, waxed nostalgic about the good old days when his ancestors ignored short-term profits to think five to seven generations ahead.

Yeah, well, except for the time that Liholiho ordered the maka'ainana to harvest 1 million pounds of sandalwood so he could buy the luxury yacht that a drunken crew later ran aground at Hanalei Bay.

David Sproat, filmed while making poi deliveries, dissed the seed companies, saying, “We don't need these chemicals in our lives, among our families, in our communities.”

Yeah, well, except it apparently wasn't a problem when David was spraying pesticides and herbicides at Waipa when he was still one of the Hawaiian Farmers of Hanalei, before the Sproats grabbed control.

Sabra Kauka, in discussing pesticides, asked, “Does it cause death to one organism or death to a whole community?” before going on to say, “We're all related to this and we have to see it.”

Yeah, well, except let's not notice that the same person who was criticizing "industrial ag" one day was blessing the new Jack-in-the-Box the next.

I'm not disputing that the Hawaiians of old did some amazing things. But they weren't entirely benign, and that lifestyle is not going to replicated in 21st Century Hawaii, anyway. So why even pretend?

If you're going to preach that everything will be good if we just return to traditional practices, be prepared to demonstrate that. Start by ditching the tractors and mowers at Waipa, then grow enough food to supply at least your own farmer's market and poi customers. Oh, and do it without depending on $1 million each year in donations and grants to keep you going.

Otherwise it starts to sound like a lot of "do as I say" wishful thinking. 

As the Hawaiians are filmed paddling canoe, planting taro and otherwise looking noble and wise, state aquatic biologist Don Heacock and Bob Yuhnke, an air quality lawyer who is now passing himself off as biotech expert, keep up a steady patter of anti-biotech rhetoric: 

“If you're eating corn, you're eating Roundup; when you apply Roundup you kill most of the beneficial organisms in the soil; Roundup destroys bacteria in the gut and binds calcium, iron and minerals, making them nutritionally unavailable; we don't know what they may do, what residues they'll leave behind; with these GMO crops, they're putting poisons right into the food; you can spray these crops with Roundup every day; the chemicals they use are neurotoxins and they're blowing right into the schools; we've found Roundup in mother's milk.”

Yeah, well, except no fields are being cultivated anywhere near Kauai schools, and an actual peer-reviewed study found that Moms Across America “flat out got it wrong,” when they claimed Roundup accumulates in mother's milk.

Don goes on to proclaim: 

“We can teach a whole new generation about holistic thinking, critical thinking and the truth.”

Yeah, well, except if you're showing keiki this film, having Felicia Cowden instruct them at Waipa or engaging them in the anti-science, anti-critical thinking, anti-fact, anti-GMO movement.

The film ends with Sabra saying we must show love and respect to one another — “that's all I ask” — which is fine. Except why don't the anti-GMO activists show more love and respect to the scientists and field crew whose labors and professional passion they are constantly mischaracterizing and belittling?

One of the main things that turned me against the anti-GMO movement — aside from its self-serving politicians, ties to high-end Realtors and general disregard for the truth — was its treatment of seed company workers, who told me they've felt frightened, harassed, hurt, misunderstood, marginalized, vilified and demonized by rabid activists.

I've always believed that respect must be earned, and then kept. So truly, how do you maintain respect for people who have intentionally caused so much pilikia in our community, and who continue to do so? 

Which leads us to the latest installment in anti-GMO-financed fear-mongering: This week's lectures on Roundup featuring Judy Carman and Stephanie Seneff. Judy claims she's not a GMO activist, though her website is named gmojudycarman.org. She became the darling of the anti-GMO movement after producing a paper claiming that pigs fed GMOs suffered stomach inflammation at a higher rate than those that weren't, which she then extrapolated to human beings and all manner of digestive problems.

Judy's paper has been thoroughly debunked by numerous scientists, including a study that looked at the records of 100 billion farm animals, starting before the introduction of GM feed. It found no “unfavorable or perturbed trends in livestock health and productivity" over that period. 

Stephanie, meanwhile, is a computer modeling and artificial intelligence researcher at MIT who is anti-GMO and anti-vaccines. She's know for proclaiming that “At today’s rate, by 2025, one in two children will be autistic.” She blames Roundup, citing a correlation between GM crops and autism.
Of course, a similar claim could be made about the correlation between autism and organic food sales — unless you're a credible scientist:
Like I said, it's hard to have respect or aloha for folks who are running an active disinformation campaign aimed at spreading fear and ignorance via junk science and propaganda films.

Pesticides are dangerous, especially if they're misused. That's an undisputed fact. But unless your goal is to keep people stupid, why use not use credible scientists, and a vigorous debate, to explore the issue in a meaningful way? 

57 comments:

Anonymous said...

After watching the film, I had to wonder where all the taro that Waipa sells every week comes from? Is it all grown organically? Also if they sell it, why not sell it at their Tuesday market?

Anonymous said...

The purpose of the film was ... They got your three dollars

Anonymous said...

Wow Joan, your like Terry Lilley but with amazing grammer. "Everybody is evil!!" "No solutions!!"

Anonymous said...

In the short film, it seemed to be a film about Waipa as it follows David Sproat around the island selling poi to people.If the taro and poi making is underwritten by non profit grants, why does David sell it? Why isn't it distributed in Hanalei or at the Hanalei markets? Even if they do sell it, why include the money exchange in the movie?The film was disjointed, bizarre in how it kept mixing places, i don't know what the message was supposed to be.The scenery of Kauai is gorgeous and the film showed how beautiful Kauai is, but the NaPali has no agriculture . The film brought up more questions, like does Waipa grow their own taro or who or where does it come from? Is it organically grown?Why is it sold? I thought thursday was poi pounding, but is it just cleaning the poi and the machine makes the poi? Does Waipa use pesticides or are they all organic? Do they prepare the fields using herbicides before planting taro or do they clear by hand? Who grows all this taro? If the money spent making the film was spent making a viable farm.Jus sayin.

Anonymous said...

good one ms. joan!

Anonymous said...

Correlation is not Causation. Just because two things appear on the same graph does not mean one of them had an effect on the other.

Anonymous said...

Kawika Winter was quick to point out that there are currently 1.2 million people living in Hawaii and that almost all of our food is imported. He then went on to discuss that the native Hawaiian population was around 1 million with no imported food. What he failed to mention was what percentage of the population farmed then vs now. A lack of farmers in Hawaii (and in the United States in general) is the real problem. Let's focus on that rather than focusing on telling the less than two percent that do farm how to do their job.

Anonymous said...

Gruber and his enablers love to fool for profit and power and the fools; they seem to have no problem being grubered.

Anonymous said...

Kawika also failed to mention the 7 million tourists in Hawaii each year, and how Waipa now does tourism as a revenue stream.

Joan Conrow said...

8:26 -- Is that your view of the world? It certainly doesn't reflect mine.

Also, the contraction of you are is "you're" not "your."

Anonymous said...

@ 8:26am, since you mentioned the word "grammer," try spelling it correctly.

Anonymous said...

@08:26. It's also "grammar" not "grammer"....unless you were trying to be funny. In which case, you failed.

Anonymous said...

^ hahahaha good catch Joan! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black

Anonymous said...

Limahuli has one of the biggest valleys on the island, how much food do they produce? Kawika only gets his hands dirty for the cameras. Limahuli and Waipa could grow enough food for the whole island.What was the point of the movie, besides using brown faces this time?

Anonymous said...

You can watch for free on island breath.

Anonymous said...

The historical revisionists today love to forget that pretty much everyone was farming or fishing back then because they had to or they'd starve. But these ancient farmers were definitely poor and skinny. Not fat like their ali'i. That fact has not changed today. Individual farmers can't make a living off of their labors. They must have outside income like day jobs for weekend farmers or trust funds for hippie back-to-nature farmers. I know a taro farmer. He's my employee. he goes down to his patches every day at pau hana and both days of the weekend. His taro sales make him some extra pocket change, but if you figured the hours he puts in and the financial rewards he gleans from his taro sales, he'd be way, way below minimum wage. I dare you Anti's to show me one Kauai farmer that exists purely on the income from his/her farm and doesn't rely on other income like vacation rentals, pensions, trust funds, day jobs, and/or and free labor from family and kids in the name of education. Just one!

Chuck Lasker said...

Just like right wing Christians feel oppressed when the law doesn't allow them to oppress others, anti-everything activists feel attacked, oppressed, and disrespected simply when someone disagrees. Showing examples of their hatred is considered a personal attack. Exposing their hypocrisy is considered hate. Debunking their lies is considered oppression. Posting facts that counter their outrageous claims is considered disrespect.

In a phone conversation with Geoff Morris (the grim reaper dress-up bartender), he kept saying those of us who support biotech are not "pono." He then bragged about helping start the mini riot (his words) at the 2491 middle-of-the-night Council vote. I asked him how a mini riot was pono and he said, "what they were going to do was not pono, so rioting was pono." So you see how they twist everything to fit their narrative, that they are the victims of abuse when people disagree with them even slightly, while their vicious personal attacks are heroic in the name of "malama the aina."

Anonymous said...

Cook estimated the Hawaiian population as greater than 350,000 but less than 400,000. Ditto Vancouver. With by far the largest on Hawaii. The larger number now used has no archeological foundation, and much to say it was not so large. It was conjectured by Haunani Trask and her husband to exaggerate the Hawaiian population decline, but that tradegy repeated throughout Polynesia and the Americas, needs no exaggeration. Even at those levels famine was well known. Indeed, one time the entire population on Niihau moved to Kalalau and Nulolo.

Anonymous said...

Love it Joan. great post.

"I'm not disputing that the Hawaiians of old did some amazing things. But they weren't entirely benign, and that lifestyle is not going to replicated in 21st Century Hawaii, anyway. So why even pretend?"

Exactly. Spot on Joan. It is akin to all the young who talk about going back to a Hawaiian Kingdom, but I dare you to find me an actual kingdom in today’s modern world that is good or has done any good. They all subjugate their people.

It is laughable to want a kingdom over a democracy under any circumstance even when that democracy has blemishes like ours.

Anonymous said...

Joan, looks like younhave a lot of anger. Ever though of moving? It may be in your best interest, since you say you wasted money on watching a video that nobody twisted your arm and made you watch it.
Thete is nothing that would ever change the past, and nothing will ever change hawaiian culture. And lastly, nobody said hawaiians were perfect, we're just trying our best to survive and get educated so we can exercise our rights as hawaiians to live, and speak, and save our aina.

Anonymous said...

@8:26 am - Comparing Terry Lilley to Joan is like comparing Donald Trump to Abraham Lincoln. Shouldn't even mutter the two names in one breath. LOL!

Anonymous said...

You don't like the way a handful of activists treated seed workers so you're going to treat everybody who doesn't agree with biotech in the same way? Your vengance could be noble but an eye for an eye leaves both people blind. Do you like how I set you up for easy criticism of a cliche peacemaker quote there? Am I making your job too easy?

Anonymous said...

@3:24pm
Please refer to Chuck's comment above if you think Joan's writing was based in anger: "Showing examples of their hatred is considered a personal attack. Exposing their hypocrisy is considered hate. Debunking their lies is considered oppression. Posting facts that counter their outrageous claims is considered disrespect."
He hit the nail on the head. Joan disagrees with you, so you interpret her writing as angry.

Joan Conrow said...

5:07 -- No, I don't treat everybody who doesn't agree with biotech the same way, and it was far more than just a handful of activists who treated the seed workers badly. And since you got that so wrong it makes it easy to dismiss the rest of your comment.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:34- Yes, sounds about right- Terry is Abraham for sure! He has spent thousands of hours underwater around Kauaʻi studying and filming coral and sea life. He becomes so intimate with much of the sealife like turtles that he can recognize many of them personally and has given them names. He is educating all of us to the urgent problem of incredibly rapid decline in the health of our local coral and sealife in the past few years. He has made the public aware of military microwave towers on Kauaʻi and has questioned their safety. Terry does his own research hands-on- he is not an armchair critic. A big mahalo to Terry, for his obvious love of the ocean and for all he does to learn and share with the public!

Manuahi said...

3:24 PM - It's ed-u-ma-cated

Anonymous said...

A LOT of swimming doesn't make you smart or educated. Two different things. Oh, sorry...it does make you WET!

Joan Conrow said...

@ 6:01 -- Yeah, well, except for the time Terry claimed the ocean was polluted with heavy metals, when it was actually just due to the volcanic composition of the rocks, or the other time, when he blamed Navy sonar for coral reef disease… etc.

Anonymous said...

Geoff is a waiter and his wife works for the county as a recycling manager. The county government he hates and makes big stink about also puts food on his table.

Anonymous said...

@6:01 - Terry is a fake scientist who likes to have a few too many and beat people up. Get real.

Anonymous said...

What the fuck happened to you Joan? Better you pack your bags and get the hell out of Hawaii since all you are is bitter. You are no sympathizer to kānaka as you claim. Hawaiians did far less damage to the ecosystem in a 1000 years than your ilk has in the last 200+ years. That's a fact. It was no utopia but it sure beats the shit hole the USA has become. The Akana family comes from a long line of lawai'a. Stacey's grandpa was the last living Konohiki of Kalihiwai/Wanini. When the fisheries became depleted and the Konohiki system disregarded the family turned to farming. Waipa provides poi to kupuna who can't afford retail prices.

Get off your high horse. You are no friend to Kānaka Maoli. If Hawai'i sucks go home. Fight your battles wherever the hell home may be.

And for those who think America is a democracy boy you don't pay attention. You are living in an Oligarchy.

Anonymous said...

Another propaganda hit piece. Sadly people say Neil Young and the farmer depicted in this video are courageous for standing up to Monsanto. Monsanto is an obvious and easy target right now. A truely courageous thing to do would be to expose Green Peace for their fight against golden rice going to the impoverished countries it was designed to help. But that would be in a rational world where starving babies would be more important than a crazy farmer who believes the antichrist is in the seeds and Monsanto is the devil. https://youtu.be/YZGueeao0tE

Anonymous said...

God Bless da USA!! chee!!!

Anonymous said...

@9:48. yeah, real sustainable, hellooo, FISHERIES COLLAPSED.. esp. if you were the konohiki's in charge. Good lord. People have their heads so far up their asses on this it is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

So what about the Science Alliance Joan? Tell people where your bread is buttered. Transparency!

Joan Conrow said...

My bread is buttered by many different sources, including magazines and book publishers. I also am currently doing some work for the Cornelll University Alliance for Science, which sent me to India to meet with farmers, scientists, businessmen and policy makers and report my findings as I see fit, with no influence from them or anyone else.

So tell me, why haven't you also come here to call for disclosure by HAPA, Hawaii SEED, Waipa and other nonprofits that are legally required to disclose their funding sources?

Anonymous said...

I wondered how or why the Kauai Open Space commission would even be considering buying 2 lots with a house for Waipa. Who would get to use the house or live in it? Would the project be available for all residents or just those who are favored by Waipa(their friends and family). Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the richest trust in the state should not get county funds to buy a house. How much money did the film take to produce?If Waipa is the model, it is a model for how to get funding for non profits, more than a model for growing food?

Anonymous said...

Just heard a radio ad on KONG publicizing the current round of fear-mongering meetings. I swear they said "glyphosphate". Geez...they don't even know the name of the product they're slamming!

Anonymous said...

ms. joan, I found a link to the translated version of klayton's article on Le Monde:

http://www.worldcrunch.com/eyes-on-the-u.s./poisons-in-paradise-hawaiians-take-on-agrochemical-giants/pollution-poisoning-monsanto-pioneer-basf-syngenta/c5s19003/#.Vbkjj7NVikr

Anonymous said...

You're free to live on the continent or Turtle Island to the real Americans, any day and relish your country. Ke aloha 'āina refers to Hawaiian patriots who love their country, has nothing to do with anti-GMO. Hate it when haoles use our language to further their agendas.

Anonymous said...

9:09 -- They you'd better talk to the Sproats and Sabra because they the ones made it anti-GMO.

Anonymous said...

Well Joan, if you are censoring this comment, I at least wish you would justify why. Other comments belittle, degrade and attack individuals and you print those. This comment which I have sent twice (and which promotes focusing on issues instead of personalities) has not appeared yet. Perhaps you failed to receive it- if so, I apologize for this first part. Here is the comment again- "Attack Terry and ignore what he films and experiences underwater...attack Terry, but never question or investigate the possible connection between military practices and the rapid decline in the health of our reefs. Yes, attack a person but never ever do research and examine the questions he poses. Can anyone who reads this blog offer us factual information about the military microwave towers on Kauaʻi and their possible effects on the surrounding life in the ocean. How convenient to avoid real issues by shifting the focus to personalities!"

Anonymous said...

These anti GMO fads are attention whores. If they want a fight why don't they stand up against Kauai's home grown terrorists the syndicate mafia?

You want to fight a good cause and do it without your 15 minutes of fame and do it without getting paid or receiving gifts then join the WAR against Kauai's version of ISIS/ISIL.

Joan Conrow said...

No, I wasn't censoring your comment, but in case you hadn't noticed, this post isn't about Terry. If you want to sing his praises, use your own Facebook page.

Anonymous said...

I'm watching the film for free now: http://ainafeeds.us/film and it's very sensationalistic. What's with the scenes titles "DDT Spraying 1947" where it appears they're dousing little kids in DDT? I doubt that's what was occurring; the innuendo implies otherwise.

Manuahi said...

@ 9:07 AM - Kubo, of course simply parrots all the bebunked Anti-GMO misinformation that's going around yet it was this statement that he made that really shoows he hasn't a clue about history or agriculture:

"Since the 1990s, seed companies have been forcing sugar cane and pineapple plantations out of business."

What a joke! Sugar was already dead and gone (except for G&R which stayed in far after they were loosing big bucks just to keep the plantation mobilized) before the seed companies came into the islands. Same with pineapple except for some small acreage on Oahu. Klayton, if you're going to go public with your views, you should do some research to make sure that the "facts" you're proclaiming are in fact true and not entirely false. Kinda embarrassing. It serves to undermine everything else you say and reveals your ignorance.

Anonymous said...

@10:29(Joan)- Mahalo for your explanation. Actually, I did not bring Terry into this comment section, but was responding to others who did use his name. Joan, you failed to respond to the thrust of my comments which is- focusing on personalities rather than issues. The issue for this post is ʻĀina, and Terryʻs research is just as important as research on biocides and gmoʻs when speaking of health of the ʻāina. Your comment goes to prove what I wanted to say about this blog and comments- people love to diss other people as a way of avoiding real issues, the real issue in this instance being the health of the ʻāina. So, no, I do not post this to sing Terryʻs praises, but to encourage people to discuss issues (glyphosate in our bodies, biocides in the soil, air and water, military microwave towers on Kauai, what is causing Kauaiʻs massive coral die-offs in the past few years, etc) which are related to ʻāina. A big mahalo to all who have rational discussions about issues without resorting to name-calling, belittling, or condescending. You set the best examples for our keiki to follow!

Anonymous said...

@10:22- If you want to see real actual recorded video of public DDT spraying in San Antonio after WWII, then here it is. This will remove any doubts you may have!- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmslbUoPLEQ

Anonymous said...

I don't think they really know what's killing Kauai's reefs. I believe that UH deployed GoPro cams to do a study. It would be interesting to find the cause of Kauai's dying reefs and also who is over fishing in the Hawaiian islands.

Anonymous said...

Kauai's dying reefs and Kauai's dwindling aloha has the same causes, too many people. And with all those tourists wearing mosquito repellent and sunscreen, we don't really have to look that far for why the reef is declining.

Anonymous said...

The Plantations killed the reef system long ago

Anonymous said...

11:06 -- That's a crock. Fishing was great in plantation days.

Anonymous said...

Yo.....the reefs were pristine before the plantations dumped evrything and anything into the oceans. Fish have been in decline for over 100 years

Anonymous said...

I would second that. As a young child, there was nothing like fishing on the shores of Kauai. My cousins from Oahu would be amazed at just catching a single fish. If it was a half a bucket or a full bucket, I would never go empty handed. Nowadays I don't fish because of the pollution and going home without a single fish. Go swim in Hanalei bay and you going catch... A ear infection, eye infection, skin infection, rash, and a trip to the doctors office. Pollution to da max! Swimming in shit water does that.

Anonymous said...

Im not from here but grew up here. I fish weekly from shore on all sides of the islands. I see the pollution first hand made by locals born and raised here. Here is where the problem lay. It's all of us poisoning this island by using any chemical whatsoever. Yes we could say the industrial revolution and corporations are to blame but it still comes down to us. Sure the sugar cane industry was bad and most likely used more "cides" than used today. Yes the big AG companies use "restricted use" pesticides (in accordance with law) I see county spraying everywhere daily with no mask on in the direct wind. Everyone is to blame. Hawaiians (marquesas) made a huge impact when first coming to the islands. They affected everything just like every other human that decides to move to an untouched and pristine land. We are all the problem.

Joe Moss said...

Joan, that was a cheap shot at Sabra. It hurts me to see you resort to this. You should aspire to be more like her. Joe Moss

Joan Conrow said...

I have no desire to be more like anyone, Joe, and zero aspirations to bless fast food restaurants.