My name is Diane Kanealii. I live in Kawaihae, Hawaii Island. I am a lifelong resident of this moku and I do not ever plan to leave. I am so proud of our County Council for standing up for what is right and passing Bill 113. I pray now that Mayor Billy Kenoi does the right thing and signs the bill into law. The weight is on his shoulders. The future of our children, his children and grandchildren and our aina (that which sustains us) is on his shoulders. That is a lot for one man to carry and I encourage him to dig deep within his naau and do the right thing.
I was the daughter of a farmer and rancher, I understand how much work it takes to make a living and, heaven forbid, turn a profit. Agriculture is a necessity for all of us whether we grow our food or just eat it. Think about it. We are an island, isolated by a big ocean that protects us from pollens and seeds, flying through the air or dropping out of some farmer’s truck and contaminating our non-genetically modified crops and if the Department of Agriculture does its job, we could control what is brought in to our island. We have the most available agriculture land in this state and we can be self-sufficient if we wanted to. It is a choice. However, if we allow GMO crops to take over then we have just given up our right to choose.
We could use our fertile agriculture lands to truly become a self-sufficient island and market our natural, non-GMO foods across the nation. I don’t think any other state or country can boast that. Why would we even consider joining the rest of the country and become just another GMO ridden area? Big money companies take your land for peanuts and turn a huge profit on the backs of our future generations. Is this what we want?
If you don’t fight for yourself, then fight for your children , fight for your grandchildren and beyond. Let us not be short sighted and sell out for the almighty dollar. Someday when GMO can prove it is not causing the health problems, when they don’t need pesticides and herbicides to be sprayed, then revisit the issue. If we let it happen now there is no turning back.
Many of us are just building the momentum to build sustainable communities, to learn what the kupuna knew and practiced and translate it to work in today’s world. Maybe we have to go back to the past to get to our future. Maybe it is an unobtainable dream. Maybe it won’t work, but if we don’t try then we will never know. Maybe we are already eating 85 to 95 percent of GMO foods coming off a ship, but that is our choice. This is an island. Have we not learned the lessons from the other island whose leaders did not stand up and say “no”? Look at the diseases that are afflicted on the keiki on Kauai, the doctor’s are stepping up to say stop, the statistics show the higher rates of childhood abnormalities, cancers and birth defects. Are we going to risk it all for the big money?
It now appears that developed nations around the planet, first banning GMO crops within their borders, are now beginning their criminal prosecutions of Monsanto and other GMO crop companies for acts of biopiracy because of the unstoppable migration of toxic pollen and genes to other species. We, here on Hawaii Island have the chance to nip in the bud and prevent theses issues before they happen. See esgindia.org/campaigns/press/criminal-proceedings-against-monsantomah.html.
We as the people of this island have the responsibility placed upon us to fight for our future and pray that the elected officials make the right decision for the future of our keiki , our moopuna and our aina that sustains us.
Diane Kanealii is a resident of Kawaihae.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.