LIHU‘E — Join world renowned physicist, philosopher and sustainability consultant Dr. Vandana Shiva on Thursday for a presentation on food justice and sustainable agriculture. “With Dr. Shiva, sustainability is not just another word,” Michaela Boudreaux, an event organizer, said. “What
LIHU‘E — Join world renowned physicist, philosopher and sustainability consultant Dr. Vandana Shiva on Thursday for a presentation on food justice and sustainable agriculture.
“With Dr. Shiva, sustainability is not just another word,” Michaela Boudreaux, an event organizer, said. “What she’s doing is living proof.”
Sponsored by Hawai‘i SEED and GMO-Free Kaua‘i, this free event begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Lihu‘e with a locally-adapted seed giveaway courtesy of the Kaua‘i Community Seed Bank and Regenerations Botanical Gardens.
Presentations will follow at 6:30 p.m. with a welcome ceremony from the Kanuikapono Charter School. Shiva will be joined by Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C., and Walter Ritte, a local leader and educator from Moloka‘i.
“Kaua‘i is ground zero for GMO (genetically modified organism) experimental crops,” said Jeri DiPietro, president of Hawai‘i SEED and one the event’s organizers. “We have over 12,000 acres that are leased by five of the major chemical companies … Their work is not about feeding the world, it’s creating a loss of biodiversity.”
The theme of Dr. Shiva’s presentation — “Seed Freedom is Food Freedom” — refers to the importance of preserving biological diversity and intellectual democracy in agricultural policy, according to a news release for the event. Her work has been informed by the experience of traditional farmers in India who have lost their livelihoods due to industrial agriculture and biotechnology.
Shiva will also visit Honolulu Tuesday and Kapolei Thursday.
“Dr. Shiva is coming to Hawai‘i because our islands are currently the world’s most significant center of biotechnology seed experiments,” DiPietro said. “A significant portion of our state’s agricultural lands are currently used by seed companies to produce an inedible product that is shipped off island, rather than contributing to a local farming economy.”
Dr. Shiva will speak directly with Kaua‘i’s Westside residents, many of whom are impacted by chemicals and agricultural dust drift, according to DiPietro.
“Currently there is not enough oversight and very little understanding about field experiments and the chemical pesticides and herbicides being used,” she writes in the release. “People living close to the fields are suffering chronic exposure and poor health. Many children on the Westside have asthma and many adults are experiencing adult onset asthma. We are also seeing a very high and unexplained rate of cancer in the areas near fields used for seed testing.”
DiPietro said she hopes Dr. Shiva’s expertise in sustainable farming will help transition the Islands toward cleaner, more productive local land use.
“It’s an outstanding opportunity to come and hear Vandana’s message about alternatives,” she said. “(Shiva) has a lot of info on healthy systems.”
In a July 2012 interview with journalist Bill Moyers posted on YouTube, Shiva discussed Monsanto’s privatization of genetically-modified seeds.
“It comes down to seed for the simple reason, everything begins a seed,” she said. “The food on our plate. You and me were seed at one point … Seed is the source of life and seed is the source of the renewal of life.”
When asked by Moyers what it means when a corporation, such as Monsanto, patents a seed, Shiva said, “The first thing it means is a lie that I created it, I have created life.”
During the interview, Shiva went further to say that she has sat in meetings when corporations said the reason they had to do GMOs was because it was the only path to patenting seeds.
“A patent is a claim to invention, a claim to creation,” she told Moyers. “And it brings with it an exclusive right to exclude anyone else from using, having, distributing the patented product.”
Dr. Shiva is an Indian philosopher, environmental activist, author, ecofeminist and one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization, according to her biography. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering. Her awards include the Right Livelihood Award, the Global 500 Award and the Earth Day International Award. In addition, Forbes Magazine named her one of the Most Powerful Women on the Globe in 2010.
Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the International Center for Technology Assessment, is one of the country’s leading environmental attorneys, as well as an author of numerous articles and books on environment, technology and society, and food issues. In 1994, the Utne Reader named Kimbrell as one of the world’s leading 100 visionaries.
For more information on the event or the speakers visit www.hawaiiseed.org or call 651-9603.
• Chris D’Angelo, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 241) or lifestyle@thegardenisland.com.
