My letter to the Mayor of Kauai

I e-mailed the Mayor of Kauai, tonight and this is what I put:

Dear Mayor Carvalho, 

Please sign Bill 2491.  I have attached a picture of my son, Javy.  He has special needs.  He loves living on Kauai.  He's a big wave surfer, you know.  We live in Hanapepe Heights and he attends Waimea Canyon Middle School.  As his mother, I have to make decisions the best I can to protect his health and safety-the food that he eats, his medicines, the fabrics that his clothes are made of, etc.  But I cannot protect him from what goes on in the fields just to the west of our house, nor can I protect him from the what goes on in the fields just outside of his school.  Only you can do that.  The counsel has already done their jobs, please do yours and help protect my son and the people of Kauai.  

Sincerely,

Doris Williams 

PO Box 688

Hanapepe, HI  96716

And then I attached these two pictures:  

This one because I thought Javy's Keanu Reeves hair can persuade anyone and also, behind him is west where the GMO fields are.

This one, because who couldn't be swayed by Javy surfing.

For those who aren't aware, Kauai is having a huge community debate, right now.  We have Bio-Ag corporations on our island, on the west side- Syngenta, Dow Ag and Pioneer.  They are experimenting with GMO crops and they spray pesticides, at a higher concentration than what is allowed, 7 days a week.  Our county counsel actually passed a watered down bill that would hold these corporations accountable for what they are doing to our small island.  My understanding is that it would create a buffer zone between homes, schools, and roads.  It would make them disclose what they are spraying in their fields and then they would have to do an environmental impact statement before they could continue doing their "research".  If you want to read more about it, here's a link to a Huffington Post article.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/kauai-gmo-hearing_n_4108914.html

Admittedly, when all of this started, I was on the fence about GMO's.  I believe in science, God created science.  Scientists are always banging their heads, trying to come up with better ways of doing things.  But I never agreed with how these corporations treat the surrounding communities.  I know people who are personally affected by what goes on in these fields-they are constantly sick with respiratory infections.  Here's a link to a video that was actually made by people who live on the west side of Kauai.  http://westsideeyes.tumblr.com/?og=1  Plus, who can deny the fact that west of Kaumakani looks like a wasteland now, especially with all the dust storms.  Wouldn't it be better if they actually grew crops that we could actually eat.  I love the farmer's markets but geez, they can be pricey.  

But then, I also started researching about GMO's themselves.  It's not good from what I can see.  They're not actually producing anything that's beneficial to society.  They say that they can make more food to feed the world's growing population, that's more nutritious.  But they're not, there is very little output by these corporations and there's been very little study done about how they effect communities such as ours.  Most GMO's can be found in processed foods, especially those with corn syrups, beet sugar, and soy.  I think my next step will be to start a letter writing campaign to the companies that sell foods with GMO.  I think we can effectively protest with our votes and our money.  I'm going to start with some of the companies on this link.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/celebrate-nongmo-month-8-_b_4069900.html  These companies have nonGMO products but the company as a whole, has products with GMO.  

I want to do something.  I haven't been able to attend any of the events, but I want to do something.  I can support my friends, but its hard for me to get away, to actually be a physical presence at counsel meetings.  The one I was going to attend, didn't happen because our van is overheating and I needed to take care of it.  Plus, you pretty much have to camp overnight to even get into the tiny counsel room.  Well, this was kind of an impromptu blog, but it comes from the heart.  Goodnight!