An absolute must read. Please pass it on. Mahalo.
Jim
Dahr Jamail: Considering Extinction: Are We Falling Off the Climate Precipice?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/17-5
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Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org
Aloha peace ohana,
This is an historic day. I just sent Mayor Billy Kenoi the following email. I urge your to send your own mahalo message. Below is the Mayor’s statement on signing the bill.
Solidarity,
Jim
Aloha Billy,
You have taken a courageous pono step for the future of this island in signing Bill 113 to ban future GMOs on Hawaii Island. This is a defining moment for both the people and the aina.
Mahalo nui loa and Christmas blessings to you and your family. We are all very proud of you and you have honored all who have gone before us.
Jim
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Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org
Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill 113 on December 5, 2013. Below is the message he sent to the Hawai’i County Council:
Aloha, Chair Yoshimoto and Members:
On Nov. 19, 2013 the Hawai‘i County Council adopted Bill 113 Draft 3 adding a new article relating to Genetically Engineered Crops and Plants, and on Nov. 21, 2013 delivered the bill to me for my consideration. After careful deliberation and discussions with members of my administration and the public, I am signing Bill 113.
Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land, and we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources. We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place is unlike any other in the world. With this new ordinance we are conveying that instead of global agribusiness corporations, we want to encourage and support community-based farming and ranching.
The debate over this bill has at times been divisive and hurtful, and some of our hard-working farmers who produce food for our community have been treated disrespectfully. We are determined to protect every farmer and rancher. Agriculture on Hawai‘i Island will continue to grow with county assistance, investment and support. That commitment includes initiatives such as the public-private partnership to improve and expand the Pa‘auilo Slaughterhouse to support our grass-fed beef industry, and the launch of the Kapulena Agricultural Park, the largest agricultural park in the state on 1,739 acres of county-owned land. It also includes support for innovative training programs to grow the farmers of the future, and to train veterans to engage in agriculture on Hawaiian Home Lands, and the introduction and advancement of Korean Natural Farming as a sustainable method of producing healthier crops and livestock. It includes completion of the first-in-the-state Food Self-Sufficiency Baseline Study of Hawai‘i Island to measure the island’s progress toward food self-sufficiency.
We are determined to reunite our farming community to create a stronger and more vibrant agricultural sector. It is time to end the angry rhetoric and reach out to our neighbors. Our farmers are essential to creating a wholesome and sustainable food supply on this island, and they deserve to be treated with respect and aloha. We must turn now to a meaningful, factual dialogue with one another.
With my approval of this bill, our administration will launch a year of research and data collection to investigate factual claims and to seek out new directions that farming in our community should take. This work will include an expanded database detailing the locations of both organic and conventional farms, the crops that are grown, more accurate estimates of the revenue earned from these enterprises, and the challenges our farmers face in meeting food safety and organic certification requirements. We will work with our farmers and our ranchers to carefully monitor the impacts of this bill over the next year to separate speculation and guesswork from the facts.
Today our communities expect that government will be as cautious as possible in protecting our food and water supplies. We all want to minimize impacts to the environment while also producing abundant, affordable food for local consumption. This ordinance expresses the desires and demands of our community for a safe, sustainable agricultural sector that can help feed our people while keeping our precious island productive and healthy.
Aloha,
William P. Kenoi
MAYOR
Press Release http://hawaiicountymayor.com/2013/12/05/mayor-kenoi-signs-bill-113/
MAHALO THE MAYOR! cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us
Facebook: MayorKenoi
Twitter: @Mayorkenoi Mayor Billy Kenoi mahalo!
Mahalo for your commitment and perseverance!
GMO-Free Hawaii Island gmofreehawaiiisland.org
Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GMOFreeHawaiiIsland
Dear Friends, December 2013
Christmas, with its message of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to all,” is a special time of year to pause and reflect. It’s a time to take stock of what is really important in life, the values we hold dear, including our family and friends. It is during this season that I send out an “Annual Appeal” to help sustain Malu ‘Aina’s work for justice, peace, and aloha ‘aina (love for the land). It’s also a time to say thank you for the solidarity over the long haul.
Malu ‘Aina has been planting seeds and sharing food with people in need, the least among us, for 33 years, and all of you have been part of that effort in one way or another. This sense of caring for one another, providing mutual aid, is one of our core values. Oh how I wish we were seeing less need and more justice and joy, but that is not the case. The gap between rich and poor is widening. It appears that personal gain for the .1% has displaced concern for the common good. For many, hope of a better life, is in short supply.
Malu ‘Aina is now in its 637thconsecutive week of sponsoring a Friday Peace Vigil at the downtown Hilo Post Office/Federal Building. Each week a new peace leaflet is prepared for worldwide distribution on the internet and on the downtown street corner. 637 weeks is more than 12 years of ongoing wars and trillions of dollars spent for death and destruction. There seems to always be enough money for new weapon systems and wars, but never enough money for building a more just world, meeting basic human needs and caring for the earth.
Together, we want to see a change in priorities, a world where we fight less and talk more; where love and kindness, not violence, is affirmed as the law of our being; where everyone has the basic necessities of life; where “justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream;” and where we treat the earth, our mother, with the respect she deserves.
In this Holy season, and the year around, we are truly blessed by the gifts of your solidarity – your peace, good will, aloha, and financial help. Thank you for the sharing of your lives. Together, we help each other keep the faith and never give up the promise of peace and hope for future generations, The English philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon, advised centuries ago that “wealth, like manure, only does good when we spread it around.” Today, even Pope Francis agrees. Amen!
With gratitude and aloha,
Jim Albertini for Malu ‘Aina
Donations are tax deductible if checks are made to: Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box 489 ‘Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760. Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (December 6, 2013– 637th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
Aloha kakou,
Below is a message from GMO free Hawaii I urge you to support.
I received word that the Mayor is leaning toward a veto and that lots of pressure is being put upon the six who voted for Bill 113 to change their vote. I would therefore urge phone calls and emails to all council members and the Mayor in support of Bill 113. If the Mayor does veto, six votes are needed to override. If just one person caves to pressure the bill will be defeated. However, now is a critical time for calls and emails to support Bill 113, especially to the Mayor 961-8211, Email: cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us
If he does not veto, the Bill becomes law. Mahalo.
Jim Albertini
Kona: West Hawai`i Civic Center
74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy.,
Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i 96740
Tel: (808) 323-4444
Fax: (808) 323-4440
TDD: (808) 327-6003
Email: cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us
Aloha,
The vote was 6-3to ban future GMO crops in Hawaii County and now goes to the Mayor for signing, allowing it to become law in 10 days without his signature or he can veto the bill. A veto override would require 6 votes by the council.
See the article by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald at the link below.
It’s been an uphill battle. The testimony has been impressive from a broad cross section of our community.
Pleass pass the word. Mahalo.
Jim
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/council-passes-gmo-bill.html
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Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org
