Malu 'Aina

Dear Editor:

Bill 79 is historic.  It’s an opportunity to make a pro-active choice for the future direction of agriculture on Hawaii island.  To support Bill 79 is to prohibit future GMO food crops and big agrochemical corporate interests like Monsanto from controlling and dominating agriculture in our county.  Bill 79 supports a policy of aloha ‘aina.  It opens up possibilities for Hawaii County to prosper as a GMO-free food crop area.
To support Bill 79 is to make a choice for the precautionary principle when dealing with our food supply and people’s health and safety. The unintended consequences of GMO may be irreparable and far reaching.  Once the GMO Genie is out of the bottle it can’t be put back.  Supporting Bill 79  is the pono thing to do for people, plants and animals, for the land, for the water, for the air, for future generations and the earth itself.
The future of farming is not oil/chemical, monocrop, industrial based, profit driven, GMO agribusiness.  It is small-scale organic, a return to nature with complete respect for the natural processes and the environment.  It’s about reverence for, and interdependence with, all other species.  This is the big picture toward Hawaii’s self-sufficiency.  Bill 79 is an important step in the right direction.
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Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Farm
P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org