Biospheric Resonance

This being first and foremost an entrepreneurial blog, I generally don’t talk about politics here. Unless, that is, it concerns an issue that strongly affects a community, market, or industry that I’m engaged with in the pursuit of my profession. I believe that this is the case with the following:

With election time looming on the horizon, the politicians are hitting the campaign trail hard, talking up all manner of  schemes they promise to implement if they are elected. One of the issues that is getting some attention in this way  here in Hawaii is agriculture and food. From what I’ve heard so far, the typical idea being spouted by some of “our” candidates boils down to this:

1. To divert more juicy pork towards subsidizing local undertakings that are unsound and unsustainable, otherwise they wouldn’t need subsidizing in the first place, and
2. In the process, to take more control over food  matters away from local farmers and consumers and give it to the government.

The typical result of such a plan is exactly the opposite of what it purports to be: it always causes there to be less sustainability, less economic opportunity, and less food security for the people.

As a challenge to this year’s candidates and voters, I propose a plan below that would really work to create a secure, independent, resilient food system as well as revitalize the entire economy in Hawaii if implemented. As a voter, you can litmus-test candidates’ integrity and allegiance by presenting points from this plan to them and observing their responses.Most politicians, no matter what they say to your face, are in the game to enrich and empower themselves  at your expense, in which case they will not like this proposal at all. Here goes:

1. Permanently exempt all agricultural products and services produced locally by Hawaii-based businesses and residents from all state and local taxes, at all levels (production, wholesale, and retail).
2. Exempt said products and services from all state/local health department (“food safety”) and trade regulations, such as, but not limited to kitchen certification, pasteurization requirements, and vending licenses.
3. Require all food products with GMO content sold in Hawaii to be labeled as such.
4. Lower the age at which Hawaii’s extremely onerous child labor restrictions apply from 18 at least down to 15, preferably 13, empowering our youth to take any job agreeable to themselves and their parents, and thereby building precious marketable skills and self-esteem. Many will want to explore the myriad opportunities in agriculture opened up by the previous 4 points.
5. Declare that industrial hemp is not a drug  and allow it to be grown without any restrictions.
6. Nullify (resolve not to enforce) any and all federal laws pertaining to health, food, energy, agriculture, and commerce that violate the U.S. Constitution and/or the inherent rights of the Citizens of Hawaii,  those laws existing on the books as well as any  that are currently pending or may be passed in the near future. This would also include arresting and deporting any federal agents attempting to enforce those nullified laws on Hawaiian soil.
7. Vigorously oppose the pending and future passing of any further laws of such kind, e.g. the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, to name but one example.

These measures are what it would realistically take to achieve the secure and thriving communities most of us here in Hawaii seem to be saying we want. The expanded command-and-control plans the politicians are proposing will only lead us in the opposite direction. Now, dear fellow Hawaii Citizen, it is up to you. Go ahead and suggest these ideas to your candidates, and see if any are willing to listen to you and get themselves wholeheartedly behind something that upholds your rights.

Let me know what you think. Anything you would want to change, add, or leave out? Why? Do you know of any candidates who would adopt one or more of these points, or is already supporting something similar?

Tags: food politics, food security, food supply, Hawaii, Hawaii agriculture, modest proposals, sustainable agriculture

Since the GOM oil spill, which is turning out to be one of the greatest environmental disasters in history, there has been much talk of America’s “addiction” to petroleum and its derivative products and a call for somehow ending that addiction. Unfortunately, most proposals purporting to aim at achieving that are harebrained schemes that mostly achieve ever more  egregious violations of civil liberties.

All the while there actually happens to be a way of weaning ourselves off of petroleum that can be done peacefully, painlessly, and profitably. It does not require a penny of public spending (in fact, it could greatly reduce such spending). It does not require we give up any of our modern comforts (in fact, it could enhance those and spread them among unprecedented numbers of people). It is so environmentally friendly that nothing else compares. But most astonishingly, this solution is not some newfangled, out there  high tech invention – it has been staring us in the face for over 10,000 years!

It sounds too good to be true, right? What could this wonder I’m talking about possibly be? It is one of the oldest agricultural crops in the world, and it’s called industrial hemp. Since the very dawn of human civilization, this plant has served to produce ultra-nutritious food, oil for body care, lighting, paints, and fuel, and fiber for clothing, paper, sails, ropes, animal bedding, and building materials. After developing the growing and processing technologies for so many millennia toward ever higher sophistication, we are currently able to use this amazing resource to make more than 25,000 different products to replace virtually anything that’s currently made of petroleum with a better product, including plastics.

The real kicker is that all this is possible without dangerous pollution and without depleting scarce resources. Hemp grows great without any use of irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. It produces so much biomass that it actually helps conserve the soil and protects aginst erosion and flooding. The processing usually costs less energy and water than making similar products from petroleum, wood, cotton, corn, or soy. It is generally estimated that growing hemp on a mere 6% of land in the continental U.S. would be enough to supply all the raw material required to replace our oil consumption!

So, if this resource is really so great and so simple to use, why aren’t we replacing oil with it on a massive scale? Just one simple reason. The U.S. government forbids it. That’s the only thing blocking the widespread adoption of  industrial hemp. Why does the U.S. government do this? Because it wants to. Despite its rich history of cultivation in America,  for the last half century industrial hemp has been deliberately misclassified as a drug by the government in order to destroy the hemp industry and prevent it from becoming adopted as an alternative to the very heavily subsidized and very environmentally destructive petroleum, corn, cotton, and soy industries.

If this is the current state of affairs, what can you do to stop this insane prohibition that is destroying the planet?

First, demand hemp products. Whenever you shop, ask for the hemp alternative. Ask for hemp paper at your office supply store, ask for hemp clothes at your clothing store. Ask for Hemp Foods and hemp soaps and lotions  at the health food store. Bother the packaging supplier for hemp packaging products, the home improvement store for hemp building materials. Be persistent. Keep at it until the demand is so great that it can’t be fulfilled by imports.

Second, bombard your elected representatives with messages about the importance of industrial hemp for an oil-independent future and demand that they legislate for the complete removal of hemp from the drug list and the  jurisdiction of the DEA. Don’t settle for anything less. If there was ever a time they might listen, surely it is now, with the oil spill debacle hanging around their necks.

Tags: biofuels, biomass, bioplastics, environmental disaster, hemp, hemp fiber, hemp oil, hemp protein, industrial hemp, oil addiction, oil dependence, oil spill, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, sustainable economy

Earlier today the 8th Annual Hawaii Island Seed Exchange took place at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens in Captain Cook. It was a much more low-key event than the previous years, which had seen it grow into a veritable festival, with last year breaking the record at about 500 attendees. This year the deliberate choice was made to tone things down and shift focus to the actual exchanging of seeds and expertise between people who saved seeds from their own gardens and farms.

Though I have thoroughly enjoyed the festival-style annual event since 2005, I must say that this year’s changed approach also has a lot going for it. Maybe it’s just because I’m not a big crowd type of person, but to me the really focused and dedicated energy this morning had a wonderful flow to it. In terms of networking and  sharing and receiving knowledge, this simple new setup seems to work better, perhaps thanks to the absence of  “white noise” and overwhelm.

Organizer Nancy Redfeather opened the gathering by teaching us a Hawaiian chant created by Kumu Keala Ching, titled E Ala E. This chant may be what set the tone for the energy of the meeting, as it is a gentle but powerful call to focused cooperation. Then came an overview of the current state of affairs in seed work  in Hawaii, with an opportunity for those who had  attended the recently held Seed Symposium to share what they had taken away from that event.

This was the general gist of these findings:

• Agriculture and food security in Hawaii are under severe threat from invasive species piggybacking in on imported produce, the huge loss in biodiversity of crops grown in America over the last 100 years, and the skyrocketing prices of seeds purchased from mainland seed companies.
• To turn the tables on this trend, the seed growing activity on the Hawaiian Islands needs to increase dramatically in terms of both quality and quantity – from knowledge acquisition to production.
• To this end, the formation of serious local working groups from among attendees is encouraged.

After these discussions, it was time to swap seeds. There was a U-shaped row of tables set out under a tent pavilion, where I found a place among all the others to lay out the seeds I’d brought to share, accompanied by descriptive labels. I spent the next while alternating between walking around the tables to see what my fellow seed savers had brought and pick  up a few varieties to add to my collection, and standing by my own display answering questions and dispensing growing tips and botanical information about my seeds and those of my neighbors while they were of on their rounds.

After the first intense exchange buzz had passed, Nancy gave a lettuce seed harvesting and cleaning demonstration, and lettuce farmer Greg Smith generously shared his excellent organic growing techniques that he uses on his very productive farm.I learned a lot of useful, actionable information and have some exciting new seeds to trial in my gardens, and very much enjoyed being able to help others add to their knowledge base and garden biodiversirty as well.

While today’s exchange dealt with the agriculture and food situation specific to Hawaii, similar issues exist everywhere in the world now, and I can’t stress enough how important it is for the survival of the human race for people everywhere to take back responsibility for the food supply from the big corporations and government agencies that currently control so much of it. The past century has seen a whopping 90-95% of the many thousands of available vegetable seed varieties disappear. It was not because they were in any way inferior – on the contrary, these lost varieties were delicious, nutricious, productive, and highly adaptive.  They were very well suited to fulfilling the people’s food needs. It was solely due to the crony-corporatist takeover of agriculture that all these wonderful crops are gone forever.

If you enjoy good food and want to keep enjoying it in the foreseeable future, please consider personally taking on a role in preserving the remaining 5% of our agricultural genetic legacy. Need farm or garden coaching/planning/design/construction/management? Talk to me.

Tags: farming, food security, genetic diversity, Hawaii, seed exchange, seed savers, seed saving, sustainable agriculture