The "Monsanto" Protest at the AAAS Science Meeting: A Commentary
Commentary on Activism at the "Monsanto" Protest.
What I learned from observing it. Lots of ideas
to ponder as a dialogue is initiated on
Science, Ethics, and Food.
I was a member of the International Press
Corps at the AAAS 176TH Annual Meeting
February 18-22, 2010.
Your feedback on what I have written
is welcomed.
Date: 2/24/2010 8:46:51 PM ( 14 y ) ... viewed 2092 times
“Could a greater miracle take place
than for us to look through each other's eyes
for an instant?”
--Henry David Thoreau
Walden
DRAFT #2
This Blog opens with a commentary
on the recent "Monsanto" protest
at the AAAS Meeting.
I began writing about this the other day.
I have left some of my earlier thoughts
as is.
Feb 26, 2010
7:38 AM
THE "MONSANTO" PROTEST
AT THE AAAS SCIENCE MEETING:
A COMMENTARY
from YOUR ENCHANTED GARDENER
The Universe is greater than anything we
possibly conceive.
We each live in different worlds.
Our perceptions are different.
The goal of life may be to see
each other's point of view, and close the gap
betwen all the worlds.
This point was driven home
at the recent American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
176th Annual meeting held February 18-22
at the San Diego Convention Center.
Science by its very nature focuses on
small parts of things. It is possible for one
scientist honestly not to know what other
scientists are thinking
who may present a different point of view.
AAAS is one of the most prestigious and influential
science organizations in our nation and our world.
It's current and past president helped create the
science platform for President Obama.
One of its first presidents was a grandson
of Benjamin Franklin.
I heard one top scientist report to me
that he saw no proof out there that
organic food was more nutritious than
conventional food grown with pesticides.
There are many people in the world now
who recognize we have many people to feed.
Some believe that biotech agriculture can do this.
Others see organic food production as more
healthy for the soil. They also believe it is
perfect for feeding small farmers who
are given the opportunity to build up their
soil. One farmer at a time, they imagine
I sense, the world can be a healthy place
as rules of Food Justice, as they see it, prevail.
At the AAAS, I saw young people, so very upset
about the presence of Monsanto Company
speaking at the Annual Meeting, that they were
willing to break into the building
to make a scene with the intent
of get someone's attention.
Perhaps what they might want to do
is participate in a dialogue that will
eventually educate themselves and people
of other points of view. There is no question
from studying the AAAS, that biotech ideas
now have the inside track within the science
community. They simple take it for granted
that Biotech science is feeding the world.
I watched these well-meaning youth, and some
of their parents, consider themselves as outsiders.
What they had to say was meaningful and deserved
to be heard.
The youth did not realize
that there were free science days as part of the program
offered by the AAAS, an organization that wants
to bridge science and society.
They are part of society.
If the youth, some of our leaders of tomorrow,
were interested in sincere contact either
with Monsanto or the Staff of AAAS, all they had
to do was register and get a free pass to enter the
building. Monsanto Company was there in the
exhibit hall, as were many organizations
offering free exhibits for kids and adults.
The AAAS had a whole row of booths
sharing information about their very
important projects with deep social intent
and importance. The organization is
very involved with many human rights
issues around the world.
Clearly, the Monsanto Company has its point of view.
They were merely one of hundreds of speakers
and thousands scientists here to learn facts
and network.
My point of view: A dialogue is needed
between Science, Ethics, and Food.
We live in different worlds.
Knowledge is power.
It is time to close the gap, as
Robert T. Fraley, the father of biotech Ag, the Monsanto rep,
told me.
I came to the AAAS with equal concerns
about the future of food. I felt my tensions
ease as I met many human beings
who happened to be scientists.
My intent is now to connect with Robert
Fraley and Tami as people. We are
all human beings with many similar
human concerns.
Easing the tension between us
is the first step to hearing one another.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
February 26, 2010
Robert, Leslie, and Tami February 21, 2010.
around 1:25 PM, Sunday afternoon.
Room 6C, San Diego Convention Center,
AAAS 2010 Annual Meeting. Robert is Dr. Robert T. Fraley,
Chief Tecnology Officer for Monsanto Company,
Leslie Is Your Enchanted Gardener, Plant Your Dream
popular blogger, and
Tami is Tami Craig Schilling, Director,
Strategic Communications & Operations,
Monsanto Company, Public Affairs.
The Cartoon character heading for Hollywood
is KEEP THE BEET MEDIA STAR,
the World's First Talking Beet Plant. As the story goes,
once a contented beet who lived a happy life on the farm,
the noted national Czarina of Foods and columnist in
the Space of Love Magazine, left the farm as most of us.
She now travels with Your Enchanted Gardener,
her Chauffeur, where she roots for various dreams.
Her latest Seed Dream: Initiate a dialogue between
GMO and Organic Lovers. We can lessen in the
heated relationship as we hear each other.
<
Robert T. Fraley is th father of agricultural biotechnology and Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the Monsanto Company. Because of his work, crops improved to reduce disease and chemical usage are grown by 12 million farmers on more than 282 million acres in twenty-three countries worldwide. He receive 2009 Biotechnology Heritage Award presented at BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization Meeting in 2009. BIO NOTE FROM CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION
He spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of
Science 176th Annual Meeting, Feb 21, 2010 as one of many
speakers from every branch of science. The flower arrangement
on the podium, rosemary, scented peppermint geranium from South
Africa, and Camellias grew in my garden.
Dr. Fraley said that biotech agriculture and organic agriculture
can exist together. A five minute video from
the Organic Center suggests there may be a problem.
Biotech Technology could positively influence
the lives of 135 million women, this Video
from Croplife Foundation reports.
{Note: Unable to embed this video here. }
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
"Today 75% of food product in America are derived
from Genetrically engineered seeds.
We face a decision over which agricultural methods
will ensure our health for today and our survival for tomorrow."
says Sara Snow,
a Green Living Expert and TV Host, and M.C.
at the upcoming Organic Center VIP Dinner at the Natural Product Expo West.
THIS TRAILER FROM
THE FUTURE OF FOODS
CALLS BIOTECH AGRICULTURE
THE GREATEST EXPERIMENT
HUMANITY HAS EVER ENTERED INTO
A sign carried outside the AAAS Annual Meeting during the lecture
by Robert T. Fraley. The "protest" inspired by a 20-year lover of
local organic foods, was intended to be a picnic outside the
Convention Center, inviting both local pure food lovers, local
and organic to join with scientists. She made cookies for the occasion
and brought local, organic beets from the nearly Hillcrest Farmers Market. http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1581053
BIOTECH AND ORGANIC ARE BOTH THRIVING
COMMUNITIES IN SAN DIEGO.
CAN BIOTECH AGRICULTURE AND ORGANIC
AGRICULTURE EXIST SIDE BY SIDE?
This is an important research question.
If it can, that is great. apparently from
watching The Future of Food Trailer here,
the drift from Biotech seeds is said to
infiltrate organic seeds. If this is the case,
and it turns out that organic ag cannot
exist side by side, this becomes a human
rights issue, and an issue of civil liberties.
The very foundation of America was based
on the small farm.
The ethical question arises, is it fair
to take away the lifestyle of millions of
people by denying them the right to farm?
This is merely stated here as a question.
Our dialogue will give us food for thought.
San Diego has more Biotech industry than most cities. It is the place
to come if you want to invest in this industry. San Diego is also
one of the leading cities offering local, organic food to its residents.
According to Nutrition Business Journal, U.S. nutrition industry sales totaled approximately $110 billion in 2009. Some say that
the cornerstore of Food Safety in America, as well as true homeland
security, is based on fostering the local food movement.
There are approximately 23 Plant Your Dream Blogs
written between February 18-25 on my experience
at the 176th Annual meeting of AAAS This represents
approximately 60 hours of work. I have
20 more hours of debriefing and followup I would
like to do about the conference.
If you would like to be a sponsor
for these freelance writings that are intended
to further the dialogue, please contact me through the
email above, or through my personal email.
Your name will be listed on
a blog of sponsors of the dialogue, or you may
ask your contribution to remain anonymous.
OUT TAKES
These are ideas I have been thinking about.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
The day following the AAAS Annual Meeting
I went to visit the Roots Sustainable Food Project
Action meeting. I told one of the regulars
that I had been down at the AAAS meeting
as part of the international Press Corps.
"I heard the Monsanto did not show up,"
he told me. I learned a rumor had been
circulating outside that this was the case.
I was taken aback by this. I would
like to talk to the person who started
this idea.
MAKING FRIENDS OF AAAS
MEMBERS
AAAS has an office in Washington
where its intent is to influence national policy.
If a person had an idea in mind, such as
wanting to create a healthy sustainable future
as they knew it, these are the kind of friends
I would want to have, rather than shout down.
AN INTRODUCTION TO DoFER,
A PROGRAM OF DIALOGUE
within the AAAS
The point that we live in different worlds
was dramatically driven home to me
in recent days. It first came at a reception
for the DoFER, dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.
The point they were making was a person of religion
could also be a person of science.
This dialogue has been stimulated by recent
discoveries in Science, just as the Hubbell
Space Observatory, and new instruments
that are now allowing us to see distant stars.
This technology is sending us back photos
from space that are awesome
and Soul inspiring. We may
now be discovering stars that appear to have
dust around them, indicating the potential
presence of life. We are closer than ever
to the realization that it may be conceivable
that there are other planets were life similar
to planet earth may exists.
This may be a bit shocking to a traditional Christian
world view, or to other world views that may
until recent decades have believed that
outer space flight was a hoax.
WHEN COLUMBUS and EARLY EXPLORERS
CAME TO THE NEW WORLD
THE INDIGEOUS PEOPLE COULD NOT SEE
THEM.
There is a story told that when the Spanish
the original colonizers from distant lands
came to the New World, one of the reasons
they so easily overcame the locals, was that
the locals had a concept that the world was
other than we believe it is now. The approach
of ships made no sense. They literally
could not see them. ]
We without question, literally live in our own
worlds, and yet in the the age of social technology
and evolutionary shifts the internet iwhat was once hidden
is now transparent.
THE INTERNET AGE IS BRINGING US
ALL TOGETHER.
WE NOW LIVE IN A TRANSPARENT WORLD
The nature of the internet has shifted the course
of history as well as evolution.
Everyone now basically lives in every
other person's living room. Even with concepts
such as I.D. protection, and special settings
on Facebook, there is literally no privacy
as it was known ten years ago.
The E.G. Mobile, the 68 VW van I drive
shows up on Google maps when you plug
in my address. I have literally run across
footage of near entire landscape of my backyard
on the internet, as invited guest had literally
toured the property and taken a tour led by
our outdoor cat. A person with an internet
connection among the Abudaya Community
of Uganda could literally see the baby coffee
plants available for adoption that are in my
front yard. I can see photos of JJ Keke
in his own coffee groves thousands of miles
away.
VOTING BY COMPUTER?
What does all this mean?
We may be coming closer to a time of
voting when truly, once we work out the bugs,
anyone who can get to a connection can
elect the next president from the local library
or their home office without getting out of
their pajamas.
THE SOURCE OF OUR CURRENT
FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION IN
WASHINGTON
Food Safety Laws, moving fast through Congress
can easily be scene to have been generated
by "Food Rule" ideas that originate in the chambers
of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome.
A coffee bun--high in sugar content and low
in nutrition value, being eating by a 15 year old
during nutrition break at Hamilton High School
in Los Angeles can be traced to ideas about Farm Policy
that began in the mind of a Sec of Ag 25 years ago.
For background on this, go watch the film
"King Corn." It explains the origins of our
current obesity and epidemic of diabetes.
This traces to U.S. Farm Policy.
Again, that does this all mean?
It means the world is becoming transparent.
The dots are all being connected.
Evolution is now literally speeding up
because consciousness, is truly becoming
"one unbroken wholeness in flowing movement"
as quantum Physicist David Bohm once defined it.
POLICY and FUNDING IN WASHINGTON RIGHT
NOW IS BASED ON A STRONG BELIEF
THAT SCIENCE AND HIGH TECH WILL
IMPROVE OUR POSITION IN THE WORLD
AND HELP US REGAIN ECONOMIC HEALTH
Let me apply what I am saying here to the
recent 176th meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, February 18-22
that concluded last week at the San Diego Convention
Center.
As a member of the international Press
at this event, I saw both the incredible achievements
of this world class organization, as well as perhaps
its pitfalls.
I saw how scientists, who by the nature of their
specialization may be out of touch with research in other fields
of science that challenge belief systems they may
believe as true. Decisions that are being made
today in Washington may be grounded on constructs
that may be as faulty as the same economic decisions
Wall Street was making for 20 or more years.
We are living on Stimulation money now.
We are banking on Science and High Tech
to get us home. We are not investing
in the Bank of Compost, although building
up the soil is a time test technology that
has worked for ages.
AUTHENTICITY IS ASKED TODAY
AS A WAY OF LIFE
We are now living in an age when truth is essential
and authenticity becomes a way of life, a world
where a possible outcome we might want is best
served by embracing our disowned parts, both
inside ourselves or reflected it what appears alien
points of view.
I went down to the San Diego Convention Center.
I am a seed man. My entire world view depends
on principles of biodiversity.
I was terrified for the world i love.
I extended myself. I went it to record
and learn. I met and embraced other points of view.
I came out hopeful.
I found a world of friends inside.
I was able to begin a dialogue with that very same
father of biotech agriculture, a man i would never have
imagined I was capable of embracing. I came away
excited to have met the director of the Monsanto
public affairs. She is a mother of three.
She took off work on Friday to celebrate her sons
16th birthday. Gosh, my dad never did anything
like that for me.
I came away with hopes that we
can close the gap, and lessen the tension in our world
by simply coming to know each other on a first name basis.
I plant a seed that there be nothing between us
that keeps us from hearing one another.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES FROM
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?”
Henry David Thoreau
"Walden"
A DIALOGUE IS ASKED NOW
BETWEEN SCIENCE, ETHICS, and FOOD
How else could we be come to see each other's point of view
unless we enter a dialogue around the core issues
of our age that include the issues of science, ethics, and food?
The Monsanto Company is too big to shout down.
They own 90% of all the seed's in the world.
There approach to ag influences millions of acres
and touches countless lives.
Monsanto Company is too big to beat.
They already have all the money they need to buy
out anything and anyone they want.
Thet already have won the inside track
of science support and government support,
and very likely supreme court decisions.
We cannot beat them. We can only make friends
with them, how strange and foreign the concept.
The world science community
has for the most part already accepted
the biotechnology point of view as true,
and Washington is banking on Science
and Technology to bring us home to
a more sustainable world.
We who represent
the whole evolutionary cycle up to now have become
less than the size of David to look at this from a Faith based
perspective. Our Salvation is still
that we have the Rock.
It will take wisdom now to know what to do with the Rock.
It is a waste of time to throw it from my point of view,
or attempt to produce water through forcing a rock
to give it up. Moses already tried that. It was anger
and his own impatience that allowed him to see,
but not enter the Promised Land.
For me personally, I have always taken a step back.
I imagine the Rock as a seed, and replant it.
I teach, Plant a Seed. Grow A Whole New World.
LEARING FROM THE IDEAL OF
SAINT FRANCES
"Brother Sun, Sister Moon" is a favorite film of mine.
It is the story of Saint Frances of Assisi.
In one scene in that movie, the "opposition" fearing
the popularity of Frances, burns down the church
he is building stone by stone, day by day.
He does not understand. He seeks to understand.
He cannot imagine such an event in the world of God.
He goes to the Pope himself to ask him to point out the errors
of his way. St Frances was not in error, the Pope tells
him. The very act of Frances coming before the Pope
caused both a moment of awakening.
Oh my God, how we need a moment of awakening now!
Can we go on as we are?
Can the last remaining sweet growers of real food
be sustained without such a moment of awakening
that is being asked now from each of us?
Did you ever inagine that sustainable living
could come before learning sustainable relationship?
Is anything we are imaging about each other really
resolving our differences?
The future of food, the future of peace on earth
truly asks a new kind od science now, the science
of improbability thinking.
Only the impossible can save us now from ourselves.
That is my point of view. Show me otherwise.
I want to see.
The gap between us all asks to be embraced now.
There is too much between us.
We need nothing between us.
This nothing will come out of dialogue
more than debate.
The mass majority of people know nothing
of either of our points of their points of view,
The mass majority have nothing.
In their simple nothingness they may have
more than either of us on both sides of
what we imagine is an argument.
No fighting will save any of us.
The earth herself has no time, perhaps,
and sees no human race to get some place
or achieve something.
The earth merely responds to balance and imbalance.
It's all quite mindless, from where she comes from
as I see it.
It is us who are living already in natural disaster.
In a world of wholeness, we see pieces.
In a world that looks to science, we have in
many ways lost the view of the whole.
We have fallen apart and only the soul in things can redeem us.
No more can be said.
We are asked to go beyond words
into the heart dwelling space
where you and I are one.
Your Enchanted Gardener
9:38 AM draft one done
Feb 25, 2010
5:04 AM, February 26, draft two.
SUPPORT THE DIALOGUE
BETWEEN SCIENCE, ETHICS, and FOOD
Alert Webmaster
