...Today, Hawai’i imports around 85 – 90% of its food.
How and why did this shift? How did Hawai’i, land of abundance, devolve from a miracle of self-sustaining agriculture to an industrial chemical intensive research lab that depends on petroleum and the outside world to feed itself?
There are many answers to this question- but a key shift occurred when certain empowered trustees and land managers opted to change the course of Hawaiian agriculture (thus altering the destiny of Hawai’i itself) from self-sustaining to an agricultural export economy based on imported low-income workers, imported artificial inputs (the first major imported fertilizer was seagull guano) and mono-crop methodology. Native farmers were displaced, water was diverted and polluted, and food began needing to be imported in order to feed the people of Hawai’i. Essentially, when we stopped viewing the ‘Āina as a source of life and sustenance and instead viewed it as a source of manmade riches, we began a centuries long WAR with the ‘āina.
And so, we acknowledge this long time war with the ‘āina. And now, a new chapter has emerged, and the people of Hawai’i are awakened.
They cannot accurately claim that they are safe- because no one has scientifically examined what they are doing. They are not regulated by the State- as Abercrombie famously said in a symposium on big Ag to the Hawai’i biotech execs: “You don’t have to lobby us! We’re here to lobby you!” They are not regulated by the Feds: Michael Taylor, former attorney of, then VP, of Monsanto, is head of Obama’s FDA, while Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa (GE corn central) and biotech “Governor of the Year” is head of the USDA. The fox is guarding the henhouse. “The regulators ain’t workin’ for you; they sold you out and you ain’t got a clue” (from my song “The Story of the GMO”). The biotech firms would have you believe that GMO is sound science. It is not. It is a science in its infancy. They would have you believe that they are feeding the world. It is true they are feeding the world- thanks to our compulsory federal subsidies. GE food is cheap because you’ve already paid for it with your taxes. But their claim that the world cannot feed itself without them is pure deceit: economists know that humans produce more food than they can consume- but we throw most of it away. It’s a distribution issue. But most factitious of all of the deception, the biotech firms have defaulted to the excuse that because they have been doing this for years, it is ok to continue.
When you are entrenched in a system that is destructive, there is no easy way out. We are rooted in a heritage of destructive land management practices. We are participants in a centuries long war with the ‘āina. We are partners in a marriage to an agricultural paradigm based on fossil fuels, industrial chemicals and waste byproducts. And you’re afraid of divorce. And they know it.
Divorce is ugly. I watched my parents go through it. It was brutal, destructive, miserable and sobering. But if they hadn’t done it they would’ve destroyed each other, and us.
Untie the knot. Of course it will be messy. Divorce the biotech firms. Call them out. Either way they will continue to fight. And so will we. This won’t end with this vote- it is only the beginning. War is messy, and this is a chance to move it one step closer to the end: end the reign of toxic export agriculture in Hawai’i. Call in the regulators. Wake up and protect Hawai’i. Vote Yes and divorce your complacency. Start healing now, so that the keiki of the future will inherit, not a broken island home, but one that will convey all of the benefits and joys that the Hawaiians of old experienced.
Recreate Hawai’i Now.
How and why did this shift? How did Hawai’i, land of abundance, devolve from a miracle of self-sustaining agriculture to an industrial chemical intensive research lab that depends on petroleum and the outside world to feed itself?
There are many answers to this question- but a key shift occurred when certain empowered trustees and land managers opted to change the course of Hawaiian agriculture (thus altering the destiny of Hawai’i itself) from self-sustaining to an agricultural export economy based on imported low-income workers, imported artificial inputs (the first major imported fertilizer was seagull guano) and mono-crop methodology. Native farmers were displaced, water was diverted and polluted, and food began needing to be imported in order to feed the people of Hawai’i. Essentially, when we stopped viewing the ‘Āina as a source of life and sustenance and instead viewed it as a source of manmade riches, we began a centuries long WAR with the ‘āina.
And so, we acknowledge this long time war with the ‘āina. And now, a new chapter has emerged, and the people of Hawai’i are awakened.
They cannot accurately claim that they are safe- because no one has scientifically examined what they are doing. They are not regulated by the State- as Abercrombie famously said in a symposium on big Ag to the Hawai’i biotech execs: “You don’t have to lobby us! We’re here to lobby you!” They are not regulated by the Feds: Michael Taylor, former attorney of, then VP, of Monsanto, is head of Obama’s FDA, while Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa (GE corn central) and biotech “Governor of the Year” is head of the USDA. The fox is guarding the henhouse. “The regulators ain’t workin’ for you; they sold you out and you ain’t got a clue” (from my song “The Story of the GMO”). The biotech firms would have you believe that GMO is sound science. It is not. It is a science in its infancy. They would have you believe that they are feeding the world. It is true they are feeding the world- thanks to our compulsory federal subsidies. GE food is cheap because you’ve already paid for it with your taxes. But their claim that the world cannot feed itself without them is pure deceit: economists know that humans produce more food than they can consume- but we throw most of it away. It’s a distribution issue. But most factitious of all of the deception, the biotech firms have defaulted to the excuse that because they have been doing this for years, it is ok to continue.
When you are entrenched in a system that is destructive, there is no easy way out. We are rooted in a heritage of destructive land management practices. We are participants in a centuries long war with the ‘āina. We are partners in a marriage to an agricultural paradigm based on fossil fuels, industrial chemicals and waste byproducts. And you’re afraid of divorce. And they know it.
Divorce is ugly. I watched my parents go through it. It was brutal, destructive, miserable and sobering. But if they hadn’t done it they would’ve destroyed each other, and us.
Untie the knot. Of course it will be messy. Divorce the biotech firms. Call them out. Either way they will continue to fight. And so will we. This won’t end with this vote- it is only the beginning. War is messy, and this is a chance to move it one step closer to the end: end the reign of toxic export agriculture in Hawai’i. Call in the regulators. Wake up and protect Hawai’i. Vote Yes and divorce your complacency. Start healing now, so that the keiki of the future will inherit, not a broken island home, but one that will convey all of the benefits and joys that the Hawaiians of old experienced.
Recreate Hawai’i Now.
Feel free to share this, I wrote it. Aloha, Makana
Two and a half years ago, my friends and I released a film informing the public of Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate (KS) undisclosed land leases to Monsanto for Genetic Engineering (GE) field trials and cultivation of GE seed crops. 9 days after the release of our film, KS altered their website from a sophisticated, greenwashing, “cultural co-optation” propaganda machine to highlight an admittance that they were indeed leasing acreage to Monsanto, and that Monsanto was a “good tenant who paid their bills”. Obviously their messaging was reflective of a limited understanding and the general zeitgeist of that time: basically, “what’s the big deal?”.
It turns out, the “big deal” is that- unbeknownst at that time to not only the world, but the people of Hawai’i- Hawai’i is the top GE seed producer and exporter on Earth.
Makana wrote much more and these excerpts were taken from here...
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