When I learn of the bill regarding GMO’s I can feel an inner relief. For a long time I had a clear feeling about genetically modified foods (GMO’s). What I love about people is that natural selection can perfect an organism to harmonise with natural conditions and changes, human’s come along for profit and genetically modifying it not for harmony, but for massive production. You can see clearly where human’s are not in alignment with nature. We are not focussed on harmony and best interest, we are focussed on profit and self interest. It is a clear mis-alignment with nature, who wins, not us for sure.  Moreover, what is interesting about GMO’s is what happens in one country easily transgresses international borders as species with GMOs cross pollinate, this is the bit where it gets interesting.   Can human’s be sure they know the millions of combinations of DNA and if one aspect is changed, what effect that has on the entire ecosystem?  Can they be sure that the ecosystem is separate parts like a car, or perhaps it is one whole organism?  The outcomes will make clear the answers to those questions.

This made me think of Nestle with its push to get developing country women on powdered milk rather than natural breast milk with all natures amino acids, natural hormones and nutrients.  There are numerous examples.

Other key issues are the private vs public dichotomy.   When companies are private they are corporate entities and they have rights to not disclose as they can state it is commercial-in-confidence.  So if they are harming the natural world at what point do corporations become accountable not just by stating they are Corporate Citizens but actually ethically feeling a responsibility for their companies impact not only on the current ecology and generation, but future generations in the case of GMO’s.  So there are deeply profound ethical questions, which legislation has challenges addressing.

Again, humans what can you say, self interest over best interests. That is where the flaw in the system is.

I will share one story which showed me why GMO’s are clearly not in our interests.  I was asked to work for the CSIRO the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation here in Australia, this would have been a prestigious job.  My prospective job was to commercialise scientific technology as I had market research expertise.  I was curious at first and when I discovered part of the work was to commercialise GMO’s I felt myself hesitate.  Interestingly, my partner at the time received a sculpture just randomly.  It was steel and if you can imagine it had a strip of metal at the bottom slightly triangular so it could stand and then there were metal prongs of different heights running vertically attached to the base.  At the top of each prong was a twist (curl), what I realised to my amazement was that the twist was DNA on the sculpture.  When you hit the sculpture it reverberated as the vibration travelled along the plants and you could see it sway like a series of plants in a field.  It was fascinating to see it in sculpture form.  This was the week I had to decide if I am going to work for the CSIRO or announce my concerns. Obviously, the latter is what I chose and I questioned the Manager of this section about the ethics of genetic engineering and do we really know the implications for the ecosystem and human beings.  I also asked him his responsibility as a government organisation focussed on science and how they could be sure corporations would be ethical in the use of GMO’s.  Of course his answer was inadequate and did not alleviate my concerns.  It was an interesting challenge, I only had $20 in my bank account.  So for me it would have given me much needed income.  But I guess thinking back to Al Gore’s analogy the gold bar or the earth? I chose the earth.  I never regretted that decision and would do it again.    I believe I was given a clear sign.  Ethics have always led my decisions not career, status or money.  I believe strongly that through our actions we define ourselves and hence the future, I wish to lend my energy only to works that I feel benefit all of humanity.  If I can’t find work then I don’t work.  Thankfully for me, I found peace work and it has been a source of great joy and fullfillment. When I dreamed I was teaching peace from that point I never looked back when.  This blog of course is cross fertilising the idea of peace within the self and peace with nature, this is where I feel the real change is integrated and will enable humanity to survive sustainably.  Yet it requires much self examination ethically and whether people can see their responsibility (stewardship) to other organisms, other people and the planet itself, is the question of our time. 

I see it as one continuous whole, of which we are deeply embedded.  I see our ignorance disguised as reports, enviromental impact statements and experts, yet in my heart I know we are barely skimming the surface of true knowledge of the extraordinary natural world of which we are birthed into and supports our every need.  Can we turn that around and support its needs for balance and harmony? That in turn supports us. That is the essence of best interest, we all win and that is the meaning of harmony. The separate parts are the whole.

Hence, to break the nexus of greed, one has to feel a intimate connection with nature, to feel a sense of responsiblity which is not couched in language of Corporate Social Responsibility, it is a felt sense, I would call it stewardship or the indigenous call – caretaking.  What we do to the earth we do to ourselves.  We are in a symbiotic relationship. You may want to contemplate that thought. 

So here is some information about Dennis Kucinich the US Democratic Senator who is well known in the advancement of peace and technologies that are beneficial to society.

http://m.examiner.com/democrat-in-national/kucinich-bill-aims-to-protect-food-supply-from-monsanto-gmos

Kucinich bill aims to protect food supply from Monsanto, GMOs

Credit: Anonymous

Monsanto GMOs threaten food supply