The Molokai Times
Monday, April 7, 2008
By Sen. J. Kalani English
Over the past few weeks, I have been writing about some of the significant new challenges facing Molokai and our state.
Molokai Ranch has ended its operations, as has Aloha Airlines. We continue to face uncertainty in social, scientific and cultural areas, with questions about genetically modified foods, our educational system, and preservation of our native culture and lifestyles on the minds of many of our neighbors.
In national politics, we hear the constant drum-beat of change. A change in foreign policy, a change in the way we view race and gender, and change in the value we place on the accumulation of wealth. And while that drive for change is less urgently felt in Hawai'i, I think we all have a sense that with so much going on around us, we need to be ready for something new when it appears on our horizon.
For me, many of these concerns come together when we talk about genetically modified taro. At the time that I write this, the Agriculture Committee of the Hawai'i House of Representatives has voted to pass out of committee a bill that would impose a five-year moratorium on genetic research involving native strains of taro.
The bill that the committee passed is a compromise measure; a number of groups originally argued for a complete 10-year moratorium on all genetic research on taro, and other groups took the position that any moratorium would send a negative message about science on Hawai'i. We also heard the argument that without genetic research, we face the possibility that a blight or other agent could wipe out our entire taro crop.
Strangely, in this case it appears that everybody was right. Yes, science is important, as is research that might help us preserve important crops. But kalo occupies a unique and vital place in Hawaiian culture, and genetic modification of this iconic crop would do a tremendous disservice to our culture and our history. In this tension between science and culture, the call of the modern and the voice of our ancestors, how do we choose?
There is more to modern living than cable television and iPods, just as there is more to preserving our culture than hula and language. Advanced science and the global economy provide the means necessary to feed and support a growing population. Hawaiian culture represents the means by which we maintain our identity as a people, a race, and unique voice in our state, our nation, and our lives.
Faced with a choice between taro as a tool of science and kalo as an expression of our culture, I come down squarely on the side of culture. The price of tinkering is too high, as is the loss it would represent to our unique identity. As much as I respect the debate and the varied positions we find there, this is the balance I find most effective.
Moloka'i will face other similar decisions in the future, and I believe we will make equally challenging choices. We are ready to come to grips with those challenges, because we have the strength to stand for what is most important.
Original article URL: http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/847201310.asp