How Agro-Chem and Big Ag Industries Conspire to Dispute Benefits of Organic Food Locally Their Strategy is to Minimize Adverse Impacts of Pesticides Here on Maui

Posted by - February 26, 2020

The agro-chemical industry has long downplayed the adverse impact of pesticides often in collusion with government agencies. Official narratives, pushed by the  industry, the media fed false information, and key agencies, have deliberately minimized health concerns. On Maui we have faced years of Monsanto spraying toxic chemicals. Before they stopped posting their annual pesticide use,

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Will Unregulated Gene Editing Technology Destroy Nature? Untested Side Effects of Fast Growing New Technology May Have Catastrophic Consequences

Posted by - December 5, 2019

We’ve all grown up with the existential threat of nuclear annihilation and more recently the ominous impact of climate change. Now we might be facing a new doomsday scenario: alarmingly unregulated gene-editing technology with the potential to radically and permanently alter the natural world. “We’re looking at the replacement of nature,” warns Jeffrey Smith, one

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Betrayers of Maui Democracy Ask Voters to Re-Elect Them This November Arakawa, Victorino, Crivello, and Hokama Enabled Monsanto’s Historic Theft of Voter-Approved GMO Moratorium

Posted by - October 25, 2018

The public initiative system is a unique and magnificent tool for grassroots democracy. Four years ago, Maui’s GMO Moratorium made history in a number of significant ways. First, it made local history by becoming the first public initiative effort in Maui history to get on the ballot. It did this through the hard work of

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Just Say No To Roz Baker Ignore Her Ads: Her Record as a Backroom Booster of Pesticide Conglomerates Has Been Disgraceful

Posted by - August 6, 2018

Almost Orwellian in its doublespeak deception, Maui Senator Roz Baker’s latest campaign ad promotes her as a champion of ‘aina protection. “From protecting our reefs from harmful sunscreens to creating pesticide free zones around our schools, Roz fights from the heart to save the ‘aina,” it reads. The truth? While she has taken credit for

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Maui’s People-Powered Candidates Poised to Take Majority in 2018 County’s Monsanto-Boosting Old Guard Establishment May Lose its Majority Stranglehold in Historic Election

Posted by - July 26, 2018

The upcoming 2018 Maui election offers an extraordinary, historic opportunity to change the power structure that has limited progressive change on our island. The Maui Ohana wing of the County Council – Elle Cochran, Alika Atay and Kelly King – is poised to be joined by another wave of reformist candidates seeking to take Maui

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Will A&B’s Leases for GMO Farming Poison Maui’s Agricultural Future? Tuesday Sept 5 Council Meeting Gives Public Chance to Express Whether A&B Should Receive Public Water with Market Value of $250,000 for Just $750

Posted by - September 4, 2017

A&B is set to increase GMO crop growing on Maui against the wishes of a majority of the island population who voted for a GMO moratorium in 2014. As part of their so called “diversified agriculture” plan, rather than devoting land to feed people, A&B is growing GMO Bt corn and sorghum on 140 acres

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Hawai’i’s Journey from Plantation Exploitation to Agro-Chemical Poisoning Exposed in Historic New Study "Hawai’i: GMO Ground Zero" offers critical analysis of agrochemical industry

Posted by - August 15, 2017

A brilliant new doctoral thesis by Kauai native Andrea Brower reveals the first comprehensive analysis of how Hawai’i’s historically exploitative plantation system has morphed into the ecologically exploitative “agrochemical-seed-biotechnology industry’s occupation of Hawai’i.” Brower’s 314 page doctoral thesis, titled, “Hawai’i: GMO Ground Zero,” contributes what she frames as a, “previously absent critical analysis of Monsanto,

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New Documentary Exposes Devastating Impact of Pesticides on Kauai “Poisoning Paradise” screens at the Maui Film Festival on June 23

Posted by - June 15, 2017

The devastating impact of pesticide poisoning on Kauai by the agro-chemical industry is highlighted in the groundbreaking documentary “Poisoning Paradise,” screening at the Maui Film Festival on June 23, at 10 p.m. at the Celestial Cinema in Wailea. Award-winning investigative journalist Paul Koberstein describes Kauai as, “one of the most toxic agricultural environments in all

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Native Wisdom: Water Protector Alika Atay on the Power of We the People From Standing Rock to Maui: "Protect Our Water"

Posted by - March 25, 2017

In November, organic farmer Alika Atay, the grassroots leader of Hawaii’s ʻĀina Protector’s United effort was elected to the Maui County Council in a stunning upset (described in detail here). Atay was the lead plaintiff in the SHAKA Movement’s federal lawsuit over the invalidation of Maui’s successful GMO Moratorium initiative in 2014. This Maui Independent

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Trump Administration Gives Thumbs Up to Monsanto Spraying Toxic Pesticide on Maui Protecting Children’s Health Less Important Than Increasing Corporate Profits

Posted by - March 31, 2017

Against the advice of the Environmental Protection Agency’s own scientists, President Trump’s newly appointed EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has refused to ban the dangerous pesticide chlorpyrifos. “We are returning to using sound science in decision-making, rather than predetermined results,” said Pruitt. Monsanto reportedly sprays around 140 acres of land on Maui and Molokai with the

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