Fear is not Sustainable

by Joni Kamiya, Hawaii Farmer’s Daughter, Feb 18, 2019

Nomi Carmona of the Babes Against Biotech was not present at the State Capitol. Ashley Lukens of the Center for Food Safety was a no show. Walter Ritte wasn’t even there too.

Where were these people who claimed to be saving people? I thought they cared so deeply about their cause. None of these folks were around at the Hawaii State Capitol at Ag Day this past Wednesday.

Six years ago, Ag Day was tense and stressful. The long time farming community members were being accused of harming others and the environment through politicians and activists. While we prepared samples to give that day, on the back of my mind was who was going to come at us with some kind of claim and how I needed to respond. I honestly did not look forward for that day for years but knew how important it was for us to be there.

Fast forward to 2019, we had no GMO balkers or fearful questions at all. Instead, several hundred graciously received a slice of fresh papaya. The “issues” we had were the PETA activists who ate papaya earlier only to be scolded by their leader that it was GMO on their second walk around.

Ag Day this year was pleasantly peaceful. Actually, every year following the height of the GMO hysteria has gotten better. Why?Where are the naysayers? Is the savior cause dead?

Truth is, there was no one to save and all the fear whipped up was just fear. The Nomi’s and Ashley’s of the world had no idea that the average human can’t remain scared. Our brains simply don’t work or thrive on fear. At a certain point, the outer cortex of our brains start to think to quell the irrationality because constant fear is unhealthy.

The fervor of the anti-GMO movement hit its peak and now can’t pick up the momentum. One man who used to come each year to ask me GMO questions stopped. He walked up and grabbed a slice of papaya, savoring each bite and returning twice. He was enjoying it this time instead of fearing it.

While the anti-GMO folks stayed home, the reliable ag community came out in force to showcase their work. We won’t ever preach about sustainability, we show it in action. We aren’t yelling and scaring people but are feeding people. We don’t have time for drama and have lots of work to do to fill a need in the community.

Food is what sustains all of us. Farmers are the ones who put sustainability into action. We will outlast any loudmouth transplant any day.