Dr. Vandana Shiva on Kauai

SUBHEAD: Food justice advocates to speak in Lihue on 1/17/13, featuring Vandana Shiva, Walter Ritte & Andrew Kimbell.

By Steve Benjamin on 5 January 2013 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/01/dr-vandana-shiva-on-kauai.html)


Image above: Detail of poster for Kauai event. Click to enlarge to print and put up announcement. From (http://www.islandbreath.org/2013Year/01/130105poster.jpg).

WHAT:
 Raise Awareness, Inspire Change - a free educational event on food, GMO's and food security with Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell & Walter Ritte.

WHEN:
Thursday, 17 January 2013 

4:00 pm Westsiders(Kekaha & Waimea)  eat and meet with Vandana Shiva before event 

5:00 pm Doors open to public; for Giveaway of Local Seeds adapted to Kauai, by Kauai Community Seedbank and Library.

6:00 pm Makana will perform some songs. 

6:30 pm Presentations byWalter Ritte, Andrew Kimbrell & Vandana Shiva

WHERE
 Peace & Freedom Convention Hall
 4191 Hardy Street,  Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii

Dr Vandana Shiva, World renowned Physicist, Philosopher, Author and Sustainability Consultant, with special guests Walter Ritte, Local Sovereignty and Environmental Activist and Educator, and Andrew Kimbrell, Public Interest Attorney and Author, present:


"Raise Awareness, Inspire Change"

Update:
Makana is going to do some songs at the event, before the speaker presentations-- should be fun!

You are all, as west siders, invited to a special early dinner (free) for Kekaha and Waimea residents before the event, to talk with Dr, Vandana Shiva.  She really wants to hear what we have to say, what we are experiencing as a community, and why sustainable ag must be the new way forward.  4 pm, Convention Center (same venue as event)

There will also be some of the top "GMO-Free" advocacy leaders coming to listen to you, and share what they learn on Kauai with the rest of the world.  

Join us for a discussion on ecological agriculture, protecting biodiversity, and our responsibility to honor the precious gifts of nature.  The theme of Dr. Shiva’s presentation—“Seed Freedom is Food Freedom”—refers to the importance of preserving biological diversity and intellectual democracy in agricultural policy. Her work has been informed by the experience of traditional farmers in India who have lost their livelihoods due to industrial agriculture and biotechnology.

“Dr. Shiva is coming to Hawai‘i because our islands are currently the world’s most significant center of biotechnology seed experiments,” says Jeri DiPietro, president of Hawai‘i SEED and one of the tour’s organizers. “A significant portion of our state’s agricultural lands are currently used by seed companies to produce an inedible product that is shipped off island, rather than contributing to a local farming economy.”

Di Pietro adds that Dr. Shiva will visit Kaua‘i because it is the island with the largest acreage of genetically engineered agriculture in the state (approximately 13,000 acres). “Dr. Shiva will speak with the island’s West Side residents, many of whom are impacted by chemicals and agricultural dust drift. Currently there is not enough oversight and very little understanding about field experiments and the chemical pesticides and herbicides being used. People living close to the fields are suffering chronic exposure and poor health; many children on the West Side have asthma and many adults are experiencing adult onset asthma. We are also seeing a very high and unexplained rate of cancer in the areas near fields used for seed testing.”

About the Speakers:
Dr. Vandana Shiva is an Indian philosopher, environmental activist, author and eco-feminist who is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices and fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are among the fields where Shiva has contributed intellectually and through activist campaigns. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering.

Dr. Shiva was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 1993. Other awards she has received include the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1993, and the Earth Day International Award of the United Nations (UN) for her commitment to the preservation of the planet. She has been featured in a number of acclaimed documentaries on agriculture and food such as “One Water,” “Deconstructing Supper: Is Your Food Safe?,” “The Corporation,” “Thrive,” “Dirt! The Movie” among others.

 Dr. Shiva will be accompanied by Walter Ritte.  For nearly 40 years, Walter Ritte has been a grassroots hero of integrity and action. Along the way, he has won many battles to protect Hawaii’s lands, natural resources and the  rights of the Hawaiian people, while honoring his kupuna (elders) and remaining steadfast to his values.  Walter also led a successful statewide effort to convince the University of Hawaii to give up its U.S. patents on three hybridized varieties of Hawaiian taro. As founder of "Label It Hawaii", and a board member of Hawaii Seeds, Ritte is now a leader of the statewide movement to require the labeling of GMO foods.

Another featured speaker is Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) and also executive director of the Center for Food Safety. He is one of the country’s leading environmental attorneys, and an author of numerous articles and books on environment, technology and society, and food issues.

Mr. Kimbrell's current work emphasizes policy and grassroots work on food issues including defending organic alfalfa and beet farmers from seed contamination and opposing destructive practices such as genetic engineering, factory farming, irradiation and the patenting of seeds and other life forms. He has been featured in many documentaries including the seminal film "The Future of Food" and has testified before numerous congressional and regulatory hearings. In 1994, the Utne Reader named Kimbrell as one of the world's leading 100 visionaries.

Event is sponsored by Hawaii Seed and GMO Free Kauai.  This special evening was made possible by a special grant from The Ceres Trust & Hawaii Seed.

For more information, go to www.hawaiiseed.org or call 808-651-9603.  For information on the speakers, go to: www.vandanashiva.org, www.navdanya.org, www.andrewkimbrell.org 

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Vandana Shiva on GMO's 7/21/12
Ea O Ka Aina: Seed Savers Exchange Market 10/22/09
Ea O Ka Aina: India turning away from Biotech 8/9/12

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