"A nation that destroys it soils destroys itself." FDR

Hawaii is one of those unique places on this earth where a fully off the grid, sustainable life seems not only possible but almost easy. Not that I think for one minute that farming itself is easy but that this climate allows for ease in incorporating those types of changes into your lifestyle. There is no heating or cooling here, and because of the hight cost of water most people have catchment tanks that collect and reuse their rain water. At Dragon's Lair our water is then heated by solar panels on the roof of the house. And then there is the food situation. The growing season is year round so you can live off your land without having to rely on canning or preserving. The more I read about the state of our food and land this is becoming all the more tempting. Now of course your trade off for this kind of life is that cost of living in 35-40% higher in Hawaii than the rest of the US. Ouch!

But having a direct relationship with the food I am eating has caused me to think even more about where our country is headed. I find it troubling that the big corporations control so much of the world's food as well as the patents on our seeds. Humans and animals are being poisoned from the chemicals that are being sprinkled over crops and are now contaminating the earth's water, soil, and air. Disease causing bacteria are building immunity to the antibiotics that are administered to livestock in factory farms while those farm animals are living in miserable conditions. GMO's are everywhere: 81% of soy, 40% of corn, and 73% of canola is genetically engineered. Billions of tons of fossil fuel are used to transport our food from one end of the earth to the other and sometimes back again contributing to global warming. Monoculture crops are being subsidized by the government and we are losing diversity, depleting the soil, and putting the land at risk. And family farms are going out of business.

All of this can cause a person to become pretty hopeless. Thankfully the slow food movement, organics, the local food movement and lots of organizations and books are making people aware of how their choices effect not only the enviroment but our health. You can see again why a life in Hawaii is so appealing with the ease of sustainability. I read something the other day that gave me a bit more hope and put a smile on my face. A Federal judge in Califormia set precedent when he ruled that the USDA's approval of Monsanto's genetically engineered "Roundup Ready" alfalfa was illegal. The Judge called on USDA to ban any further planting of the GE seed until it conducts a complete Environmental Impact Statement on the GE crop. Yeah for the environment. There is hope yet.