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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0009.043 2014-2016Leslie, Earlanne From: Richard Rimer [drrimerdo@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 11:23 AM To: Council Testimony Subject: support of comm.9.1 Please defend our GMO crap ordiannce 13-121. Support our counties rights to home rule! w I support Comm. 9.1 — The idea that some members of the city counsel are opposing pro bono defense of our: \ GMO crop Ordinance 13-121, being offered by attorneys Paul Achitoff and Georg' Kimbrel, from Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety, is shocking. Our GMO crop Ban Ordinance 13-121 for the County of Hawaii, was overtunred on November 26th by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren. Paul Achitoff and George Kimbrel are offering their high quality representation services for free; and have a record of defending biodiversity, abundance and ecosystem resiliency that protects human needs in the long run. A principal issue is about our county leaders following through and carrying out their fiduciary responsibilities to protect "home rule rights", their neighbors interests and supporting what was passed in our county elections, i.e. banning GMO's. GMO's sustain an unsustainable economy and are inappropriate technologies. Please do not follow the lead of Maui County and fold to the pressures of the state, federal government, or corporations like Monsanto. . Home rule is vital to our communities. G.M.O. (God Move Over) technologies are anti- biodiversity and spread genetic pollution to like and unlike species. It is a technology that is dangerous to our life supporting ecosystems that are already seriously ailing by human impact, created by too many people, wanting to many things, and dirty, inappropriate, toxic/polluting technologies. By destroying seed saving of thousands of crop varieties by farmers, who join industrial agriculture, it makes farmers dependent on chemical and patented seeds companies which creates debt to farmers, and a loss of food sovereignty. Humans need to seed bank and save many varieties of seeds from previous harvests and to replant them according to the season and climate. In a more broad view, industrial agriculture has been a blight to our planet; it's methods have the most damaging environmental impact of any industry (habitat loss, deforestation, toxic and nutrient pollution, desertification, global warming, eutrophification of lakes, rivers, streams, dead zones in oceans, loss of arable lands from salinization, compaction of soils, ...). If the city coucil members argue the financial fear of endless legal challenges by the likes of Monsanto, then I think it is important for them to remember that making policies that compromise our ecosystem services which are "free revenue" to humans may exceed the global economic output. Pavan Sukhdev, the Deutsche Bank economist leading a European study on ecosystems, reported that we are losing natural capital worth between $2 trillion and $5 trillion every year, as a result of deforestation alone. One famous estimate of the value of global ecosystem goods and services, by economist Robert Costanza and colleagues, yielded an estimated range of $18-62 trillion (2001 dollars) per year, as comparable to the World Gross National Income of that year of $47 trillion. Globally, we are living off of nature's principal six months out of the year (see "overshoot day"), instead of living off of her interest (i.e. if a tree grows 5 feet or a foot of water is added to an aquifer per year, that is all that is harvested). We started living off of mother nature's principal in the 1980's and have been accelerating the ,I l Comm. No. `C"3 Ref. To: t Ref. Dote "ecodebt since. Globally, humans are collectively requiring 1.5 planets to live and we only have 1 planet. Americans are requiring 7 planets of natural resources, if all 7.4 billion people lived at the standard of living as people in the U.S.A. I am a family practitioner and emergency room doctor who treats many of the social, environmental and medical ills created by industrial agriculture. The increased use of herbicides and pesticides on GMO crops without any yield advantages and super -weeds certainly will cause more medical ills as many "cides" are neuro -immunological toxins that may not immediately kill unintentional bystanders, but increase rates of cancers, allergies, neurodegenerative diseases like parkinsons, and neurodevelopment disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. Many "cides" are also xenoestrogen/gender benders and some are obesegens that promote obesity which has staggering healthcare costs. Like many technologies, today "high tech" solutions are tomorrow's problems and in the case of GMO's , genetic pollution and loss of biodiveristy doesn't correct easily or at all. "Short -termism" by policy makers and the public at large is our civilizations shortfall. Our personalities are driven by immediate needs rather than making wise decisions that benefit all beings, in the long run. Please be wise by considering decisions that affect the planet's future in the long run rather than for short term election cycles of 2-4 years. Home rule is a absolute necessity so that people have control over their health and lives. Having legislators make decisions, who do not live in areas that they create adverse impacts on, is not a democracy that I can stand up for. Supporting our life support ecosystems, the "precautionary principle", an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, and "home rule" should rule... Mahalo for your consideration, Sincerely, Dr. Richard A. Rimer D.O.