For the keiki
For the keiki
It seems that no matter how drastically the world changes, we continue to disagree about the same topics. However, we all can agree that what we want most in the world is for our children to have more opportunities than we had to thrive and to be happy.
The Thirty Meter Telescope issue is a powerful way to teach our future generations. Let us teach them respect — respect for the sacred ‘aina and the spirits who live among us; respect for others and their ideas; and respect for science and the importance of studying the unknown. Let us teach them cooperation — how to work together so that the solutions are positive and beneficial for all involved.
There is no way our grandparents could have predicted the world we live in today, as we cannot predict what it will be for our children and their children. The TMT represents our reoccurring unresolved issues: development/desecration of the land, contrasting religious beliefs, and mistreatment of others. But I believe it can serve as a model for nonviolent, nonjudgmental communication and compromise on all sides.
Let’s look through the eyes of our keiki now to find a solution in which every single child on this island can benefit from this and future developments.
Rose Acevedo
Volcano
GMO sweet potato
Many anti-GMO activists are worried, because they believe that transfer of genes between species is “unnatural.” Well, they should no longer worry, because it has been discovered recently that the sweet potato is a natural GMO crop.
Researchers have recently found in the sweet potato, which was domesticated in South America over 8,000 years ago, a collection of bacterial genes … in sweet potato cells. These are the same bacterial genes that are used by scientists in today’s transgenic (GMO) process.
Further examination revealed a second cluster of genes, indicating that this natural transgenic (GMO) process has happened at least twice over the past thousands of years in the sweet potato.
So, we have evidently been consuming GMO sweet potatoes for thousands of years and did not know it. I wonder if the local anti-GMO activists will be protesting and sign-waving at local luaus?
For verification of this, please check the websites below:
www.pnas.org/content/112/18/5844.abstract
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421084204.htm
Don R. Gerbig
Lahaina, Maui