Industrial-growth society putting all our futures in danger

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the concern of many citizens for their fundamental right to transparency and accountability regarding the agribusiness industry’s GMO (genetically modified organism) crops and chemicals, and this will continue to surface occasionally.

Pesticides are actually biocides because chemicals applied to crops may harm more than their targets, as Rachael Carson documented scientifically in her famous book, "Silent Spring," some 50 years ago.

Obviously poisoning one’s environment is not healthy. Furthermore, human individuals, societies and economies can only be as healthy as their environment.

The agribusiness industry is an integral part of the industrial-growth society, which is premised on the pivotal fallacy that unlimited growth is possible on a limited base. That base is not only land and natural resources, but also the capacity of ecosystems to process human-made chemicals and other stresses. That capacity is being exceeded.

For example, the consensus of the overwhelming majority of international scientific authorities is that global climate change is well underway, given the well-documented marked increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the melting of polar ice and mountain glaciers with consequent sea level rise, and other symptoms. Furthermore, any islander should be especially aware of natural limits.

The industrial growth society is fueled not only by coal, oil and gas, but ultimately by rampant materialism, consumerism and greed. It is exceeding natural limits to a dangerous and even suicidal degree for humankind. If most individuals in industrial growth societies would search online to calculate their ecological footprint (environmental impact), they would find that their levels of resource consumption and the resulting pollution are excessive, to say the least. Collectively and cumulatively through time, individual lifestyles as well as corporations and others contribute to the poisoning of the planet and other environmental problems.

The industrial-growth society is poisoning island Earth, unlike any other society in more than 2 million years of human prehistory and history. That toxification is apparent in the body burden of the average American with up to 700 alien chemicals, many of which may be time bombs that eventually contribute to the development of some cancers, something not advertised by the agribusiness and chemical industries.

Furthermore, a basic principle of scientific ecology is that everything is interconnected and interdependent. Thus, many chemicals used in households, business, industry and military bases in these islands and elsewhere end up in the ocean. One of the victims may be sea turtles, with up to half of their population having tumors, especially in waters adjacent to the most human activity.

As the historian of religion and environmentalist Thomas Berry succinctly and profoundly observed in his book, "Evening Thoughts," the universe is "a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects." Traditionally, Native Hawaiians understood that very well in their lifestyles and societies. Their environmental impact was not negligible, but it was relatively small compared to what has transpired since Capt. James Cook in 1778.

If Berry’s understanding was applied effectively in these islands, then society would be more sustainable and greener with a genuine quality of life.

Cancer is unlimited growth that eventually destroys its host, and the industrial growth society is a cancer on our home planet, including these awesome islands.

We desperately need leaders in all sectors and levels of society who comprehend the big picture and the long term, working conscientiously and responsibly for a better future.

We owe that to our children, coming generations, and nature itself.