I’m a grandmother whose name is Stella. My first grandchild was born in 2007, an event which for me put a new perspective on many things. I’m now grandmother to 5.5 little darlings and step-grandmother to 5 other little treasures – and boy do I feel guilty about my contribution to the population explosion! The grandchildren that can talk call me Stella as I’m allergic to the ‘g’ word as a title.
Who are you? And why should we support a petition set up by you? you may ask! Responding to the second question first, I’m doing this because I’ve been saying for years that a moratorium is the reasonable way to address the GM crop/food issue in Ireland. But it hasn’t happened yet and I’ve gotten tired waiting for others to do it and I feel time and timing is crucial. Recent political events have clearly shown that our public administration and political system are dysfunctional, have hinted that citizen action may be the best way to achieve change, and the internet and social media make it possible for the individual or small groups to make an impact. Anthropologist, Margaret Mead’s statement is written metaphorically on my soul and on the fridge: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Although I’m involved in organic farming now, I’ve no other vested interest in GM crops/food except as to how they impact on the earth I live on, my food chain and the society in which I live. All these concerns culminate with my grandchildren, their lives and their future. If the moratorium petition is reasonable and you believe it’s pertinent to you, your family, your community and future generations, please support it. It is the right thing to do because we just don’t know enough about GM crops or food.
Regarding who I am, if I take the query to mean ‘who am I that gives me the right to challenge the system’, then I’m a citizen who’s granny-status suggests I have at least four decades of adult experience and perhaps some wisdom picked up along the way. As a mother, I always considered it my responsibility to provide healthy food for my offspring – we are what we eat, after all – and to instil them with healthy eating habits. As an inveterate why-asker, I was lucky enough to be born at a time when asking why was somewhat tolerated and burning at the stake was a historical memory. While I do have some formal credentials relevant to critiquing science and policy issues, the petition I have started is a granny’s petition in response to my concerns as a grandmother. I am cheesed off being dogmatically told things by ‘experts’ and functionaries with alphabets after their names things which I know are untrue, or I intuit couldn’t be true. Discussions with friends and colleagues and friends indicate their experience is the same. It’s time to claim back for ourselves, as citizens, the right to form a view and to dialogue that view on matters affecting our lives and our world. There are enough examples around the world of citizens’ panels making good decisions on complex issues to provide us with a template here in Ireland. Leaving it to the experts has not worked. Furthermore, to paraphrase Albert Einstein: you cannot solve a problem using the same type of thinking that caused the problem in the first place.
Of course, such a situation does require you and me as citizens to put effort into informing ourselves about issues so we can sort the wheat from the chaff for ourselves. Unfortunately the traditional media are more of a hindrance than a help, what with the dampening effect of anything that threatens to diminish their advertising stream of income. Even the internet requires dogged effort to check sources and follow things back to primary documentation if necessary, such is the uneven quality of its contents.
Stella Coffey
