It must be an amusing spectacle to be sitting at an international conference surrounded by stuffily dressed delegates from across the world, debating the arcane points of a policy which will never actually be applied because the establishment don’t have the political will to do so, when all of a sudden a representative of the world’s richest nation stands up and kicks into a stand-up routine.
Of course I’m not sure that that’s quite what Colin Powell had in mind when [and I know I’m coming to this a little late] he read through the drafts of his speech. He must have known that what he was saying wasn’t going to be accepted by many of the delegates, but laughter? That probably wasn’t in his imagination.
In the midst of wild statements about his country’s environmental track record, it is perhaps his slightly more carefully made points about GMOs which most clearly indicate the lack of understanding. Imported European farming practices hold a large chunk of the blame for the desertification of Africa, which has resulted in some of the worst famines in human history. On the surface, he is right that any offer of food to the starving seems fantastic. But that neglects the (oft-stated) fact that the starving don’t want to rely on handouts for ever and that Africa can’t afford to pick up the pieces if the GMOs contaminate future crops. Simply quoting “scientific evidence” which suggests that there have been no problems so far (when the tests have all been carried out in an entirely different environment with far less at stake) is simply not good enough.
The Environment News Service have some thoughts (thanks oneworld.net)
Current reading: Writing In The Dust by Rowan Williams Current listening: I Was Left Alone by Mohammad Esfahani (not on amazon!)