Aerial view of a crop circle made by local farmers and Greenpeace volunteers

There aren’t too many corporations more globally disliked than the sustainable agriculture company Monsanto. And by “sustainable agriculture,” they mean genetically engineering food crops with unknown chemicals leading to health and environmental risks including a jarring decline in global bee populations.

This Saturday, May 25, thousands of global activists will participate in marches against Monsanto in 250 cities around the world. Initially organized and created by Tami Monroe Canal, mother of two young daughters, this global movement aims to fight back against a multinational corporation putting profit over human and environmental health.

If you’re debating finding an event near you this Saturday, here are 6 reasons to convince you to March against Monsanto!

6. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that one in three honeybee colonies were lost last winter. Scientists point to pesticides from companies like Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta as the primary reason for the rapid decline. Honeybees pollinate 25 percent of the food Americans eat.

5. President Obama and the U.S. Congress recently passed a bill amendment that is now known as the “Monsanto Protection Act”, assuring that federal courts cannot halt the planting of GMO seeds from Monsanto.

4. Ex-Monsanto executives are at the helm of the FDA, the agency in charge of regulating our food.

3. The active ingredient on Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, sprayed on most genetically engineered crops, is glyphosate, linked to a lengthy scroll of diseases and chronic conditions including autism, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

2. There is little left for subsidies to organic and small family farms once Monsanto gobbles all of them up. The last thing one of the largest and wealthiest multinational corporations needs is federal assistance.

1. You can take back your health, your food and your environment by joining this global rising tide against Monsanto, a company hiding behind the guise of “sustainable agriculture” while hijacking the safety of what we eat.

Find out more about Greenpeace’s work on sustainable agriculture and GMOs.

Being touched by the true Spirit of Aloha is a lifelong blessing. Hawaii is renowned worldwide as one of the top vacation destinations for many reasons. Each of the six most inhabited islands of this archipelago are equally unique in magnificence, with dramatic landscapes including lush, green mountains, sparkling streams, enchanted waterfalls, white sand beaches, majestic rainbows, an abundance of tropical flowers and mouthwatering fruits.

Despite the allure, Hawaii is a stolen, occupied Nation, overthrown in 1893. These islands are used as a tactical base for the U.S. military, employed as a testing ground for warfare maneuvers, currently including depleted uranium and Agent Orange in the 1960′s.

While masked as a paradisiacal ‘wonderland’ to seven million annual visitors, many wealthy executives flock here for imitation, water diverted landscape activities including golfing and resort living. There’s an underlying disease. Unfortunately this is no whale tale and the malignancy is breaching. Transnational Chemical/Ag corporations are a massive threat to Hawaii’s fragile eco-system and everyday existence for tourists and residents alike.

The original missionary families who transformed paradise into chemical, plantation, mono-crop agricultural money machines, are still pulling the puppet strings today. Pineapple, once a primary mono-crop, has mostly phased out. The Alexander and Baldwin corporation, with their subsidiary, HC&S (Hawaii Cane and Sugar), own 35,000 acres on Maui. It is the only Hawaiian island still in commercial sugar cane production. They burn thousands of acres of bio-mass nine months of the year, while utilizing archaic harvesting practices despite decades of public dispute. Shockingly, Hawaii’ holds the second highest childhood asthma rate in the nation!

Unfortunately, the corporate militaristic legacy has spawned. Hawaii’s optimal year-round growing seasons attract multiple chemical corporations including Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and Pioneer, growing approximately 40,000 acres of open air, experimental genetically modified (GM) crops. GM seed corn is Hawaii’s largest “agricultural” export! Considering the long history of chemical warfare testing, it’s not surprising Monsanto would choose the Hawaiian islands as their world headquarters for seed experimentation. Hawaii non-profit, Babes Against Biotech (BAB), audited the standing house, senate, governor and notoriously GMO lackey Honolulu City Council campaign funds in August 2012 and found over $391,000 from the top half dozen GMO chemical companies and biotech lobbyists.

Monsanto impersonates itself as a financial beneficiary to schools, environmental organizations, hospices, etc despite their long and obvious lineage of poisoning communities world wide. Pioneer ‘gift’s’ $25 saving accounts to elementary school children whilst Families on the “Garden Isle” of Kauai are suing the Dupont-owned Pioneer seed company for failure to investigate the danger posed by open air testing of genetically modified crops. Alarmingly many residents in the Waimea community, surrounded by multiple biotech companies are suffering from cancerous conditions.

Monsanto is the tiny island of Molokai’s largest employer creating divisiveness amongst families and subjecting neighborhoods to toxic red storms due to negligent farming practices. Mercy Ritte clearly describes this scenario in the recently produced video Molokai MOM – Standing Up to GMO.

Fortunately the tides are turning! Tourists and residents alike are growing more aware that these beloved islands are being exploited and poisoned while inhabitants serve as guinea pigs to open air genetic experimental research. A massive grass roots groundswell is multiplying daily with Earth warriors from all walks of life joining forces to ‘protect what we love’.

United, the islands are organized to expose as well as eradicate the criminal chemical corporate assault against LIFE by Monsanto, and it’s like. An ‘Aloha ‘Aina Army’ is flourishing, including scores of activists and groups: Moloka’i Mom on a Mission, Babes Against Bio-tech, Hawaii GMO Justice Coalition, Hawaii Seed, Save Hawaii From Monsanto, Label It Hawaii, Seeds of Truth. GMO Free organizations like GMO Free Maui are on every island. Ocean Defender~Hawaii, pro-surfer Dustin Barca, Hawaiian Activist Walter Ritte, and world renowned slack key musician, Makana Cameron are also playing a crucial role in spreading awareness.

Social media is playing a huge role in organizing Calls to Action for GMO labeling hearings, and in influencing elections. Utilizing the power of social media, corrupt, ignorant, paid off legislators are being exposed in their attempts to force feed bills that are completely undemocratic and corporately dominated.

Last January, Hawaii Seed organized the ‘Vandana Shiva – Raise Awareness; Inspire Change’ tour. Dr. Shiva’s visit was purposefully scheduled for the opening day of the 2013 Hawaii State Legislature located at the Honolulu capital building. The ‘Heleku march’ and ‘We The People Rally’ in unity with Vandana’s debut speech opening day January 16th, served as a beacon of hope for food sovereignty in Hawaii. Dr. Shiva’s presence was warmly welcomed by thousands attending her lectures with the theme ‘Seed Freedom is Food Freedom’. “Dr. Shiva is coming to Hawai’i because our islands are currently the world’s most significant center of biotechnology seed experiments,” says Jeri Di Pietro, president of Hawai’i SEED and one of the tour’s organizers. “A significant portion of our state’s agricultural lands are currently used by seed companies to produce an inedible product that is shipped off island, rather than contributing to a local farming economy.”

Many marches and demonstrations protesting Monsanto have taken place, especially within the last two years. Last March, Kaua’i's pro-surfer Dustin Barca collaborated with Hawaii GMO Justice Coalition and many activists to organize five island marches held every Saturday throughout the month. Over 7,000 people attended these marches! In January 2012, Occupy Wallstreet Maui activists held a week long demonstration in front of Monsanto headquarters raising awareness and inspiring action worldwide. The movement is alive while Hawaii prepares for the International March Against Monsanto called for May 25th 2103.

United we are transforming Bitter Seeds. We are sowing our gardens with seeds of sovereignty and self sufficiency. Monsanto’s invasive presence provides an extraordinary opportunity for planetary protectors to reclaim self-empowerment and create the world we wish to see. A world of thriving, natural bio-diversity, peace, joy, balance and celebration.

We must Save Hawaii and the World from Monsanto together!

The Mexican government is likely to authorize the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) corn in Mexico. And until now Mexican citizens, with the help of organisations like Greenpeace,  have managed to prevent agribusiness giants like Monsanto, DuPont and Dow AgroSciences from gaining approval in Mexico for genetically engineered corn.

But this looks like it could change.

The agriculture ministry in Mexico may allow foreign companies to plant genetically engineered corn on 2.4 million hectares of land.

Mexico is the birthplace of corn, what is known as the “centre of origin” where the original genetic pool of worldwide corn is preserved and should be protected from genetic contamination.

Why?

It’s like a genetic storehouse. If current corn varieties planted on a large scale around the world were affected by a fatal disease, it is essential to be able to go back to the centre of origin and find a variety resistant to that disease. There are risks to our food security if planting of GE corn in Mexico goes ahead. If Mexico is contaminated with GE corn, and if it reduces the existing biodiversity of corn, it might limit our ability to find a suitable replacement.

Recommendations to protect Mexico’s corn have come from many quarters. Following an official visit to Mexico, Olivier de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,recommended in a January 2012 report that the Mexican President should reinstate the moratorium on GE corn, both because of its impact on biodiversity and on farmers’ rights.

The Mexican government ignored this recommendation.

Greenpeace Mexico asked its citizens to send an email to the President of Mexico. Over 30,000 have already responded.

Now it is your turn to support the cause and make your voice heard.

Please sign our online petition to the Mexican government against GE corn.

Gracias!

Days before the key EU vote to ban bee-killer pesticides, Greenpeace is attending the annual general meeting (AGM) of Syngenta in Basel, Switzerland, in order to alert shareholders to the company’s role in the global decline in bee populations and ask them to challenge the chair of Syngenta board to stop marketing these deadly products.

Activists and beekeepers are demonstraing outside the shareholders’ assembly, while representatives of Greenpeace and the European Beekeeping Coordination are directing questions to the Syngenta board about the reputational and financial risk faced by the company in light of the probable ban. Last month, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a ban on bee-killer pesticides produced by Syngenta and Bayer.

But, even though peer-reviewed scientific studies say that several factors lead to bees decline (namely climate change, diseases, parasites, monocultures, loss of habitats and the widespread use of pesticides), Syngenta is trying to make us believe that bee populations can recover if we mainly fight one of the factors: the varroa mite. According to Syngenta, “there is (…) no direct correlation between neonicotinoids use and poor bee health, although a correlation can be drawn between bee losses and the presence of the Varroa mite”.

But bee decline is more complex and all factors that contribute to bee decline must be addressed. How long will Mr. Martin Taylor, Chairman of Syngenta, deny scientific evidence showing that Syngenta’s blockbuster pesticide thiamethoxam is linked to the global bee decline according to peer-reviewed scientific studies?  Bees are running out of time.

A first crucial step that needs to be taken right now is banning bee-killer pesticides.  On 15 March, a majority of EU countries backed a Commission proposal to ban three neonicotinoid pesticides (including Syngenta’s thiamethoxam, and Bayer’s clothianidin and imidacloprid) at a vote but failed to achieve the necessary qualified majority.  On the 29th of April, EU member states will vote for a second time through an appalate body composed by higher member states representatives. If the vote failed again because no qualified majority is reached, the European commission has the power to implement a ban.

The ban could enter into force as early as July 2013, once the proposal has been accepted by EU member states or put in place by the Commission, The pesticides industry is mounting a furious lobbying campaign, to avoid a ban and protect its profits at the cost of the bees and pollination. However, such behaviour is against the long term interest of Syngenta’ shareholders and in fact of any human beings, as our food production relies heavily on pollination services provided by bees and other pollinators.

Greenpeace asks the EU Member states to vote in favour of the commission’s plan which is a welcome first step to address the harmful effects of pesticides on bee. However, the commission has also to endorse ambitious Europe-wide action plans to ban all pesticides that are harmful to bees and other vital pollinators. The commission should also shift funding away from chemical-intensive agriculture and promote ecological farming.

While agriculture multinationals like Syngenta and Bayer care only about profits, their bee-killer pesticides put bees and other pollinators at risk. Without bees and their natural pollination global food production would be severely damaged.

The latest report by Greenpeace, “Bees in Decline”, identified seven priority bee-killer pesticides that should be banned due to their toxic effect on bees. The list includes Bayer’s imidacloprid and clothianidin, Syngenta’s thiamethoxam, BASF’s fipronil and chlorpyriphos, and cypermethrin and deltamethrin, produced by other pesticides companies.

The elimination of these bee-killers is only the first step in protecting bees and agriculture in Europe. The only long-term solution is a shift away from chemical-intensive agriculture to ecological farming practices.

Imagine a democratic government adopting a legislation that would instruct its own Department of Agriculture “to ignore any judicial rulings that block the planting of crops that the court determines to be illegal”(according to Senator Jon Tester D-MT).

In essence, this is what the US Congress has done by adopting a small clause (Section 735) inside the 2013 agricultural budget.

The signing by President Obama of this legislation will effectively bar US federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops even if they failed to be approved by the government’s own weak approval process, no matter what the health or environmental consequences.

Groups have rightly called this legislation the ‘Monsanto Protection Act‘  as it enables Monsanto and other companies to continue to sell GE seeds even when declared illegal by the courts.

The Center for Food Safety (an independent US NGO) has qualified this as being akin to ‘corporate welfare‘ for Monsanto and other biotech companies.

In theory and in a democratic system, the justice system should serve as a watchdog to force everyone – including government agencies – to follow the laws adopted by the legislators. Apparently, not any longer!

The adoption of the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ has generated public outrage and will probably strengthen the resolve of the growing food movement in the US to oppose the power of the food corporations.

This should also be a reminder to all of us across the world of the ability of some corporations like Monsanto to influence policymakers to adopt measures that are against sustainable agriculture, farmers, consumers and the environment. And let’s now add to this list: independent judicial review! A very sad day for democracy and the future of our food.

Eric Darier is a senior campaigner on sustainable agriculture at Greenpeace International