Building Bridges in San Francisco: A Journey of Collaboration and Community Part 2
Members of the HAPA and Pesticide Action teams
Our week in San Francisco was packed with meetings and networking. In addition to our epic farm tour and connections made at Hummingbird Farm, we also connected with some funders that support our ability to do this work, and our partners at Center For Food Safety, Californians for Pesticide Reform and Pesticide Action Network North America.
These three organizations have been helping to hold the line nationally, and in California, against big chemical corporate interests and lobbying for many years and it's an honor to work alongside them and it was great to connect with them in person.
Fighting National Preemption
There is no doubt that preemption from the federal level is on everyone's mind. The current toxic federal Farm Bill attempts to strip county and state rights across the US and overturn so many hard fought battles (around 200 state and county ordinances) that were won by communities across the country.
As with our national partners, we strongly oppose federal pesticide preemption efforts and if you haven't already please take a moment and take action through our online action tool to voice your opposition for federal preemption also!
Fumigants and Pesticide Science
Meeting with the experts on pesticides always results in learning and helps direct our actions and fight in Hawaiʻi to protect our community and environment.
Our partners in California have been fighting for protections associated with Restricted Use Pesticide use and particularly fumigants like 1,3-D (Telone) for many many years!
We learned about methods that could help us do drift monitoring, California regulations and regulatory history and struggle, the impacts associated with different forms of application and discussed how we address the massive use happening in, and drifting through, north central Oʻahu.
Pesticide Legislation and Lawsuits
It is always encouraging to hear about national efforts (often lawsuits) that are holding federal agencies and corporations accountable, fighting to protect communities and the environment and pushing back against deregulation efforts by corporate lobbyists.
One thing particularly that stood out to me was Center for Food Safety’s current efforts to make the EPA do what they were tasked to do, review endocrine disruption of pesticides on humans and endangered species. You can learn more about this effort here.
Stronger Together
One thing is sure, we are stronger together. The more we can collaborate to support our partners efforts on the continent, or galvanize support for our efforts here in Hawaiʻi, we make it more likely we will be successful! Pushing back against chemical corporate giants and their interests and fighting to protect communities, seed, biodiversity, sensitive places and our natural world is a global fight and Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action is just one link in the chain, that is made strong together.
We look forward to collaborating more with our national partners, helping to support national campaigns around pesticide issues, bringing more support and awareness of our battle in Hawaiʻi with pesticide drift and continuing to learn from each other to become more effective in our collective work.
With gratitude,
Fern Holland
Director, Fair & Sustainable Food Systems
