Catholic Diocese of Broome

The Government is still slow to 'cotton on'
By Br Shane Wood, CFC

The matter of cotton and the Kimberley is firmly on the agenda once again. There has been a significant push by the proponent of the cotton trials (Western Agricultural Industries - WAI) in recent months to ensure that the Government approves an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding with them, due to expire in July.
Environs Kimberley was formed with the specific aim of ensuring that cotton, and particularly GM cotton, was not grown in the Kimberley. It has been very active in providing educational material to locals and visitors alike about the dangers of allowing this crop to be grown.
The traditional owners of the country where the trials are taking place have continually expressed their opposition to the use of their country and their water for this purpose. Contrary to the promises previously made by the proponent to 'walk away' if there was opposition from the traditional owners, WAI is still pressing for an extension to the MOU for a further five years.
Apart from the scientific investigations that would inform our opinions on GM crops, the use of pesticides and other chemicals, for Christians there are other considerations to be attended to. As Pope John Paul II reminded us in 1989, we are coming to the painful realization that "we cannot interfere in one area of the ecosystem without paying due attention both to the consequences of such interference in other areas and to the well-being of future generations...We are not yet in a position to assess the biological disturbance that could result from indiscriminate genetic manipulation and from the unscrupulous development of new forms of plant and animal life...An education in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others, and for the earth".
We must be grateful for voluntary community groups like Environs Kimberley for at least giving us the opportunity to pause and look at environmental issues from a perspective other than that of seeing the earth and its non-human inhabitants as just another commodity to be exploited for the benefit of humankind. Thomas Berry, Passionist priest and eco-theologian, urges us to see the universe as a "communion of subjects rather than a collection of objects". The latter has led us to believe that it is fine to take the greatest possible amount of natural resources, process these resources, put them through the consumer economy as quickly as possible, then on to the waste heap. This we consider as progress-even though the immense accumulation of junk is overwhelming the landscape, saturating the skies, and filling the oceans.
As the Department of Industry and Resources website tells visitors:
"The project will proceed only if the Government is convinced of the viability and sustainability of the project and this must be demonstrated before approval to extract commercial quantities of water is granted, and development of farmlands is commenced".
I am sure it would not proceed if the Government believed that the people of the Kimberley would vote against any party that allowed the project to continue. So, after informing yourself as far as possible on the issues involved, here is another question to put to your local Federal and State members and candidates: What is your view on the cotton trials in the West Kimberley?
[Ed. For information on this issue you can visit the EK website at www.environskimberley.org.au and the DPIR at www.doir.wa.gov.au]