I have been away from the blog for a while, part of that time was spent in taking a MOOC course offered by Cornell University: “The Science and Politics of the GMO”. This was an excellent and enriching experience, balanced in its presentation of the issues while exploring them in depth, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interesting in being a part of the discussion on Gmos.

As part of the course, we learnt how the communication of the issues surrounding GMOs is a fraught issue. There are so many possible answers to the question, “what is a gmo”, for instance! Why is is that so many people see the risks as much larger than the benefits? Why does evidence and data fail to convince while Anecdotes from friends or acquaintances carry so much weight?

So a  recent piece in Time, caught my attention for laying out the case for GMOs: why we need them, specially with climate uncertainty, how we accept genetic modification in certain areas like medicine (the author has an unexpected example of this acceptance!) but are so opposed or ambivalent when it comes to our crops; and for saying all of this in a beautiful, poetic way.

All the time we present the studies and the data, and it comes across as dry and distant while the other side makes its case with anecdotes and is seen as green and nurturing. But it is precisely because we love the woods that we are glad to have the possibility of bringing back the American Chestnut! We just have to share our enthusiasm in a way that cuts through the fact free fog and speaks not just to reason but to the heart…

Filed under: Uncategorized