I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Environmental Studies program at Lewis & Clark when I decided to consider it as a potential major. From conversations I had with upperclassmen I knew it was nothing like Environmental Science. After my first ENVS class this spring I knew it was far more interdisciplinary than I originally expected, something which I am now very grateful for.
One unit I was particularly excited to study when I got the syllabus was the GMO unit. I was eager to learn about the controversial science behind GMOs and their larger environmental impact. I was surprised though when the material we read on the subject was more focused on a dispute between anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva and New York Times contributor and GMO proponent Michael Spektor. Each were incredibly critical of the other, criticizing each others methods of journalism and baseless scientific backing of claims in regards to GMOs. There was very little unbiased information about the science of GMOs in these articles, for which I was gravely disappointed.
I’m interested in GMOs for many reasons. They have incredible potential within the global food crisis and could help mitigate malnutrition. The science behind them is also really interesting, though very little is known. Most GMO health and safety studies go on for less than a year, and many are conducted by GMO companies like Monsanto who obviously hold bias. With so little knowledge of the risks and benefits of GMOs, I was excited to discuss why this is as well as certain solutions for this problem, which unfortunately we didn’t get to in class. Furthermore, until GMOs are proven safe, there is controversy surrounding a lack of incentive to label GMO products as such, and discussions on the Right to Know movement would have been interesting and interdisciplinary, tying in a political, social, and economic perspective to our GMO unit.
While I still wish our GMO unit had been focused less on a dispute between Shiva and Spektor and more on GMO science, learning about GMOs through this perspective was definitely still valuable. The perspective of individuals and activists can greatly shape environmental movements and perhaps understanding these perspectives is necessary in order to develop sound science that is cross cultural and inclusive.