Tiny orange cinders from the bonfire in the field drifted skyward as my daughter Emma and I walked through our neighbor’s garden toward the party-goers sitting in lawn chairs. Midway through the garden we heard the honking of Canada geese, and we paused there to watch the magnificent birds pass overhead. The sun had set, but enough dim light remained to soak in the beauty of the passing flock against the dark blue evening sky.

A simple moment such as this is a gift from nature, and my children and I have received more than our share right in our own garden. The gifts are too numerous to mention, yet most have taught us lessons we would probably not have learned in quite so meaningful a way elsewhere.

At a very young age my children have learned from nature that life goes in cycles, that some things die so others may live, and that in many ways we control and manipulate life cycles at different levels so that we may live more comfortably. In a way, that’s what our garden is all about: Rather than going out and gathering the food nature has to offer, we sow the seeds and modify nature on that little piece of earth, all for the convenience of going out our front door to harvest a meal. We raise our own livestock in the same way.

If someone asked me what my mission statement for raising my children is, it would include the phrase “to raise two people who truly care.” Teaching them the lessons of caring is easy to do in the garden. There, it’s rewarding to care. The more you care, the more rewards you reap.

But it’s not always like that in life. Sometimes you care so much, and assume a lot of responsibility, with no reward. This may sound simple, but most people would probably agree that caring and responsibility go hand in hand. We first must have an attachment to something before we develop a concern that moves our conscience to make changes.

In many ways our society encourages the power of being human without feeling the conscience that goes with it. The recent public discussion in the media concerning the use of genetic engineering technology has really brought this to light. If you read Clair Wood’s column last week in the Bangor Daily News, and if you’ve been keeping abreast of GE news, you know that scientists have been able to take genes from organisms, which would never naturally cross with plants, to produce crops that are pest control- or herbicide-resistant.

Some people argue that implementing technology to genetically modify food is the only way we will be able to accommodate the needs of the world’s burgeoning population. Others believe that there is too much potential for widespread environmental disaster.

Dr. John Fagan, a molecular biologist who was trained at Cornell University and founded Genetic ID Inc., has been quoted as describing the process of genetic engineering like this: “When you insert a gene into a DNA by using genetic modification, you have no idea where the gene goes — it’s absolutely a shot in the dark. These random mutagenic events can cause plants or crops to produce new toxins, new allergens, or they can reduce the nutritional value of the food. There’s no way to predict their effects.”

Wood’s column raised the issue that genetically modified crops may cross- pollinate with nonmodified crops. The process of pollination is difficult to trace. What if genetically modified plants were growing in a field adjacent to a crop of nonmodified plants, and the latter plants were cross-pollinated by the former via the wind? The resulting seed (and later, the plants that germinate from that seed) might display GE elements, including toxicity. What would happen if nonmodified genetic material were lost or destroyed in this type of scenerio?

The issue of food security should be central in the discussion of this technology.The safety of our food supply is naturally a fundamental, long-term need of humanity. Indeed we are intended to use plants and improve them, but, really plants and their seeds are only temporarily in our care. We have a responsibility to use them wisely, to be stewards and caretakers, to pass on to our descendants a legacy of hope, not a legacy of despair. Perhaps we can find a way to use genetic technology to improve upon traditional plant-breeding programs rather than to produce potentially dangerous crops that may create long-term and possibly irreversible damage to living things on the earth.

Many times my children have asked questions in the garden, and I have said, “I don’t know the answer to that, but we’ll remember your question and find out later.” I take it for granted that we’ll be able to go to the dictionary, encyclopedia or library to find out the answers to their tough questions.

It makes me uneasy to think that no one can confidently and positively answer some of the most pressing questions regarding the fast-paced technology surrounding genetic modification of crops. I find the documentation that does exist about the potential negative effects of genetically modified plants deeply disturbing. We should encourage more thorough research on these crops before they are put on the market.

I’m still educating myself about this whole issue, so I can’t draw too many conclusions yet, but I do know that one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to ensure we have a secure, local source of food. If our gardens aren’t big enough to produce food for our families, then the next best thing we can do is to know our food source, and buy produce from the farms in our community and in our state.

If we feel that the implications of genetically modified food don’t sit well with our conscience, then we can let farmers know that. We can encourage and support public policies that reward farmers for keeping their farmland in production. After all, farmers never asked to be subjected to this whirlwind of technology. The market (consumers’ demand for alternatives to the application of pesticides to crops) and large corporations (which have a lot to gain financially from controlling the production of GE seed) dictated it.

I urge you to listen carefully to the public discussion that is taking place concerning genetic engineering. Such an emotional issue is bound to create a great deal of tension within our communities, but it should get neighbors talking to neighbors, and it should cause us to help shape public policy that is in the best interest of humankind in the long run.

As long as we need to eat, then we have a great deal at stake. And as long as we have children, we have a legacy to shape.