After visiting the Max Planck Institute for Plant Pathology, I traveled into the heart of Berlin to see if the Greenpeace (a organization known to have previously vandalize crops) office would be receptive to an unannounced visit. Walking up and down the stairs of the office building, I faked being lost and caught the attention of Marcus, a 30-something taller, leaner man carrying furnishings from the office, who, I soon discovered, was British after asking where I might find Greenpeace. He told me that the office has actually moved down the street and that their “GMO guy” may or may not be in right now, but offered his own interest in the subject and encouraged research into it after asking about what brings me to Berlin. Marcus saw me out while continuing the conversation over a dinner table I offered to help carry, leaving me with a different face associated with such organizations like Greenpeace (in regards to genetic modification).
Journey from Gölm to Greenpeace Berlin old office. Image by GoogleMaps, (c) Google 2017. Personal use with attribution license.
Old Greenpeace Berlin office exterior. Image capture: October 2009. Image by GoogelMaps, (c) Google 2017. Personal use with attribution license.
Both literally and metaphorically, I spent a day between both ends of the genetic modification ideological spectrum. As a prospective career genetic engineering researcher, I find I will spend the majority of my life in the same place. Perhaps the middle is where science needs to be; non-partisan, never radical.
Last hours in Berlin. Subject: Matt Hamparian. Photo by author.