Article about the Choice
Pepper’s eye view
1 week ago
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Why Choose Organic
Well there has been a lot of debate of why someone should choose organic over conventional produce. Many people talk about the nutrition benefits or lack thereof in organic produce when compared to that of conventional. Now this is a hard thing to measure scientifically, since to do it adequately one would have to change only one variable. Variations in soil, irrigation methods, climate, and many other factors change the outcome. However, for me its not as much about nutrition as a lifestyle choice. I want the decisions I make to have the smallest impact I can make. So when I choose organic produce at the store it is an environmental choice more than a health choice. I do not buy much food at the grocery store. In fact one of the house rules is to buy produce that is in season and as locally as you possibly can. For this past winter Naomi and I have used produce that we froze or canned last year. We are beginning to run out of some and still going strong on others.
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I have been thinking a lot lately about the whole price issue -- is organic food worth the extra cost and is it exclusive/unfair to people with tighter budgets? It fits in with the whole "externalized costs" section from the Story of Stuff, which I have been showing in class. Organic food is more expensive because the costs more accurately affect the true cost of the food, whereas conventionally grown food is artificially cheap due to farm subsidies and the fact that many of its costs -- in soil quality, biodiversity loss, health care, etc. -- are not paid for by anyone... right now. We'll pay later, as a society or individually, but for now... it's cheap. (And often, junk is cheapest of all). For me, it's worth the extra few dollars, but I do understand where it wouldn't be... and I certainly wish people could see the "real" cost of all their food.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great point. Conventionally grown food is so subsidized by the government so that the true cost is actually divided amongst all the taxpayers and future generations. I suggest to anyone who has not watched the Story of Stuff to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of fairness and equity as it relates to access to organic and locally grown foods has long been a concern of mine. I think a way to do this is to encourage people to join CSA's and grown their own food as much as realistically possible. Even in cities and apartment complexes there are options and one can always grown sprouts indoors. In fact sprouts offer more nutrition than the fully grown counterpart, (E.g. broccoli sprouts, radish sprouts), they can be a reasonable and affordable option. I would recommend checking out www.sproutman.com, he has written many books on the subject, and even spoke at our raw vegan potluck, last month. , People can also buy organic only when it comes to the dirty dozen of fruits and vegetables, another option is to harvest wild foods when available. Organic community gardens can be another possible option, many cities and communities are doing this and it makes a huge difference. Keep up the good work !
ReplyDeleteYeah growing your own food is the best answer. Of course not everyone can grow all of their necessary food, however every little bit helps. There are some guys who do grow an incredible amount of food on their roof using SIPs. You should check out their blog Green Roof Growers.
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