Credit *clarity* via Flickr

I was recently caught in a discussion over organic food. Our family eats quite a bit of organic food everything from dairy, meat and most of our vegetables. We prefer to eat organic mostly for the health benefits and the reduction in chemicals use that goes into the environment and our bodies. But in a recent discussion the opinion was expressed that organic food was a marketing ploy and that we were being ripped off. I of course defended our choices by stating that organics are supposed to be safer and the certification process is supposed to protect that.

But the discussion did prompt me to think twice about organics, was organic food really worth it? Are we really just suckers of a current trend, like the Atkins diet craze a few years back? What if the organic certification wasn’t really being followed and we were consuming the same apples everyone else was albeit at a higher price?

While you can never be absolutely certain a producer isn’t circumventing the organic certification, there are some facts that have led me to believe my original reasons for going organic were the right choices to make.

Everyone acknowledges that current vegetables and fruits are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is not a debate, this is a fact. What is debated is whether these chemicals have any effect on our bodies. Some say that these chemicals are benign and without them we could never have the abundant food harvests cultivated in modern farming. In addition using these chemicals are necessary if we are to feed an ever increasing global population.

On the other side of the argument the organic camp states that any amount of chemical ingested is bad for you. Children in particular are most susceptible due to their size and decreased capacity to process these chemicals. And the chemicals also pose an environmental threat as ground water contamination from run off.

So what is the risk from these chemicals?

Studies have show that many chemicals still exist in our bodies long after consumption. PCBs for example can be found in every person on the planet even those with no direct contact from this chemical. PCBs have been found amongst the most remote indigenous tribes to the upper reaches of the arctic circle.

In addition according to a Fast Company article posted earlier, it states that the chemical companies in the US are not regulated by a particular government body. That means the onus to prove that a chemical is safe rests solely on the chemical manufacturer’s shoulders. In the case of Bisphenol A the chemical manufacturers admit it’s bad for you, but again they revert back to the argument that it’s safe so long as it’s in small enough quantities. Studies have show that Bisphenol A can take some time to pass our bodies, during that period we are exposed to more Bisphenol A so it has an accumulating effect. With millions on the line and shareholders holding the executives accountable, how thoroughly are products like Bisphenol A being tested?

We know that chemicals are being sprayed on conventional fruits and vegetables, and we also know that there are some unanswered questions about the chemicals that surround us. While it’s true I can not proove inconclusively that organics practices have been followed, if there is a food option that has a higher likely hood to contain fewer chemicals I’ll take it. And when it comes to my child no price is too steep to reduce exposure to chemicals.

But what about the cost? Critics of organic foods also point out the increased cost of the everyday food items. This is not something I debate either, we definitely see a larger grocery bill than we did previously, but we also buy half if not more of our food as organic, I suspect we eat more organic food than the average consumer so our bill may be larger than the average organic consumer.

According to the USDA in 2006 the average American household spent 9.6% of their income on food. While this may seem like a lot of money consider these facts; India (39.4 percent) and Indonesia (49.9 percent) are among the highest when it comes to the amount of disposable income spent on food according to an article published in the Salem news. In reality most of us have the resources to purchase foods that are less likely to contain pesticides. While others may not want to spend that much, there are options.

For instance certain foods absorb more chemicals than others or are more susceptible to pesticides when sprayed. Start with the foods you eat that have the greatest risk and purchase only those as organic. In essence buy organic strategically, you don’t have to convert your shopping habits overnight. (For a list of the foods with the highest toxicity levels jump to the links below.)

While I realize not everyone can afford to purchase organic, if you can afford it, why not reduce your chemical exposure? I for one am happy to reduce our risk even if it comes at a higher cost, and I think my daughter will thank me for it later.

Let me know what you think in the comments, I’d love to hear about others opinions or experiences.

Click here for a list of which fruits and veggies have the highest pesticide loads.

List of sources:
Percent of us income spend on food
Article providing stats on income spent on food globally

SOIL: Sasha Kramer (right)

Haiti is the poorest contry in the western hemisphere, it is estimated 80% of it’s population is living in poverty. An already bad situation has been made worse by the desertification of this small carribean country. In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down all but an estimated 2% of its original forest cover, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils.

In a country where many struggle to feed themselves having fertile soil to grow food and crops is essential. A friend has written in about Sasha Kramer and Sarah Brownell two women who run a non-profit grop called SOIL in haiti. Their goal is to raise funds and teach haitiens how to build composting toilets. Composting toilest turn human waste into valuable fertilizer without the use of water or chemicals. And when built properly they omit few odors and can be quite safe.

By providing a natural source of fertilizer this allows SOIL to empower communities and help rebuild their ability to feed themselves and flourish. SOIL is a small non profit and they’re looking for help to continue their work.

Here is a quote from Sasha about their need for funding:

We know that times have been tough everywhere and certainly our organization has felt the pinch with donations dropping in response to the economic crisis.  We currently have enough money to continue to function through the month of April but with our rent coming due in early May and no vehicle we are still struggling to stay afloat. Our network has been so generous in the past and we are so grateful to all of you who have supported us over the past few years…you have made this work a reality and it is such an honor to be part of such a compassionate group of people.

More on composting toilets; in the west we aren’t as familiar with this concept but it has been proven safe and effective, there are experiments with composting toilets in some countries including Europe, Canada and the US. One example is the three-story C.K. Choi Building at the University of British Columbia (Canada), which contains 5 compost chambers with 12 toilets for 300 full-time employees.

Read more about SOIL in Haiti
Visit the SOIL homepage, they are in need of any donations you can spare
More about composting toilets

King Corn

In King Corn Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis are two Ivy league grads who after analyzing their hair samples discover that the carbon in their body is mostly made up of corn. They also discover that they are the first generation to potentially have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation. Both of these issues are directly related to our diet and what we eat.

Determined to find out how corn has become such a staple of the American diet they move out to Iowa to grow an acre of corn. After convincing a farmer to lend them an acre of land they set out planting a crop. Little did they know planting and growing the crop would be the easy part, once their acre of corn ended up in the commercial grain system it was easier said than done tracking it’s progress as it was processed into other products.

Wanting to find out exactly what happens to all this corn lead them to examine the underbelly of American corn production. They begin by explaining why America in particular produces so much corn, how it’s subsidized and how the corn differs from the corn we eat at the dinner table.

They also discover how corn has seeped into every corner of the food supply, from artificial sweetners, to hamburgers, all of it corn. The fact that just about everything we eat is corn based has drastically altered our health, and not necessarily for the better.

Watch the trailer here

Mark Bittman

New York Times food columnist and author Mark Bittman is interviewed in this NPR radio show. In it he discusses his move to a healthier diet and how it impacts not only his health but also the planet.

Mark Bittman found himself at a cross roads, his health was suffering from extra weight and after consulting with his doctor he was told to shift to a more vegetable based diet. At the same time he also became more aware that our meat and process food centric diet was not only unhealthy but that we needed to change our views of food. After reading the UN report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” Mark discovered that 18% of all greenhouse gases are produced by industrial livestock production, therefore almost a fifth of all greenhouse gases are produced by eating meat, Second only to energy production.

With this knowledge he made positive changes that not only helped him loose weight and become healthier but also help reduce his carbon footprint.

Listen to the interview here
Amazon page for Mark’s Cookbook: Food Matters a Guide to Conscious Eating

Credit: Shrff14 via Flickr

With the amount of money we spend on bottled water we could bring fresh water to all the people in the world who need it. The American people, including most western nations, have been conned into thinking that bottled water is healthier than tap water. In fact the regulations for tap water in the US are much stiffer than for bottled water in most situations. The same is true of most western countries and as regulations pass in other parts of the world the same holds true there as well.

Bottled water costs about a thousand times as much as tap water. We complain about the higher prices of gasoline but we’ll pay even more for water that’s often inferior to what we can get from the tap.

And this doesn’t take into account the environmental impact from bottled water. Oil is used to produce the plastic bottles and even more oil and energy is consumed transporting and distributing a product that we can get from our taps for next to nothing per liter.

Bottled water is one of the easiest items to remove from your carbon footprint. Get a reusable canteen such as a sigg or kleen kanteen and open the tap. If you don’t like the taste of your water get a Brita pitcher and filter your water. While Brita filters have their own environmental issues, such as distribution and adding to landfills, they aren’t as significant as those presented by bottled water.

For more on bottled water and related issues follow the links below:
Treehugger: A world of reasons to ditch bottled water
Earth Policy Institute: Pouring Resources Down the Drain

Credit: MonkeySimon via Flickr

Bisphenol A, by now most of us have heard about this chemical in the news. On one hand we are told it’s amongst the worst chemicals in use today and yet on the other hand some say it’s completely safe. What’s the real story? Are we really as safe as the chemical manufacturers would lead us to believe?

Fast Company has published a candid look at Bisphenol A trying to determine what is the real story behind this enigmatic chemical. What they reported has implications that reach far beyond Bisphenol A, it exposes how the chemical companies produce and certify their products for human use. And the battle between special interest groups on both sides of the health debate. Here’s are two excerpts from the article:

Surely you’ve heard about BPA by now. It’s everywhere. Some 7 billion pounds of it were produced in 2007. It’s in adhesives, dental fillings, and the linings of food and drink cans. It’s a building block for polycarbonate, a near-shatterproof plastic used in cell phones, computers, eyeglasses, drinking bottles, medical devices, and CDs and DVDs…

To some degree, the BPA controversy is a story about a scientific dispute. But even more, it’s about a battle to protect a multibillion-dollar market from regulation. In the United States, industrial chemicals are presumed safe until proven otherwise. As a result, the vast majority of the 80,000 chemicals registered to be used in products have never undergone a government safety review. Companies are left largely to police themselves.

Read the full article here on Fast Company.com