Maybe a friend has recently told you that you should start buying more organic food. Maybe you are that friend. Regardless, when people think about organic food, they often think about it in very simplistic terms. That is, I should buy more organic food because organic food is better for me. Actually, that’s just a small part of it.
When you buy organic food, you support organic farming. The more people buy organic, the more organic farmers there are. That doesn’t just mean the more healthy people there are from a dietary perspective. If more food is grown organically, less chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers are used globally. Fewer pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers mean less runoff of these products into streams, rivers, lakes, oceans and watersheds. That means all the various life forms that live in and/or feed from water are healthier. Our entire planet is healthier.
Decades ago there were big news stories and class-action lawsuits involving companies who had knowingly dumped toxic chemicals into streams and rivers or tried to bury toxic sludge or other toxic material. They were found out by whistleblowers or by subsequent years of unexplained increases of certain cancers and other serious illnesses or birth defects in their areas of operation.
We don’t hear about these types of blatant or shamelessly ignorant wrongdoings anymore thanks to the EPA and other governmental and non-governmental watchdog groups. However farmers, are legally allowed to use all sorts of toxic* chemicals in the growing process to boost yield, prevent insect infestations, etc. Any and all chemicals applied to a crop are not absorbed by just the plants for which they were intended. For example, if a chemical is applied by aerial spraying, it is at the mercy of the wind and can affect the ozone depending on the specific characteristics of the chemical. Any chemical that is applied to plants will be on and/or in the ground and will make its way into our streams, rivers and lakes. That applies to chemicals you or I might use in our yard or garden, not just the thousands of acres of farmland managed by large, faceless corporations.
Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well 