Monday 5th November, 2007
Food Consumption Sustainability Index: 85%
Food Consumption Sustainability Index: 85%
My diet is pretty boring: cereal and fruit in the morning, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and lentil soup for dinner, and I won’t bore you with any other details than that. Other than to say that apart from bread, and a sandwich at the making change happen festival, I have kept to my promise of not buying any non-eco-labelled products for these last 7 days. I have used a few left over veges: onions, potatoes, tomatoes; but overall I think I have been true to the spirit of the exercise and open to the learning opportunity that it represents. On that note, I will say a bit more on what I have learned about organics.
You may know this already, but in terms of environmental impact:
1. Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment — some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife.
2. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
3. When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
But could the whole world go organic? Even organics supports agree: no - not if we want to continue expanding meat production. Organically produced nitrogen could only reach the level of half of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers being used in the world today. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v428/n6985/full/428796a.html
But as 1kg of lean meat requires 25-50kg of grain, the scope for more efficient food systems remains large. So it is less a choice between organic and conventional vegetables, and rather a choice between organic vegetables and a heavy-meat diet.
But, as most of the people I know who eat organic fruit and vegetables have already cut down on their meat consumption considerably, it seems incongruous to call organics a trendy fad reflecting upper-middle class guilt. If a commitment to organic produce is accompanied by a concurrent reduction in meat and dairy products, then it is hard to argue against its internal logical consistency.
For a good article covering the views of critics of organics:
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2006/12/11/borlaug/index.html
Economic Sustainability Tip Of The Day: Um, it’s hard to think of anything else that is of a comparable price, but if you want to start somewhere cheap, try potatoes: They are about twice the price of conventional ones, but at only 7SEK more per kilo, you can afford to buy the best – and these are very nice potatoes.
You may know this already, but in terms of environmental impact:
1. Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment — some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife.
2. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
3. When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
But could the whole world go organic? Even organics supports agree: no - not if we want to continue expanding meat production. Organically produced nitrogen could only reach the level of half of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers being used in the world today. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v428/n6985/full/428796a.html
But as 1kg of lean meat requires 25-50kg of grain, the scope for more efficient food systems remains large. So it is less a choice between organic and conventional vegetables, and rather a choice between organic vegetables and a heavy-meat diet.
But, as most of the people I know who eat organic fruit and vegetables have already cut down on their meat consumption considerably, it seems incongruous to call organics a trendy fad reflecting upper-middle class guilt. If a commitment to organic produce is accompanied by a concurrent reduction in meat and dairy products, then it is hard to argue against its internal logical consistency.
For a good article covering the views of critics of organics:
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2006/12/11/borlaug/index.html
Economic Sustainability Tip Of The Day: Um, it’s hard to think of anything else that is of a comparable price, but if you want to start somewhere cheap, try potatoes: They are about twice the price of conventional ones, but at only 7SEK more per kilo, you can afford to buy the best – and these are very nice potatoes.
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