The Better Bargain Of Organics
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V. Brunner Sung in his article “Slow What” states that “what and how we eat is intrinsic to our quality of life” (9). You might wonder why he would say this. It could be simply because for reasons concerning the well-being of your health you should watch carefully the foods that you eat. It could be that simple. Sung could have had yet another reason, that being the manner in which the food you eat is grown and produced also has a direct effect on the environment, as well as your health, a factor touching upon the health of everyone in the world. V. BrunnerÐ-Sung is a part of the slow food movement. The slow food movement is a group that teaches about and promotes the use of organically grown products to consumers. Why do they spend their time, energy, and money doing such a thing? This is a simple enough question to answer. Organic products are a much better bargain for your money!
Pesticides, the ones sprayed onto your food in order to try and to protect them from predators in the natural environment that would otherwise eat and destroy the produce, destroying the farmers ability to sell them to you the consumer, are known to cause skin problems in the farm workers that are in contact with them on a regular basis. Also, it is now thought that these very pesticides and fertilizers are not able to be completely washed off of the food they are used to grow, staying instead on and with in them. This means they are ingested by you the consumer.
Here is yet another issue to consider that leads one to the better bargain of organics. Bear Phillips, in his article “The Bargain of Organics” insists that “the usage of chemicals in intensive farming has been shown to cause significant and lasting environmental damage” (9). Conventional farming has created huge amounts of environmental damage as the chemicals in both fertilizers and pesticides are residual, leaking into both the soil and the water table. Residual meaning that they build up in their environments. The more they are used, the more they build up. Polluting both water and soil. This pollution has and is continuing to cause lasting environmental damage to the world we live in, harming both human and wild life. You now have two very good reasons to prefer organic products over those of conventional farming.
Many people have stood back; slightly aghast at the price difference theyve seen between organic products and those of conventional and commercial farms. I admit it might be a bit of sticker shock while first looking at the difference in your local market. Another great point addressed in the article “The Bargain of Organics” by Bear Phillips is what does the word organic mean, and just where does the higher price factor in? (9) You are not alone in asking this. It is one of the most common concerns factoring into the equation of whether or not to spend the extra money on organically grown products. What exactly is the higher value of organics that merits paying the extra price?
You must consider the “hidden costs” of conventional and commercial farming products. Although the cost at the cash register is indeed less, you in fact pay much more than you would think when considering the government subsidizing of commercial farms through your taxes, these taxes that you pay are invested in environmental clean-ups, government subsidies, and then lastly is the price you pay at the grocery stores cash register. In this manner you pay nearly three times for the same product, if not many times more.
The largest weapon wielded against the use of organics is that paying less is always means more. More is better, right? A quotation from the article “Slow What” by V. Brunner Ð-Sung seems the best response “as our society continues to down the path of food industrialization we will have little choice left. There will be a point where productivity will suffer under the burden of sick land, sick animals, and sick people.” Nobody can refute the environmental damage caused from pesticides and fertilizers, so when considering the words of the adversaries of organics consider these wise words.
As seen in the above paragraphs one reason is your own health. A second reason is your duty to protect the environment