So should we go for Conventional-ganic?
Jul 29, 2009
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Today a UK study questioning the nutritional value of organic food made the newswires, and of course, sparked debate on the radio waves. The study involved parsing through 50 years of research papers, zoomed in on 162 papers that compared the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods, and concluded, “the Bush administration had it right all along!”
That wasn’t quite fair, I was distracted by the YouTube video from a Santa Cruz City Council meeting getting passed around, but anyway, but if you’re buying organic simply because you think you’ll get more nutritional value, you may be wasting your money.
The article doesn’t surprise me. I always thought buying organic should be about buying food that is sustainably harvested without the obscene use of chemicals, not about succumbing to a Whole Foods or Wal-Mart PR campaign. After all, as a child I remember my grandmother cooking wonderfully wholesome dishes without the benefits of Whole Foods. Remember the awful tomatoes of a generation ago at supermarkets? The ones that were usually green and were harder than a brick? Well, my grandmother cooked with those and she managed to feed her family and relatives just fine. Oh, and I don’t remember her buying organic flour or sugar either.
The truth is that we’re being greenwashed. I have never thought buying organic was an absolute must: instead, buying locally when possible is preferred. Buying organic means nothing if you’re buying foods sourced in Australia or South America. Yes, I do think we should watch what chemicals we use in growing our food. But I also think that we have 6 billion people to feed, and while I love the idea of community gardens and raising our own food, it’s not realistic.
During this raging debate over what’s green, clean, sustainable, etc., I find that one word from my youth is ignored: conservation. Buying more “stuff” or paying more for what’s perceived to be healthy is not necessarily being sustainable. Living like the older generation, which meant not buying too much of anything and conserving resources, is in the end a very sustainable way to go. 