The only possible way to eat locally, for my area and many I visit at least, would be to eat a majority of chemically produced locally-grown frankenfood. Farmers that have bought into the more chemicals theory are destroying their land and the quality of food we eat while being entirely dependent on huge chemical companies and biotech seed companies in a scientific battle against mother nature. Who in their right mind would support this? The answer is people in their right minds don’t support this nonsense.
The reason to buy and eat locally in the first place is because its living in a more sustainable manner, which I’ll be the first to tell you is an awesome idea for an infinite amount of reasons. But we must collectively build a foundation for this change, and that foundation is to vote with our dollars that we demand organic food and the sustainable farming practices that go with it. People who tell you organic farming cannot feed the world are lying. If you zoom out and look at whats really going on, its clear that what we’ve been doing in my lifetime alone (I’m 32) has been the wrong thing to do if you live on a living biosphere thats health determines your health. The more land we destroy and waterways we pollute the more collective disease we share as a people. Look at disease rates next to places of the most pollution, they just reflect one another, like everything else you reap what you sow.
In California and a couple other places here in the states you can get all of your food local and organic. The problem arises for people from places like the ones I’m from. Living in Florida there just isn’t the amount of organic produce to supply myself let alone my community. This is the reality. I am personally responsible for growing around 100-200 pounds of fresh microgreens and wheatgrass every week and that is nothing when it comes to the amount of food I buy from various farms, suppliers and distributors for just the tiny microcosm of the community that I participate in feeding. Imagine all of the other people around here and then all of the other people everywhere else and you start to become overwhelmed with the task at hand.
These problems arise very slowly and over time. So people, now is the time that we each take a personal responsibility to do what we can to start a postive change over time of turning the tide back towards small organic farms all over the place. The way to take personal responsibility is to buy 100% of your food organic. Its easy, I’ve been doing it for years. If you eat 3 times a day, thats over 1000 meals a year, so if you eat 15 or 20 meals that aren’t organic throughout the year, its okay. If we all took this responsibility and pay a little more for the next 10 years, the world will be a better place, just watch and see, the only question is whether you’ll be a part of that change? This change could be one of the great accomplishments of many of our lives and we could collectively do it all simply while living as happier healthier humans as a certain side effect.
Organic costs more-
No it doesn’t. Just like a 30 mg zanax costs more than a 10 mg zanax, you could look at the organic apple like twice the nutrition as the chemical one. To me that alone is enough to sell the organic apple, especially when you get twice the nutrition for only 10-50% more cost. But there is more, its what the organic apple doesn’t have that makes the sale again. The chemical apple’s dna is laced with synthetic short-sighted chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, poison, poison, poison, which kill kill kill and it does not wash off, regardless of how many cleverly marketed products claim it does. To not get the poison-laced toxic apple I would pay more. Poison is not species-specific, a lot of people don’t understand that. These toxins bioaccumulate in humans, so over the years we continue to build up more and more of these toxic additives that come with our food. Its both sad and wild that it’s 2010 and although I can talk face to face with friends in china in real time using a cell phone, I can’t buy a nutritious poison-free meal without what seems like a masters degree in locating safe food.
Enter how we navigate our inevitable realities- you buy everything you can organic, regardless of where its from and as a secondary option you get the most local items available. This sets a foundation for what we could all call progress. In time as we spend more and more money on organics, the market will grow, its simple economics. As the market for organics grow, more and more farmers are going to take heed to meet the demand and start the grueling three year trek of gaining certification to organics. Before being able to certify produce organically grown, a chemical farm has to grow food organically for three years, which makes sense. I believe its more than okay to support transitioning farms as they need the local support more than ever when making the change to organic.
Just believe and understand that if we all give our 100% effort towards this collective goal of a better world, it may take 10 years to really see the effects of our work, but the experience and the ride will undoubtedly be the best part of the task which we all carry a real share in making a reality.
Happy dining and come support the coolest food box program around – We have the largest selection of the freshest fruits and veggies anywhere in this area along with some really silly-good raw vegan treats, so come by and mix it up.
We’ll see you helping us helping you.
Peace
