Books & Music...

Sometimes when I go to the grocery store, I think my head's going to explode. In those rare moments when my toddler daughter isn't ripping food off the shelves, I try to figure out what is the best purchase to make--organic apples from Chile or locally grown apples from neighboring Washington? It just serves to remind me how much I wish I could be the toddler three feet off the ground running care free through the grocery store again.

Just when I think I'm the only person thinking about such things, I stumble across Cindy Burke's book To Buy or Not to Buy Organic: What You Need to Know to Choose the Healthiest, Safest, Most Earth-Friendly Food. Perfect.

Here's how Burke helps us look at all the facets of this topic:

There you stand in the produce aisle of your local grocery. In one hand you're holding a bag of conventionally farmed red grapes. In the other hand you have a bag of organically grown red grapes. Both look firm and juicy, and both provide vitamins and nutrition. The organic grapes cost more, possibly twice as much. And the organic grapes have a sticker that says "Certified Organic" or "USDA Organic." Which grapes should you buy?

The choice you ultimately make may depend on the price difference. It might be determined by who's going to eat the grapes—you, your child, or your co-workers. You might pull off a grape from each bunch and see which one tastes better. Maybe that would be the easiest way to make your decision.

Now let's assume the organic grapes come from Argentina, and the nonorganic grapes are grown within one hundred miles of your home. Is it more important to support local growers and your local economy, and thus reduce the amount of fuel used to transport your groceries? Or is it more beneficial to buy organic no matter where the food was grown and how much fossil fuel was needed to get it into your grocery cart? Which grapes do you buy now?

That is the dilemma that is presently rocking the organics market. Organic doesn't mean local. Organic doesn't mean that any less fossil fuel is consumed to bring a product to market. Organic used to imply that your food was grown on a small family farm, but that is no longer true, either. And food can be both "local" and "organic" without being "sustainable."