ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Suddenly the heat is on and media around the world are drawing attention not only to the 'global warming' issue but Locavores, eating food from 100 miles of where they live, versus Organic only Consumers.

Buying food does influence our quality of life, the usage of oil (gasoline and petroleum) resources and toxic chemicals such as fertilizers worldwide.

There is no one right way to consume food, all the time.

Food miles, seasonality and energy inputs (was that cow or chicken raised on grass pasture or fed engineered slop in a cage or feedlot?) are all important considerations when sourcing food.

Eating green is not about putting the blinkers on to "eat local or organic" at all costs. Eating green is a lifestyle - a sustainable way of how you fuel yourself without demanding too much fuel from the planet.

The problem is there is too much information and this is sending out a confusing message. It ends up creating a mine field, and the average consumer either gives up or makes ineffective choices. Policy makers need to step in at some point and figure out some kind of solution here, even if it just means better labeling for the consumer choice as a solution to global problems.

We need to re-educate ourselves to eat seasonally, and to encourage local producers that do not use chemicals in production.

The Heat on Organic Farming:

Despite warnings for over two decades from more than 2500 of the world's leading atmospheric scientists (who have been ignored for economic reasons), the general public need not wonder if global warming is really happening. We do, however, as a world community find ourselves in a positon that requires us 'to take urgent action to avert ecological disaster", 'The Weather Makers' author Dr Tim Flannery, by quickly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

With countries such as China opening up coal power-plants (nearly one every week) and Australia - the largest exporter of coal in the world - increasing coal production to meet that demand, the necessary reduction in carbon pollution seems impossible.

Since policy makers are still throwing back-and-forth between nuclear energy (a non-renewable, finite resource) and renewable energy sources, an effective decision does not seem in sight. Any eventual differences will have to come through action of the general public.

So What's the Problem?
A natural phenomenon that unites everyone and everything around the world is out atmosphere. The atmosphere knows no national boundaries: th epollution we create here will go there, and the reverse is true also. To continually disregard the climatic consequences of our daily activities can be described at best, ignorant and at worst, criminal. Over the past century human activities have increased CO2 emission into the atmosphere by over 35% from around 280 parts per million to now over 380 parts per million.

However, in the atmosphere, CO2 does not break down - it lasts forever and therfore, can only be removed physically. That is why the effect of agriculture is so important. Taking into account factors like energy consumption, carbon displacement into the atmosphere, reduction in soil fertility, and petrochemical usage, it is seen that agriculture is responsible for approximately 30% of global warming. Now that's BIG!!

In the US alone that equates to 419 billion kilograms of CO2 added to the atmosphere by conventional farming each year.

From Dust You Came and to Dust You Shall Return:
On-going research at the Rodale Institute experimental farm, which began in 1981 and contiuned for 23 years, has shown that organic farming helps combat global warming by capturing and incorporating CO2 into soil. Throughout the trial there was a 15 - 28% increase in soil carbon content with organic systems.

This translates each year into the capture of around 1.7 tons of CO2 per acre -foot (about the amount of water required to cover an acre of an acre of land to a depth of 30cm). However, the non-organic system has virtually no increase. This study shows that we can halt global warming by converting the CO2 in the atmosphere into soil humus, since the soil's biological activity naturally extracts carbon dioxide from the air. This means that for every kilogram of carbon locked down into the soil's organic matter, one less kilogram is left in the atmosphere - plus it results in rich, fertile soil!

Let's Drive a Comparison:
Using the automobile industry as a comparison, for every 3 acres of land that is organically farmed it is equivalent to taking one car off the road. That may not seem much, but if all the farm land in the US was converted to organic practice, it would be the same as taking more than 158 million cars off the road - yes, millions!

If we add the lower energy requirements of organic farming, which has been calculated by Dr David Pimentel of Cornell University at just 63% if conventional farm usage, then we really have formulae for success.

As Daniel Desmond from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PDEP) puts it ... "Organic farmers' are the only group or philosophy that looks at carbon as a resource, rather than carbon as a waste product".

Implementing organic farming for the capture of atmospheric carbon is in line with other environmental goals, such as reducing soil erosion and solving salination problems.
So What has this got to do with you and me?

Well, the simple solution is that we can decide at each meal, every day, how much CO2 remains in the atmosphere by choosing what type of food we eat: organic or non-organic. Organic farming is a real solution to eliminating CO2, from the atmosphere. The push is on for local foods that are farmed organically. Apart from the road miles, food grown locally is most suitable for the people living in that climate.

Policy makers need to help with  retrofitting at a relatively low cost solarium/greenhouse that could help to passively solar heat the home while producing vegetables, herbs etc year round. This could be used by people who were already planning to renovate their home.

Of course it would be much easier to accomplish this in new construction of homes and even large buildings with flats. Homeowners, like farmers, should be given the economic incentive/reward for making their homes more environmentally friendly! Local – and seasonal – is always best. If you can buy straight from the farmer – for instance, by patronising a local farmer’s market, then so much the better because you will be participating in a much fairer form of trade and you will be getting food that is fresher, more nutritious, and if it is fresh produce it has travelled only 30 to 50 miles to get to you, thus cutting down on air miles.

Many farmers who sell at farmer’s markets are also organic farmers so you can often get the best of both worlds.

Part 2 Organic Buying Tips.... It's not a matter of paying less, but paying better.

References
 
Australia Financial Review Apr 2007
 
Reuters - Feb 2007
 
Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome 2007
 
Organic Farming combats Global Warming big time. Rodale Institute, 2005
 
Organic Action Plan, 2002. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA UK)
 
An assessment of total extenal costs of UK agriculture, 2000