re: Organic Food

Many people lump "organic," "local," "environmentally friendly," and "fair-trade" together. This is very, very wrong and I'd like to address points by Zac & Brian.

Organic food, which is over 90% of my diet, is a very confusing and misleading term which changes its definition depending on what type of food is being described. In general, however, we'll say it is food that is grown in the manner of our cave-men ancestors (or Adam & Eve - for Maura). In this, I mean - no hormones, no pesticides, and preferably no preservatives (but that means no asparagus for 9 months a year...which is where the 10% of my diet comes in).

On a selfish level, organic food is probably the healthiest. It is eating meat in the natural way that humans and other omnivores have traditionally eaten. E-coli, salmonella, etc are still possible (even likely considering I eat rare meat & vegetables), but you are still eating a "normal/traditional" diet, which does not include TV dinners, high-fructose corn syrup, and power bars.

As you noticed, I did not mention environmental reasons. There is a lot of debate on this and until organic food can be mass-produced in every location (good luck to Las Vegas & Anchorage), it will be more environmentally friendly to farm & ship in mass quantities (as current), than have millions of "Sweet Sara's Farm" watermelon shipped around the world. There's more to this, so if provoked, I'll go into further detail.

Environmentally-friendly food is grown by farmers who care about the land, etc (i.e., Native Americans & some organic farmers). This is great, but I think it should be an added benefit. We have many more environmental problems to worry about and this is very little compared to cars, deforestation, and Beijing.

As Hodge alluded to, fair-trade distorts economics. It encourages over-production, similar to subsidies, and should not be encouraged. The farmers should move to a different crop (perhaps wine?).

In summary, I eat organic because I think it's better for my body and I want to live as long as possible. I don't eat organic to save the planet or because it's "fair" or any other bandwagon reason. I wish all people would do the actual economic research on these things before waving their protest flags.

-Tim

PS.
On forced/collective farming: Many people buy "fair-trade" because the "non-fair-trade" farmers are usually paid shit and all of the profits go to some type of businessman/dictator. This is not a valid solution to this problem. I certainly do not believe in any type of forced (or unforced) socialism nor slavery. We should not try to "fight with our dollars." This only hurts the farmers under the current situation while helping the few "fair-trade." Have you ever wondered why these "lucky" fair-trade farmers don't have to participate in these slave-like collective farms that you're trying to boycott? Buying fair-trade is feeding the same monster.

The farmers should do the following: a) grow a different crop. If this isn't possible, they should b) move somewhere else. If this isn't possible, they should c) try to sneak into the US or France and collect welfare. If this isn't possible, then d) let natural selection take it's course and become fertilizer for the farmer down the street.