Going Organic for the Planet
Most of us are aware of the benefits that going organic have on our health. Organic products lack the pesticides and artificial ingredients that many of their non-organic counterparts have in profusion, thus we are not putting these poisons into our bodies when we consume organic products. For some of us, the health benefits alone may be a strong enough pull to transition into an organic lifestyle but for those of us who need slightly more convincing, there is another wonderful benefit of going organic-it is drastically better for our environment.
Farming techniques that are not organic require a massive amount of pesticides to maintain their methods-several hundred in fact. Not only are these pesticides going into our food, but they are simultaneously soaking into our earth. The chemicals do not stay confined to the farmed land. The poisoned soil spreads into the surrounding environment, which in turn drastically affects the surrounding ecosystem and wildlife. One estimate, made by Cornell researchers, suggests that 67 million birds die each year from pesticides. This of course does not take into effect the other species that are suffering from pesticide poisoning-including humans. People living in areas that have a high concentration of non-organic farms often have higher rates of harmful diseases and conditions such as impaired reproduction, immune deficiencies, and cancers.
The extensive amount of farms using pesticides throughout the world drastically increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which in turn contributes to greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
On the flip side, organic farming is a more natural and earth friendly practice. Organic farming’s elimination of synthetic chemicals used in traditional farming decreases the detrimental effects of air and ground contamination which, by nature, makes organic farming a more animal (and human) friendly practice.
Organic farm methods lead to soil conservation, meaning that the farmland is kept more fertile for future use. This makes organic farming more sustainable than farming non-organically.
January 24, 2010
by Optimum WellnessComments
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