Tuesday, May 13, 2008

THE REAL COST

My first thought of reading this annoying Newsweek article is that American's need to get out of thier cars. That aside...
I've read before that in the 1950's, people used to spend more of thier income on food than we do today. Also our current food costs don't account for 'the real cost' of pesticide run-off, fossil fuel transport, health issues that processed and factory-made foods introduce to the individual, society, etc.
In my view, organic fruits and vegetables should not be presented as a luxury item but a necessity for preventitive health and a step forward to change our current systems. Organics will be more expensive until it mainstreams (which I believe will happen). I agree with the karate instructor on may levels "The cost of feeding myself processed foods is far greater than the cost of organic foods."
I feel a more productive spin on this article issue would be: buy less, drive less. A huge chunk of our groceries in Western countries end up in landfills anyway.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008