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Top Ten Reasons To Buy Organic Foods
[SOURCE: People's Organic Foods Market, a California cooperative in San Diego, CA.]

1. Protect Future Generations ... The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food.

2. Prevent Soul Erosion ... Soil is eroding seven times faster than it is being built up naturally on U.S. croplands. Organic farming regards rich, healthy soil as the foundation of the food chain, not just a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilized.

3. Protect Water Quality ... The EPA estimates pesticides contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the population of the US.

4. Save Energy ... Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, and more energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to cultivate and harvest crops. Organic farming relies on more labor-intensive practices and using green manures and crop covers to build up soil.

5. Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate ... Many pesticides were approved before research linked them to cancer and other diseases. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extra 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans.

6. Protect Farm Workers ... A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a six times greater risk than mainframe's of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14% a year since 1973 and doubled between 1975 and 1985.

7. Help Small Farmers ... Most organic farms are small, independently owned family farms of less than 10 acres. At the rate family farms are being lost, organic farms could be one of the few survival tactics left.

8. Support A True Economy ... Conventional food prices do not reflect hidden costs born by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage.

9. Promote Biodiversity ... Mono-cropping reduces diversity of plant life and strips the soil of minerals and nutrients, increasing the need for chemical fertilizers. Despite a 10-fold increase in the use of pesticides between 1947 and 1974, insect losses doubled, partly due to genetic resistance to pesticides.

10. Taste Better Flavor ... More and more chefs are using organic foods in their recipes, because organics taste better!

posted by Lorenzo 2:35 PM

 

Man has been changing climate for 8,000 years (Nature Magazine)

Scientists Measure Human Impact on Climate
Wed Dec 10, 4:13 AM ET
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Measurements of ancient air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice offered evidence that humans have been changing the global climate since thousands of years before the industrial revolution.

Beginning 8,000 years ago, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide began to rise as humans started clearing forests, planting crops and raising livestock, a scientist said Tuesday. Methane levels started increasing 3,000 years later.

The combined increases of the two greenhouse gases implicated in global warming (news - web sites) were slow but steady and staved off what should have been a period of significant natural cooling, said Bill Ruddiman, emeritus professor at the University of Virginia.

posted by Hal 2:32 PM