Treehugger Tuesday and the Importance of Being Earnest

This past weekend, I read in Margaret Wente's Globe column that if the entire world switches to organic produce, it would be a catastrophe.

And here I thought going organic was going to save the world! Sheesh.

This article gave me something to think about. And this is what I think:

The organic movement is getting commercialized to the point that it might be costing consumers more than it's worth, in certain cases. (For example, who really cares if your cookies are organic? White sugar will kill you. The pesticides will probably just help you not know what hit you when you go.)

Also, if what Wente says in her article is true, organic farming in its current form is not necessarily the most sustainable practice in the world, in every single case. Damn it.

But what Wente's article isn't taking into account is that there's a potential we're heading for global catastrophe anyway. (I apologize that a blog entry with a title as cute as Treehugger Tuesday is getting so morbid, but it has to be done.)

So which way do you want to go down - while aerially spraying fields with pesticides and having your apples radiated and shipped from Chile, or while buying food from the farmer's market down the road and eating veggies and fruit that have been grown with local love? (Come on, let's all start singing kumbaya.)

I think our choices should all be earnest ones. I think we need to think about what we do and why we do it - and, perhaps most importantly, how we do it - rather than just accepting what's lumped on our plates. I think if we all thought a little more about our actions - from where we get our veggies to where our garbage goes when we throw it "away" - the world would be a few steps farther away from imploding.

That said, I do think we need to take a balanced approach when it comes to the organic movement.

When everyone starts doing something at once, it can be a bit alarming. I was once on a whale watching boat and the captain announced there was a group of minke whales cavorting at starbird (at the time, I knew what that meant) and everyone ran starbird and the boat nearly capsized.

The same goes for organic, and everything eco-friendly, I suppose. We need to be balanced in our choices. Is local more important than organic? Is fair trade more important than either of those? (I don't know about you, but the fair trade chocolate square I nibbled on earlier tonight did not seem to make its way immediately to my hips the way un-fair trade chocolate seems to ...)

Either way, if you're making a choice between local and organic, organic and fair trade, at least you're making a mindful choice, rather than grabbing strawberries from California when they're at their peak right here in Ontario and not thinking twice about why that might be a bad move.

Or picking up a chocolate bar that may or may not contain some decidely unchocolatey ingredients. Like, for example, melamine. (Honestly, I don't think I'll ever get over that one.)
Enough said.

Happy Tuesday! Hug a tree!

xo Marissa