We love 'Organic'. It's not because we're cool hipsters, (although I do love a good decaf coconut cappuccino)!
It's no accident that Food for Thought has a huge range of organic food. I was searching for somewhere to get my weekly shop but without the nasty chemicals or single-use plastic, but it was so hard to find everything together in one shop. So reducing plastic is only half of the story for me & my family.
What is organic?
Organic farming prevents the use of harmful synthetic chemicals in the farming of animals & crops. Instead organic farming encourages the use of natural methods to keep pests & crop loss to a minimum, administering preventing antibiotics isn't allowed in animal farming whilst (quite key for me) no genetic modification is allowed in crops or animal feed.
Why do we need organic?
Nitrogen based pesticides are sprayed all over the food we eat & in crops through intensive, non-organic farming. These pesticides contain nasty products made from fossil fuels (remember those? Not great for our planet!). Chemicals in these pesticides contribute massively to the climate crisis & climate change as they produce nitrous oxide.
Nitrous oxide is hundreds of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating the planet. So while we're hearing more about carbon neutral goals, heard much about nitrous oxide, other than those annoying little canisters people are inhaling?
Sources seems to differ slightly in their estimations of how much more warming nitrous oxide is but I've seen between 265 & over 300 times more* in an hour's research. Either way, that's hella scary! Especially as we don't hear any chat of being nitrogen neutral & targets to reduce nitrous oxide!
They're also really damaging to our health as well as nature's health. Think of the bees & pollinators! Their internal direction, as well as many other delicate processes, are messed with when they come into contact with these pesticides.
Just THIS week the UK government failed to ban the use of chemicals that are linked to infertility & other health issues. It's pretty scary stuff.
September is apparently Organic September. It's great to raise awareness & for me to have an occasion to ramble on at you but it's every month at Food for Thought for all of the reasons above & then some.
If you want to read a bit more about organic & why it's so important, there's an interesting article here & throughout the links in this blog all below.
Kerry
*(265 times quoted by the Wellingborough Climate Action Project's Food & Waste presentation August 2022).
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-eu?s=04
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210603-nitrous-oxide-the-worlds-forgotten-greenhouse-gas
