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Dec. 11th, 2005 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wheelieterpSo I started to reply to all of the comments in my post about the free range eggs and decided it needed to be another post... *Drags out soap box*
*Ahem* Is this thing on??
In all seriousness, I am all for sustainable agri-business and I actually DO choose such products when given a choice and the needed funds. Whenever I have the extra few dollars it takes to buy groceries this way, I do. And really, it normally just works out to be a few extra dollars. HOWEVER.... I want to point out a caveat... A Caution.... To all of you gentle souls like me who want to make the world a better place with the power of our consumerism... Organic does not always mean sustainable!!!
I am sure many of you remember Luis, my ex? Well.. As a refresher, he was Mexican (From Mexico) and had a masters degree in Agricultural Economics and he opened my eyes to something important... MUCH of our organic produce is now produced on large corporate farms that use migrant labor just like the more traditional famrs. However, Organic farming is MUCH more labor intensive, as I am sure you are all aware. Do you think these large corprorate farms PAY more than the traditional farms??? Nope. Twice the labor+same below living wage pay=even worse human rights violations. Yet, the organic foods are marketed to people who actually care about issues like this. PLEASE, before you buy organic, especially from a large grocery store, make sure you KNOW where the produce was grown. Sustainability in farming is not just about the environment.. It's about labor too.
I know! It is impossible to live in this society and keep your hands clean. EVERYTHING is tainted with the dog-eat-eat dog, soulessness and evils of capitolism (Hey!![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darkeros, help me out here.. Is it capitOlism or capitAlism?? Seriouslly, I don't know how to spell). But the fact of the matter is, capitolism may eat its young, and it may rely on keeping a segment of the population down and dependant, but it is DYNAMIC. It causes us to be creative and proactive. It is the whip at our backs that pushes us to become bigger and better, even as individuals. Nothing in this world is monochromatic, nothing is all good or all evil. Nothing is black or white. That is what makes it so difficult to keep our hands clean.
The solution? In my NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION, if we live our lives trying to do better, then each day gets a little more progressive. Like everything else, it's a process, not an event. When we try to make it all about "PERFECT NOW!" we get liberal fascisim, likejalkr said. We have leftist resturaunts trying to brow-beat customers into paying more for free range eggs. They have the choice, not because the resturaunt likes chickens, but as 2fruition and i_maened implied, to allow themselves to feel superior to others. Which is hurtful and not a good way to create social change. Either that, or they are smarter than the rest of us and they do it to make us all have conversations like this... Thereby educating eachother....OOOOOOOHHH SNEAKY!
So.. Yeah.. I ordered the free range eggs.. And I recently had a conversation with the produce manager in the grocery store where I shop and found out which organic veggies I can feel good about buying. And, assuming I have the few extra dollars after I pay for my expiring Lj account, I will buy organic where I can, because not only am I PROUD a tree hugging dirt worshipper, but I care about people. Don't YOU??? *meaningful look*
Oh.. And my recent attempt at sustainable oven cleaning as suggested by the fabulousgirlfagpnw in this entry HERE, didn't work. But I am pretty sure it is because I substituted a plain cermaic cereal bowl for the Ancient Tibetan Glass Prayer Bowl located in the belly of a hollow Buddah figure in Laos.
In all seriousness, I am all for sustainable agri-business and I actually DO choose such products when given a choice and the needed funds. Whenever I have the extra few dollars it takes to buy groceries this way, I do. And really, it normally just works out to be a few extra dollars. HOWEVER.... I want to point out a caveat... A Caution.... To all of you gentle souls like me who want to make the world a better place with the power of our consumerism... Organic does not always mean sustainable!!!
I am sure many of you remember Luis, my ex? Well.. As a refresher, he was Mexican (From Mexico) and had a masters degree in Agricultural Economics and he opened my eyes to something important... MUCH of our organic produce is now produced on large corporate farms that use migrant labor just like the more traditional famrs. However, Organic farming is MUCH more labor intensive, as I am sure you are all aware. Do you think these large corprorate farms PAY more than the traditional farms??? Nope. Twice the labor+same below living wage pay=even worse human rights violations. Yet, the organic foods are marketed to people who actually care about issues like this. PLEASE, before you buy organic, especially from a large grocery store, make sure you KNOW where the produce was grown. Sustainability in farming is not just about the environment.. It's about labor too.
I know! It is impossible to live in this society and keep your hands clean. EVERYTHING is tainted with the dog-eat-eat dog, soulessness and evils of capitolism (Hey!
darkeros, help me out here.. Is it capitOlism or capitAlism?? Seriouslly, I don't know how to spell). But the fact of the matter is, capitolism may eat its young, and it may rely on keeping a segment of the population down and dependant, but it is DYNAMIC. It causes us to be creative and proactive. It is the whip at our backs that pushes us to become bigger and better, even as individuals. Nothing in this world is monochromatic, nothing is all good or all evil. Nothing is black or white. That is what makes it so difficult to keep our hands clean.The solution? In my NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION, if we live our lives trying to do better, then each day gets a little more progressive. Like everything else, it's a process, not an event. When we try to make it all about "PERFECT NOW!" we get liberal fascisim, like
jalkr said. We have leftist resturaunts trying to brow-beat customers into paying more for free range eggs. They have the choice, not because the resturaunt likes chickens, but as 2fruition and i_maened implied, to allow themselves to feel superior to others. Which is hurtful and not a good way to create social change. Either that, or they are smarter than the rest of us and they do it to make us all have conversations like this... Thereby educating eachother....OOOOOOOHHH SNEAKY!So.. Yeah.. I ordered the free range eggs.. And I recently had a conversation with the produce manager in the grocery store where I shop and found out which organic veggies I can feel good about buying. And, assuming I have the few extra dollars after I pay for my expiring Lj account, I will buy organic where I can, because not only am I PROUD a tree hugging dirt worshipper, but I care about people. Don't YOU??? *meaningful look*
Oh.. And my recent attempt at sustainable oven cleaning as suggested by the fabulous
girlfagpnw in this entry HERE, didn't work. But I am pretty sure it is because I substituted a plain cermaic cereal bowl for the Ancient Tibetan Glass Prayer Bowl located in the belly of a hollow Buddah figure in Laos.