Smallest Carbon Footprint: organic food

Showing posts with label organic food. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Green Trolley Smugness

I actually went food shopping today by MYSELF! SUCH a treat! Usually I send my husband or snail along the isles at a rate of 2m an hour as Butterfly runs ahead and grabs packets of powdered muscle building shakes (that's wonderful darling! But we don't need those. Can you put them back for Mummy? Yeah, how about back where they came from. See the ones that are the same? Yea...no, not there, next one. Arr... close enough sweetheart)

So anyway as I was about to head to the checkout, I looked in my trolley and I was VERY proud of myself. The majority of the contents was fresh, organic produce. Everything else was either organic, or at least natural (ie free from artificial colours and flavours). Organic: bread, free range eggs, muesli, jam. Eco toilet paper. Nature Babycare nappies (I KNOW! I am a MCN fan, but we use one sposie for night time or else a certain Butterfly won't sleep a wink). There was NO: cleaning products. Plastic bags. Chemical laden personal care products. Cling wrap. Of course, I also had my green bags and onya weigh bags (for fruit and veges)

OK so there WAS one tub of hokey pokey ice cream. But shit, I'm only HUMAN!

I have come a long way since starting my eco journey. I never used to "get" the hype surrounding organic food. I was like, "yeah, would be better not to eat pesticides, but whatever, I rinse my fruit" Now, if I put something in my mouth that isn't organic, it makes me cringe. Yes, non organic fruits and veges can be "washed". However, being grown in pesticide ridden surroundings, I feel like there is no WAY there isn't toxins in the very heart of that apple. And what about the bread you are eating? You can't wash THAT. Every ingredient has been sprayed. YUCK!

I have also learned recently, that it isn't JUST the pesticide factor with non-organic food. The farming methods used to grow such food aren't sustainable, and with every new crop the soil is being stripped of more and more essential nutrients that aren't replaced. So that apple? Ain't as healthy as you think. Its literally less nutritious than the organic one next to it.

Supporting organic farmers also helps the environment, as all those pesticides aren't neatly confined to non-organic farms. They spread to surrounding bushland, into rivers and the ocean. We are treating this earth like absolute CRAP! We HAVE to make better choices for our children NOW! Can't afford organic? Can you afford NOT to?

I don't accept toxins in my shampoo these days, so I'm certainly going to do my best not to ingest them!

On a different topic... cleaning products. I recently bought a bunch of Norwex cleaning cloths, and now I clean my whole house with only a cloth, some water, and the occasional bit of white vinegar for my toilet bowl. I found myself walking down the chemical isle today and my heart sank. People still USE this stuff? Its a little disheartening when I try SO hard to tread lightly on this earth and people are using harsh chemicals. SIGH.

All I can do is keep on truckin, and posting links on my page in the hope that people start to get the message. I know there are plenty of areas I can still improve. I'm getting there. How are YOU going? Seek alternatives. They are out there! Don't shun earth friendly alternatives because you ASSUME they aren't as good. I'm finding my life LESS of a hassle these days, and I wash my clothes with berries!

Remember: EVERY small change makes a HUGE difference!