Organic is not necessarily green

17 November 2009

Wealthy housewives are loading their shopping trolleys under a cringing weight of organic produce sold at twice the price its non-organic version.

I am talking here about the wide spectrum now available from beautiful, humble, red tomatoes to exorbitantly expensive organic hemp denim jeans pinned to their shapely bottoms by a bespoke tailor on her last plastic surgery safari to Johannesburg.

There is a misconception that buying organic means you are being kind to the environment. What I am about to tell you is not to villainies organic agriculture that has now become so fashionable, but to enlighten you to the hidden truth.

Being GREEN and doing things GREEN and being environmentally conscious or sensitive is however a whole different bag of things. Organic cease to be friendly in its environmental concern the moment it is packaged and loaded onto the big old freighter truck. Often these sought after products are transported several thousand kilometres before it makes it to the consumer. Little is said about the packaging and its lifecycle. What was it made of? Is it reusable? And how readily, easily is it recyclable? And how many other containers has it been packaged in before you the consumer take it out of its final casing?

So what is the GREEN or environmentally sensitive choice then? Local. The more local you can source whatever: the better for the environment.

A utopian situation will be if you grew your own organic vegetables in your garden.

But we don’t live in utopia and Louis Vuitton doesn’t grow on trees. So what then? Most importantly is to not play it ignorant. ASK the origins of what you are buying. Check the labels. And guess what? Made in China does not look so good anymore! Choose a local farmers market for food. A local designer might be using locally produced materials.

And local can mean better design and quality in many, many instances. Local produce of any sort very often saves you money as well. This is because less money is spent on transporting goods over long distances to the consumer. Packaging and transportation can account to as much as 80% of the purchase price of your food.

The amount of packaging that is used in the transportation from point of manufacture to the end retail outlet is rarely seen by the end consumer.

Typically what you would find is cellophane as an outer layer over large boxes on rough cut wooden pallets. Then inside the boxes the “units” that are often again wrapped with bubble packaging (the strong plastic that requires a sharp carpenters knife to slice open); then you have a cardboard box that the consumers’ product is displayed in. You, the consumer, then pick out of the box your product and at home remove the final packaging.

This sounds exacerbated but there is few consumables on the markets that come with no or re-usable packaging. We really are a throw-it-away society. More responsible institutions will recycle the waste wrapping but this is still an exceptional practice in my experience.

The next time you are in the groceries store and one of the staff packers are working in the aisles, have a look in their trolley for the packaging they had just removed. Even better is to politely talk to them and ask them how much wrapping and packaging they discard of before an item is displayed on the shelf.

In this faceoff between the Green option: “Local” and environmentally harmonious: “organic” there is an unseen villain… Green House Gases.

These are the most important to consider when making a decision on your products. Sadly however it is the last thing on anybody’s mind as they fill up their trolley in the supermarket. Until such a time that all produce and manufactured goods are manufactured in a sustainable fashion harmonious with nature, the best choice is a locally produced option. Organic products really only has the marketed benefits and value between the ages of new born and age 3 when you are still building an immune system. Your average healthy person’s immune system can deal with the toxins sufficiently.

In the mean time –between today and when all produce is organic- why not plant your own vegetable garden.

Plant herbs in decorative jars in the kitchen and plant a vegetable patch with the veggies you like. That saves money, saves the environment and gives you the opportunity to grow organic and be green.

We have for far too long been removed from the source of everything. Children need to know that carrots grow in soil and not ready cut in freezer ready plastic bags. Teach your children how to grow vegetables in your own garden.

It’s far simpler than you might think if you have no experience.

Do not be a victim to the organic movements’ marketing because you may be doing more harm to the environment than good.