Whole foods? organic?

Question

Where I live a new wholefoods just opened, and the first thing I noticed was it trys to present itself as a very enviromentally friendly organic store. But as I was walking around the store I noticed tons of very exotic foods that mustve been shipped from across the globe to wholefoods, and I know one thing is shipping thousands of pounds of couscous must be bad for the global warming efforsts( if the cause is carbon emissions).

Also I was thinking that is it possible that eating exotic organic foods may be worse for the local habbitats, where as a super genetically modified plant could help save precious space where a rainforest could be rather than an organic farm.

I feel that maybe this organic food revoultion may be no diffrent than having luxury brazilian wood in a lexus. As our population rises shouldnt we be think of effeicent high yeiling crops to feed ourselves rather than destroying more habbitats to have our "organic" pasta?

Answer 1

Wow a lot of misinformation.

First you are not more likely to get salmonella or e-coli 157h7 from organic foods as these are diseases endemic to the conventional factory farms which are not allowed in the organic industry (but because of corporate take over are beginjning to be seen). this myth comes from Alex avery who says a lot of raw manure is used on organic crops. this is dead wrong. As a matter of fact raw manure is used extensively on conventionally grown crops and unlike organic crops has no restrictions. organic farms have heavy restrictions on the use of raw manure and perfer to use composted materials on their fields.

There is peer reviewed evidence that organic foods are healthier than conventional. more and more reports come out monthly. See http://www.organicconsumers.org/ for more information.

Now to your question is shopping at Whole Paycheck good for then environment. No because industrial organics shipped half way around the world are not very green. Nor are all the products at any Whole foods organic. you have to look for the green and white seal.

Far better to buy your food locally. This directly supports farmers, keeps the money in your local community and uses far less petroleum (even buying conventionally raised local foods as shipping is the big oil user). Whole foods because it is not a centrally operated corp is very hit and miss on having local foods in their stores. Some stores are good about using local farmers and others prefer not to use them at all.

For a list of local farms near you see http://www.localharvest.org

Answer 2

I think the key is to go organic but buy locally.  It's called the 60 mile diet.  Farmers markets are great for this.  Support those whose gardening practices you agree with.   Going without pesticides is better for the environment and the farm workers.  But I agree, bringing it from half way around the world makes no sense.  

   The only exception I ever heard of that sounded kind of cool were these american fellows who have been bringing back this berry from the rainforest (of course I can't remember the name right now) which is supposed to be full of antioxidants, etc.  In the process of harvesting this naturally occurring fruit they are saving large sections of rainforest from being chopped since the berry is more valuable than anything they could farm.  The forest is left unharmed.

Answer 3

Do yourself a favor and help the economy at the same time. Buy the product that is the cheapest. All food is organic. The word organic on the label just means that the product has no added preservaticves. In fact so called non organic foods are more likely to cause you e-coli or salmonella. All this for about a few dollars. extra. I myself will never eat a product labeled organic.

Answer 4

i just buy regular fruits and veggies.organics are just a scam for people to pay more for products.organics are exposed to all the toxins of the enviroment when it rains.i am in the waste management business.we dump all types of deadly poisons into the ground at landfills.we have to turn a blind eye all the time.ive dumped thousand of tons of illegall substances over the past 15 years in the waste business.waste management is the biggest polluter in the world.look up waste management  corruption  in google.Waste Management is the most corrupt waste company in the world

Answer 5

I know I will get thumbs down for this, but there is no proof that organic is any healthier for you. the best place to buy produce is at the farmers market, where you are buying produce that was grown locally, which IS good for the environment, and is fresher too.

The first thing I noticed the first time I walked into whole foods is their ridiculous prices. $6.99 for yellow bell peppers? for fook's sake!