For related articles and
more information, please visit OCA's
All About Organics page and our
Environment and Climate page.
"If you do just one thing -- make one conscious choice --
that can change the world, go organic.... No other single choice
you can make to improve the health of your family and the planet
will have greater positive repercussions for our future."
That's a bold statement. Is eating organic more important than
avoiding meat, stopping coal plants, biking instead of driving
or donating to worthy causes?
Yes, declares Maria Rodale, the CEO of the Rodale Inc.
publishing empire (Mens Health, Prevention, Runners World) and
author of the aptly named Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food
Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World and Keep Us Safe (Rodale
Books), from which the quote is drawn.
"There's so many benefits that come from that one choice," Maria
explains. "You've removed a bajillion pounds of dangerous,
synthetic, disease-causing environment-destroying chemicals from
the soil, the water our bodies. We would all immediately be
healthier. Our children would be healthier."
Farmers and their families and farm workers would be better off,
too, she goes on: "And our kids would be smarter. There are
actually studies that show that a lot of these chemicals do
reduce intelligence."
I arranged a phone interview with Maria after meeting her last
spring during Cooking for Solutions, a great conference and food
fest on sustainable agriculture and fishing organized by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium. I'd read her book and wanted to delve
deeper into the issues surrounding organics. Tomorrow, I'll
offer a dissenting view from Steve Savage, an agricultural
consultant who is dubious about many of Maria's claims.