Sustainability: A monthly blog featuring small and big changes you can make to reduce your impact on our planet.
We started defining Sustainability and the meaning of Organic last month – this month I’d like you to look in the painful bright light we shine on ‘Natural’, ‘Green’ and ‘Fair trade’.
Oh, it’s natural so it’s good, right? Not necessarily! The word “natural” is not regulated and has no standard definition. So anyone can basically put the words natural on any packaging without it having to mean anything. Natural products might contain preservatives or other ingredients with environmental concerns.
What about Green? In many folklores and literatures, green has traditionally been used to symbolize nature and its embodied attributes. And today ‘green’ has become the symbolic color of environmentalism, chosen for its association with nature, health, and growth. Not more, not less. Don’t let the savy marketing and package design fool you!
Fair trade: Fair Trade International is a global organization working to secure a better deal for farmers and workers. The Fair trade products are primarily whole foods (rice, coffee, tea, sugar), but be aware that some are composite products. A bar of chocolate for example, can carry the Fair trade label although not all its ingredients are Fair trade. In addition Fair trade does not regulate or say anything about the foods being grown pesticide free or in a ‘sustainable manner’, nor that the products are preservative free.
A USDA organic certified Fair trade product would be your best bet! Look for those next time you buy coffee, tea or chocolate. Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Theo Chocolate are some of my favorites.
Next month I’ll talk to you more about “Genetic Engineering and the secret changes in your food”, a huge topic in the fight for an organic, environmentally sustainable and socially just food future.
Sustainability: A monthly blog featuring small and big changes you can make to reduce your impact on our planet.
Green, natural, environmental, ecological, fair trade, organic, sustainable…you get the idea. Some of these claims don’t mean what you think they do and some don’t really mean anything at all!
Let’s start at the beginning and hang in there…it’s for your health and that of the planet!
Sustainable – Sustainability:
I would like to use the words of Mike Taylor, Co-owner of Taylor Orchards in Eastern Washington and apple grower of the year to define Sustainability. “Receiving more revenue in your operation than your expense line allowing you to reinvest. But from a market place and global standpoint Sustainability means:
- Leaving things better than before you found them
- Minimize waste
- Quantify economic decisions and savings with regards to environment/ people and natural resources.
As he also says “Sustainability is hard to define, but easy to work on! It comes down to common sense: do the right things every day for the right reasons!”
What about Organic? Since 2002, to earn the organic label in the U.S., food must be third party certified by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards. This label prohibits the use of genetically engineered seeds or crops, sewage sludge, toxic and persistent pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. This also means that by eating non-organic food you are putting the above mentioned scary terms in your body!
Does USDA certified Organic mean that my food is 100% organic? To get the USDA certified organic stamp, foods need to contain at least 95% certified organic ingredients per the USDA’s NOP and not 100%. This means that still 5% of the ingredients might be non-organic.
When it comes to personal products, body care and other items, they do not yet have government organic regulations. Think of processing of textiles (clothing, bedding, towels) and feminine care products. Toothpastes, shampoo and other body care products have no government regulations on organic claims either.
Carefully reviewing the labels of products you buy and eat is key.
Whole Foods Market is doing huge efforts to make organic mean organic in every aisle of their store. Pick up one of their ‘Be good to your whole earth’ brochures. They are printed with vegetable inks on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and manufactured with wind power!
