Earth Island Journal
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Not All Apples Are Created Equal
The latest science on organic foods
Don’t ask the US federal government whether there are any health benefits to eating organic food. It won’t tell. No mere coincidence, then, that no pictures of farmers or farms (or fertilizers or pesticides) appear in the USDA food pyramid logo. The federal government encourages the consumption of more fruits, vegetables, and grains, but stops short of evaluating the farming systems that produce these same foods. An apple is an apple regardless of how it has been grown, the USDA food pyramid suggests, and the only take-home message is that we should all be eating more apples and less added sugars and fats.
But this message may be too simplistic. Over the past decade, scientists have begun conducting sophisticated comparisons of foods grown in organic and conventional farming systems. They’re finding that not all apples (or tomatoes, kiwis, or milk) are equal, especially when in comes to nutrient and pesticide levels. How farmers grow their crops affects, sometimes dramatically, not only how nutritious food is, but also how safe it is to eat. It may well be that a federal food policy that fails to acknowledge the connection between what happens on the farm and the healthfulness of foods is enough to make a nation sick.
Neat Freaks
How Food Safety Rules Threaten the Environment
Dale Coke has been farming in California’s San Benito County for nearly 30 years, and the thousands of days of wind and sun are etched in the deep lines of his long, lean face. His hands are tough, with fingers that are as adept at fixing a broken water pump as they are at handling a freshly cut head of lettuce. Coke, 54, with salt-and-pepper hair, was one of the pioneers of the organic farming industry. In 1980, he started growing salad mix in the valleys of California’s Central Coast, and by the end of the 1990s, he had nearly 500 acres under cultivation. But then the salad mix market “got too complicated,” he says, and so he downsized to 250 acres, and today focuses on specialty crops such as fennel, dinosaur kale, and beets, which he sells to Whole Foods and restaurants.
Dan RosenbaumWhen talking about the economics of organic farming, a joker’s grin flirts with the edges of Coke’s mouth, as if he knows the punch line to some inside joke about a business he has seen transform from a mom-and-pop enterprise to a multibillion dollar industry that is the fastest growing segment of the food market. But for Coke, recent changes in the fresh produce industry are nothing to laugh about. A year and a half after an E. coli outbreak traced to bagged spinach killed three people, hospitalized 100, and sickened dozens more, farmers and processors are still struggling with how best to ensure food safety. According to Coke and other farmers, some of the new practices intended to improve food safety are misguided and misinformed, and risk undermining environmentally sound farming practices in the area surrounding California’s Salinas Valley. The region produces more than half of the country’s lettuce, and is affectionately referred to by locals as “The Nation’s Salad Bowl.”
From Heresy to Conventional Wisdom
A history of Earth Island's 25 years
David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club and the founder of Earth Island Institute and many other organizations, had many passions. He loved books – the writing, editing, designing, and production of them even more than the reading, or so it seemed. He loved music. He had a passion for mountains, and the sea, and the canyons, and the prairie. Also, Tanqueray martinis and the Biltmore Hotel in New York. In fact, he was an enthusiastic fan of much of what’s good in this life and lived it all to the fullest.
Brower believed in passion and its close neighbor, boldness. A favorite quote he repeated thousands of times was from Goethe: “Anything you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Earth Island Institute was fashioned, in one sense, to encourage people to be bold. The name “Earth Island” came from Margaret Mead, who urged respect for “The Island Earth.” Her famous admonition, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,” could be the organization’s motto.
Plus
- Peak Soil
- Paradise in No Man's Land
- Learning to Observe
- Harvest of Suicides
- A Fregan Dumps His Story