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Organic Manifesto: New book carries on mission for health, wellness and environment
Maria Rodale talks about the many ways that organic farming and food can address what’s wrong with chemical agriculture
By Maya Rodale
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How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe,"is a shocking look at our nation’s agricultural chemical dependency and how organic farming is essential for our future on this planet. She answers our questions about farmers, research, inspiration and why we all need to demand organic.
What is Organic Manifesto about?
Maria Rodale: Organic Manifesto is about how agricultural chemicals are killing us—and life on this planet. It’s based on the amazing scientific research done by people around the world, which before now has not been collected in one place to tell this tragic story. It’s also about what we can all do to fix it.
In Organic Manifesto I uncovered research that links agricultural chemicals and GMOs to the following conditions: asthma, allergies, autism, ADHD, cancer, diabetes, infertility, childhood leukemia, obesity, organ failure, accelerated aging, Parkinson’s disease, genital malformations and intestinal damage.
What inspired you to write the book?
MR: I was becoming increasingly concerned about the high levels of confusion, misinformation and divisiveness about organic – and I wanted to get to the truth. The majority of Americans can’t tell you the difference between organic and natural, veganism and vegetarianism, biofuels and biodiesel. I wanted to make the issues easy to understand so that we can all stand together and fight for what’s right for all.
What is the most shocking thing you uncovered in your research?
MR: All of us – and especially our children – are guinea pigs in a giant chemical experiment that has failed. There are over 80,000 chemicals in use in our environment – and especially in agriculture – and most have NEVER been tested on human health. Many researchers are finding that there is no such thing as a “safe” dose of these chemicals…that smaller doses are actually just as harmful as high doses.
You spoke with a lot of farmers—both organic and conventional. What did you learn from them?
MR: Chemical farmers are trapped on an economic and chemical treadmill and they can’t get off without someone pulling the plug. They falsely believe that they need to keep growing more and more to feed the world, and yet the more they grow, the lower the price they get for their crops. The only ones making profits are the chemical companies, which have infiltrated every aspect of their lives and created an addiction that keeps farmers dependent.
Organic farmers are happy in their choice – and their families and their livestock are healthier and happier too. Organic farming is hard work, but it’s rewarding, profitable and productive for farmers.
Who are some organic pioneers leading the way today?
MR: There are many organic pioneers leading the way – from Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan to Vandana Shiva and Alice Waters. I also applaud the business people who are making organic available to more and more people – from Gary Hirschberg of Stoneyfield Yogurt to John Mackey and his team at Whole Foods. Whether it’s a small company or a big company like Walmart, an individual or a group – we all need to work together to demand organic.
What’s your opinion on organic versus local?
MR: The gold standard is organic and local, but when in doubt always choose organic. After all, local chemical food contaminates your local environment, while organic food keeps chemicals out of the land, water and our bodies wherever it is grown.
Tropicana did an analysis of the carbon footprint of its orange juice and found that the number one contributor to carbon was the production and application of chemicals to their orange groves. It wasn’t transportation or manufacturing.
What do you think is standing in the way of organic being our primary agricultural system?
MR: The biggest barrier to change is the huge profits being made by the chemical companies, which then enable them to spend a fortune lobbying the government, marketing lies to farmers and supporting politicians who are unwilling to speak out against them. In a study funded by the USDA at the University of Wisconsin, researchers were surprised to find that diversified organic farming was more profitable than monoculture chemical farming. They summarize their findings by stating that “government policy that supports mono-culture systems is outdated and support should be shifted to programs that promoted crop rotations and organic farming practices.”
What can a regular person do to support organic?
MR: Demand Organic. Demand organic at home (stop using chemicals on your own landscape). Demand organic at your supermarket and restaurants (vote with your dollars). Demand organic from the government (write a letter!). Don’t be afraid of ridicule and intimidation.
Why should we demand organic?
MR: Our future on this planet is at stake.
Everyone deserves organic food. And the more of us that demand organic, the more affordable it will become, the more we will clean up our atmosphere, our water and our bodies.
Maya Rodale is communications and outreach director for the Rodale Institute.
Visit Maria at her blog, Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen.
Questions about organic? Get them answered here.
What are 5 things you can do to demand organic? Find out!
In the process of destroying
In the process of destroying other creatures and 'making grown foods stronger' we have mutated our own immune systems, beaten up or internal systems and drastically altered both our own bodies and the bodies of our children
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Hi,
i see you removed my comment, not sure what you disliked about it as I largely agreed with you, but there needs to be considered debate about this so the fact 'organic' produce often isn't organic and turns people against genuine organic produce should be considered.
However you clearly do not like anything 'off message' so I will not be revisiting. Goos luck with your 'debate'.
Dave
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Reading Organic Manifesto
I passed by the new book display at our library the other day and saw Organic Manifesto. Because I give talks on green cleaning and green living, I read a lot to keep up with new views. So I checked it out to read. And because I'm talking to some trained master gardeners later this month about ways to green up their lives, I wanted the information in Organic Manifesto. You know, I have done small organic gardens since the 80s, growing greens in the winter, and a few typical crops in summer like tomatoes, herbs, yellow and zuchini squash. But Ive ready very little about farming, be it organic or chemical. This book seriously affected me. I feel very sad looking at the numbers of, say, amt of acres of organic farms, lbs of agricultural chemicals used per year, and on and on. I love the end notes, and indexing. I'm nearly done in two days; was really just about too much to read that the CEO of Monsanto eats organic. Hard to say neutral, and I practise and teach yoga and try to remain the witness. It is going to take me a while to process all that truths laid out in the book, the history, the duping, marketing, lobbying, government laxitude. Something is seriously wrong when we have all these facts and the change is but a tiny drop in the ocean of chemical farming. There are many good points presented for organic farming, but the thousands and thousands of acres of land being soaked with chemicals...well, it is just criminal, unethical, and perhaps it is a reason for major movement of the type Ghandi lead to free India from British rule, only our movement is to free the nation from chemical rule. Thank you for the book!
Organic Manifesto
More anti-capitalist rhetoric and wishful thinking masquerading as fact.
Excellent
About time! I've recently ordered this book, but it's about time someone tried to cleared up the misunderstandings about organic farming. There is so much rubbish being thrown about by all sides of the argument, which only serves to confuse people. We need to gently encourage people to start taking responsibility for their own eating habits in a non threatening way. We need to encourage the general public to reconnect with the environment, as that is the only way people will start to care.
Would the author mind if I linked to this site from my vegan cookbooks page? Whilst this obviously isn't a cookbook, lol, I think it would interest my readers, as I have a lot of American visitors to my site, and an organic vegan diet is something I not only feel passionate about, but would like to do my bit to spread the word.
Amazon.com link to the book
I just ordered a copy via Amazon. The article lacked a link to Amazon.com for the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1605294853?ie=UTF8&tag=0020-20&linkCode...
Thank You
We are on the move to bring to the public's attention the truth about conventional farming as it is practiced today. Thank you for your ongoing efforts and this new book. You are right, there is so much confusion out there and so much mis-information.
The facts are clear our current system is making people and the planet sick yet so many people are unaware of this. Sadly even when you tell people they often reply organic is too expensive and they have no time to cook. I often ask them, but do you have the time to get sick, and what about your children?
We need to let the government know that we care as much as big-ag, we just don't have the money they do to hire lobbyists to be in their offices on a daily basis.
But what we can do is educate ourselves and those we meet daily and begin shipping and voting with our forks. There are changes coming from as your mention Tropicana to Walmart, and that says a lot. BIg business looks to profit and they see they can cut costs with more sustainable business practices and giving the consumer what they want....that said we need to be educated to be sure that we are not fooled by greenwashing.
Eager to read your book for more information to share with friends, family and at smartlifeways.com.
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