Recently, our family became a statistic. Our household now includes one of the 14.8 million Americans out of work. So, naturally, we’re tightening our belts. And, in a lot of ways, I’m up for the challenge. Living frugally is a great way to reduce our carbon footprint.
But, there’s one area that’s going to be especially tough—cutting back on the “natural” stuff.
Let’s face it, buying organic is expensive! Just take produce. Pound for pound, organic produce usually costs at least a buck more than its conventional counterpart. Why is that? And, is it really worth the extra money?
To answer the first question, you have to look at what organic produce lacks—namely the pesticides and herbicides. When you take these away, the growing process gets a lot more complicated—and costly. Without herbicides killing weeds, organic farmers have to weed some crops by hand. (Any time you add a manual process to the mix, you’re adding extra costs.) And, without the pesticides fighting off bugs and disease, the yield on organic crops tends to be about 10 and 20 percent lower than conventional produce. Some crops, like potatoes, may yield up to 40 percent less.
Then, once the produce is harvested, the post-production handling costs are higher because organic produce has to be processed and transported separately.
So, is the extra cost really worth it?
It depends on what’s important to you. If you’re shopping strictly on appearance and price, probably not. But, if you’re buying based on nutrition and environmental costs, absolutely.
Say you’re buying strawberries. Conventional strawberries (those not grown organically) rank a notorious #3 on the Dirty Dozen Foods list because they could contain the residue of 59 pesticides! According to the Pesticide Action Network, eight of the 59 are known or probable carcinogens, 24 are suspected hormone disruptors, 11 are neurotoxins, and 12 are developmental or reproductive toxins—all hidden in those beautiful, supposedly healthy strawberries.
Then there are the environmental costs. Some scientists have estimated that the use of the agrochemical methyl-bromide, which is used on strawberries, contributes to more than 20 percent of the global ozone depletion. That, in turn, is estimated to double the incidence of skin cancer globally. If we take into consideration these environmental (and human!) costs, organic strawberries are much cheaper than conventional ones.
The same is true with the ingredients we use in our cleaners. Using synthetic fragrance would be much cheaper than using essential oils. Just one 32 oz bottle of therapeutic grade essential oil costs us about $140. (Times this by three to make up the essential oil blend for our all-purpose cleaner.) We could buy cheaper essential oils, but then we run of the risk of adding impurities to the air you’re breathing. Or, we could scrap the essential oils altogether and replace them with just a drop of synthetic fragrance that would cost us only pennies. But, in the process, we’d be adding up to 150 chemicals to our products.
Organic farmers and natural product manufacturers make tough choices on the front end so your options are better on the back end. But, that doesn’t mean all natural products are the same.
Personally, there are some things I won’t dip deeper into my pockets for. Some conventional foods are just as “safe” as those grown organically. Here’s the Clean 15 list of foods that I won’t spend the extra cash on in the organic section.
It’s something to consider next time you’re in the grocery aisle.
We’re all in this together,
Sara
