Non-organic cotton farming uses one quarter of the world’s pesticides causing damage to the environment, sinking farmers into debt, causing illness and even death.
Socially acceptable - organic cotton farmers in developing countries report higher incomes plus using viable alternatives to chemicals protects their health.
Avoidance of GM - GM cotton is grown commercially in many countries so choosing organic cotton is the best way to avoid buying GM cotton.
Avoid hazardous chemicals - over 8000 chemicals can be used to turn cotton into a t-shirt or duvet cover - the Soil Association organic standards ban the use of any chemicals that are hazardous to the environment or health.
No more excuses! stylish organic clothing and household textiles are now widely available so there’s no longer a compromise between style and organic integrity.
Trust - look for the Soil Association symbol on organic products to ensure they meet our strict organic standards. Products with the Soil Association symbol may not be as organic as you would like them to be.
More than skin deep - we can absorb up to 60% of what we apply to our skin, so if you’re going organic with your food then why not become an organic beauty too?
Safety - our precautionary principle means that if there is any doubt about an ingredient, it is banned - so no parabens, phthalates or GM ingredients.
How irritating! We ban synthetic fragrences, which have been found to cause one third of all cosmetic allergies and irritating foaming agents like sodium lauryl sulphate.
No need to compromise - delicious balms, gorgeous lotions and beautiful baby products are all available and perform so well that there is no need to compromise on performance to become an organic beauty.
Two concerning pieces of news have been given by FoE (Friends of the Earth) regarding GM foods.
On September 6th, FoE issued a press release stating that according to their survey, most animal products sold in UK supermarkets (including milk, cheese and meat), come from animals that have been fed on GM feeds. Supermarkets are therefore supporting the GM food industry through the back door, and conning consumers who think that GM foods would be labelled as such. The full press release is below.
On September 17th, another FoE press release reports that the FSA (Foods Standard Agency) faces a legal challenge over GM-contaminated rice. FoE argues that the FSA has failed to take appropriate action to prevent GM rice being sold to be public. FoE’s challenge coincides with the discovery of GM-contaminated rice in two types of own-brand products sold by Morrisons. According to the government, no approvals have been given in the UK for GM rice so therefore its presence is illegal. Again, the full press relase is below.
If the UK is to remain GM-free (and I for one, sincerely hope it does), action must be taken against breaches like this.
Today is the Autumn Equinox (the precise equinox time is around 4am GMT), when the length of day and night are equal - we are at the exact middle point between the longest day (summer equinox) and the longest night (winter equinox). In ancient times it was also known as Mabon (pronounced may-bon) and has been traditionally associated with celebrating the harvest, giving thanks for all that has been provided through the year, and making preparations for the winter.
It is also a good time to mentally release the past and move forward, a good time for space clearing - throw away unwanted things which are no longer relevant and make your ’space’ clean and tidy.
The energy of trees is now changing as they start to shed their leaves and move the goodness down to the roots and into the earth.
Much of the above information was sourced from an excellent book called ‘Sacred Celebrations’ by Glennie Kindred. Click the book image below to buy from Amazon.co.uk .
I’m currently reading ‘No Logo’ by Naomi Klein. Naomi is a Canadian journalist whose book records the rise of the ‘brand’ during the late 80’s and 90’s to it’s current status where modern multinationals define themselves not by the products they sell, but by their brand. Naomi records the early attempts of brands to sponsor various events;
In 1996 Heineken sponsored an ITV show, Hotel Babylon. In an embarassing incident a memo from a Heineken executive was leaked to the press. It berated the producers for insufficently ‘Heineken-izing’ the as yet unaired program. Specifically, they objected to male audience members drinking wine as opposed to ‘masculine drinks like beer and whiskey’, noted that ‘more evidence of beer is not just requested by needed’ and complained that the shows host ’shouldn’t stand in the way of the beer columns when introducing guests’. Most inflammatory of all was the executive’s complaint that there was ‘too high a proportion of negroes in the audience’.
The above may be an extreme example, but it illustrates to way we, the public are having our media experiences served to us in a way that maximises brand exposure. It begs the question as to whether said TV station could ever create and air a documentary criticising an organisation that advertises with them. Of course, the answer is no, the TV station wouldn’t let an advertiser be criticised, even if it is in the interests of the public to do so - just watch the documentary ‘The Corporation’ to see how Monsanto pressured Fox in the USA not to air a critical documentary and eventually fire the journalists who wrote it, when the feature was about something with great public health interest. I might blog about that some other time.
Another book I read recently is Captive State by George Monbiot. Occasionally you read a book which presents facts in an indisputable manner, that gets you so angry you want to do something there and then to stop the injustice. Captive State is such a book. Read it and feel very angry - angry at local councils, angry at government and angry at big business. George goes into detail about the first round of PFI (Public Finance Initiative) Hospital building programme and show just how the public have been ripped off to line the pockets of certain investors. It’s an essential read for everybody, but be warned, if you are a decent and fair person, it will make you very angry.
September 2nd to the 10th is ‘Organic Week’ at Garden Organic, Ryton, Coventry.
Garden Organic is the new name of the HDRA (Henry Doubleday Research Association) - the champions of organic gardening and growing for many years here in the UK. Last year the buildings on the site were redeveloped and a massive new building was constructed, housing the shop, a cafe and a mini-exhibition called ‘The Vegetable Kingdom’.
Although I’ve only ever been round the gardens themselves once, Ryton Gardens, or Garden Organic Ryton as they are now known have always been a favourite place for me to go to shop - they have a great selection of gardening and alternative books (ie alternative energy, permaculture, alternative building etc etc), a great range of organic health foods, gardening sundries, seeds, gifts and much more. A visit has always been inspiring.
My visit today though was extremely disappointing. If this is supposed to be a centre of excellence for organic gardening and growing, a visit to the shop would leave you deflated and uninspired. The outdoor garden centre had excuses for plants that should have been thrown away - it simply would have been better to have nothing there than the sorry specimens they did. It’s not like it’s the middle of winter and nothing is growing at this time of year.
The changes in the shop hit me too - they’ve had a layout change and the place feels empty of soul. There was a poor selection of gifts, the food section has been reduced dramatically and there are perhaps a quarter of the books they used to have. There were practically no garden tools or other gardening essentials. Maybe they are in the middle of a changeover of some sort, but surely they wouldn’t do this at the start of a major event like ‘Organic Week’?
I wasn’t alone with my feelings as comments in the visitors book echoed my own. One person had commented that it had been 5 years since their last visit and they felt the centre had become more commercial and less inspiring.
For many people, buying or eating something organic is about as radical or non-mainstream as they go. Therefore, Garden Organic as a public-facing organisation needs to be inspiring, but today, I didn’t get that, and nor would others who visited. And why is everything so expensive? A pair of wellies for £75 anyone? Err, no thanks!
Maybe the organic movement has hit a boggy-patch or taken a wrong turn. By itself, growing organically whilst great, doesn’t go far enough. It’s one thing that people can do, and don’t get me wrong, it’s a great thing to do and I sincerely encourage everybody to ‘go organic’, but it is just one piece of a big jigsaw puzzle.
This is where Permaculture scores. Many people mistakenly believe that Permaculture is another word for organic gardening, but that’s not the case. Permaculture is a design philosophy, a way of finding solutions to problems, a way that works with nature that respects the earth and can be applied to almost every aspect of your life, from gardening and growing through to building dwellings and alternative energy. I intend to write more about Permaculture in the future, but it really is a beacon in the fog, bringing together the solutions for our modern world.
An inspiring video produced by Kitchen Gardeners International which illustrates the choices in food that we don’t have in the ’supermarkets’ and the global village, but shows the choices we could have…
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Buy a copy of No Logo
Buy a copy of Captive State
