Ariana’s Recent Comments

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  Remember why it's crazy

  As environmentalists and opponents of the carbon-, soil-, water-, and health-hungry industrial agriculture system, I think it's important that beyond wrinkling our noses and gingerly disposing of tainted food products, we take a moment to to reflect on just how "crazy" this recall really is. Tom Philpott did a decent job of addressing the wider implications of the recall, but I'm missing that perspective in this article.

  I mean, all of the peanuts in all of those products were processed in one single plant! It boggles the mind to think of all the resources that went into transporting those nuts to and from the plant, or all of the resources required to grow all those identical peanuts at that scale.

  More than grossing us out at the thought of cockroaches in our crackers, this recall should be waking up concern about our missing local food-staple growing and processing infrastructure. Let's start talking about taking back our food system!On Umbra on composting tainted food posted 9 months ago 7 Responses

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  Bananas? Really?

  Umbra, I'm concerned about your assumption that "a link between pesticide residue and pesticide application seems likely". Most (8 out of 12) of the produce items on the "lowest residues" list have shells, husks, or peels, and you mention that "common habits of peeling and washing are incorporated into the tests". If the pesticides get sprayed on while the fruit is safely inside its peel, and then the fruit is tested peel-free, wouldn't it make sense that very little of the pesticide applied would end up counting as pesticide residue... that there could be risks to food growers and the environment that don't carry over to the consumer?

  What caught my attention was seeing bananas on the safe list. While the peel probably shields us eaters from all the nasties used to grow them, Pesticide Action Network North America tells us, "Pesticide use on plantation bananas is more than 20 times greater than average pesticide use on crops in industrialized countries, with corresponding levels of worker pesticide exposures and illness." (http://www.panna.org/resources/gpc/gpc_200404.14.1.06.dv. ...) Are we really only interested in protecting the meal in front of us?

  I would be interested in finding lists that factor ecological and human rights concerns into the what-to-buy-organic equation. For me, those are the highest-priority reasons for shopping organic in the first place. And, like, shouldn't ecological impact trump personal health concerns from the Umbra Perspective, too?On Umbra on prioritizing organic purchases posted 2 years, 3 months ago 10 Responses