Mitch Kennedy, ND
In the ideal organic food system, the best option is to grow your own vegetables; the second best option is to buy from a local organic farm. According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the level of home food production is at its lowest point in U.S. history. Currently, the dollar value of foods produced at home for home consumption represents less than 1% of the total of food purchased by Americans, down from 35% in 1870 when the figures were first kept.
Our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork. Consider that it takes 400 calories of fossil fuels to transport a single 5-calorie strawberry from California to East Coast supermarkets. Aside from global climate change impacts, the trucks delivering these veggies and fruits spew asthma- and myocardial infarct-causing diesel exhaust emissions across the entire country.
That flavorless nonorganic strawberry was grown with methyl bromide, a carcinogenic and ozone-depleting pesticide. In contrast, a perennial patch of strawberries in your yard grows back on its own every year, requires no fossil fuels and no pesticides, and tastes a whole lot better. The Organic Consumers Association is developing a new campaign to help turn every thumb into a Green thumb.
Learn more at http://www.organicconsumers.org/btc/subversive060419.cfm
Mitch Kennedy, ND, has a family practice in Avon, Connecticut, and is the first ND with clinical privileges at the University of Connecticut, a teaching hospital. Before graduating from Southwest College, Dr. Kennedy earned an international reputation as a leader in pollution prevention, showing industries around the world how preventing pollution saves money. For more information: www.healwithnature.com.