permaculture

["Yaya Balinci" <yaya@telus.net>]

The real cost of food IS shocking if you are used to cruising the aisles of
a "super" market. Supermarkets were the beginning of discount chemical
produced foods. Anyone consuming from the 30's onwards has been
habituated/programmed to believe food should actually be that cheap. Not to
mention that some food is out of season and should not be eaten anyways
during that time of year. There is also the fact that since i have bought
organic food and taken control and responsibility of my health I have never
been to the doctor and I do not pay for medical insurance. That makes
organic food much cheaper if you take your medical bills into account for
eating non-organic foods. It actually is cheaper for me to support the local
organci food coop. Here in East Vancouver there is three local merchants
that sell organic foods on one corner! When I began eating organic food in
university it was for ethical reasons not because of my own health directly.
I lived below the poverty line and went to university. I still could afford
to eat organic foods 100% while living below the poverty line! I just
couldn't drink as much beer.

The organic movement has never really had a white wedding in this poor
excuse for a culture let alone a honeymoon!

Michael Hollihn,
Sustainable Forest-Farm-Garden Design
Ecosystem Mapping For Sustainable Production of foods and materials,
I use tree-free paper and digital video documentation
yaya@telus.net
604.253.2536
http://www3.telus.net/circleworks/sustmed2.htm
Vancouver, BC, Canada
*better known as NW Coastal Turtle Island
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Flier" <lflier@mindspring.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: Organic honeymoon period over????


> Graham wrote:
>
>
> >I noticed on the news a while back that Iceland stores are to 'rethink'
> >their policy on stocking organic lines as sales have not been as high as
> >hoped of late. Also, my local Co-op store told me yesterday they wouldn't
> be
> >stocking organic tea any longer (presumably because nobody except me buys
> >it???)... Does this mean the 'organic craze' is over?
>
> Maybe, but it probably means no one is willing to pay the prices the
stores
> charge for organic.  Some of them are ridiculous!  A few months ago I was
in
> my local Whole Foods chain and they were charging $3.99 US for a little
> bitty bunch of organic broccoli!  I was shocked.  Interestingly, I went
back
> in there just a couple of weeks ago and it was only $1.49.
>
> Grocery store shelf space is an extremely competitive arena and the stores
> consider it a royal pain in the butt to stock most organic products.
Those
> they do stock, they gouge you for, because the word on the street has been
> for the last few years that yuppies will pay anything for organic.  Now
> they're starting to discover that even yuppies will not, in fact, pay just
> ANYthing.  So they're either lowering the prices or they quit carrying the
> products.  Most of the big stores have cut deals with the equally big food
> companies and would rather not bother carrying anything else unless they
> have to.
>
> >Doesn't it also point up the fact that (as if we didn't already know it),
> >the big stores are motivated by a short termist profit ethic rather than
a
> >deep commitment to sustainability, and always will be?
>
> Yes (as if we didn't already know it <G>).
>
> >What's the bigger picture, and our next achievable step in keeping
organic
> >and sustainability on the public agenda??
>
>
> I don't know, except to try and interest more people in growing their own
> food and/or buying from local CSA's.  Even the word "organic" will
probably
> come to mean nothing as more and more large companies try to co-opt the
> term.  The only way to undermine these monopolies is to actually KNOW your
> food provider and be able to see with your own eyes where your food comes
> from and how it is produced.
>
> --Lee
>
>
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