Archive for Organic in the News

Earth Day: April 22nd, 2008

April 22nd marks the 38th anniversary of the modern environmental movement that began in 1970, when 20 million participants across the United States gathered at colleges, universities, primary schools and community centers in peaceful demonstration for environmental reform.

According to organizers at the Earth Day Network it is now the largest international secular holiday in the world with a half billion celebrants annually. With immanent climate change at the forefront of today’s global environmental consciousness, Earth Day’s call to attention is more important than ever.

Earth Day 2008 is expected to be the biggest yet! From Tokyo to Togo, to our flagship event on the National Mall in Washington, DC and 7 other U.S. cities, we will be galvanizing millions of people around the world behind a Call for Climate, our global warming action theme. Hundreds of events are popping up all over the globe and April 22 should be a most memorable Earth Day. We will be asking people to call their government and urge significant and equitable action on climate change.
- Earth Day Network

Join 1,000,000,000 people worldwide!
Take action now and check out the list of events near you!

d.i.y naturally ~

be the change you want to see.

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5 Greenest Cars of 2008

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    Honda Civic GX: green score 57 - runs on natural gas with low emissions and gets 24 MPG in city and 36 on freeway
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    Toyota Prius: green score 53 - 48 MPG in the city and 45 on the freeway
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    Honda Civic Hybrid: green score 51 - 40 MPG in city and 45 highway
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    Smart Car: green score 49 - 33 MPG in city and 41 highway
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    Toyota Yaris: green score 46 - 29 MPG city and 36 highway

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Organic Newbies: What to Look for in the Grocery Store

A great place to start for the organic newbie is understanding USDA organic labeling and learning what the word organic does and doesn’t mean.

When you’re shopping in the store you will come across a lot of options for healthy, natural and organic foods. Especially these days where the organic market is growing in leaps and bounds. Big money companies are fighting for your dollar and as a result muddying the word “organic” with their marketing gimmicks. Being a savvy shopper will help you make educated purchases and be self-assured that you are buying the best for you and your family.

What to look for in organic - if you have access to a local farmer’s market you’re one step ahead of the game. ;)

  1. The USDA organic label - this is government certified that the food, whether produce or packaged, is organic.
  2. The #9 on Produce stickers - On the stickers you find in a grocery store there will be an item number. If the number begins with the number 9 it is organic.
  3. The word Organic - For a company to even put the word organic on their packaging the product inside must be at least 70% organic which includes the ingredients used to make the product.

For More Info Read These Articles:
Green Shopping

USDAA Consumer Brochure

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Gore Wins 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his Work on Climate Change

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It has recently been announced that Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.  The former Vice President of the US has won the prestigious award for his efforts in raising awareness of the dangers of global warming, and for being a leading campaigner in the fight to reduce the world reliance on fossil fuels.

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Diet Soda and Cancer??

Here’s the headline of an article I read from the Organic Consumers Association; it’s a little disturbing:

“Aspartame Found to Cause Breast Cancer, Leukemia and Lymphomas”

Doesn’t this make you stop and think of all the people that drink diet sodas and the quantity that is consumed on a daily basis?

I know of several people in my life that consume very large amounts of diet soda. They are thinking that it’s safe and they want to avoid the extra calories in regular soda.

A new study on aspartame conducted by the Ramazzini Foundation reveals that aspartame causes a dose-dependent increase in cancers (lymphomas, leukemias and breast cancers) when consumed at levels approaching those consumed by humans in diet soft drinks. Specifically, the study shows (reprinted from the abstract):

……a) a significant dose-related increase of malignant tumor-bearing animals in males…..
b) a significant increase of the incidence in lymphomas/leukemias in males …….
c) a significant dose-related increase of the incidence of mammary cancer in females…..

Read the full article

Would they stop drinking their diet soda if it were proven to be harmful and may lead to cancer, especially breast cancer?

I think they would and there in lies the problem; big industry loosing a ton of money when people stop buying their product.

Isn’t the FDA responsible for protecting our communities from such things?

Shutting down good science to protect profits

Virtually the entire health and medical system in the United States is not interested in these questions. Following the publication of this study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement flatly denying aspartame poses any safety risk whatsoever, rejecting the idea that its safety or approval as a food ingredient should be reviewed at all. Specifically, FDA spokesperson Michael Herndon said, “…the FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food.”

In other words, the FDA is not interested in any new science that might challenge a decision it already made. Long live scientific-sounding dogma!

Read the full article

What can we do about this?

My thoughts are; stop buying the product. Personally I would rather gain a little extra weight from natural sugar than take the risk of cancer. If I were worried about gaining some weight from drinking soda, I would choose to exercise more.

We can also put pressure on the FDA to protect our health and not big industry.

And support organizations like the Organic Consumers Association and all the work they have done and continue to do.

~DIY Naturally

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Wal-Mart “Organics” - Buyer Beware!

Wal-Mart is up to their old tricks and muddying the label of Organic.

 Wal-Mart Organics

Shown above - Natural Sugar is labeled as “organic” by this in-store signage at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Tomah, WI. This mislabeling was identified on January 14, 2007. This photo was taken along with many others by The Cornucopia Institute, one of the nation’s largest organic watchdog groups. See more photos.

The Cornucopia Institute is leading an investigation on Wal-Mart and their misleading labels.

They have even filed legal action with the USDA against Wal-Mart. To read more visit their site.

Also, MSNBC has written a great article about this topic.

To read more about the USDA certified organic label visit my earlier post.

~ Be the change you want to see.

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