Organic

Organic Clothing

The Green Revolution is changing how people think and perceive their environment. These changes are prevalent in everything from our food supply, to the buildings we live and work in, and even the clothing we wear. Demand for organic clothing is growing rapidly and is expected to triple by the end of 2008, but many people are still unaware of this $ 2.6 billion dollar industry that spans the entire globe.

What does it mean for clothes to be organic? Simply that the clothes are made from non-toxic, natural materials grown, and manufactured in an ecologically sound, sustainable fashion. Common materials used are cotton, wool, bamboo, and even soy. Bamboo trees grow extremely rapidly, several inches per day, even without pesticides. The pulp has a fine texture and produces products similar to silk that are highly breathable, UV resistant and antimicrobial. Soy protein fibres have exceptional durability and accept a wide range of dyes, yet possess smoothness akin to cashmere, though smoother still. Organic wool comes from sheep that are farmed on organically certified soils. Cotton is the most widely available of organic clothing products, as it is extremely durable and efficient to produce. Only 10% of its mass is lost during its conversion into textiles. China is the largest producer of cotton, while the most efficient production takes place in California. Its qualities are exactly the same as regular cotton.

Why choose organic clothes? The textile industry is among the worst global polluters. Since cotton is not a food crop, pesticides are used more frequently and have higher toxicity. These poisons leach into the soil and spread to water supply surrounding communities rely on. Farmers and their families often suffer serious health problems as a result of exposure to these chemicals. Unsustainable farming practice depletes the soil in some regions and destroys eco-systems for years to come. Organic farming does not endanger human or wildlife and promotes clean air, water, and soil. Organically certified clothing will contain no traces of harmful chemicals or dyes, an especially important consideration for anyone with infants, and toddlers.

Where can you get it? There is a vast array of online providers of organic wear, carrying lines from simple hemp t-shirts to, baby clothes, to high end luxurious linens, comforters, and mattresses. Nike, Wal-Mart, and Target are just a few companies that have started selling their own organic lines. Specialty vendors carry more unique items, such as velour diapers and soakers or bamboo towels. Typically these products are more expensive. A basic organic t-shirt is likely to cost you $ 10 more than a standard non-organic version. Hang clothes on organic hangers made of sundela, a product made of compressed newspapers. Currently it may be difficult to find a local vendor where you can try before you by, but as awareness and demand spreads, expect to see more popping up.

Organic coffee

What is organic coffee?

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets standards that must be met for a product to be labeled “organic.” In the case of coffee, producers cannot use synthetic substances such as most pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. If coffee is labeled “organic,” at least 95 percent of the beans must have been grown under organic conditions.”

What are the environmental standards?

“The organic standard is intended to ensure the consumer that the product has no synthethic ingredients or additives, rather than showing that it was produced in an environmentally friendly way. However, the two are certainly compatible. Obviously, at one time, all farming was organic. Following those traditional practices on coffee farms today reduces the amount of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer entering the ground, maintains partial forest canopy, reduces erosion, etc. What are the labor standards? Again, the organic standard is not aimed at improving working conditions in the coffee-producing countries, but it helps.”

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“Pesticides used on coffee farms really don’t make it to the consumer. What little residue isn’t removed in the processing of the coffee beans is burned off by roasting. Even if you buy the cheapest coffee, made from beans that have been heavily treated, you’re probably not going to ingest any measurable pesticide residue. But the use of pesticides and herbicides is a serious health concern for the workers, and one that’s not an issue with organic coffee.”

What’s the downside?

There are costs involved, as with any of the third-party certification programs. Many small, family-owned coffee farms are organic by necessity. They can’t afford chemical pesticides and fertilizers anyway. But they also cannot afford to pay for inspections to achieve certification, and thereforecan’t earn the higher price for their beans. Also, it’s hard for even a diligent inspector to ensure that no synthetics are ever used, based on a once-a-year inspection. By regulation, coffee cannot be labeled organic unless synthetics have not been applied to that plot for atleast three years prior to the harvest that’s labeled as organic. How does the coffee I buy get certified as organic? Various non-profit organizations and for-profit companies offer certificationservices. Inspectors visit farms to confirm the standards for organic certification are being followed.”

 

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The above article was quoted from the websites as listed, I have never known what “organic” really was.I knew it was supposed to be healthier, but it has to be more than that right? Well today you know as much as I do. I look forward to any feedback or information on this intrinsically complex subject. I hope this helped to inform as well as to educate.

Joe Tillman

www.Diabetic.Bfreesystem.com

 

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Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the ability of a farmer to produce food in such a way that the environment and surrounding ecosystem, is unaffected by their agricultural activities. There are a couple of issues that are connected with this form of agricultural activity which are the biophysical issue and social-economic issue. Biophysical is related to the biological activities such as crop rotation, usage of fertilizers and artificial nutrients and the availability of the other resources such as water, wind and sunlight whereas social-economic is concerned with the employment of farmers, the cost of production and total yield.

Talking about the physical attributes of sustainability, it is not properly understood. Most farming practices show that the end result of these practices has resulted in soil erosion, salination and water-logging. Most forests and tropical areas have lost their fertility due to over-cultivation and conventional farming techniques. These conventional farming techniques are being replaced by sustainable agriculture techniques. These techniques include usage of modern fertilizers, genetically-engineered crops, artificial nutrients and usage of renewable sources of energy.

There are many sustainable techniques for extracting nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium which are essential for plant growth. For nitrogen, we can use nitrogen-fixing bacteria’s and the Haber Process to industrially extract nitrogen from the air. As far as phosphorous and potassium are concerned, right amounts of them can be mixed with nitrogen to produce high-yielding fertilizers.

In most areas, rainfall is sufficient to cater the needs of water supply but in other areas irrigation is required. These irrigation systems should be properly utilized in order to make the best use of the water available. Channels should have proper and adequate distribution. Moreover water logging and excessive use of chemicals should be avoided as these lead to salination. Some technologies such as tube wells and water drilling have considerably increased the spread and availability of water.

Natural Resources these days are scarce and bad agriculture practices mean their extinction. Moreover, these habits also contribute a hand to pollution and damage of the ecosystem. Crops at the time of their distribution should be accounted for the sustainability equation. This means that all the expenses of crop production and distribution should be taken in account before doing the final cost benefit analysis.

There is a big debate between different businesses, farmers and scientists on making the agriculture sustainable. One of the few practices can be growing many crops in a single field. This will reduce the loss of nutrients and will eliminate the chance of soil erosion. On the other hand, climatic conditions and water resources will be best utilized. Monoculture is another method that pertains to sustainable agriculture. This process consists of growing only one crop in a field, but it’s not highly encouraged because it will result in soil losing it’s fertility overtime.

Over-grazing is also one factor that is contributing to soil erosion. This factor’s impact can be greatly reduced by introducing a sustainable approach known as grazing management that include dividing grazing area into paddocks which are easy to manage and takes less space.

The sustainable agriculture does affect the overall food yield and it needs to increase because of ever-increasing world population but these techniques sometimes do negatively affect the environment e.g. usage of fertilizers use to eutrophication and burning of forests to clear land for cultivation may lead to carbon dioxide emissions. Some exponents who favour sustainable agriculture agree on using organic farming. Although this technique yields comparatively low but can be used as an alternative in those areas which are drought-pronged. It’s an expensive method but if people are educated about the usage of this technique, then there are fair chances that it will be used widely and new techniques will be introduced which will increase the output in future.

Another recent ideas that has flocked in market to achieve sustainability demands the introduction of vertical farms which will isolate the crop from pests, provide full year production and on-site production. Again, cost is the major concern which disallows this sustainable agriculture technique.

We can simply deduce the fact that sustainable agriculture is the need if modern world but considerations are to be made as the implementation of these techniques is not quite feasible and requires some thought. Although, really beneficial this technique still remains a dream for under-developed and developing nations.

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Organic Shampoo Review

Most of the people take adequate steps and environmental friendly decisions to provide safer health products for your family. Most of us are unaware of the hazards that may arise from the products which we use daily. The harm caused by harsh chemicals and synthetic products is beyond the imagination of human beings.

For cleaning a vast rant of home items like carpets or for pets or personal care these shampoos are mostly used. They are composed primarily of chemicals called surfactants that have the special ability to surround oily material (sebum) on surfaces and allow them to be rinsed away by water. Most commonly, shampoos are used for personal care, especially for washing the hair.

These days, people are trying to adopt healthy and environment friendly products as natural things have least negative effect on the body. Organic shampoos are free from harmful chemicals and have natural ingredients. Unadulterated natural ingredients are present in organic shampoos like honey, citrus or aloe vera & all these are good for the skin. With creativity approach & a blend of engineering skills, the manufacturers of the environmental friendly shampoos launch some excellent products in the market which maintain longer life and do not get spoiled

Organic shampoos are becoming increasingly popular because of many benefits. Advantages of using Organic Shampoos:

Good for environment and skin.
Use of natural products only. No artificial chemicals or synthetics (carcinogens) are used.
Avoids harmful effects on hair like dandruff, hair fall etc.
No alcoholic products are included in organic shampoos.
Can be used daily, without any harm.
Moisturize and repair hair in a natural way.
Essential oils and herbs make the hair smooth.
Gives gentle results

Since shampoo comes into direct contact with skin, it means that the chemicals can be absorbed directly into the body. People conscious of these issues & problems; have been looking for a safe alternative to chemical based shampoos.

Natural products in organic shampoos make them safer and gentle to use. There are no side effects incurred by these products and they do not harm hair or scalp in any way. Organic shampoos keep hair healthy from roots and also refine the texture. It can also make the chemically treated, dull hair to regain their original texture. The choice has to be made for the right type of shampoo, suitable for your hair. There are various natural products, which range from dry to oily hair suitability.

Even though we find that there are plenty of organic shampoos flooding the market, it is always suggested to have a homemade organic shampoo. This approach has really benefited most of the people in getting healthier hair. Also by this the use of plastic items gets reduced and they leads to environment protection as plastic do not degrade soon & form toxic later.

Agriculture in India

India is a land of agriculture. This is what we read in our geography books when we were children and this is what we say now, grown ups we are. Not that we have not progressed industrially in these forty years after independence. Form a nation that could not manufacture ‘nuts and bolts’ we have emerged out as a nation that can make and launch its own satellites. But primarily we remain agriculturists. Seventy five percentage of the people are connected with agriculture one way or other. And in terms of production we have some distinctions to be proud of. We are world’s number one in the production of sugarcane and number two in rice. We are only next to China in tea and to Egypt in cotton. And again in groundnuts, we are number one.

But inside of so many firsts and second we are no where near self sufficiency in food. To feed the millions of our poor, who do not eat even two square meals a day, we import year after year, wheat from America, rice from Burma, sugar from Indonesia and cotton from Egypt. One reason that is beyond dispute is its multiplying mouths, though there are others that are not so obvious. Because of unscientific methods of preservation and bad storage conditions millions of tons of food stuffs are washed out in floods, if not spoiled by passage of time.

But it is our usual practice blame the poor farmer first, for his primitive methods of agriculture. With a small patch of land that will not permit a big tractor to manoeurve, without enough capital to buy costly implements, not even to buy fertilizers and pesticides, without perennial irrigational facilities how can he adopt himself to modern conditions? His ignorance, lack of education and heavy indebtedness keep him firmly rooted to a state of helplessness, while a huge revolution is taking place in front of his eyes. Which farmer loves to see his crops wither away for want of water? Or would not like to reap maximum harvests if he could help it with an added supply of manures? Whether we accept it or not, agriculture is an industry and like every other industry, it needs capital. The poor farmer with insufficient holdings can never hope to have it. There may be cooperative credit societies and rural banks. His ignorance prevents him form cutting across the red tape and get timely help. No wonder then, the average yield per acre remains the lowest in the world.

In India lies one of the most fertile areas of the world. The Indo – Gangetic plain, can easily become the food bowl of the world and feed it alone and completely. But, most of the water in its rivers drains off into the sea and in times of flood they inundate vast areas, killing cattle and people alike, destroying thousands of acres of standing crops, washing village after village and finally becoming the sorrow of the land. If we have a Bhakra Nangal project we do not know how to divide the water, to the satisfaction of every state concerned, than to follow the path of prudence and prosper. It is not very long ago, that an engineer had a grand vision of linking the Kaveri with the Ganga – which he called ‘Ganga Kaveri Project’ and proved with figures and calculation that it was feasible. But before it could gain popular approval, he lost his cabinet post and the scheme was thrown into a Waste Paper Box.

Today, we do not know whether we should go ahead with the construction of the Narmada Valley Project, which would perhaps convert vast arid zones into beautiful green belts. There are really big people, still arguing for and against it, even after spending millions of rupees on the project work. It is not water management that we should learn, but its distribution management. Andhra Pradesh was permitted till the end of the century to utilize the surplus waters of the Krishna that would at any rate drain off into the Bay of Bengal, but the Karnataka government would not allow it. Its million dollar argument is: “If you use it now, you will be tempted to use it tomorrow”. This is the ultimate in regionalism. No wonder the people of Madras city languish in thirst for a drought of drinking water. Only a Bhagiratha should bring the Telugu Ganga to Madras.

More than 175 million acres are under cultivation now and there are nearly 60 million acres that can be brought under the plough. Even after the reclamation of these vast areas too, the country cannot achieve self sufficiency in food, as primitive methods are used. They may add another 30 million tons, which will not be sufficient to feed the increasing mouths. The rate of land reclamation cannot keep pace with the growth rate of population which is apprehended to double every forty years if remains unchecked.

Therefore the need of the hour is to have a new look at the entire structure. There are not many who own a minimum of 5 acres of land per family which any be sufficient to feed all the mouths it has. It will become a profitable venture if they adopt modern techniques, replacing the plough by the tractor, and turn to intensive cultivation. As a matter of fact, some of the people who own more than 5 acres of cultivable land have turned to modern methods of agriculture. They have their own tractors, wells and pump sets. But the vast majority of the farming community either own no land at all or own less than 5 acres. While they constitute 80% of the cultivating community, their holdings do not exceed 20% of cultivated land – which is to suggest their pursuits are most uneconomic. It is there that the government must come in with every possible help-can organize them into cooperatives and offer them high yielding seeds, fertilizers and other essential implements. When waste lands are reclaimed, these landless poor must be made to settle down with offers of minimum cultivable land, implements and other assistance. With a gift of 3/5 acre of land in addition to a small cash grant to every family to the landless poor, the Chinese were able to achieve a green revolution within a short span of five years.

Therefore, as matters stand at present, the small peasant with his uneconomic holdings cannot take to modern methods of cultivations; the big landlord, because of the changing tenancy laws and unpredictable conditions, is not very much interested to bring every bit of his land under the plough and strive for optimum yields. The land ceiling introduced by many states with half mind, did not produce the expected results, for they were not pursued vigorously in the matter of reallocation. If, in some states, it was made, it added only to the hatred and enmity existing between the caste Hindus and the Harijans, for in most cases these were the new settlers. The Naxalite movement which believes that the end justifies the means, is the outcome of such a class hatred between the landed rich and the landless poor. A number of innocent people were mercilessly murdered in many states especially in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

In the name of self sufficiency in food, agriculture is exempted from income tax. Even if we do not dub it as an industry, it is the mother of all activities where millions and millions of people are engaged whether actively or not, whose task force is much bigger than the one participating in the field of industry and unfortunately it is the one which is most disorganized. A mill hand has more security than a farm worker; his interests are better taken care of, his voice more audible, he has a whole organization behind him, to support, to struggle and even to die for him. In the socialistic type of political system we have adopted, the industrial worker will certainly have his share of profit some day in future. He has at least, his bonuses now.

To change the whole system, a change must first of all, come in the outlook and attitudes of the people who are the fortunate possessors of this vast gift of nature. If they realize that they are not really its possessors, but only the custodians, the change will be smooth, silent and peaceful. Change of heart is certainly better than the change by compulsion. But, will a man who carries his son on his shoulders, wherever he goes, easily change?

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