Category Archive

Buy organic and you’re (probably) not dealing with chemical residues. Buy local and you get fresher food and keep your farmer in business. But what to do when you have to choose one over the other?

Organic

Buying organic doesn’t necessarily mean buying certified organic. With locally grown produce, if you’re comfortable with the farmer and you know he’s not using pesticides, buying from him is preferable to trucking something that’s been picked across the country. You’re supporting the local economy, the food is fresher so antioxidant and nutritional levels are higher, and there are no toxic residues. Buying from a local certified organic farm is better still, because it gives you confidence that someone’s checking the farmer’s books. But if you’re buying from a farm that’s not certified organic and you don’t know the farmer, it’s buyer beware.

When consuming conventionally grown produce, it doesn’t matter if it’s grown locally or not; you’re still dealing with the potential of toxic pesticides. Food has to be nourishing and free of manmade chemical poisons, otherwise it’s a delivery system for something that’s going to have an aberrant effect on your health.

These chemical agents can disrupt hormone balance, inhibit digestive function, greatly add to body burden, and increase body toxicity. These chemicals may adversely affect the nervous system and contribute to abnormal cell growth.

We’re dealing with a chemical cocktail right now, particularly when it comes to “dirty foods” like blueberries and red peppers. We do not know the full extent of the potential damage caused by even one chemical pesticide on human biology, never mind the chemical cocktail used today.

The human body is always in a state of change. Cells are living and dying constantly, being monitored by complex processes, and now we’re ingesting poundages of chemical toxins that are pressuring the cells into aberration. That’s unnecessary. If you can avoid those toxins and take that pressure off of your system and all its trillions of cells, you’re going to be healthier.

If you are eating non-organic food, consider using herbal material to amplify detoxification enzymes in the body. One of the great herbs is turmeric, whose resins help the liver get rid of poisons. Ginger, spice herbs, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli also help detoxification.

As Hippocrates, father of western medicine, instructed: Let food be your medicine, medicine be your food, and do no harm.

John Malatras owns Harvest Moon Health & Nutrition in West Milford

- As told to Becca Tucker

Local

Organic or local? I always ask, can’t we have it both ways? But okay, in the case that you can’t, which should you buy? I say local.

Say you go to a farm that’s local but not organic. You know the farmer, you know the place, and you know what methods they’re using. There are all sorts of reasons why that’s desirable even though it’s not organic. You’re looking at the person selling it to you; he’s part of your community.

Now here’s this thing called organic, it came from Chile or China. Even at a grocery store like Whole Foods, you’re going to see a whole lot of produce that comes from very far away. They advertise a lot about how much they get local produce. I’m in one of those pictures at the Whole Foods store because they’re selling my stuff, but the stuff on the other side of the aisle is from Chile.

Who the heck knows what those people are doing? I wouldn’t eat any produce grown in China because you read so much about how they cheat and use chemicals they shouldn’t use and all that. That’s an additional factor, when it comes from another country.

But say it comes from California and it’s really organic. It’s definitely a good thing that big huge farms in California are going organic. But I would still rather go to the farmers market right down the road and buy non-organic produce from the farmer.

Here in Pennsylvania, I can’t get organic apples except from one guy, and they’re not very good. I could get organic apples from Washington State; I can’t get them from Pennsylvania though. But there are a lot of people here who grow really great apples that are not organic. I buy a lot of apples from those guys, and bring them to farmers markets to sell. I know them, I know their families, I’ve been in their house, I don’t believe they would do anything dishonest. When they’re using pesticides, they’re doing it all legally. They wouldn’t take a chance on my health.

I can give you these apples from down the road that are cheaper and way better than organic apples from Washington State, but a lot of people will say they’re not touching my apples because they’re not organic. They want to know every single thing is certified organic. I kind of understand that attitude, but it’s just not that simple. They don’t want to have to think about it.

Jim Crawford owns New Morning Farm, a 95-acre organic farm in south-central Pennsylvania. He is president of the board of the Tuscarora Organic Growers

- As told to Becca Tucker

Decorating a live tree is the greenest way to go. But if that route’s not for you, should you cut one down or get an artificial tree?

Real tree

Many don’t realize real Christmas trees are grown on farms just like other crops and are a renewable resource. For every tree harvested, a new one is planted. Christmas trees are grown all over the U.S. and Canada, so there’s always a local source. Tree farms provide habitat for a wide variety of birds and animals. Trees help filter the air, prevent soil erosion and provide oxygen. And the Christmas tree industry, with an estimated 21,000 growers nationwide, employs almost 100,000 full- and part-time domestic workers.

Post holiday season, a real tree can be recycled into bird feeders, mulch or fuel chips for biomass furnaces.

Some argue that real trees are sprayed with chemicals, and it takes a lot of trucks and fuel to move those trees around.The fact is that real trees are not produced for sale on a grocer’s shelf, so they don`t need to look perfect. Valued for their natural appearance, they are often grown with fewer chemicals than most of your store-bought produce.

Speaking of chemicals, most artificial trees are made from PVC, a potential source of lead. Ever notice the warning label on the box to wash you hands after handling your plastic tree? The manufacture of PVC creates dioxins, the most toxic of chemicals. There are relatively few artificial trees manufactured in the USA; the majority are imported from China, which is notorious for weak enforcement of environmental regulations.

There are statistics that state artificial trees could be greener if kept for eight years. In today’s throwaway society, many people don`t keep cars – or even houses – that long. When they do throw away their old artificial tree it will sit in some landfill for centuries.

If you ask me, the only thing green about an artificial tree is the money big companies make selling them.

 Dan Daly, nursery manager at Hudson Valley Nursery in New Hampton

Plastic tree

It might seem obvious that since plants consume carbon dioxide, a real Christmas tree would have a smaller carbon footprint than its manmade counterpart. In truth, although the average Christmas tree consumes about 9 kilograms of CO2 on the farm, as that once glorious symbol of Christmas lies rotting in the mulch pile in the spring, it releases about 5kg CO2. Another 7.5kg for transporting your tree, lashed to the roof of the family minivan, brings the grand total to an emission of 3.5kg CO2.

The numbers for an artificial tree initially look a lot worse. The combination of production in a far-off Chinese factory, transportation by truck, boat, and a car to reach your doorstep, and the eventual breakdown of all that PVC in the nearest landfill produces a whopping 30kg of CO2. But, unlike the cycle of the real Christmas tree, which is repeated every year, a well-treated artificial Christmas tree will last for many years.

In fact, after nine years, the carbon footprint of using your plastic tree will be smaller than nine years of real trees. And for every additional year you string lights around your artificial tree, your Christmas footprint will continue to diminish until it disappears into the snow.

So, yes, a decade of an artificial Christmas tree, with its cold steel trunk, wire branches, and plastic needles that smell more like a chemical plant than Christmas morning, has a smaller carbon footprint than ten years of fresh-cut trees, but are the two even comparable? A real Christmas tree provides experience. I look back fondly on years of picking out Christmas trees with my dad and sitting on the floor while my parents struggled with each massive evergreen, loudly “discussing” whose fault it was that the tree was not perfectly vertical. But, what are these experiences worth? How many kilograms of greenhouse gas? The answer to that question cannot be determined using a mathematical formula.

Alicia Marrie, chemical engineer, grew up in Warwick

Black bears are multiplying. Humans are, too. We have a problem.

Bear hunter

There are 29 states that rely on hunting as the most cost-effective, immediate and humane method of managing bear populations.

Typically the objective is to use hunting as a way to achieve a balance between the bear population and the human population in a given region. Such an approach stabilizes the bear population and helps to minimize potentially dangerous human-bear interaction.

When a bear population in a given region becomes too great, the amount of food available in their natural habitat diminishes and bears are forced to seek food from other sources, namely humans. Bears are notoriously voracious eaters and spend much of their time seeking out food, particularly in the late fall when preparing for winter hibernation and in early spring when they emerge hungry from hibernation. Bears are intelligent, and when they learn they can obtain food from humans, they become bolder in their attempts. This is when negative interactions can occur.

The remedies put forth by anti-hunting groups are either unrealistic or ineffectual. Some advocate simply capturing bears and relocating them. This is ineffectual as it has been shown bears have an innate and little-understood ability to find their way back. Others insist that we need only properly secure our garbage from bears. This is unrealistic because we can’t count on everyone to follow through securing their garbage, and bears can find and access garbage that has been secured anyway.

I started hunting as a kid with my father and grandfather. Hunters are not heartless, cruel individuals out to kill anything that moves. The majority of hunters I have encountered are true sportsmen and conservationists, interested in the preservation of natural animal habitats while responsibly taking game within the limits of the law.

In the case of bear hunting, hunters are given the opportunity to enjoy their pastime while also helping to ensure the vital balance between bears and humans.

 Jean-Paul Vallet, treasurer of County Seat Conservation Club, an Orange County hunting club

Laissez bear

Hunting is not an effective way to control the bear population.

Food is the most important factor in determining how many cubs, if any, a female bear will have. Mating season is in June. If a female’s food source of berries, acorns, etc. is limited, her body might be unable to sustain her pregnancy and supply enough milk for her cubs after they are born in the winter. Her body will absorb the fetus, which will be used for nourishment.

Household garbage is an unnatural food source for bears. Additionally, in some states like New Jersey, hunters are allowed to bait – using cracked corn, bagels, donuts, etc. – for deer and bear (baiting is illegal in NY and PA). Eliminating these two food sources would reduce bear populations naturally.

Hunting proponents and some politicians use the big scare tactic and say “it’s only a matter of time before a bear kills a child.” Hunting did not prevent a five-month-old baby in the Catskills region from being killed by a bear in 2002. Bears were regularly eating out of dumpsters in the area. Had the garbage been properly contained, this tragedy probably never would have happened. Education is the key.

People are more likely to be killed by lightning or a bee sting than by a black bear, according to bear biologist Dr. Lynn Rogers. Meanwhile, the number of people, including children, getting killed by hunting accidents is staggering.

Let’s not forget bears are territorial. If a bear gets into trouble because of someone’s garbage and is killed, another bear will move into that territory.

How to bear-proof your property? Store your garbage in a bear-proof garbage can away from the house. Don’t keep it in an outside shed or by a kitchen window. Don’t feed any pets outside. Don’t feed birds in the summer. Clean barbecue grills after using. Don’t leave food in your car. Should you see a bear walking, scare it away by making a lot of noise.

Nature will regulate the black bear population if we let it.

Susan Kehoe, Vernon Township environmentalist

And a Warwick reader weighs in:

Getting away from gas is a no-brainer, but which new car makes most sense?

Hybrid

Imagine driving for 40 miles without using a drop of gasoline or producing any tailpipe emissions, and then not worrying about traveling another 300 miles to your ultimate destination. Hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt, “2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year,” combine the efficiency of an electric car with the long-range capabilities and convenience of a traditional vehicle. Most people think of the Volt – which plugs into the standard wall outlet in your garage – as an electric car, but technically it belongs to a new age of hybrids.

The onboard gas generator provides electric power to maintain the charge in the lithium-ion battery pack, eliminating a newly coined human condition called “range anxiety,” or the fear of getting stranded because your electric car ran out of juice. The Lithium-ion cells provide twice the power of the similar weight batteries found in yesterday’s hybrids.

Unprecedented efficiency is built into the car’s every aspect. Wind tunnel tested mirrors, sheet metal rocker panels, and low rolling resistant tires all help the Volt slice through the air as easily as possible. The regenerative braking system recycles energy by capturing the car’s forward motion, converting it into electricity that powers many of the onboard systems. Heated front seats can be programmed to turn on when the interior temperature is low, keeping the passenger warm using less energy than a heater.

More car than electric, the Volt shares suspension components with the Corvette, accelerating to 60 miles an hour in well under nine seconds.

Frank Petrucci, Country Chevrolet, Warwick

Electric

Although electric vehicles are a novel technology at the moment, they will most certainly be a dominant mode of transportation in the near future. Of the handful of commercially available EVs, the typical ranges are on the order of 100 miles, with the Tesla Roadster leading the pack with nearly 250 miles on a single charge.

Electric vehicles are much more energy efficient than a comparable gas engine car, because they do not have to first convert energy into heat. The Nissan Leaf averages about four miles per kilowatt-hour, which in gasoline terms is equivalent to 148 miles per gallon. This boost in efficiency means that even when electric cars are charged with the dirtiest grid electricity (100 percent from coal), they produce about 40 percent less carbon dioxide per mile than an average gas-powered car. Electric cars can even be charged with solar or wind energy, which will result in practically zero greenhouse gas emissions. This is exactly the purpose of our Solar Journey USA trip: to drive across the country by charging the battery in the electric car with solar power.

One advantage of EVs that tends to get overlooked is the fact that even when they’re charged with a dirty electricity mix, the nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter emissions are produced in a location away from people, i.e. at the power plant, rather than deposited in the middle of cities where the most people can be negatively affected by them.

Garrett Fitzgerald and Rob van Haaren, PhD candidates at Columbia University in Earth and Environmental Engineering, are planning a solar-powered cross country trip. Solarjourneyusa.com.

Photo by Robert Breese

 When it comes to keeping us fed and healthy, who does it best?

Big Farm

Anyone who bites into a rock-hard California tomato in February and compares it to a sweet Jersey tomato in August quickly learns an indisputable truth: there are certain things large-scale agriculture can do, and certain things it can’t.

But what happens during a drought, or a flood, or a poor year for crops?

Remember the rice shortage of 2008? Most Americans don’t. Why? Because our ag and transport industries adapted so quickly that consumers hardly noticed. In fact, the only evidence of a rice shortage in our local grocery stores here in northern New Jersey was a brief limit of two 20-pound bags of rice per customer. And within two weeks, rice in our local stores was in oversupply and put on sale at 50% off. Remember: this was a shortage severe enough to cause food riots in some countries.

Admittedly, Big Food and Big Ag can be hilariously easy targets to criticize. To the most paranoid among us, they represent everything wrong with America today: Big Food makes irresistible snacks as part of a master plan to fatten us all up, while Big Ag secretly grows genetically modified produce, soaks it in e. coli for good measure, and then drives it cross-country in an orgy of fossil fuel consumption.

But this perception is parody, not reality. American consumers are reaping the benefits of a full-blown renaissance in local food. A truly robust food industry — one that can handle spot shortages, manage uncooperative regional weather, and adapt to the natural fluctuations of food production — needs to have both local and large-scale food production to work properly.

Daniel Koontz, of Morristown is the author of food blog casualkitchen.blogspot.com.

Small Farm

Food doesn’t fit into the concept of economics of scale. A high production line of things like car parts is awesome, but a spark plug isn’t a living thing. It doesn’t need the same care as an eggplant or a chick.

A big farm tends to mono-crop. It makes money by growing a huge number of acres entirely of corn or wheat that can be planted, tended, and harvested by machines. It sounds really productive, but after all the fertilizer and machinery and equipment and labor, crops like that sell at low prices – pennies per acre. That’s a silly waste of resources. The small farms, with diverse planning, make a lot more money per acre. For example, small farms tend to intercrop so the same acre could be used for livestock as well as vegetables. Small farms tend to be creative and use the land they have intensely.

Small farmers are acutely aware of issues of erosion and depletion of minerals; they use less fossil fuel and create less pollution than factory farms. The equipment employed by the factory model and the long shipping distances take a toll on the environment.

Small farms create a diversity of green spaces. In this area, we have flower farms, herb farms, beef farms, grass-fed meat farms, egg farms, CSA farms, dairy farms, hay farms, pumpkin farms, apple orchards, and wineries.

The small farms in this area are brimming with beautiful, fluffy lettuces that make salads enjoyable – a far cry from the tasteless iceberg and leathery romaine in supermarkets. It is the food produced with care that will provide people with the ability to achieve their optimum weight and get healthier.

Barbara Taylor-Laino is an organic farmer of Midsummer Farm in Warwick.