Green Options » Devil's Advocate http://greenoptions.com/tag/devils-advocate Posts tagged 'Devil's Advocate' Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:30:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en In Defense of Organic: Why Greenwashing Shouldn’t Wash Away the Green http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/03/13/in-defense-of-organic-why-greenwashing-shouldnt-wash-away-the-green/ http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/03/13/in-defense-of-organic-why-greenwashing-shouldnt-wash-away-the-green/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:30:34 +0000 Meredith Melnick http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/03/13/in-defense-of-organic-why-greenwashing-shouldnt-wash-away-the-green/ c60b.jpgOur recent guest blogger, Danae DeShazer wrote a thought-provoking piece on the dangers of considering organic food a cure-all for the ills of the food industry . Sharon Troy followed up with some detective work on plastic-wrapped “organic” potatoes at her local supermarket (which would have been hilarious if it weren’t so scary). I agree with much of what has been said, but I think we - in our enamor of locavorism - are too quickly vilifying the organic movement. We need to be careful not to reject last year’s movement simply because the next great thing has come along.

I think we do ourselves a disservice by allowing marketers to define our food descriptors for us. Anything, when over- or misused becomes less effective. Just because marketers use the term “organic” on a questionable item, does not mean that organic food is less good. I think we all know organic when we see it. If we took the term at face-value, we would not have been alarmed by Sharon’s photo of the shrink-wrapped potatoes.

So how should we evaluate our food options in the florescent-lighted, plastic-wrapped grocery stores of America? Grappling for answers after the jump.

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