Whole Foods Stores, Starving Africans, and Grade A Organic Eggs

Today I received an e-mail from my wife and I was surprised.  A colleague of hers had sent her an e-mail today that read, " If you eat organic stuff then you dont care about water usage or that people are starving....besides, look at the Organic German Bean Sprouts that caused all the ecoli outbreaks...no pesticides and used cow poop, didn't get washed off and people died". 

I replied in sarcastic but light-hearted, joking manner stating, "Yep, we don't have enough water.  Only 90% of the earth's suface is water.  And, with that kind of reasoning, I think we should all go smoke some big "stogies" while getting plastered and then drive down to the local whore house and have unprotected sex.  It doesn't seem to matter since we are all going to die whether it is from organic foods with cow poop on it or from a cocktail of chemicals sprayed on my veggies.  Might as well have some fun!"

More e-mails were exchanged but the main point is that this person doesn't believe organic food is morally correct because with organic there are lower crop yields and more water is consumed to create the plants/fruits.  And yes, I get it.  I understand that if the entire world was to use organic food, there would be no way to sustain the earth's population and yes, more water would be used. 

But let me be clear, I do not eat organic food nor do I purchase organic food at Whole Foods because I believe the world should do the same.  Nor do I expect the world to do the same.  Nor do I think that the world should do the same.

Did your parents ever say to you, "You have to eat all the food on your plate, there are starving kids in Africa"?  Mine did, and quite frankly, I still don't get the connection.  If I eat all the food on my plate, will that help the African's belly to feel better that night?  No, of course not.  That's absurd.  And the argument about organic food being morally wrong is equally absurd.  I buy organic food because it seems fresher to me.  I purchase product at Whole Foods because I can buy product that is locally produced.  And I like supporting local entreprenuers.  I like keeping my money in the community.  But most of my good blog friends are drinking the Kool-Aid of the leftist, statist agenda.  As for me, the government has cried wolf too many times and I don't fall for their  "scares" any longer.

Remember the bird flu, the swine flu, doixins, E. coli, listeria, the Ebola virus, formaldehyde, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, salmonella attached to tomatoes/jalepeno peppers, CFC's, DDT?  All were blown out of proportion.  All were made into huge panics, far beyond the actual scope of any health threat.  All were lies formulated by government agencies.

So here is my solution: 

1. Come up with a strategy that improves the productivity, equity, and efficiency of water use.  It can be done. Stop ridiculous, wasteful government spending and use part of that money to solve the planet's water concerns. 
2. Have the government adopt a faith-based initiative to monetarily support churches to teach people to "fish" instead of giving them a "fish".  Our government gives billions of dollars to corrupt governments to aid in food supply, but unfortunately oftentimes that money is used for other purposes other than what we intended it for. 
3. Make major investments in agricultural infrastructure in developing countries—irrigation above all, because water control is crucial. More roads, communications and transport and storage facilities will also be required, because farmers will never benefit from higher prices if they cannot bring their produce to market.
4. Reduce barriers to trade with third world poor countries, expecially in regards to food import/exports.

These are four common sense ideas that could be implemented to effect real change.  In my opinion, if we would implement these ideas, we could make a much bigger dent in the global food/water concern than me not buying an organic apple at Whole Foods.

Stop drinking the leftist, statist misinterpretative and fear-mongering "Kool-Aid" my friend. False crisis events will continue to occur and the FDA and CDC, and EPA will continue to take away our liberties unless we start to insist on real ideas and action plans like the four I have mentioned above.

By the way, I am making a trip to Whole Foods tomorrow.  Does anyone need some organic, range-free, grain-fed large grade A brown eggs while I am there?