Eco-Terms Tuesday – Organic
Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on February 24th, 2009 filed in eco-terms
environmentastic! wants to be your source for environmental information, education, news, and products…
With that goal in mind, each Tuesday environmentastic! will be posting some vocabulary about the environment, for your learning pleasure.
Organic
pertaining to, involving, or grown with fertilizers or pesticides of animal or vegetable origin, as distinguished from manufactured chemicals: organic farming; organic fruits. (definition from dictionary.com)
There are many definitions of the word organic, as you will see if you search for it as I did; however, as it relates to the environment, organic essentially means that whatever the word is referring to was grown without using chemical fertilizers or artificial means of pest-control – and without any kind of hormones or antibiotics (for meat), irradiation, or genetic modification.
In the United States (as well as Japan, Canada, and the European Union), there are special certifications that must be obtained before food may be marketed as organic. In addition to the above requirements, organic farmers must meet standards such as the ones below:
- use of farmland that has been free from chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);
- keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
- maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
- undergoing periodic on-site inspections.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means. If you’re interested, read more about the United States Organic Standards (yawn).
A better way to keep up-to-date about national organic standards is through the Organic Trade Association or the Organic Consumers Association. Both of these groups have people who enjoy (or at least are paid to be) reading the standards and keeping in-the-loop about what is happening in the world of organics.
Now – for your homework: use this word in your daily conversations at least 10 times, then report back on your results! 
Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley
Do you think organic standards are important for the future of the Earth and humans’ ability to survive on the planet? release your natural reaction in the comments to let us all know how feel about it!
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February 24th, 2009 at 12:44 am
My friends also have believed that Organic foods are better to their health, thus they’ve chosen to buy the organic foods!
wilsons last blog post..Maintain Your Cholesterol in Healthy Level!
March 5th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Awesome blog you have, uplifting and powerful and well written!
Long time no see , i’ am droping (with a gift) , hope you’ll do the same
Today i have post about “The Guitar industry Go Green?” can you give your best shout (comment)
Thank you so much
Arie Wijayas last blog post..The Guitar industry Go Green?
March 5th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Good, a casual description of the features of being organic is useful. Many of us have only a partial understanding of a term like “organic”, so your list of attributes, though not complete, is a help.
I think what also deserves mention, though not directly in the scope of defining the term, is that creating an organic business community of farmers and their customers, also gradually changes the economics of business in subtle ways. Organic companies tend to be smaller, or at least the smaller companies have a better chance to compete on an even playing field with larger companies. Workers at organic companies are not exposed to toxins, and environmentally the insecticide-produced monocultures are replaced with far healthier polycultures of a variety of organisms interacting in a way that nature intended and that is more resilient for a healthy planet.
David – green livings last blog post..A Simple List: Things We Can All Do
March 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I definitely think we should be using organic products. The thing is, once you get outside the States it’s easy and cheaper to find organic products. Here in Laos, organic products are a standard instead of an exception. The difference is that it’s easier to obtain the products here because they aren’t as expensive. Laos doesn’t have a long history of producing large amount of food with the aide of chemicals and such.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Organic is a term that is often misused and misunderstood. Just because something isn’t officially termed “organic” doesn’t mean it is and vice versa. All organic products may not necessarily be as healthy or quality as you may think. It’s good that they are creating a standard, but I would rather choose local products over whether or not they are organic.