Organic Farming May Not Be as Good as You Think

Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/07/18/mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/
By: Christie Wilcox
July 18, 2011

Picture:
This picture displays apples being sold at a grocery store labeled 100% organic. It is labeled this because it didn't use pesticides. However, it turns out that it may not actually be pesticide free. It's just a healthier kind.

Summary:
Everyone thinks that organic farming is better than conventional agriculture. However, they are incorrect. First, organic farms still use pesticides and fungicides. What's funny is the Soil Association asked the organic consumers why the buy organic foods and 95% of the consumers said their top reason for buying this type of food was to try to avoid pesticides. There are 20 chemical used in the process of growing organic foods that are approved by the U.S. Organic Standards. Also the government does not keep track of the volume of pesticides being used for organic foods. The main difference between the two types of farming is the origin of the pesticides. In organic farms their pesticides are made from natural resources and conventional farms are synthetic. Researchers have shown that the pesticides in organic foods cause serious health risks as well. In Europe the organic farmers did not pass the European Union's test. Canadian scientist also found that conventional pesticides are more effective than the organic pesticides. Also just because you don't use pesticides doesn't mean there aren't any harmful things still. From 1900-2001, 10,000 people became sick due to foods that had pathogens and organic foods may be the reason. A study shown found that a pathogen called E. coli was found in 10% of organic foods but only 2% in conventional foods. Also some conventional farms don't even use pesticides. It's sad to say but factory farming is factory farming.

Opinion/Reflection:
I can't believe that there are harmful pesticides used in organic foods. To me this makes the food not worth being over priced. I feel like we've been lied to. This just makes it obvious that there isn't just one perfect food because there will be downsides to each one. Organic and conventional farming is a topic that we just learned in school and I still didn't know some of these facts. I never had a major preference before reading this article and now its made my decision even harder knowing about organic farming's use of pesticides. Also I think it is horrible that 10, 000 people became sick and organic foods is to blame. I hope one day we will be able to have all fully healthy foods.

Questions:

1. Do you have a preference of which type of farming you would prefer? Why?

2. Do you feel that people who own organic farms are intentionally keeping this information away from us? Why or Why not?

3. Do you think there will ever be a completely heathy style for farming? Explain.

Corey Milewski- Recycling not always good

Recycling not always an energy and resource saver, study findsFriday, May 20, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson

 

http://www.naturalnews.com/032465_recycling_energy.html

 

 

Picture: This is a picture of what happens in the process of recycling. Reusing plastics and other materials can reduce the amounts of such materials on earth.

 

 

Summary: Studies have shown that remanufacturing or recycling certain products uses more energy than using new products. Products like tires and used motors doesn't always save energy in the future. Also the remanufatured products were compared to the new products. In many cases, the new product outpreformed the remanufactured product. This means that over a course of a products life new ones actually save more energy than reused products from an older generation. In the tire study it showed that new tires had  more rolling resistance than the retreated tires. So over a preiod of time the energy to just produce new tires uses less energy. "People often think recycling is so simple, but things are far more complicated than people expect" says  Timothy Gutowski. Regardless the energy usage, remanufacturing helps to save resources. Also remanufacturing lowers the waste in landfills and helps the environment in most cases. So remanufactured devices are not always the most energy-efficient way, but it does help the environment. 

 

Opinion: I found this article very interesting because we are always tought that recycling is so good. I never knew that remanufacturing products uses more energy. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. In some cases recycling is the right thing to do but in other cases it is better to make new products. Recently recycling cans were distributed to hatboro and horsham. I know in my house we began to recycling a lot more.  I think recycling is the right thing to do but, this article made me think of something different.

 

Questions:

 

1. What could you do in your life to help recycling? explain.

2. If you had a choice to buy a reused device or a new device what would you choose? why?

3. Does your family recycle? Explain how recycling is enfourced in your house?