Organic or loose fruit and vegetables?
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invincibleIJIN
- Newbie
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- Diet: Vegetarian
Organic or loose fruit and vegetables?
Do you buy organic vegetables or loose produce (which, generally is not organic)?. Both have environmental benefits- organic produce doesn't use fertilizers that contaminate water, harm and kill animals but is generally packaged in plastic whilst non-organic foods are much easier to find plastic-free but use these pesticides and fertilizers that damage the environment and hurt animals. I switch between both as I can't make up my mind on which is more environmentally and animal friendly-what are your thoughts?
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carnap
- Anti-Vegan Troll
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Re: Organic or loose fruit and vegetables?
Organic produce uses fertilizers, there is no way to grow on the same land again and again without fertilizers. Organic farmers are just restricted to organic fertilizers which are, ironically for vegans, mostly animal derived.
In the United States organic and conventional are both typically loose so your issue seems specific to your location.
In the United States organic and conventional are both typically loose so your issue seems specific to your location.
I'm here to exploit you schmucks into demonstrating the blatant anti-intellectualism in the vegan community and the reality of veganism. But I can do that with any user name.
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brimstoneSalad
- neither stone nor salad
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Re: Organic or loose fruit and vegetables?
Definitely choose to avoid the plastic; that makes much larger a negative impact than any other differences. It also implies that the plastic was needed because the produce has been shipped farther etc. (a smaller impact, but worth considering all other things being equal).
Like carnap said, organic isn't fertilizer free, it just uses animal-based fertilizer (unless it's veganic, in which case it uses green manure or compost). Animal feces fertilizer increases your risk of exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria and pathogen contamination in general. It's also not environmentally benign; it can run off too. Mitigating environmental risk is more about smart application and the area being farmed.
When I have a choice, I always choose conventional produce over organic all else being equal, because I trust the conventional is better for the environmental (mostly due to better yield) and less likely to use as many animal inputs.
Like carnap said, organic isn't fertilizer free, it just uses animal-based fertilizer (unless it's veganic, in which case it uses green manure or compost). Animal feces fertilizer increases your risk of exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria and pathogen contamination in general. It's also not environmentally benign; it can run off too. Mitigating environmental risk is more about smart application and the area being farmed.
When I have a choice, I always choose conventional produce over organic all else being equal, because I trust the conventional is better for the environmental (mostly due to better yield) and less likely to use as many animal inputs.