Sometimes it doesn’t say organic, but it is. Sometimes it says organic, but it’s not. At least not by the definition you’d expect. When it says Certified Naturally Grown, wildcrafted, or organic, what do the labels really mean?

USDA Organic Certification

Unfortunately, some short-lived botanical sprays and a few herbicides and insecticides are sometimes allowed during organic cultivation.

Single-Ingredient Foods

Single ingredient foods are foods that are uncombined with other foods. Think fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs, cheese etc. When these foods are labeled organic, we know the farmer met the USDA standards to achieve certification.

Multi-Ingredient Foods—Organic

Here’s where things get tricky. You’d think if your sausage was labeled organic it would be organic. But there are three USDA organic labels for multi-ingredient or processed foods. Their differences are not obvious at first glance.

100% Organic

This one is self explanatory. All of the ingredients are organic.

Organic or Certified Organic

95-99% of its ingredients by weight are organic. The sausage may be 100% organic, but if the processor could not find organic sausage casings, the casings aren’t. This label allows food processors to use a number of ingredients that are not readily available in organic form.

Made with Organic Ingredients

70-94% of the ingredients must be organic. The organic seal cannot be used on these food items.

Just a bit misleading, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but if I saw something that said it was made with organic ingredients, I’d think it was made with organic ingredients!

Certified Naturally Grown

Certified Naturally Grown is a non-profit, alternative, organic certification program. Nearly 500 farmers from 47 states are members. This group strives to preserve high standards for organic farmers while removing the financial and logistical barriers small

Wildcrafted

Wildcrafted plants are uncultivated plants gathered from their natural habitat. Care is taken to ensure sustainability, to take no more than the plant can give, the scatter a plant’s seeds, etc. Wildcrafted is superior to organic if picked where there is no runoff from polluted water or contamination from exhaust. Unlike organic produce, wildcrafted produce is never sprayed—with anything. Wildcrafted foods are pure—as nature intended.

Between California and Hawaii lies a gyre (jir), one of the five areas in the world’s oceans where the currents maintain a circular pattern. The North Pacific Central Gyre is nicknamed the Eastern Garbage Patch due to multiple “islands” of garbage, one of which is twice the size of Texas. Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foudnation describes the gyre’s currents as “a kind of a toilet bowl effect” where swirling water pulls in debris and captures it. Unfortunately, the toilet bowl can’t flush.

Eighty percent of the 3.5 million tons of refuse caught in this waterworld garbage heap originates from land. Twenty percent originates from boats at sea.

Back in March, I was in the checkout line at my local farmers market when the checker asked, “Paper or plastic?”

“Damn it!” I yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I forgot my canvas bags again!”

I don’t usually make a scene and I’m normally a very considerate guy. But on that day, I decided the environment took precedence over good manners, and I was willing to embarrass myself. I didn’t care that my car was in a huge parking lot nowhere near the entrance or that several people would have to wait or change lines. It was time to take a stand—to make a change.

I apologized to everyone behind me in line. Then, once again talking loudly enough for all to hear, I declared my intentions.

“I have no choice,” I said, “but to teach myself a lesson. I’m going to go out there in the freezing cold and retrieve my environmentally friendly eco conscious canvas bags! It’s the only way I’ll learn to remember!”

Three steps out, I turned around and walked back in.

Everyone was staring at me.

“The hell with that,” I said. “It’s freakin’ snowing out there!”

Everyone laughed, I think, except the people waiting in my checkout line.

The next time I went grocery shopping I forgot my canvas bags again. To be honest, I still only remember them 10% of the time.

There’s no doubt about it. I’m going to hell.

Not in a handbag, or in a canvas bag, but in a plastic bag that never decomposed.

Here we go again. Just when I thought I had picked the right plastic, I discover I’m drinking toxic water. I stopped microwaving with plastics after reading about dioxins leaching into foods. Soon after, I threw out my microwave. What was I thinking, zapping my food and spinning its molecules? I stopped using soft plastic food containers and soft plastic water bottles. Instead I bought a box of Mason jars and two cool sets of glass food containers. My leftovers and salad fixins were happy, and so was I. bought two new hard plastic water bottles. Safe, right? Wrong!

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports the toxic chemical, bisphenol-a or BPA is now leaching into our food from clear, hard plastic bottles and containers and from the inner lining of canned foods. Animal studies raised multiple health concerns including a risk of cancer and hormonal disruptions that may cause early puberty in females.

The CDC reports 93% of Americans have BPA in their bodies. It certainly is found everywhere in our environment! Quoting the Tufts University School of Medicine report to the National Toxicology Program, theses scientists state there are many routes to exposure other than the oral route. “In a survey of 118 homes, BPA was found to be present in 86% of dust samples… cited in a report examining preschoolers found BPA present in detectable levels in indoor and outdoor air samples, floor dust, and play area soil.” They go on to say BPA is found in the air and dust of homes and offices, in sewage treatment works effluents, rivers, creeks, and drinking water, making exposure through drinking water and bathing likely.

It actually makes sense that it is found everywhere, because it is an element in so many things: CDs, telephone parts, glasses, even composite dental fillings! Just think, we can trade in mercury poisoning for chemical poisoning!

The 69 page preliminary report from the NTP was an interesting read. As one might expect, they determined the risk to infants and children is greater than the risk to adults. Glass baby bottles have regained their popularity. Even-flo is sold out online with a 2-3 week back order as moms scramble to replace plastic baby bottles.

I look in my kitchen to find my food steamer, my favorite means for cooking rice as well as well as vegetables, is made of #7 plastic. My ice tea maker—plastic. My sprouter—plastic. My toaster—plastic. I read about BPAs, dioxins, and PVCs and I wonder if any plastic is a good plastic.

Jan Lundberg from culturechange.org, a nonprofit network of anti-petroleum activists and visionaries for sustainability, would say no. “Plastics’ long-term effects were not considered when first made and put into the environment,” she says. “Now we are starting to see the harm and implications for the health of the oceans and our species.”

I’m getting my name on the backorder list for glass baby bottles. I’m buying a timer so I can cook my rice in a stainless steel pan. I’m storing my food in glass jars and glass containers. I’m drinking my water from a glass made of glass. Now, if I can just find a water distiller with no plastic parts…

• It takes roughly 430,000 gallons of crude oil to produce 100 million plastic bags.
• With groups like the Worldwatch Institute estimating that Americans discard as many 100 billion plastic bags each year, we’re talking about using tens of millions of gallons of crude annually just to tote our groceries home.
• At least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of marine debris, and plastics and other synthetic materials cause the most problems for marine animals and birds.

Worldwatch Institute

You’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store and you’ve made enough decisions for one day. You decided what you’ll be eating all week and what you’re having for dinner tonight. You’ve taken the time to choose which brand of non-toxic dish soap is more likely to cut grease. You even decided whether to pay with cash, a check, debit, or credit. But there’s one more decision you’ve yet to make. When the question is asked, it can confuse and distress even the most seasoned shopper who cares about the environment (and since you’re reading OLM, chances are you do care). Yes, your last decision might be a tough one. Are you ready? Here it comes: “Paper or plastic?”

Many shoppers don’t know which choice is better for the environment. After all, plastic is recycled, isn’t it? Should we be cutting down trees to make paper bags? Grocers seem to prefer plastic. Does that mean it’s better?

Plastic grocery bags are light, sturdy, and easy to carry because they have built in handles. They also have the added advantage of providing a bit of protection from foods that might leak. They’re cheaper than paper. They require less energy to produce than paper bags. When they are compacted, they take up less space in landfills. And some supermarkets make it easy to recycle plastic bags right there at the store.

Unfortunately, plastics have many downsides. Plastic bags are made from non-renewable petroleum resources. They can be recycled, but not as easily as glass, aluminum, or paper, partly because the bags may be made from one of several different plastics. This makes separating plastics for recycling difficult. And for the most part, plastic must be recycled into a product for non food use.

Plastic production and processing require the use of toxic chemicals. Many manufacturing plants that produce these chemicals also produce hazardous waste and pollute the air. In 1986, the Environmental Protection Agency ranked the top 20 chemicals whose production generates the most hazardous waste. Five of the top six were chemicals commonly used by the plastics industry (propylene, phenol, ethylene, polystyrene, and benzene).

Some plastic bags are said to be biodegradable, but biodegradation takes place when air is present. Photodegradation occurs when sunlight is available. Most of the garbage we generate (about 95%) is landfilled. In landfills, garbage is buried beneath layers of soil where it’s s a little difficult for air or sunlight to reach it. The fact is, most plastic bags just don’t degrade, even in a compost pile. Estimates say those plastic bags will take 1000 years to decompose. Others say they never will.

The truth is we use them once and rarely recycle them. Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic grocery bags a year. Only 0.6%—less than 1%, are recycled! Plastic bags clog our sewers, pollute our rivers and lakes, collect on our beaches, churn in toxic islands of debris in our oceans, threaten our wildlife and our ocean life, and litter our land.

Brown paper grocery bags need to be so strong they are generally made from high quality paper with little recycled content. And though they are made from a renewable resource, trees take a long time to grow and paper mills pollute both the air and the water.

Paper bags can be recycled. They are often used to make corrugated cardboard. Paper bags are also biodegradable, but again, the process is not facilitated in landfills.

So which should you choose? Neither, of course. You should carry reusable cloth bags. But if you don’t have any with you, Whole Foods has made the decision easy. They’ve stopped carrying plastic bags.

“More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don’t break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides,” said A.C. Gallo, co-president and chief operating officer for Whole Foods Market. “Together with our shoppers, our gift to the planet this Earth Day will be reducing our environmental impact as we estimate we will keep 100 million new plastic grocery bags out of our environment between Earth Day and the end of this year alone.”

“Doing away with plastic grocery bags won’t just help protect marine life, it’s a key move in shifting us away from a ‘consume-and-dispose’ mentality,” said Lisa Mastny, editor of the Worldwatch Institute report Oceans in Peril. “Disposable plastic bags can linger in the environment for more than 1,000 years and are the major debris item found on the seabed, especially near the coast.”

“During our International Coastal Cleanup each year, our volunteers find hundreds of thousands of bags on beaches and in the ocean posing a threat to birds, turtles and other marine life. As people continue to learn more about the impact their lifestyle has on the environment, we find they are looking for personal solutions to global problems,” said Laura Capps, senior vice president of communications and outreach with Ocean Conservancy.

Last year, Whole Foods Market became the first and only food retailer in North America to offer 100 percent recycled fiber content paper bags, which also are completely recyclable and they have handles. “I am not sure why anyone would think you can’t make quality paper bags out of 100% recycled paper,” says Deborh Horgan of Whole Foods. “I think ours are pretty good.”

So do we. But Whole Foods agrees with us: reusable bags are the best. Whole Foods encourages their customers to bring in any kind of bag, used paper, plastic, cloth, even backpacks and baskets. They also sell a 99 cent “Better Bag,” a reusable bag made from recycled plastic bottles.

So keep a stash of used bags in your car as well as your cloth or canvas bags. Reuse and recycle. We’ll all get the hang of it. All we need to do is practice.

When organic certification began, each state set its own standards. In time it was decided one uniform code was necessary. The USDA began a nationally recognized certification program in 1990.

Consumers think organic means organic. No pesticides. No herbicides. Nothing unnatural. Simple, right? Unfortunately, no. It’s not that simple. The organic label has quite a bit of wiggle room. It also has its share of controversy.

USDA organic certification requires time and money. Farmers are required to maintain documentation, to pay for inspections, and to pay for labs to test their produce. While it’s still true that food with an organic label is a superior product with more nutrition than its conventional counterpart, some farmers say USDA certification doesn’t guarantee strict adherence to the standards that originally defined organic and the label itself has become misleading.

In an Internet letter to their customers, the Whistling Train Farm, a fully organic farm in Washington State, goes into great detail explaining why they have chosen not to be certified as a USDA organic farm. Among their reasons are a number of practices allowed that they don’t agree with such as: “The use of blood and bone meal from non-organic livestock as fertilizers. We don’t feel safe using these products because of the BSE risk.” and “A long list of allowed substances, including broad-range botanical pesticides.”

As the Coleman Farm explains, “Among other things, certification would require us to keep records of input and output for each crop. We would have to pay for farm inspections and lab tests of our produce. For a farmer growing a thousand acres of broccoli the time required is insignificant. We raise and market nearly two hundred products, many of which yield only a few pounds a year. We think the time and money that certification would require is better spent working our farm and serving our customers.”

Vernon Mullins, the Organic Program Manager for the Georgia Department of Agriculture does not agree with the claim that documentation is a time consuming task. “Certification requires documentation,” he says, “but this can be done in a spiral notebook, on a calendar, or in an Excel spreadsheet.”

The forms available for download do look a bit overwhelming, though it appears a careful and complete set up of documentation would go a long way toward simplifying on-going record keeping. Organic certification is definitely not for scatterbrained types or for procrastinators. Careful due diligence is required.

Mr. Mullins also tells us the U.S. government has subsidized the costs of organic certification through the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program, which was originally available for farmers in 15 states. A second program included in a 2002 farm bill made financial assistance available to every state. Though funds are currently exhausted, a new bill is in appropriations awaiting funding.

Is the certification too expensive? Too time consuming? Is it meaningless because the standards are slipping?

There certainly appears to be contradictory opinions. OLM is going straight to the source. We’re going to ask the farmers. Look for our survey results in upcoming months.