An Organic Consumer’s Responsibility

organic_logo

We are becoming more and more health conscious these days and as always we blame all health problems to chemical laden food. Unfortunately many of these are but 40% of our health problems are result of our own faults and not chemicals. I say so because simple options of healthy life styles have always existed.

Not long before, when we were less in numbers and chemicals were restricted to chemistry laboratories we were eating real food as Nature intended. Then started the ‘Green Revolution’ and a silent one simultaneously called “Organic Class”. This class initially had poor local unnamed farmers and their neighbours. Who grew little for self-consumption and little more to sell.  Slowly this class  shifted towards higher income strata and now line of poverty is replaced by this “Organic Line” . People below it are supposed to consume chemicals and GM food leading to a growing race of weaklings.  And all this happened because the initial organic consumer knew nothing about his/her ‘organic responsibility’. The first thing which will come to mind at this point is “support local” and its correct too but there is a bigger responsibility.

That is “Save Organic Footprints” or saving the pure gene pool. This is every Organic Consumer’s Responsibility.

Yesterday I met an urban farmer, a scientist by profession, who rents a piece of land to grow his family’s vegetable needs (check-A Green Investment). I was very excited and asked him about his chemical free farming. He replied sadly that though he doesn’t put any chemicals himself but his seeds are not pure and they are coated with chemicals since he buys them in conventional stores. They may even be GM seeds as he has no way of knowing the origin. That’s how our laws are sadly.

My first response was why you don’t use your own seeds and it clicked. He said that how stupidly he was buying seeds from outside when he could have saved some from his vegetables easily. Its not an easy solution as seed saving is an art but still one can learn from trials and not let the natural gene pool go to waste.

Seed Dispersal

This gentleman was doing farming so he could benefit from saving the seeds but where do we come in as consumers of organic produce. We too have the responsibility of saving the pure gene pool or whatever of it is left. It’s not only a farmer’s responsibility. Most of the time we end up buying conventional produce due to cost but once in a while we get one organic fruit or vegetable having seeds. We can save these seeds, clean it , dry it and keep it in airtight containers in refrigerator.

Sometimes while driving on a highway there will be some local villager selling small amounts of his produce like lemons or papaya and when we buy these we must save the seeds as these are stray plants which have grown in  rough surroundings making them hardy.  For kitchen gardeners these seeds are a boon but even if we don’t grow anything in our homes we can always share it with friends interested in gardening or even gift a collection of such seeds to urban farmers or our local pheriwalas.

Contrary to the popular green tip of Seed Dispersal on the highway, this way of seed spreading makes sure most of them germinate and maintain the pure gene pool.

Though seeds of all kinds pure and GM are saved in a bank on an island protected from nuclear war, flood ,deep impact and more but still in control of some organization and this makes our responsibility of seed saving even bigger. We don’t want to be at the mercy of someone else for our food.

 Featured Image Source

http://i0.wp.com/thelivinglabiesd.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/organic1.jpg?ssl=1

 

 

admin

A physicist turned green living advocate.

2 thoughts on “An Organic Consumer’s Responsibility

  • 16 November, 2016 at 1:53 pm
    Permalink

    Good read. It’s a great idea you have given about saving pure seeds. It is such a simple thing, and we always overlook. Thank you! Now I am conscious about it, and also making more people aware through your article.

    Reply
    • 16 November, 2016 at 1:55 pm
      Permalink

      Thanks Rajan. Need any common seed and you can drop a line.

      Reply

Welcome! Fellow Green Living Enthusiast

%d bloggers like this: