Sustainable Sustenance

Autumn is a mouth-watering time. Fresh foods, just harvested, fill the farmers' markets and farmstands to overflowing, exploding with color and rich smells. Supermarkets, as well, feature local produce as the busiest time of year for food retailers begins. My family loves to eat, so we adore the harvest and the holidays, with so many opportunities for family togetherness around the table. Like all parents, I want to feed my growing children the healthiest possible food, and that's why locally grown, organic and other sustainably grown, whole foods top my list. For Thanksgiving, we do an organic turkey for meat eaters and an organic tofu bird for vegetarians, while everyone digs into the organic yams, mashed Yukon gold potatoes and sautéed chard and kale. Besides organic, shoppers have other sustainable options: the local apples for our stuffing are grown using integrated pest management (IPM) which seeks to phase out pesticides (see below).

I also find, as a mother, that a good message bears repeating, so I don't worry about boring the kids when I tell the guests why organic is healthier, not just for ourselves, but for our planet.

Here's why, whenever possible, I choose organic, local and other sustainably grown foods (and there are more reasons every year!):

• Fresh, local food tastes better! "It tastes so much sweeter!" exclaimed a guest at our table last year, after a bite of organic acorn squash.

• Choosing locally grown foods, from your farmers' market or supermarket, supports local family farms, helping to prevent urban sprawl from consuming them. Also, local foods haven't been shipped long distances, eating up non-renewable petroleum, nor sprayed and waxed with all sorts of post-harvest fungicides.

• Certified organic food is grown without toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, in ways which best conserve and protect our water and soil. Just last year, Consumer Reports magazine and the Environmental Working Group reported that many non-organic, conventionally grown fruits and vegetables contain residues of dangerous pesticides.

• In addition to less pesticide residues on food, organic agriculture means less toxic exposure to farmworkers, their families and their water and local environments.

• Integrated pest management, or IPM, uses natural predators, rather than chemicals, to control pests, turning to pesticides only as a last resort.

• Transitional organic, an increasingly popular label, means that the farmer is using organic methods while awaiting certification, which takes three years.

• Certified organic produce cannot be grown from genetically engineered (GE) seed. Human health concerns about genetic engineering include the transmission of food allergens and antibiotic resistance. Just this autumn, potentially allergenic GE corn was found in taco shells. Certified organic milk is free of genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which contains a substance that has been linked to increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. rBGH-treated cows also suffer from painful, swollen and infected udders. In addition to organic, many milk companies nationwide do not use rBGH milk (for a list, see The Green Guide's Product Report on milk).

• Organic farmers conserve habitat for wildlife, linking their farms to other "wildlife corridors" in a region. Certified shade-grown, organic coffee and chocolate are great ways to conclude your holiday meal, because the farming methods have preserved rainforest canopy, crucial habitat for migrating songbirds and many other species. See our Product Reports on coffee and chocolate for sources.

• It's getting easier! Because so many consumers are choosing it, the market for organic is booming with a 25% annual growth rate, which means greater availability.

The holidays are a time when we make a special effort to think of the welfare of others. The success of the certified organic label has paved the way to fair trade labels that ensure a living wage to farmworkers, and earmark a percentage of profits for education and other benefits to local communities. This year, celebrate by making the simple choices that have a positive impact on our growing system of sustainable food.