CAFOs Uncovered

CAFOs Uncovered

"Confined Animal Feeding Operations" is the industry term for the way the vast majority of food animals are raised in the US today. The Union of Concerned Scientists has recently published a report demonstrating that "the crowded conditions in these facilites have increased water and air pollution and other types of harm to public health and rural communities."

To read the report, or its executive summary, click on the links under "related links" in the middle of the article. Also, there is a petition to the Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture that you can sign on-line, urging the USDA to level the playing field so that small farms using sustainable agriculture practices get a fair shake.

In western Loudoun County we are lucky to have the choice to support alternative and more sustainable agricultural methods by purchasing food produced on local farms. I am working toward the day when Greater Goods will play a part on this effort by providing a venue for local producers to sell their food goods!

Reduce, Idea #1

Okay, so how about a series of posts on simple ideas we can implement to reduce our impact on the planet? For the moment, I will assume that we all think that is a good idea. [The "reducing the impact" part of the program -- not the "series of posts" part of the program.]

I am sorry, Evian and San Pellegrino and Dasani and all the other bottled waters out there—Aqua Velva, Wells Fargo, Muddy Waters, Joan Rivers, Jerry Springer, whatever—but the current campaign against paying good money for bottled water when tap water is perfectly good (and very likely purer) is so sensible on the face of it that I am now done with you.

Fini. Kaput. Ausgeschlossen. No more designer water. Water is water If you want lemon flavoring, add a slice of lemon. You want bubbles, stick a straw in it and blow.

—Garrison Keillor in a Sept. 29, 2007 in the Salt Lake Tribune

Photo credit: Dan DeLuca via Creative Commons

Over the last 6 months I have read more and more about how the manufacture and consumption of bottled water has a huge negative environmental impact. It just makes sense the moment you start to think about it. Plastic is generally a petroleum product -- a non-renewable resource that is getting more and more expensive [Gas at $3.29/gallon!]. The manufacture of the bottles and then the shipping of them consumes even more fossil fuels. And then the waste product. Although the plastic bottles are recyclable -- only a small percentage of them actually are. The vast majority end up sitting in landfills -- and sitting and sitting and sitting -- because plastic does not decompose. [At least not for thousands of years...]

So the alternative? Water filters and reusable water bottles. Both in plentiful supply and available in many, many varieties from many retail locations -- in person and on-line. But not yet at Greater Goods.

Why not? That's a perfectly reasonble question. Because beautiful beaded earrings from Nepal and colorful market baskets from Ghana are paying the rent right now. Rest assured, friends, it is my intention to carry more mundane but very important utilitarian goods like water filters and reuseable water bottles and rechargeable batteries ... But until then, I think it's important -- and well within our mission -- to spread the word about what we can all do today to make a difference.

Want to read more about the issues around bottled water?

"Bottle Water, No Longer Cool?" Fortune Magazine, 04/07

"Take Back the Tap" A Report by Food and Water Watch

And, because there are legitimate concerns in some US cities about the quality and safety of tap water in some US cities, we should educate ourselves about that as well:

Tap Water Quality and Safety from the National Resource Defense Council

I will try to do more research about water safety and what we can do in Loudoun County to ensure we are making the smartest drinking water choices -- for people and planet.