Going Organic to Save the Planet
Hello Everyone - we're into week four and we're going to talk about something which is REALLY important to help save the planet.People might think that because we are kids that we shouldn't be worried about things like factory farming and organic food - but the thing is, it's our future which will be affected and if we don't try to understand what is going on, it may be too late to fix things by the time we grow up.
Even when we were at nursery we were learning about minibeasts and going on nature trails and we've grown up with stories like James and the Giant Peach, talking about how important bugs and beasties are to our soil. We are also very lucky because we grow our own fruit and vegetables here at home and like to think of ourselves as mini-farmers.
Our soil is alive, not just with creatures but with nutrients and goodness that make it really great for growing things in. We take care of our soil because it is precious - it's the thing that enables us all to live - and if we destroy its goodness, one day we are going to face a really big disaster.
Going organic means that the food which we eat is not sprayed with chemicals that kill all the goodness out of the soil. It is not just the fruit and vegetables you need to look for either but products which come from animals like meat, dairy and eggs, are also best when organic because then you know that the animals have not been fed food which has been sprayed with chemicals.
We try, as little farmers to collect the seeds from the things we grow - that doesn't always work but we are not experts yet. Real farmers are of course experts at this but now, many are not even allowed to collect their own seeds because the companies who sell them their seeds don't allow it. They have to buy the same chemically treated seeds over and over and this is becoming a really big problem for the planet.We don't really know how the damage done by all these chemicals will affect our health but it is certainly having a very big impact on the environment. Our soil, our insects (especially our bees!) are dying and we don't want to wake up one day and find it is too late to repair all the damage.
We have to do something now and the easiest way to do that is to buy organic food whenever you can. It is more expensive but it is worth it. There is nothing more important than our health and the future of the planet, so I would say it is better to spend a little more on the food we need than on the stuff we don't. We have already blogged about wanting to help in the fight against cancer but there is also a lot of evidence that eating lots of meat can add to your risk of getting cancer. The fact that most of the meat available to buy will have been factory farmed and fed food sprayed with chemicals is probably adding to those risks and we want to do all we can to reduce it.
Of course, one of the best ways of going organic is by growing your own fruit and veg....we might do another blog about that later though! It doesn't have to be expensive or take up lots of space, we grow strawberries in buckets, peas along the fence, tomatoes in hanging baskets and even garlic in old wellies! Everything helps.
The point is, if we all do our best to make small changes we can help to stop the destruction of the planet. But we ALL have to work together to do it.
Thanks for visiting, we hope you enjoyed reading our blog and watching our video ;)
Amelie and Erin xxxx
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2987365/almost_all_germans_contaminated_with_glyphosate.html
Link to Important Greenpeace petition.....there are lots out there....
N.B
- There are lots of places you can find out about factory farming by
doing research yourselves - because this blog is run by the little
people though, we don't want to put links which might click you straight
onto a picture or video of something really horrible happening to an
animal. Just in case a small person clicked it by mistake. Says a lot
about the issues though that so many horrible practices take place.
