What You Can Do About Food
Shop at organic grocery stores or local organic co-ops. Some large organic chains include Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Nature's Northwest, Fresh Fields, and Bread and Circus. Also, conventional stores are increasingly carrying organic products. If your store doesn't carry organic products, let them know that you want them to.· Join Community Supported Agriculture, or similar groups, which will supply you with organic produce in exchange for buying a share of their farm.
· Take part in an organic community garden in your neighborhood.
· Buy seasonal, local produce, such as can be found at farmer's markets and local co-ops.
· Even better, grow your own food using organic sustainable techniques.
· Beware of perfect looking produce. It often requires the use of pesticides to make something look so aesthetically pleasing.
· Thoroughly wash and peel your produce, especially if it is waxed and dyed. Discard outer leaves of lettuce.
· This reduces but does not completely remove pesticides.
· Don't pick wild berries from public roads where pesticides are often sprayed.
· Eat foods which are low in fat and trim the fat from meat, fish, and poultry - many toxics are stored in fat cells.
· Beware of meat low down in the food chain and meat from filter feeders, i.e. swordfish and shark or oysters and mussels - toxics accumulate in these organisms.
What You Can Do About Baby Food
Perhaps most frightening to many parents is the thought that pesticides might be in their infant's food. Unfortunately, many baby foods do contain pesticides. There are lots of safe alternatives though.· Buy organic baby foods. Earth's Best baby food is available in many large grocery store chains. Organic grocery stores and co-ops usually have a couple of different options, including Organic Baby.
· Make your own baby food using organic produce. Remember to take into account the quality of your water source.
· Some manufacturers such as H. J. Heinz will no longer use produce with residues from chemicals not yet reviewed for their safety by the EPA.
· Write your baby food company and ask them to use organic produce.
· Tell your grocer you want them to carry organic baby foods.
What You Can Do About Water
· Find out what is in your water. Ask your public water distributor. Most of us get our water from a public distributor. They are required by law to give you information on what is in your drinking water. In fact, beginning in 1999, they will be required to send out this information to everyone living in their water district.· Ask the Environmental Protection Agency or your local public health department. Many people use well water. If you do, you may be able to get information on what is in your water from either the EPA or a local public health office.
· Get it tested yourself. If you still can't get the information you need, hire someone to do a water test for you. You need different types of tests for different types of water pollution. One convenient option is to get your water tested by mail.
· If your water isn't up to your standards, use filtration systems. More economical long-term than bottled water, using filtering systems guarantees a level of control over what you are drinking that the other options do not. There are many different types of filters in a wide price range. Each type of filtration device has a different specialty. Depending on the results of your water test, use one of the following:
· Activated Carbon System - removes organic chemicals, and chlorine. It also makes water taste better. It doesn't help with lead or nitrate.
· Distillation System - good at removing heavy metals, but is bad at removing small organic compounds.
· Reverse Osmosis System - removes metals, fluoride, nitrates, radium, and lead, but not all organics.
· Hybrid System - uses a combination of the above techniques for more comprehensive filtration.
· Consider drinking bottled water. Unfortunately, there are no regulations on bottled water so you don't really know what you are drinking. Some companies are really just using tap water. For a guide to the best and worst brands, begin with Consumer Reports (January 1987) or contact the National Sanitation Foundation.
· Protect your watershed. By using less toxic alternatives you are keeping toxics from entering our groundwater. Household toxics that are thrown in the garbage will often leak out of landfills when it rains. Most everything we use ends up in the water system one way or another. Then, the polluted water makes its way back into our houses again. Protect your kids and other people's kids too by not using pesticides, toxic cleaners, etc. Tell other people about how their behavior affects the quality of water entering your house.