How fast is the world changing?
Via WorldChanging, I came across the peoples grocery. It's a project in California to help the inner-city folk get access to healthy, chemical-free or organic foods.
West Oakland is home to 36 convenience and liquor stores, only 3 of which sell fresh produce or adequate food for a balanced meal. Prices at all of these convenience stores are 30%-100% higher than at supermarkets and none of them carry any chemical-free or organic foods.
This gets me wondering about the statistical availability of local, healthy, chemical-free or organic foods here in Tokyo.
The big argument people always raise against organic food is that it is more expensive (true on a per item basis, but as an overall lifestyle choice, my own experience seems to indicate that "choosing sustainable" reduces monthly spending). The other argument is that it is difficult to find. Granted, it takes a little looking, but once found, most of my shopping could be done at the Tokyo Coop I used to live by. Currently, I don't live nearby a physical store, so we rely on our food being delivered, which is a little less convenient for me because I am not good at planning my food needs one week in advance when we have to order. This of course has led to many more visits to the "regular" supermarket than I used to.
Granted, it is still much more difficult to make a full, fresh, local, and ecologically responsible meal from the supermarket than from the coop, but the more I peek out into the mainstream world, the more I realize that there are affordable local, chemical-free / organic options on their shelf as well. At least a lot more than I remember.
Have these been there all along? Have I just not noticed? Or, has the availability actually increased that much in the past three years?
It would be really interesting to see how much of an average Tokyo persons/family's grocery needs can be filled with fresh, local, chem-free/organic foods, and how far they have to travel to get it. It would be even more interesting to track that over time, to find out if it is just my imagination, or if the world really is changing.
Speaking of world changing, I recommend two blogs of students (in the program I was studying at last year) who are trying to do just that. So, if you are not bored to death already by my (all-too-introspective) eco-ramblings, or if you are, and are looking for an alternative, check out Strategies for Sustainability and and miles to go before i sleep. They are both doing a much better job of following along online than I was able to.
Comments
Kevin, Do you know what it takes in Japan to be classified as chem-free or/and organic food? There are all degrees of this stuff out there. Some may really be chem free but as you know its about impossible to keep all chemicals out of food. Unless there is a good strong government controlled labling law, and even then its a not a sure thing, you do not know what you are getting in that package. Because of the higher price this stuff comands it leads to misrepresentation of the goods inside the package.
Posted by: Billy | October 19, 2005 02:59 PM
Really good point, and no, I do not know all the labeling regulations here. What I do know however is that the coop I get my food from does regular audits of the farmers sublying the food, These audits are open to the consumers (and they provide some instruction of what to look for as well) In fact, I had hopped to go on one of the audits but I missed it because I was in Kyushyu.
I also know it is impossible to keep all chemicals out... just thinking that in my own so-called "organic" (because I don't apply any pesticide or chemical fertilizer) rooftop veggies are not technically so, since in the compost I have some non-organic vegitable remains... and there is probably lots of crap in the rain that has been falling for the past three days.
Just because I don't know for sure however, does not mean that I should withdraw support for local farmers attempting to break the addiction to chemical fertillizers and pesticides. I am faced with two options.
1) By some food that I *know* is local, and I know has undergone independent audit (even if there may not be a single strict regulation) grown by a farmer that I "trust" is attempting to grow the crops according to the consumers' (who want as few chemicals as possible) demands.
or:
2) Say "I can't tell anyway, so I might as well buy this GMO stuff imported from the US or China which I know or am fairly certain was grown on a factory farm making heavy use of petrolium based chemical fertilizers and copius amounts of pesticides."
I think the choice is obvious. That being said, part of my little footprint thing, involves doing a little more research into the stuff I actually do buy.
And (given that most people don't have the luck to be unemployed with time to research that, and that the benefits of the "free market" are best realized when consumers have perfect knowledge, *and* that companies are reluctant to provide the information that consumers need) I totally agree with you that we need a lot more government regulation to protect our interests, health and common resources from those companies that are legally bound to put their own interests and profits ahead of social/health issues in the absense of formal regulations.
;P
And regarding price.... I never simply buy something because it is more expensive and assume that that means it is better. In fact, I usually assume the opposite unless there is something else that would indicate that it is higher quality. Usually, the price is the last thing I look at when I buy something. I usually first ask myself:
1) Do I need it?
2) Is this the best option in terms of resources used and ecological impact, including excessive packaging? (as far as I know)
3) Does it taste acceptible?
4) Can I afford it?
If I can't afford it, I either just don't buy it, put something else back on the shelf and use the saved money for the "too-expensive" item, or I look at the less-friendly alternatives and make a moral judgement based on my desire and persieved need.
Posted by: bastish | October 19, 2005 03:27 PM
"I totally agree with you that we need a lot more government regulation to protect our interests, health and common resources from those companies that are legally bound to put their own interests and profits ahead of social/health issues in the absense of formal regulations."
Uh... what? I didn't see any of that in Billy's comment.
It's bad enough that you rant on endlessly about how bad the rest of the world is, too busy spewing doom and gloom to notice the good, but to start attributing your views to others is taking it a little too far.
Posted by: brian | October 20, 2005 03:51 PM
Thank's for keeping me honest Brian. But I think what we have here is a misreading more than anything... it seems that you missed reading the ";p" (international symbol for "hey, I'm being sarcastic / joking" is it not?)
Anyway, if you misunderstood, there is a good chance that others may have too, so I would just like to take the opportunity to say that I *know* billy wasn't saying those things. It was simply a bit of teasing.
Posted by: kevin | October 20, 2005 04:00 PM