Wildly Affordable Organic

One book we've been passing around the office recently is Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet, All on $5 a Day or Less. Penned by NRDC Member Linda Watson, it has received rave reviews from a variety of publications and readers, and thumbing through it, I can easily see why.

I'm sure many of you, like me, have thought it's just too expensive to eat organic, let alone eat organic all the time. But Linda's book puts the lie to that presumption. She maps out exactly what to cook, tells you how to cook it, and charts exactly what it will cost.  According to Linda, "Even when including all the ingredients for three meals a day and a snack, Wildly Affordable Organic meals cost less than the food-stamp allowance in North Carolina, where I track prices." Plus, the USDA's low-cost plan costs 25 percent more than the green meal plan in Wildly Affordable Organic.

And the food in this book looks truly delicious. Huevos Rancheros? Noodles in Spicy Peanut Sauce? Blueberry Pancakes? Red Bean Chili Casserole with Corn Bread Topping? Sign me up.

Why does NRDC care about organic food? By eliminating massive quantities of toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers used in conventional farming, organic methods help protect the health of our air, water and soil. Another benefit is that organic food does not add to the problem of antibiotic resistance -- which makes antibiotics less effective for treating illnessess -- because antibiotic use in organically-raised animals is not allowed (we recently filed a lawsuit to stop the use of antiobiotics on healthy animals). Plus, unlike conventionally produced food, organic food exposes you, the eater, to no synthetic pesticides or growth hormones. Studies link pesticide exposure to childhood cancers, neurological damage, birth defects and prostate cancer. Finally, organic production also helps combat global warming by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere rather than releasing it, as conventional farms do. Organic agriculture can bind 1,000 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere per acre. This is largely because organic production is based on building up healthy soil, which reduces water runoff and soil erosion as well as provides better habitats for birds and fish in nearby waterways.

For more info, check out the food page on our Smarter Living site and the latest on NRDC's Growing Green Awards.

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