Why Organic?

The other day someone asked me a question that touched on a cornerstone of being green, but is not generally talked about or explained. It is almost as if it is assumed that everyone knows the answer without it ever being explained or discussed.

Quite simply "What's so special about organic stuff ?"

According to Wikipedia, growing organic means:

... for crops they were grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers or sewage sludge , and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives . For animals, it means they were reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. Also, at all levels, organic food is produced without the use of genetically modified organisms.

Basically, grown naturally without chemicals. Where it gets a little bit trickier is figuring out why this is a good thing.

From what I have seen, apart from an aversion to consuming chemicals there is no proven significant nutritional benefit to eating organically grown food. While hinted at, it is also difficult to draw a straight line between health concerns and the chemicals used in food production.

Where I see a clearer cut benefit to supporting organically grown crops is the decrease of pesticides and herbicides entering the soil during the growing process. As a result, the soil itself is healthier and able to contribute to the earth's complex ecosystem more completely.

It is this benefit to the growing environment that is a motivator behind non-food products such as organically grown cotton.

This all said, purchasing a tee shirt made with organically grown cotton will not necessarily save the world, but it will not hurt it. That for me is the biggest benefit to buying organic.