I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I looked closer at the organic salad greens that a friend left with me two days ago. You may be, as I am, accustomed to there being something "wrong" about most foods other than those you grow yourself – they are either non-organic and subject to unknown chemical treatments, or come from another country meaning extra greenhouse gases during transportation, or are wrapped or tied with plastic packaging, leading to further pollution in the food chain. And of course the nutritional density in most factory-farmed fruits and vegetables is down 30% from 40 years ago, but that is another discussion.
But for once I was pleasantly surprised, when I looked at the container in which the salad greens arrived. They were from a company called "Organic Girl", and the clear clamshell case stated that it is made from corn rather than petroleum! Now, there may be some concern about the use of corn for a non-food purpose, but other source materials for use in making bio-plastic are coming along.
Organic Girl is in California and I am in New York 3,000 miles away, so it is true that I did not eat locally. But at least I supported, and will continue to support, a company that cares enough and knows enough to use packaging that will degrade within a lifetime or less.
For the recalcitrant food industry, I call that reall progress!
My lifelong pursuit, since age 18, has been to live more fully and find wisdom. This has involved studies with Zen masters, Tai Chi masters, and great psychotherapists while achieving my license as a gestalt therapist and psychoanalyst.
Along the way, I became aware of how the planet is under great stress due to the driven nature of human activity on this planet.
I believe that the advancement of human well-being will reduce societies addictive behaviors, and will thus also help preserve the environment and perhaps slow down the effects of global warming and other major threats to the health of human societies.
Fossil Fuel
PT
