Big Picture Costs

Posted by Shirley Siluk Gregory Oct 10, 2007

Whether you buy organic food or organic cotton, you've probably noticed the price-tags are anywhere from a bit higher to considerably higher than those for "regular" food and goods. If only we could see the true cost of the things we buy, though: if that were to be the case, those organics probably wouldn't seem nearly so expensive.

Because, while the cost of "regular" food and goods (usually imported from places like China, India or elsewhere in Asia) appears cheap -- based on the price-tags we see at the store -- those goods actually cost much more when you take into account their full impact on the planet. Add in the medical expenses and lost work-days caused by industry-farmed beef that's loaded with fat, antibiotics and, occasionally, e coli, and suddenly, that grass-fed, organic beef doesn't seem so costly. Factor in the need for ever-more pesticides, fertilizers and irrigation water to keep a "regular" cotton field producing -- to compensate for the degradation of the natural soil -- and an organic-cotton t-shirt would seem like a bargain.

It helps to keep that in mind when you shop for whatever you shop for. Because the price on the tag doesn't always reflect the price we're paying in the form of an ever-more degraded and ever-more polluted Earth.