From Organic Fanny Packs to ‘Pure’ Trash, Party Planners Face Logistical Nightmare

12 Responses to “The Greenest Show on Earth: Democrats Gear Up for Denver”

1. NY-David
   June 25, 2008 - 12:27 PM on June 25th, 2008

   Can someone explain how eating organic contributes to helping to fight global warming?

2. Pam
   June 25, 2008 - 01:35 PM on June 25th, 2008

   If I understand their arguement, the organic food products do not use chemicals, known by a select few, to contribute to that select fews version of global warming. Organic foods are great for a persons health, but hardly affordable for the masses. I am not quite sure why the costs are so great if less goes into the production. Take a look at the Newman line of organics. I am in no way knocking the Newman family, because Paul Newman has donated millions of dollars to various causes, yet I can’t help but notice that it is priced for the Westport CT crowd, rather than the average blue collar consumer that is in dire need of a change in diet.

3. Rodolphe
   June 25, 2008 - 01:56 PM on June 25th, 2008

   I’m not sure that eating organic is very often cited as a way to stop global warming. Big swaths of rainforest are cut down to graze beef cattle for BK and McD’s, so I can see how not eating meat could be. Basically, eating organic is a way to avoid carcinogens, BGH, etc. Generally, it is a better way to eat (but I’m not sure that the health benefits offset the cost).

   One of the reasons it’s more expensive is that you have to use other means to keep off pests, keep weeds away, etc. Organic foods also can’t be stored as long, so grocers can’t just leave them on the selves. Twinkies, on the other hand, will outlive us all.

4. Pam
   June 25, 2008 - 02:26 PM on June 25th, 2008

   the health benefits do offset the costs, but only a small portion of the population can afford to eat organic.

   The processed foods we eat have a direct link to diabetes, heart disease, bad cholesterol etc., and maintaining a good diet is the best prevention.

   I am not sure where you got the information on the rain forests being cut down, as 90% of the beef comes from domestic cattle ranches and the other 10% comes from ranches in Australia and New Zeeland

5. Rodolphe
   June 25, 2008 - 02:54 PM on June 25th, 2008

   I’ve got to run, but here’s a link on the deforestation thing: http://www.mongabay.com/0812.htm

   It’s from a lefty source, so if you don’t buy it I’ll find another when I get back.

6. PCD
   June 25, 2008 - 03:09 PM on June 25th, 2008

   Radolphe,

   I don’t buy your lies. Are you smart enough to understand that?

7. Pam
   June 25, 2008 - 04:06 PM on June 25th, 2008

   Rodolphe, it says right in the source that the land was, key word being was, cleared in the 70’s and 80’s for U.S. consumption, but there is no mention of McD or BK. It does go into detail on the causes of why each of those countries is currently clearing the land but I didn’t read where the U.S. is the reason.

8. Pam
   June 25, 2008 - 04:07 PM on June 25th, 2008

   PCD,

   Rodolphe doesn’t merit such treatment. He offered a new source if his existing one wasn’t sufficient.

9. Rodolphe
   June 25, 2008 - 06:10 PM on June 25th, 2008

   Thanks Pam.

   I might have mixed up two stories here…

   The deforestation-for-Beef-grazing goes back to the big “McLibel” suit that was in the news a while back.

   There was, more recently, a debate over McDonald’s (and a bunch of other fast-food companies) use of soya feed products that were grown on deforested chunks of Amazonian rainforest. Which is kind of ironic since the enemy turns out to be… SOYBEANS! Of course, these aren’t really the kind being used for meat substitutes; they’re being used to feed chickens (and occasionally to fatten up beef). So I missed a few steps (from amazon trees to soy farms to feed to livestock…). Here’s a link from McDonald’s own corporate resposibility response (in which they say they’re going to refrain from using soya): http://csr.blogs.mcdonalds.com/default.asp?item=189181

   A lot of other fast-food restuarants were named as soya users; I haven’t found anyone else taking McDonald’s (impressively principled) stand.

   I also didn’t mean to suggest that the U.S. was the sole problem (though I have other difficulties with U.S. agribusiness regarding state’s and town’s rights) — a lot of these disputes are centered on the UK (though McDonalds is multi-national anyway, so maybe the specific locale is of secondary importance).

   Sorry if that was a bit rambling…

10. Pam
    June 25, 2008 - 06:54 PM on June 25th, 2008

    I know that snopes.com ran a debunking of the de-foresting and beef stories circulating. That dealt with the US buying beef fron the Central/South America regions..

    I also know that our ranchers primarily use corn feed rather than grass, which can create a fattier beef. The corn diets puts the weight on. If I understand the materials, grass is a better diet. I pass a few cattle farms on the way to the lake and I notice that they are all grass fed. As a side note that has nothing to do with a rain forest, the gfarms I pass along the route have changed crops this year. Last year, the majority of the farms were corn, yet this year, it looks like other crops have replaced them!

11. San Francisco Liberal
    June 25, 2008 - 07:05 PM on June 25th, 2008

    “Can someone explain how eating organic contributes to helping to fight global warming?”

    —————–

    From my understanding, aside from the health benefits of eating organic, I think that buying LOCAL GROWN FOODS would be more of a positive step towards “fighting global warming”; auto pollution, oil/gas consumption, etc.

    Here in San Fran, my wife and her friends go to one of the many LOCAL farmers market once a week.

    Why buy something shipped all the way from Peru, when you can buy it or something better from your own area/state?

12. FrmrArtyOffcr
    June 26, 2008 - 10:25 PM on June 26th, 2008

    Why buy something shipped all the way from Peru, when you can buy it or something better from your own area/state?

    No argument there SFL. About my only complaint about the whole organic foods thing is that it’s just not possible to produce enough food using non mechanized means to feed the masses of people in the major cities. I have enough of a back yard that I could make a dent in feeding myself if I were to want to. My yard is an exception, especially with all of the new developments where the homes are as close together as fire codes will allow and the back yards are less than 20 ft deep. Why anyone would buy a $300k home on a lot that’s only 50 x 50 eludes me. The homes are beautiful, but so close together that you have no privacy.

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