It is Earth Day today. The first Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson:

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political “limelight” once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

In these time where everything is dependent on electronic thingamajig, there are better way to get rid of these product than simply throwing it in the trash. Many companies offer some form of recycling electronic products, such as:

• Intel - Offering recycling programs in five states.
• Circuit City Stores - Will give you a gift card for your items.
• Dell - Offer free recycling of your old computer with a purchase of a new one.
• Best Buy - They will collect and recycle electronics destroyed by the effects of Hurricane Katrina that have been brought to a staging area in Orleans Parish, Louisiana.
• Sprint Nextel - Offer prepaid shipping labels so you can sent them any of your old cellphones to recycle.

You can find more events from the official Earth Day web site.

Have a Happy Earth Day everyone.

The Mirror reports that top scientific adviser under Tony Blair’s administration has warned that the arrival of bird flu may lead to the end of organic and free-range poultry.

Sir David King said it was likely the deadly H5N1 virus will spread among the UK’s wild bird population. That will mean more poultry flocks have to be kept inside to reduce the risk of infection from mixing with them.

He said: “It means organic farming and free-range farming would come to an end. It will change farming practices.”

And a source at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told the Mirror: “Even if bird flu does not hit poultry, it will still mean many, if not all, fowl are no longer able to roam free as they would be at risk from contamination by infected wild birds.

“Sadly, that could be the end of free-range farm practices.”

Have you ever wonder what the word “Organic” really means, if so, your in luck. At a meeting in Orlando, FL on April 1995, the National Organic Standards Board came out with the definition of “Organic” as the following:

Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.

‘Organic’ is a labeling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole.

Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products are completely free of residues; however, methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water.

Organic food handlers, processors and retailers adhere to standards that maintain the integrity of organic agricultural products. The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people.

Wal-Mart

Reuters is reporting that Wal-Mart will be expanding the amount of organic food item they will be offering to their customers. DeDe Priest, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of dry grocery says:

What you’re going to see is over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to have doubled our SKU (stock keeping unit) count.

This move will propel Wal-Mart beyond just being the top U.S. grocery seller and also number one seller of organic milk. The new offering that will be added in the coming week includes pickles to macaroni and cheese, on top of their current offering such as organic baby food, juice, produce, pasta sauce, etc.

With Wal-Mart pushing their suppliers to increase the amount of organic products that produce, we as consumers will reap the benefits of lower cost organic food, given Wal-Mart have no plans of making any extra money from organic items. Priest says, “Our focus is never really to grow our margin, it’s to grow our absolute sales.”

Belfast Telegraph:

Organic food is better for children’s diets as it dramatically lowers exposure to dangerous pesticides linked to neurological problems, according to a new report funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The study, carried out by Emory University researcher Chensheng “Alex” Lu PhD, confirmed that organic diets lower children’s dietary exposure to organophosphorus pesticides used in US agricultural production that previous research has linked to causes of adverse neurological effects in animals and humans.

In fact, it demonstrated that replacing children’s non-organic diets with organic food items substantially decreased the pesticide concentration to non-detectable levels.

According to a survey recently conducted by Harris Interactive, 64% of adults in the US consider themselves healthy eaters, while 45% say they follow some form of health-conscious diet. The survey also show that substantial number of people try to incorporate some form of healthy food into their daily meals and snacks, with many consumers turning to organic products as a healthier option.

The survey revealed that age, income, education of the people played a big role in their diets:

• 75% of adults aged 55 and over consider themselves to be healthy eaters
• 47% of those aged 18 to 34 consider themselves to be healthy eaters
• 74% adults with incomes over $75,000 would consider themselves to be healthy eaters
• 28% of adult with a college degree consider themselves to be healthy eaters compare to 12% with only a high school education or less

When it comes to organic food, 50% of US adults say they sometimes buy organic foods. The majority of these people say they bought organic food because of the health benefits due to the fact that organic foods are free of pesticides and preservatives.

Other reason cited by people buying organic food include: tasting better, environmentally responsible, freshness, socially responsible, better for children, and better value.

Anne Aldrich, senior vice president of the consumer packaged goods research practice at Harris, said:

Growth in the organic foods industry over the last decade is certainly impressive. While produce tends to be consumers’ main pathway into this category, many are now taking advantage of the wide selection of organic foods found in supermarkets and natural food stores. As this industry (which has traditionally been considered an alternative eating style) moves toward becoming more mainstream, there is considerable room for consumer package goods companies to educate consumers about the health benefits of organic foods.

NY1:

Fans of Two Buch Chuck may be happy to know that Trader Joe’s has confirmed its grand opening date here in the city, and it’s sooner than expected.

The specialty store and its adjoining wine shop will open on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, about three weeks from now. The location is East 14 Street between Third Avenue and Irving Place.

This will be the first Trader Joe’s in the Big Apple.

The Bay Journal:

Sales of organic food have grown by 20 percent annually, and experts predict that the industry’s share of the U.S. food market is expected to grow from about 2 percent to roughly 3.5 percent by the end of the decade.

In fact, demand for organic food is growing so fast that consumer demand is outstripping some domestic supplies.

Once a net exporter of organic products, the United States now spends more than $1 billion a year to import organic food, according to the USDA, and the ratio of imported to exported products is now about 8-to-1.

ABC News:

If you are looking to banish pesticides from your child’s diet, new research suggests that organic food will do the trick, at least when it comes to two common pesticides.

Researchers found that pesticide levels in children’s bodies dropped to zero after just a few days of eating organic produce and grains. “After they switch back to a conventional diet, the levels go up,” said study co-author Chensheng Lu, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University.

According to a report by Paul McIntyre, people with a college degree are more likely to buy organic food.

UNIVERSITY graduates might not be rich but a degree does mean a person is more likely to consume organic products, a new study says.

While more than half the organic food buyers in the study had a degree, just 27 per cent earned more than $100,000 per year, challenging a view that the upmarket crowd is fuelling much of the growth in the $400 million retail sector.

“Education is a key driver,” said James Meldrum, a former senior research analyst at ACNielsen and director at Melbourne’s Nourish Foods, which funded the report with Metier Consulting.

“Education drives the ability of a person to find out why organics is better,” he said. “Income is not as important. We’re seeing an equal proportion of organic consumers at the low end as the high end. It might be that higher income earners can buy more but it’s not why they’re buying it.”