Yes that’s right. Organophilia. No, it’s not a musical instrument fetish. It’s ( I suppose, reading from context clues) a word that describes the current popularity of “organic”, “green” and “natural” products.
I came across the word in a Seed magazine article that I stumbled upon while trawling the web for weather reports (thankfully, storm “Santi” didn’t create as much of a ruckus as the two previous typhoons). IMHO, I think the article is spot on in calling for closer scrutiny of these organic products and the “reduced” environmental impact they claim to have. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the move towards “organic” farming methods. But I also understand the fact that as the world’s population continues to increase, we need to produce more food, and unfortunately, we’re running out of land to grow food on.
Of course, inequitable distribution of wealth is inextricably tied with this issue. But it seems to me that even if we managed to redistribute wealth and resources, we will still eventually bump into the problem of having too many people, and not having enough food. This seems all too real in the Philippines, a relatively small country with a large population and a correspondingly huge rice appetite. We are, apparently, the world’s largest importer of rice.
Taking that into consideration, one question that comes to mind is “How are we ever to address our inability to grow enough rice to feed the country?” Is going organic the answer? Maybe. Maybe not. Truth be told, there are many social, economic, environmental and political factors that need to be considered before arriving at a satisfactory answer to this question. But IMHO, we cannot discount the role science can and must play in achieving our country’s food security. Again, I have no problem with the whole organic trend. But it seems that it becomes a problem when we start equating “organic” with “sustainable”. Which really isn’t always the case.
