Organic or "Organic"?

Ecological intelligence is knowledge of how green a product is and thereby allows people to shop informed. While many people are aware of the arising trend of organic products, only around half of our survey respondents really make decisions based on how green or organic a product is. The survey respondents also replied that they would be more likely to buy organic products if they were made cheaper. That is a key reason as to why many people don’t buy organic; the price difference is often quite wide. A person can expect to pay 50% to 100% more when buying organic. The difference will be that the organic is void of the environment-damaging pesticides and other chemicals found in the standard products. The tricky part is knowing when something is truly organic or just labeled as such as a reward for meeting FDA guidelines.
There are many “organic” products that aren’t truly organic. There’s actually a guideline as to how a product can be labeled in regards to being organic. This list of guidelines was found at medicinenet.com:
--Products with the “100% Organic” seal have no synthetic materials
--Products labeled “Organic” must have at least 95% natural ingredients
--Food labeled “Made with Organic Ingredients” must contain at least 70% natural ingredients
--Meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy labeled “organic” must come from animals that have never received antibiotics or growth hormones, making it almost impossible to find truly organic meat.
Using the above list of labeling regulations, consumers are able to make more informed decisions in their purchases when they’re trying to buy green products. It can be confusing to see 100% organic vs. organic because they seem to be the same; however, only 100% organic is guaranteed to be green and non-synthetic.
On an ending note, it is best to buy locally grown produce because while organic products’ growth doesn’t directly impact the environment, the transportation of it does because of all the fuel that is burned. Local farmers with farm fresh crops who burn minimal fuel for transportation is greener than buying organic from across the United States which causes far more CO2 emissions. Even if pesticides are used on their products (assuming it’s a legal amount), the environmental damage is generally less than that of the transportation.