If you live in the city of Toledo and you’re still buying produce via conventional agriculture, you might want to rethink that choice. Or if you live in any of the areas affected by blue-green algae blooms, you might want to start voting with your dollars and buy local organic regenerative agriculture.
The cost of conventional agriculture is becoming too great. 400,000 Toledo residents will pick up the tab for the flawed conventional agricultural model in the form of higher taxes to cover a new, more expensive water treatment system needed to keep their tap water safe.
Toledo is not the only area affected. According to this article that ran on Mother Jones, many other towns and cities in the United States are facing this same problem. A graphic included in the article shows this problem affects nearly every state.
An article in The Guardian spells it out like this: the toxin microcystin is produced by “microcystis, a harmful blue-green algae; it causes skin rashes and may result in vomiting and liver damage.” It’s fatal to animals and “boiling the water does not fix the problem; it only concentrates the toxin.” Yikes.
There is widespread agreement that the issue is largely caused by increased use of phosphorus in farming, and new farming practices that rely heavily on fertilizers and chemicals. The current agricultural model is flawed. Scientists think its effects are far from over. Read more about the problem in this Wall Street Journal article.
Now that we are seeing the hidden costs – higher taxes, higher medical costs – doesn’t it make sense to buy cleaner, safer food today so we can avoid paying these costs tomorrow?
I hope you’ll take the time to read through the hyperlinks so that you may make better-informed decisions for yourself and your family.
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Jillian Burne is a holistic health coach with a private practice in Manhattan. She is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Jillian is dedicated to helping families and adults with ADHD manage their symptoms with diet and lifestyle modifications. Her approach is geared toward effective changes that can be implemented in today’s busy, high-tech world. Her work in functional medicine led her to create a 4-step program to help busy families and adults recover from ADHD, autoimmune and so much more. For a free 15 min phone consultation to see if this approach is right for you call 646-226-9312.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.