3 ms·

Does it really have a smaller footprint? I'd love to see numbers

by fenwick67 8y ago

kingkawn 8y ago
Not adding eternally polluting particles to the environment seems like it must have smaller footprint
- tylerhou 8y ago
  Organic != pollutes less. For example, some organic farms use more than an order of magnitude more (~20x) organic pesticides than regular farms use regular pesticides (by weight). Many of these organic pesticides have the potential for serious health risks. One organic pesticide, Rotenone, which was banned in the US in 2005 but reapproved in 2010, causes "Parkinson's Disease-like symptoms in rats, and has the potential to kill many species, including humans." [0] Organic farming also often requires more resources (land, water, etc.). The ecological damage of that extra resource use (soil erosion, water diversion) could far surpass any pollutants non-organic farms spew. [0] I don't know anything about cotton specifically, though. [0] https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogsscientificamericancomscience-sushi20110718mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogs... (see myths 1 and 3)
  - code_duck 8y ago
    Hemp does not require any use of pesticides. Cotton, on the other hand, uses a wildly disproportionate amount of pesticides for cultivation acreage - stats I’ve seen are 25% of pesticides for 3% of land cultivation.
  - rattray 8y ago
    > I don't know anything about cotton specifically, though. According to this article[0] which quotes a cotton industry group, organic cotton takes >2x more water to grow, which is in line with what I'd heard anecdotally. [0] https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-worse-for-the-environment-than-regular-cotton/ https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-w...
  - kingkawn 8y ago
    Perhaps the organic farmers I know are true edge case radicals, but they don’t use any pesticides at all. All soil and weed management tactics.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  I believe they are comparing it to regular cotton.

Does it really have a smaller footprint? I'd love to see numbers

kingkawn 8y ago

Not adding eternally polluting particles to the environment seems like it must have smaller footprint

tylerhou 8y ago
Organic != pollutes less. For example, some organic farms use more than an order of magnitude more (~20x) organic pesticides than regular farms use regular pesticides (by weight). Many of these organic pesticides have the potential for serious health risks. One organic pesticide, Rotenone, which was banned in the US in 2005 but reapproved in 2010, causes "Parkinson's Disease-like symptoms in rats, and has the potential to kill many species, including humans." [0] Organic farming also often requires more resources (land, water, etc.). The ecological damage of that extra resource use (soil erosion, water diversion) could far surpass any pollutants non-organic farms spew. [0] I don't know anything about cotton specifically, though. [0] https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogsscientificamericancomscience-sushi20110718mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogs... (see myths 1 and 3)
- code_duck 8y ago
  Hemp does not require any use of pesticides. Cotton, on the other hand, uses a wildly disproportionate amount of pesticides for cultivation acreage - stats I’ve seen are 25% of pesticides for 3% of land cultivation.
- rattray 8y ago
  > I don't know anything about cotton specifically, though. According to this article[0] which quotes a cotton industry group, organic cotton takes >2x more water to grow, which is in line with what I'd heard anecdotally. [0] https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-worse-for-the-environment-than-regular-cotton/ https://qz.com/990178/your-organic-cotton-t-shirt-might-be-w...
- kingkawn 8y ago
  Perhaps the organic farmers I know are true edge case radicals, but they don’t use any pesticides at all. All soil and weed management tactics.
WalterSear 8y ago
I believe they are comparing it to regular cotton.