Tip of the Greenberg…

Today I made my first organic cotton purchase: a bag of organic cotton pads (the kind you would use to apply toner to your face or remove nail polish). I have been promising myself that this year I will start to buy organic cotton more often. So this is my first step. Although it may be small, in the form of a $2.99 bag of 100 count “Quilted Organic Cotton Rounds”, it feels good to get going on my promise.

And why have I made this organic cotton promise, and why cotton pads instead of organic cotton clothing? Of course, I heard some disturbing statistics regarding pesticide use on conventional cotton. And also, I have increasingly come to believe that the chemicals in pesticides are causing many of the cancers that are so widespread these days. (Now this is a very debatable point, and not necessarily proven with scientific evidence. But since this is my blog, I’m sharing my belief.) Skin cancer is an unfortunately popular disease in my family. I really do fear that some day soon I will find a spot on my skin that is cancerous. So I try and do all I can in the prevention department. For me, this has included changing most of the cosmetics I use on my skin over to organic alternatives. The next logical step seemed to be the cotton pads I use on my face everynight to remove my eye make up. Hence, the organic cotton pad purchase. I am sure that organic cotton clothing purchases will come soon for me, but I have embraced my mantra to start slow and small.

I don’t want to write a long diatribe about organic cotton quite yet, but here’s one of the scary stats:

“Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides on 3% of our arable land; that’s more than any other crop per unit. That adds up to 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to produce enough cotton for a t-shirt, and 3/4 of a pound for a pair of jeans. And that’s just not bad for the planet; 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).”
–stat from www.treehugger.com

Have a wonderful week!