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Dear Store Manager,
We are encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables that are locally grown and organic, and organic grass-fed meat, and organic free-range poultry. We hope you will carry such items in your store. Please highlight local, organic food items when you do have them [local, organic food] [them] available so people will be sure to buy [it] them.
Sincerely,
A Loyal Customer
Please choose organic food whenever you can:
Organic food is food that is grown without the use of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and synthetic fertilizers. These poisonous chemicals accumulate in your body, and with a lifetime of exposure may cause serious health consequences. Recent studies have shown that levels of these chemicals which are acceptable in adults can be damaging to children and may be responsible for increases in childhood diseases. Agricultural chemicals are the greatest single contributors to water pollution and wildlife deaths. Billions of dollars are spent each year to remedy the effects of non-organic (agribusiness) farming.
Support local, responsible food producers:
Our food travels an average of 1,300 miles before it reaches our homes. Buying local food means fewer trucks and less air pollution. Less overseas shipping also greatly improves air quality. One ship creates 64 tons of particulate pollution daily.
The United States has stronger pesticide laws than most of the third world countries; many continue the use of toxic insecticides such as DDT. Sanitation regulation in some countries is practically non-existent. Buying local foods helps keep small, responsible farmers viable. If we give control of our food production to large corporations, we will be forced to eat the food that they choose: genetically modified, pumped full of antibiotics and synthetic fertilizers, chosen for transportability and appearance rather than taste and
nutrition.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sustainable_consumption/
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