Organic (Wine) Isn't About Your Health
I was in a wine & spirits shop yesterday and remarked to the proprietor - a nice and knowledgeable guy who promotes natural wine - that it's a shame there aren't more whiskeys made from organic grain. (This goes for beer too, but that wasn't part of this discussion.) His initial response was that the distillation process is so extreme as to eliminate any contaminates that might have come from the conventional agriculture. Essentially he was saying that what you spray on wheat, corn, rye, etc. doesn't matter because it all gets removed before the whiskey is bottled.
I've heard this sentiment expressed in many ways, many times, but I'm beginning to wonder if this way of thinking about organic may be the problem that needs to be solved if we want to, you know, save the world.
My parents present the same kinds of arguments when I'm home and grocery shopping with them.
"I've been buying this kind of [conventional] bread my whole life, and it hasn't killed me yet."
Maybe these sound like strong arguments to you. I'll willingly admit that both arguments have the strength of being true. It's true that distillation (especially double & triple distillation) does remove just about everything from the fermented substance except alcohol. And it's also true that many people have lived long lives (my parents are well into their 70's), eating the products of the conventional agriculture industry.
This is a textbook fallacy from logic school, though: Conventional agriculture produces beverage and food products that aren't harmful to consume, therefore organic agriculture (and viticulture) is unnecessary.
First of all, organic agriculture isn't about your health. At least not directly. Support for organic agriculture (and viticulture) in the form of buying organic food, wine, whiskey, beer, etc., is about preventing harmful poisons from ever being manufactured and put into the world in the first place.
By purchasing organic products, you aren't protecting yourself from consuming a chemically-tainted end-product. Buying organic de-funds an entire conventional chemical industry that builds and operates factories where the chemical poisons are made, that operates global distribution routes burning fossil fuels to spread the poisons, that sprays those poisons over millions and millions of acres of planet earth and into its waterways and oceans, and that employs millions of people who must handle and work with those poisons directly, at their own peril.
We are disconnected from this in location and occupation, perhaps, and that is what allows us to think in terms only of this individual product in front of me at the store that I'm considering buying. But we aren't disconnected from the conventional chemical industry in any other way.
The poisons of the conventional chemical industry are in the world - its land and its waters - in massive amounts because we think we are separate from that world. We think we are independent individuals who aren't touched by the things that happen in the agricultural areas far from where we live. But this is an illusion that is now rapidly fading.
This is why the Centralas mission is to promote connection. We see the symptoms of the lack of connection everywhere, every day. We don't really promote "organic" or "biodynamic." We think these are the natural result of understanding the inextricable connection we have to each other and to the earth.
The next time you reach for bottle of whiskey or beer, try to buy one that is organically grown. You'll see how difficult it is to find organic beer and whiskey right now, and hopefully that will inspire you. Remember that you have the power to fund a healthier planet with a cleaner agricultural system, and to de-fund conventional poison production, simply by buying delicious, organic products instead of conventional ones.
Ultimately, a cleaner world will be good for your health. So maybe in the end if you need a selfish motivation you still have one.
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