Earthsake

5 star rating

May 30, 2008

Jenn A. 372 reviews Send Message | Add to Friends

Organic cotton is expensive...

So buy more of it! If more people buy organic cotton bedding and clothing, it will make it more attractive and profitable. I cringe when I see the price of organic cotton sheets but once I invested in two sets of sheets, I am very happy that I won't have to buy more again for a long time.

Earthsake has a lot of fine products. I highly recommend visiting this shop in the bustling Berkeley 4th St shopping district. Their website is very educational --

In the United States, approximately 600,000 tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to cotton fields each season. The commercial growing field - cotton's manmade womb - is a sterile environment in which insect, plant, and microbial diversity is selectively eradicated for the sake of growing one plant exclusively. Farm workers, who have the highest rate of chemical-related illness of any occupational group in the U.S.A., suffer from approximately 300,000 pesticide-related illnesses each year; and yet, they continue to rely on gross amounts of chemicals for their farming.

The reason is simple: money. In the competitive world marketplace, there is a continual pressure to produce more for less money. By pumping the plants full of heavy doses of synthetic fertilizers - and simultaneously destroying competing species - it is reasoned that one can create maximum yields.

The negative results of commercial farming are overwhelming. While cheaper than more labor-intensive methods, synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, growth regulators and defoliants are harmful to humans and wildlife, and wipe out all natural biological systems available to the farmer. The chemicals used on cotton are among the most toxic substances used in farming, and the runoff from irrigation is consistently polluting our drinking water.

Each year 14 million people routinely drink water contaminated with carcinogenic herbicides—much of it from cotton farming. Over 10,000 people die each year from cancer related to pesticides.

Jenn A.'s keywords: bedding, sheets, cotton, organic cotton, pesticides

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