- Help Significantly Reduce Pesticide Use: Cotton, which is grown in over 50 countries around the world, accounts for 25% of worldwide insecticide use and is a major source of pesticide problems. Organic growers use non-toxic means of controlling cotton pests.
- Worldwide, Pesticides Used on Cotton Are Among the Most Hazardous: In U.S. cotton production, for example, the leading insecticides include aldicarb, one of the most acutely toxic pesticides registered in the U.S., and acephate, a possible human carcinogen.
- Protect Future Generations: Because of differences in eating habits and physiology, children are at greater risk for pesticide-related health problems than adults.
- Protect Farm Workers: Farm workers suffer from an abundance of toxic exposures and related health problems. In California, cotton accounts for the third highest number of pesticide poisonings behind grapes and oranges.
- Protect Water Quality: Pesticides contaminate groundwater in at least 32 states, and half of the U.S. population relies on groundwater for its primary source of drinking water. Moreover, pesticides have been detected in the atmosphere throughout the U.S., in air, rain, fog and snow.
- Promote Biodiversity: Growing the same crops repeatedly, reduces the variety of plants, insects and animals on the land and encourages pests. Crop rotation encourages diversity and a healthier environment.
- Be Healthy: At least 107 pesticide active ingredients are carcinogenic. Many others cause a range of problems including birth defects, behavioral changes, sterility, hormonal imbalances, and a variety of short-term poisonings.
- Prevent Soil Erosion and Improve Soil Quality: Despite recent improvements in soil conservation, erosion is still a serious problem around the world. Organic practices, including the addition of compost to soils and the use of cover crop rotations, can both reduce erosion and improve soil.
- Support a True Economy: Conventional cotton prices do not reflect hidden costs carried by taxpayers such as billions of dollars in annual subsidies, pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage.
- It Feels Good: Organic cotton feels great against your skin. It feels good to make a choice that supports so many simple nurturing effects on the land and the people we love.
-Patagonia Inc.
Hey, did you know that something as simple as choosing a T-shirt can improve the water quality where you live!?!
The Surfrider Foundation is please to announce our new commitment to use organic cotton for our T-shirts. Having learned that non-organically produced cotton is one of the most environmentally damaging agricultural products, we have decided to print our T-shirts using Patagonia's 100% organic cotton Beneficial T-Shirts. Our new organic cotton T-shirt line feels better because you know that you are supporting a cleaner earth. (Check out our Mail Order Catalog)
As Yvon Chouinard, the owner of Patagonia explains "[Patagonia] discovered that the process of growing conventional cotton involves the heavy use of chemicals that toxify the soil, air and ground water. And since many of these chemicals were originally formulated as nerve gases for warfare, it is no surprise that where spraying occurs, health problems follow, including higher rates of cancer and birth defects in humans and wildlife." These are outrageous costs to pay for the battle against bugs. And it's a battle we'll never win: while the bugs adapt to the chemicals, the rest of us sustain the long-term damage. These pesticides not only harm good insects and birds that act to control harmful infestations, but they also end up in streams, ground water and eventually in the ocean. The Surfrider Foundation will continue to look for organic cotton products for the other cotton items in our mail order catalogue. Our goal is to only sell cotton that is organically grown! For more information on organic cotton visit Patagonia's Beneficial T web site: http://www.beneficialts.com
So next time you purchase a new Surfrider T-shirt you should feel good knowing that your purchase is supporting healthy organic cotton industry, making a statement about the negative effects of pesticides, and keeping the ocean a little cleaner for that next session.
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