The farmer poet in his column in the Catholic Times says that the word organic farming is part of the way we think. We see it on labels and signs. In the past, environmentally friendly farm products, those that were produced using organic farming methods, existed but were not an attractive possibility to most consumers, but this has all changed. Organic food stores continue to increase in the cities. The Catholic 'Our Farm' movement and many other organic movements are popular.
Environmentally friendly products for health, that become popular are desirable, says the poet. When all under the sun is gained, he says, and we lose our health it is of no use, is it? Vegetables, powdered milk, juice, rice, fruits, and the like all being sold with the words: organically farmed. Is this not a sign that our citizens are in need of health of both mind and body? To have a healthy body and mind in a healthy society requires that we listen to the need that we have for organic foods.
Those who farm know this to be true. The older farmers who spray with weed killers, pesticides, and use chemical fertilizers, are making the earth, the under-ground water, the rivers, lakes and the oceans, sick.
How can we get healthy food from the earth that is sick? How can we have healthy children from bodies that are not healthy? For every three children born, he says, he heard that one child has atopy (a tendency to be allergic). Sad, he says, to hear of the many who suffer from these allergies.
We have to find ways for nature and humanity to live. We have to find a way of doing this not by using the word organic farming, but being concerned for this alternative way of farming to take hold in our society. Do you know what is meant by organic farming? This is his question to his readers.
The way we eat, drink, use and dispose of our possessions is the reason for the acid rain. We are poisoning the earth and bringing death. The gardens of our country and the mother of our people, the farm lands are collapsing. Global warming and the change in the weather will not only harm the farms but make life more difficult.
We hear many of the Korean saying that our spring and autumn seasons are disappearing. Diseases because of the global warming are more prevalent, and the farming production has decreased. These are the signs that we see. Korea has had the yellow dust problem from China, but now we hear about the metallic dust that is coming in from China because of China's rapid industrialization and their use of coal. This is an area in which the countries of the world have to begin working together to solve problems that come with 'progress'.
