en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/275854 Comments by organic http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078792 I know very little about health care, but I do believe organic food is central to preventative medicine. We need to level the monetary playing field with regard to organic foods. The problem is mostly an economy of scale issue and also partially an issue of habitual cultivation techniques. Conventionally grown industrial farms have a strong hold on most of the supply chain, especially the distributors and point-of-sale retailers. Farmers are subjects of aggressive marketing campaigns pushing pesticide and GMO products. There are large organic operations that have very reasonably priced food. It's just that organic farms are not as prevalent compared to conventional farms and therefore lose the economy of scale benefit.. I would love to see a federal program that aggressively markets and teaches permaculture techniques so that farmers can learn to substitute ingredients they can grow themselves for the chemical inputs. It seems to make sense to remove some of the corn subsidies and add some subsidies to a variety of organic produce. Thu, 4 Dec 2008 02:08:54 +0000 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078792 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078354 What a great example that would set. Powering ones home with renewable energy is even more refined at this point. They could provide solar thermal collectors for hot water and perhaps radiant heating, perhaps geothermal for a portion of heating/cooling, solar photovoltaic and wind turbines for electricity. Moving the white house to clean power is very important, so is moving every home to clean power. Hopefully, we will get some focused places in the blog to comment on issues and topics in this category soon.. Thu, 4 Dec 2008 01:27:30 +0000 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078354 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078226 I agree with Dona, Michael Pollan should be Secretary of Food. The ideas about organic farming at the White House are pure brilliance. This would really drive home the necessary points of local, organic food as preventative medicine. Thu, 4 Dec 2008 01:19:52 +0000 http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_response/#IDComment12078226