The article titled Organic Foods: Do Eco-Friendly Attitudes Predict Eco-Friendly Behaviors? was an interesting article that I read because it was an article that reported trends and beliefs about organic foods from a variety of different people across the world. There were also other findings of organic foods related to college students and how they viewed organic foods and if they were likely to eat these foods and be eco-friendly. Early on in the article the authors examined the consumption of organic foods across the entire world noting that organic products have begun to be getting popular by many people. College students are also beginning to realize that organic products are better and these products are even swaying some college students’ minds in what college they attend, by picking a college with organic foods.
The article also goes over the federal standards for organic foods because as the reading explained people often misunderstand organic and what it really means. Organic foods are defined as products that are grown without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organic organisms, and radiation. The reason that article goes in depth about its definition and if a product really is organic is because many people want to know what they’re buying and what are in their products.
As for consumer attitudes and behaviors most research has been done outside of the United States. People that were surveyed said they had positive beliefs about organic foods and that they bought organic foods because of the health benefits that they gain from eating these products. Although many perceptions of organic foods and products are viewed positively in many countries, there are also countries that have been surveyed and the majority of these people were against organic foods because of lack of color, and bland tasting foods.
Later in the article the authors talked about if people who really eat organic foods are eco-friendly? Once the article went on it became evident that just because a person eats organic foods does not make them eco-friendly, but many are. As for high school students most believed that organic foods were healthier, tasted better, and were better for the community. Yet their beliefs were not strong enough to urge them to act, meaning they did not eat organic foods on a consistent basis.
College students on the other hand showed a much deeper level of interest for organic foods noting that they ate organic foods for a healthy lifestyle and for the environment. As I mentioned before many colleges and universities have begun to take action with organic foods, setting up food areas with only organic foods to appeal to many college students.
Now for the results of the survey of college students to examine whether or not these students ate organic foods and as a result of eating these foods made eco-friendly decisions. The population of the survey included students from a mid-size university in the southeastern United States involving mostly students that were enrolled in political science classes. The instrumentation that was used was through a paper based survey that included questions asking how often they ate organic foods, or if they did at all. Their knowledge about organic foods and also how eco-friendly they were if they ate organic foods.
As for the results most of the students were neutral in their opinion about organic foods. (56%) But there were a good amount of students that accepted organic foods or only ate organic foods. (41%) Approximately 31% believed that organic foods tasted the same as conventional foods, whereas 15% felt organic foods tasted better, and 12% felt organic foods tasted worse. However between 33% and 45% reported they purchased and consumed some organic foods on campus, in restaurants, or at home. Lastly, 50% of the students said that they would support organic foods on campus and 64% reported they would buy organic foods if offered on campus. Most of the students that were for organic products led a healthy and active lifestyle and the students that were not really for organic products did not. As for the relationship with organic products and eco-friendly behaviors, there was a similarity. Most students that used organic products were likely to recycle, conserve energy and water, carpool, and do other eco-friendly behaviors.
My opinion of the article was surprising. I honestly did not realize that this many college students viewed organic products as an almost necessity and how a lot of them were eco-friendly and how these two did in fact go hand in hand in most cases, but not all. I guess because I am a college student I honestly do not really pay attention to organic products and being eco-friendly. I guess that is why my opinion of this article and its findings were so surprising to me. It just seems to me like most college students do not really care about these two things which I think is understandable because of our age and because we’re focused on school. I was however not surprised that in many countries organic foods are viewed well and some countries do not view organic foods well. Lastly though I found out some interesting numbers and trends when it come to organic products and being eco-friendly, and I will definitely pay more attention to these two things in the future.
Joe Stevens
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