To go, or not to go, Commando
The standard pair of men's undies has four "openings," shall we say. My wife was noticing that some of mine had six, or eight, or ten, and said it was time to get some new underwear. Perhaps I was overwhelming her with too much of a good thing.
I inquired about purchasing underwear at the same stores that I had been so successful in supplying me with blue Hawaiian shirts: the thrift sto-
She said no. I deserved new underwear.
I went online to see if I could support a company that is manufacturing organic cotton undies. There are plenty of eco-undie choices out there, but the best "deal" I could find for organic underwear was $16 each, or $44 for a packet of three, plus shipping and handling. Could I find organic undies that originated in California,the second-largest cotton producing state in the nation? No. The closest could get was Rawganique.com which sells "Clean Undies," made in Canada from U.S. cotton. They run $21 each.
At Mervyn's, basic cotton undies were on sale for $18 for a packet of 6, including tax.
Organic food commonly costs twice as much as conventional. But organic undies would cost me almost five times as much.
But shouldn't what I put on my body be as important as what I put into it? Isn't showing support for organic cotton growers important too? Haven't I read that it takes 1/3 of a pound of chemicals (pesticides + fertilizers) to produce enough conventionally grown, genetically modified cotton to make one t-shirt?
In the end, I bought two 6-packs from Mervyns, and saved $54 than if I had bought that same amount organic. My justification was that there are better ways to stretch the eco-value of my money.
But my choice nags me.
Perhaps I should be going commando.