Question: What is the Organic Center and how does it help people?
Snow: The Organic Center is a not-for-profit organization that sees the value, both from an environmental standpoint and a human health standpoint, in organic foods. The center helps further research into the benefits of organic farming and organic food, and then helps to communicate those benefits and the specifics of their research to the public. As a culture right now or as a global society, we are facing a couple of huge issues — global warming is one, human health is another, and world hunger is another and just overall environmental and ecological sustainability. Organics plays a key role in solving each of those issues.
The Organic Center specifically helps direct the research to the benefits of organic farming, helps people understand where they can get organic foods in their community, which organic foods to choose, which ones when farmed conventionally have the highest levels of pesticide, which ones are most important to buy organic and to eat organic, [and] which foods will give you a higher antioxidant level if you choose the organic variety. So, there are many benefits for eating organic for an individual, but then [there is] also organic agriculture as a way of protecting the environment.
Q: What is your role within the organization?
Snow: I had a couple of different roles. I’ve served as spokesperson for a campaign they did a few years ago, that was called Mission Organic 2010. And I just recently became a member of the board of directors and a spokesperson for the organization.
Q: How long have you been involved with the Organic Center?
Snow: Starting with the campaign I did for them a few years ago, I would say three years.
Q: Why is this organization important to you?
Snow: It’s important to me mainly because of who I am, and the families that I grew up in, and what I stand up for in every part of my life. My dad [Tim Redmond] was one of the pioneers in the early part of this green and organic movement. So growing up as a child, I knew how important healthy foods were to the health of my body, and [the importance of] avoiding chemicals, avoiding preservatives, and avoiding synthetic chemicals in the way that we could use the food that we ate.
It's a part of who I am, it’s been who I am since I was a very small child and it still is. It’s my life’s work helping other people to discover how to live more simply, to live more healthily, and to eat the best, cleanest, healthiest food as possible.
Q: What is the most moving experience you’ve had since being involved with the organic center?
Snow: The most moving I think is more so than just one particular story of someone coming up to me and saying, “You know my life has changed because I started eating better food,” because I hear that from people all the time. That is probably the primary reason that I do this work, because I know it impacts people on a very individual level. You know their kids start behaving better, they as adults start losing weight, or they start having more energy to make it through the day just because they start eating healthier foods and living in a more healthy way.
But then beyond that also, it’s not only the trends that we’re seeing that people are moving toward this food, but [also that] they’re really understanding why organics are important, why organic agricultural is important for the sake of our environment, and why organic foods are important for the sake of our children especially. Our children are exposed in the United States to up to five different pesticides in their food and water every single day, but that amount obviously can be greatly decreased by switching to organic food and organic agriculture. So, I think the most moving thing is just this growing wave of understanding and appreciation for this more healthy way of eating and living.
Q: What do you hope that the organic center will accomplish in the future?
Snow: I hope that more land, more agricultural land, will be converted to organic growing method. And, I hope that the amount of organic food in our grocery stores, in our mainstream grocery stores, will greatly increase. That’s what I hope the organic center will achieve.
Q: There are so many other causes out there. Why is it important for people to support this particular cause?
Snow: You know we are what we eat. We are what we eat. If we eat a lot of synthetic foods that our body doesn’t know how to digest, it’s going to react. If we eat a lot of healthful foods that were grown without chemicals, our body is going to hopefully be stronger and more able to do all the things we ask it to do everyday. There are tremendous organizations out there around this country, there are fantastic things that we could be doing every single day. But I can’t do those things unless I’m feeding my body the things that it needs.
So, to me this is the foundation for everything else. Organic foods and healthy, natural living are the foundation that allows me and allows other people to go on and do other things as well. There are other organizations that I support and other groups I am involved in, but without organic food and natural living, I can’t do any of the others.
Interviewed by Giacinta Pace, NBC News