It is perhaps an inevitable fact that whatever we do, wherever we go, our environment and this earth are slowly killing us just as quickly as we are killing them. But amidst all the death and destruction, there are perhaps a few scanty rays of light (although you can be sure they are not coming from the sun as it is currently being blocked behind giant clouds of pollution). We all do what we can to stay healthy, whether we do it for our health, environmental conscientiousness, or out of habit. One of the ways that many of us do this is by buying and consuming organic produce.

Buying organic seems like a no-brainer. Eating organically grown produce has often been presumed to make you healthier, but in what might be a surprise to some green-eaters, until this past month there really wasn’t a lot of science to back up the claim that eating organic might help you to be healthier. Now that there is science, we can all rejoice in this newly discovered (but already internalized and practiced) piece of knowledge. So let’s talk numbers.

Pesticides of all varieties are bad for you. Can we all agree on that? The part that we perhaps cannot agree upon is how much of our food is grown in, near, or around pesticides. The short answer: a lot. The slightly longer answer lists several fruits and vegetables—that we all know and love—as being chalk full of pesticides if not grown organically. The list includes, but is not limited to, apples, peaches, blueberries, lettuce, sweet potatoes, spinach, strawberries, and grapes. The list really does go on and on.

But here is the cincher, the glorious statistic borne to us from scientific research and lots of survey work: those who reported not eating organic had twice the levels of pesticides than those who stuck to organic food. Isn’t that gross? What makes it worse is that it isn’t even just in the food. If you live near a farm that uses pesticides of any form —which, hello, we live in prime farmland here in Minnesota, yeah? —then there is a possibility that your water has some level of pesticides in it.

Not to mention all those poor farmers and farmhands who are working in close proximity to pesticides on a daily basis. They take the brunt of the exposure.

There are several side effects to using, being near, and consuming pesticides. For us who probably consume a moderate amount of pesticides, the side effects can be as mild as headache and nausea and as severe as weakness or irregular breathing patterns. But for those poor souls who farm with the pesticides, consequences can be very serious: neurological dysfunction, loss of cognitive abilities, and over time, lowered IQ’s, especially in children.

It is a good thing that organic produce is now widely available, in a grocery store near you.

But alas, this ray of hope is slightly dimmed by a disheartening realization. As valiantly as we struggle, as much effort as we put into living a clean, balanced, and fruitful life—full of organic vegetables, eight hours of sleep every night, and at least an hour of exercise—it is not enough. Pesticides, like an invisible enemy, are everywhere, just as germs cover every surface of this earth. And though we struggle and rage against the madness of toxic food, water, and air, pesticides hold us firmly within their hold.

Support your local farmers! Buy locally, eat organically.

-Ashley Nickel