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What the study is picking up on is the fact that liberals are self-righteous jerks. The part of the American population that insists on eating only “organic” food (last I checked no food is inorganic unless one counts salt, but I digress) is heavily biased toward self-identified “liberals” and “progressives”, who also, as other studies have shown, engage in less prosocial behavior (like giving to charity or volunteering with community groups) than do conservatives.

I make a point of buying “organic” milk, despite the higher cost, but won’t buy Horizon brand. Why? What I’m really trying to buy is milk from cows that actually get to wander around pastures grazing. I don’t really care that the feed they get when they’re in the barn was “organically grown”. It turns out that the fats and proteins in milk from cows that get pasture time are measurably different in ways that are healthier for human consumption than the fats and proteins in “factory cows” that stand in stalls eating feed (Horizon brand isn’t worth buying because it come from “factory cows” that just happen to eat only “organic” feed. (It’s also better tasting — skim milk from “factory cows” is quit unpalatable, while skim milk from “free range” cows tastes like milk.)

I buy “organic” celery just because it tastes better. I buy free-range eggs for similar reasons to buying “organic” milk, but don’t really care whether they’re “organic” or “conventional” so long as they’re from free-range hens. Other than that, I’ll buy “organic” products when some quirk brings them down to price parity with “conventional” products, or when the “conventional” greens of a particular sort look tatty, while the “organic” ones look fresh.

(I realize some FReepers with whom I’ve exchanged cross posts might think I’m a jerk, but even if I am, it really has nothing to do with pouring “organic” milk over my breakfast cereal.)