We can move toward something we value—a cleaner environment, a healthier lifestyle, and better nutrition. And we can move away from something we don’t value—smog, pollution, wastefulness. Being organic can be a combination of moving toward something we want and away from something we don’t want.

And when we consider ourselves to be honoring our values and working toward a cleaner environment and a healthier lifestyle, we might feel encouraged and uplifted by our actions and our progress.

But I have also seen the heavy side of the awakening to organics. The dawning realization of what happens to our food, to our meats, to our lands, to our bodies. And it begins to weigh heavily. “What can be done? This is not enough! We must do more, more people need to do more! I am not doing enough. I can’t bear to be complicit in any of this!”

So what can you do when you hit that complicity hurdle? Leave society? Refuse to participate? How do we find our strength when we can’t escape that something we do, no matter how we try to avoid it, ends up going against our values. One of my dear friends is very concerned about her footprint on the planet. She is organic vegan. She founded and runs an international nonprofit doing fabulous work to improve communities. And she often ends up flying. She knows her flying is not good for the size of her footprint. But it is important and necessary work to her vision of a better world.

How do we make choices about that compromise? Sure it would be great to be in some ideal world where we could make pure choices that didn’t leave us complicit in something we don’t believe in. My answer? Do what you can. Leaving society doesn’t do enough to change it — strong and respectable stand that it might be. Change from the inside. Pick your issues. Choose organic. Share with people that you choose organic. Tell it like it is. Say to folks, “I would rather listen to your leafblower than walk on your toxic lawn.” Or “Eat non-organic at your own risk.” Charge ahead. Get Real. Go Organic.

Together, if we each pick our issues, share our awareness, and try to have as much integrity as we can, we will change the world.