My Dilemma

Since reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I have been buying organic.  Here is my personal dilemma...

Organic Lettuce has bugs.
I have yet to buy a head of organic lettuce without them. They are tiny, but they are there.

This is my lettuce washing routine...
Wash, rinse, spin, check the water for bugs, repeat and repeat and repeat... until bug free. This can take awhile.

So which is worse?

• Buy non-organic lettuce, supporting the use of toxic pesticides

or

• Use 20 gallons of water to wash one head of lettuce? (Remember I live in drought-ridden California)

Then, while searching the web for lettuce images, I see this...

Lettuce Bug - Mike McCaffrey
He is kinda cute. Now I feel bad for rinsing him down the drain.