Today was fine and warm, and this afternoon, I biked to the Winthrop Food Pantry to take people around as they chose the food from what we have to offer. The selection can vary, but we usually have cereal, pancake mix, pasta, macaroni and cheese, tuna fish, peanut butter, eggs, some meat, and canned soups and vegetables. Depending on what’s available at the Good Shepherd Food Bank, we also have fresh vegetables and fruit. People leave with their boxes overflowing with food, and for a few days, at least, their cupboards will be full. There will be no scarcity of food.

How appropriate, then, that this morning I should read Cass R. Sunstein’s excellent essay in the New York Review of Books about the effect that scarcity has on people, how it alters the way they think and how they plan. In his piece, Sunstein reviews Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir.

In Scarcity, the authors contend that having too little—money, food, time, companionship—concentrates the mind in ways that might be good for the short term—surviving from day to day or accomplishing a certain task—but is not good for the long term. The narrow focus that scarcity fosters is bad in all kinds of ways, from planning ahead to self-control to solving problems.

Sunstein writes, “[The authors’] striking claim, based on careful empirical research, is that across all of those categories, the feeling of scarcity has quite similar effects. It puts people in a kind of cognitive tunnel, limiting what they are able to see. It depletes their self-control. It makes them more impulsive and sometimes a bit dumb…”

As Anne of Green Gables might have put it, when there is scarcity, there isn’t much scope for the imagination. The irony, of course, is that when resources are scarce, imagination and creativity are exactly what you need. But it’s very difficult to be creative and imaginative when you are wondering how in the world you are going to pay the bills and have enough left over for food.

When I tell people I volunteer at the food pantry, I sometimes get the following questions: Why don’t food pantry recipients budget better? Why do so many of them smoke? Why don’t they get a better job? Why do their families allow them to come to the pantry? In my more uncharitable moments, I sometimes wonder the same things.

But then I look at the worn, tired faces of the people who come in. Scarcity has taken its toll, and it shows in the way they move as well as on their faces. Many of the recipients look older than they are, worn done by years of worrying about money, among other things. A bit ashamed of myself, I remember my own family’s years of just getting by and how hard it was.

So here is my answer: Considering their circumstances—old age, disability, low-paying jobs—food pantry recipients are doing the best they can with what they have. And if they didn’t live with such scarcity, they would do a lot better.

Yesterday, when I was in the grocery store, I passed a display of organic milk—Horizon, I think—and on the cooler there was a sign that advertized the price—$3.79 for a half gallon. An old man was looking at the milk and the price, and as I passed, he shook his head and said, “$3.79 for a half gallon of milk.”

It just so happened that I was carrying a half gallon of Moo Milk. I held it up and said, “$3.99 a half gallon.”

The old man’s expression suggested that he thought I was a damned fool to pay so much for milk, but he didn’t say anything. He just shook his head again and walked away.

Sometimes I wonder if he is right. Am I a damned fool to pay so much for milk and other organic food, especially when we live on such a modest budget and must be very careful with our money? Even Clif wonders, from time to time, if organic food is worth it.

But then I think of the land and the water and all the poison that is dumped on food when crops are grown the conventional way. I think of the genetically modified crops that will tolerate ever more poison and the insects that continue to become resistant to the ongoing onslaught of pesticides. I think of that poison coursing through our bodies, affecting us in ways that might not be apparent until we reach middle age or older. I think of our children and how vulnerable their growing bodies are. As someone who has had cancer—3 years this August—I am not idly asking these questions. Cancer might be natural—there is indication that even dinosaurs had cancer—but it is also true that there are substances that promote cancer. Tobacco and smoking readily come to mind, but there are many other things as well.

I realize that food is only one piece of the puzzle—smoke and refuse from our factories also play their part. But food is something we can control, and indeed it is something we should control. I certainly understand that not everyone can afford organic food all the time. (I put myself in this category.) It is expensive, and I wish the government would be as generous with organic farmers as it is with the mega farms that produce food grown with pesticides and herbicides. But they are not, and organic farmers must struggle to make a profit. Hence the high prices.

Nevertheless, despite our modest budget, I will continue to buy as much organic food as I can, and that includes Moo-Milk. I might be a damned fool, but I just can’t stand the thought of all those harmful chemicals going into my body.