The Environmental Working Group has released a new list ranking the levels of pesticides in 49 fruits and veggies. If you’re not always able to buy organic, this list will help prioritize which can be conventional. So handy!
According to their research, a person eating five fruits and vegetables per day from the “Dirty Dozen” list consumed an average of 10 pesticides, while those who ate from the “Clean 15″ (conventionally-grown, not organic) consumed fewer than two.
The image above is their pocket guide in case you need a cheat sheet. Check out the full list here. I always knew cherries, strawberries, and peaches were bad (of course they are, they’re my favorite) so I always buy them in organic, but celery as the worst? I had no clue.
It’s kinda funny, I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but for some reason Earth Day seems to bring out the best in me. We do pretty well so far, and to be honest most of it is second-nature now, and at the end of the day it makes me really happy.
More than a piece of trash - Thankfully we have mandatory recycling and composting, so this part is easy.
Landing strip - All of our lamps and electronics are plugged into power strips so that we can turn-off the strip when we’re done in a certain section of the house. Most electronics still pull small currents even when they are not in use, so this adds up when you consider how many things are always plugged in. It’s nice too…I just use my foot to switch of the power; save a little wear-and-tear on the back and knees. A stretch, I know, but this is a good one and I want you to try it!
Twice as nice - I’ve mentioned before that I usually wash all of our produce as soon as I get home. My trusty salad spinner and a large bowl are my staples for the washing process, so instead of streaming water constantly I’ll do a few batches in the bowls and take the dirty water out to the porch to water the plants.
Bag lady no-more - I’ve gotten so good at using my reusable bags that we’re often out of a good paper bag when we need it for random things around the house. Not a bad problem to have though.
Plastic beach- Boo to plastic water. (See here and here for more on this from me.)
Slow food – I can’t help it, I’m a farmer’s market ho! Local and sustainably raised food goes so far in leaving a greener footprint.
Now for the things that I hope to incorporate into my daily routine:
One day off – We usually end up having a vegetarian/vegan day sometime during the week anyway, but adding an official day regularly will go a long way in saving water, grain, livestock/poultry/fish, antibiotics, fuel, soil, and more. A lot accomplished in a single day, once a week, over the course of a year! I’m really excited for this one.
Pull the plug – Somehow my cell phone charger is the one plug (not on a power strip)that I can’t remember to pull when I’m done. I just need to get this to register in my brain; maybe now that I’ve written it down it’ll actually stick.
Beam me up – I’d love to figure out another way to get around instead of always using the car. I’d like to get a bike to run more errands, but the hills and traffic in the city are not great for the casual biker. For now I’ll continue to walk whenever possible.
In and out – Oh how I try to hop in and out of the shower! This one’s tough since I sometimes use a nice hot shower to warm up. (My sweetie’s almost too good at monitoring the heater.)
What about you, do you have any Earth Day resoultions?
[image via NASA. The most detailed image of Earth to date, taken by the Terra satellite orbiting 435 miles above our surface.]
Yesterday was World Water Day, and as I’ve written a lot about the importance water treatment reform and dirty water, I thought it was a good time to share my latest favorite kitchen accessory and finally focus on clean water.
I chose the Aquasana countertop filtration system since it was easy to install, filtered the most contaminants, and was also the most cost effective. It’s a funny feeling, but I’m actually able to drink water from the tap again. You just attach it to your faucet and pull a little nozzle to redirect the flow of water through the filters.I wasn’t expecting to notice a big difference, but I was actually stunned by the taste and texture of the filtered water. Somehow it’s silky and light…kind of hard to explain, but a welcomed difference none the less.
The unit itself was $100, but of course the filters are an on-going investment at $48 every six months, which works out to about $8 a month. It’s available through Amazon or directly from Aquasana.
Take a peek at this water filtration system comparison chart to see how each brand ranks. Sadly, I don’t have a standard shower head, so I can’t get the shower filter, but I’ve heard great things about it.
I’ve been posting quite a bit about water quality and sexy BPA-Free water bottles, and these Bobble Water’s look to be a great candidate to fulfill both criteria:
- BPA-free
- 1oo% recycled and recyclable
- Made in the USA
- Built-in filter (can handle 40 gallons/300 bottles of water)
I’m not sure which contaminants this filters, as even Brita and Pur (the most accessible filters) are pretty much a joke, but this is definitely better than plastic bottles and tap water. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them everywhere pretty soon, but if you can’t wait you can buy at the Bobble site.
My favorite Saturday errand is a trip to the Alemany Farmer’s Market. Not sure if it’s considered an errand if it’s something you look forward to though; for some reason an errand always seems a bit bothersome. I think the only not-so-fun part about it is washing and drying everything when I get home, but as much as this isn’t my favorite part, I have to tell you that it is SO WORTH IT. Reaching for clean fruits and veggies on a weeknight in the kitchen is a great feeling.
When I’m at the top of my game I plan my market run throughout the week, but at the very least I know I should always come up with some sort of list before I go, otherwise it could be dangerous. I believe it’s called sensory overload:
An extreme case of dirty water in LA. Image via New York Times.
Let me start off by saying that this is not about being preachy. This is about knowing and understanding what we are feeding our bodies, giving it what it deserves, and ultimately working to live and stay as healthy as possible. Our water, whether from home or in a bottle, is not the best we can give ourselves, and like our agricultural system our water system is broken and poisoned:
Some water for thought:
- More than half of the chemicals detected in our water supplies (we’re talking thousands here) are not subject to health or safety regulations and can legally be present in any amount.
- Government scientists have evaluated over 800 of the contaminants most often found in water supplies, and have determined that many of them are associated with cancer or other diseases, even at small concentrations.
- These contaminants are stored in our bodies and affect us in ways that are not clearly understood by scientists or doctors.
- The Safe Drinking Water act has not been updated since 2000.
The way I see it, there are two schools of thought that come with intense and unsettling information like this. There’s the “Oh, you can’t worry about stuff like that” approach, or the “I’m going to kick-ass, take the reigns and do what I can to fix this” approach. We can all guess where I fall, but the truth is that hearing things like this, and even writing posts about it is not easy for me. It’s frustrating and scary, and if I really let it get to me, infuriating. We shouldn’t have to worry about where our food comes from, or what is lurking in our water, but the fact of the matter is that we do.
I often find that I have to hide my extreme passion for wanting to live a clean and healthy life so I don’t become “that chick,” but it truly is so important for me to share, with whomever will listen, that we cannot rely on anyone but ourselves to look out for our well-being. My goal in all of this is to make it as easy as possible to become educated, and even easier (and maybe even fun) to implement small changes in our lives. No more getting angry and no more wishing these things away–if you’ve hung around this long I hope you’ll join me in looking past the grim and, like anything else that I don’t want to have to do, try to make it into a game.
Sources & links:
Please read more about this important topic. The NY Times article is amazing, and the Environmental Working Group is great resource for information on toxins in the things we depend on every day.
- Tips for finding a water filter
- How does your cities water rank?
