Green Daily

What to do with plastics #3, #6 and good old #7?

Sea Stachura — 2008-05-11T13:15:00 00:00

One of our readers recently posted a reply to Plastic Recycling by the Numbers. She'd heard that plastics labeled 3, 6 and 7 were not only toxic but bad for the environment if you recycled them. We've posted a couple of times on plastics and their numbers. Let's go over what we know.

If you throw your #3s and 4s and 5s into your recycling bin, and your city doesn't recycle them, you jeopardize the whole lot of plastics. If a group of plastics has too many types that can't be recycled as #1 and #2 can then there is a chance that plastic will be landfilled or shipped overseas. It's a matter of sorting. You'll also sabotage your own recycling efforts if you don't remove labels, caps and food matter. Your plastic water bottle may be a #1 but the cap is not. Throw it away.

That said, while some of these other plastics can release toxins like phthalates and Bisphenol A, that doesn't meanthey can't be recycled. Certain cities have recycling programs for the aforementioned numbers. In Davis, Calif. a free drop-off at the Waste Center recycles #3, 5, 6 and 7. At Stanford University the usual #1 and #2 can be recycled, but #3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are recyclable. That is if they are in bottle form. Not a bottle, they won't recycle it.

I want to emphasize that most of these plastics are recyclable, but each plastic requires a different process for recycling. Our recycling programs tend to be pretty basic, hence the relatively few plastics we can recycle. Check your local recycling program and those in your region for places that do accept the offending numbers.

And if you can't find them check out our "Five Ways" posts (typically filed under Tips) to learn how you might safely reuse your plastic containers.

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Organic dietary supplements: because even greenies get lazy

Ellen Slattery — 2008-05-08T10:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health

Why can't you just take a normal vitamin or supplement, you ask? Well, Real Food Organics claims that those typical pills tend to contain dangerous synthetic materials, and they came up with nutritional supplements derived from organic fruits and veggies.

In addition, the company has pledged to be green: the vitamins are packaged in a glass bottle within a biodegradable box, which is made from mineral powder. And its paper marketing materials are made from food by-products.

And groups like the Organic Consumers' Association are touting organic vitamins, and even launched a campaign, NutriCon, to get the word out that Big Pharma is giving people unhealthy supplements.
It's great to see an organic vitamin company, especially one that uses green packaging. But is this just another way to get us to buy something we don't need? The Center for Disease Control says that, on average, we consume fewer than four servings of fruits and veggies a day, instead of the recommended six to ten.

But we've all heard that excess Vitamin C just gets flushed out of our body, and taking too much of certain vitamins, like Vitamin E or iron, can be bad for us. For vegetarians or vegans, like myself, a vitamin is an important part of our daily regimen. But what about people who are getting a decent amount of iron, B12, folate, and the like? Will they really benefit from a supplement? Or are they simply wasting their money on these products, organic or not?

via [the alternative consumer]

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The Suburban Farmer: Preventing an Easter Egg hunt

Shawn Schuster — 2008-05-06T17:32:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health, Home

One of my biggest interests, and one of the biggest topics I bring to the table at GreenDaily is a way to live a more sustainable life through raising your own food free of hormones and chemicals. This includes vegetables and animals, but mainly chickens. This series is an on-going introduction to the wonderful world of raising chickens in a non-rural environment.

While it may be fun to hunt Easter Eggs once a year, doing it several times a day can be daunting. As with any animal, you can train your chicken to perform a certain behavior just the way you'd like. In this case though, it's not fetching your slippers or going in a litter box, it's laying their eggs in their nests.

Let's first get one thing straight. Hens don't need roosters to create and lay eggs. Many people don't realize this, but there's a simple distinction. If you want fertilized eggs and to continue the generations of backyard chickens, the roosters will be needed, but to just simply lay unfertilized eggs, a rooster is not needed. In fact, according to most suburban or city codes, roosters are actually illegal to own because of the constant noise they make. No, they don't just crow at dawn.

So at around 18-22 weeks old, your female chickens will begin to lay eggs. You'll want to provide comfortable nest boxes for the chickens to lay, with no threats or dangers to spook them. Right around the 18 week time, place a small ping pong ball in each of the nest boxes to let the chickens know that this is the place to lay the little white things.

If you find that your chickens are laying in various places around your yard, block those places off and continue the ping pong ball trick. They will catch on eventually. If they continue to ignore the nest boxes, you may want to look into the placement of the boxes in the coop. They may be too low to the ground, too close to the door or too drafty. In any of these situations, the chickens will opt for better laying grounds.

For the first year of egg production, the chicken is referred to as a pullet. This is from the time of the first egg-laying to the time when they begin moulting and their egg production slows. Pullets are the most economical chickens to possess, which is the reason most chicken farmers process their pullets after a year. If you're more interested in keeping your chickens as pets, this may not be a concern for you.

Another big concern for egg-laying chickens is broodiness. This happens when a chicken lays on her eggs and refuses to get up. It's a perfectly natural behavior, but it makes collecting the eggs a bit difficult with all the pecking and squaking they'll do. The best prevention for broodiness is to collect the eggs at least twice daily. When the hens see that there are no eggs in their nest, they'll work on laying another one. For this reason, if you go on vacation or are away from your chickens for a few days during the first year of egg production, you'll need to get a friend or family member to collect the eggs daily. Trust me, preventing broodiness is much easier than breaking their broody habit once it get established, which is accomplished by picking the hen up off the eggs, collecting the eggs, and trying your best to prevent her access to that broody spot. Of course, in the situation where you want your hen to raise her eggs until they hatch, brooding is a very good thing.

I hope this little guide helped you with your egg-layers. Be sure to join me for the next installment of this series where I'll cover other chicken behaviors, and common tricks to getting your birds to play nice!

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Birds v. Cats, who should I vote for?

Sea Stachura — 2008-05-06T15:45:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, Home, Polit-eco

I want to acknowledge something controversial about myself. I let my cats outside.

They are fairly unique creatures. They stick around my house, going a block away at most. They come when called, stay out for only an hour at a time. But they are cats. While one never kills a thing, and rarely tries, the other has given up synthetic feathers attached to polls in favor of the real thing: birds.

He also happens to like chipmunks, mice and the occasional baby bunny. I am constantly saving shocked creatures from the jaws of my cat.

The killing has ceased since I added bells to their collars, two in fact. And generally they aren't allowed outside during the early morning or dusk when birds are most active. But I know I'm contributing to a problem. I know that while I may slow for all crows and red winged blackbirds nearing my vehicle, my cats do not.The Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy launched a campaign called "Cats Indoors: The campaign for safer birds and cats." In a release the two organizations said, "Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats (owned, stray, and feral) kill hundreds of millions of birds and possibly more than a billion small mammals in the U.S. each year."

I am a lover of wildlife. I dislike animals in cages. I think all animals need more and better habitat. I think sprawl is hurting those creatures. But I'm also a lover of my cats. I know their brains get stimulus and joy from running from one lawn to the next, sniffing the bushes and hissing at the neighborhood dogs.

My dilemma shouldn't be a dilemma. I should lock up my cats. But instead I've gone back to another solution, one I tried when I had more fields around my apartment. I go out with my cats. Oddly, the follow me. So we slowly walk over to the field a few blocks over. They sniff and roam, and I chase after them while on the phone or reading. It looks absurd, and I don't always have the time. But it's my compromise. If I had kids maybe I wouldn't go to such lengths. But the neighbor kids love it. And we talk about birds and cats.

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"Eco-anxiety" quiz

Patricia Mayville-Cox — 2008-05-05T14:03:00 00:00

Filed under: Health

Ecopsychologists work with people on many issues related to the environment, including "eco-anxiety," which is worrying about the state of the environment to the point that it is causing distress. Treatments can include shopping and media fasts, as well as increasing the time spent outside, whether meditating, exercising, gardening or simply relaxing.

According to a NY Times article, some traditional therapists are highly skeptical of this approach, cautioning that worrying about the environment to the point of emotional distress may be part of a larger anxiety disorder. Scott O. Lilienfeld at Emory cautions that "there is a fine line between therapy and advocacy."

So how's your eco-anxiety level? Here is a quick quiz from the Green Guide, "What's Your Eco-Anxiety Level?" It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but worth a quick spin.

To learn more about ecopsychology, see the International Community for Ecopsychology Web site (ecopsychology.org). And of course, if you are really suffering distress from worrying about the environment, see your doctor.

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The trip between a whiskey bottle and its processing plant

Sea Stachura — 2008-05-04T13:15:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health, News, Activism

At the opening of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan has purchased a cow. He hoped to follow Steer number 534 from his start in a massive feedlot to his end, on a dinner table. Unfortunately, Pollan wasn't able to follow his steer as far as he hoped. But his idea may have had some influence on Scott Ballum, a Brooklyn resident who has decided to follow the chain of his consumption.

His Mission: "A year-long effort to meet the laborers and craftsmen who build what I buy - and put a human face on consumption. For every transaction, there must be a personal connection with someone along the production chain."

That hasn't meant he's given up his Kentucky-brewed Maker's Mark, but he did shake hands with one of the guys who turns the barrels.
He's documenting his experiences, thoughts and travels in a blog. In one entry he asks how this experiment has changed his life. "The honest answer is that I'm finding it affects everything. Generally, I haven't sacrificed anything major (a cup of coffee while out and about, using hair product since I've run out) but it has changed how I buy things, and I've definitely started making substitutions. I make coffee at home everyday, with coffee from the Co-op."

The blog also has resources for his viewers, books on his reading list, sites he's found useful. Pollan's book is not to be found, but I have no doubt the cultural impact of that tomb is somewhere in the pixels on that page.

[via Gothamist]

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Neighborhood Garden Project: Planting Day!

Deanna Glick — 2008-05-03T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health, Home

Planting Day from Jennifer von Elling on Vimeo

The seedlings were growing out of their miniature greenhouse homes and compostable pots, so we got together last weekend and moved them to their permanent home.

First, we set a path of pea gravel and lined it with marigolds, supposedly a staple of organic gardening for their ability to repell pests. Then, we got to work with a pencil and sketched out a map of what was to be our garden. Lots of eraser dust. And the end result didn't even match what we came up with as we dug in the dirt. But even in just a few days, the seedlings appeared to be getting along just fine in their place in the dirt.

We learned from another more experienced gardener in the neighborhood that our squash and cucumbers shouldn't be as close together as we planned due to the possibility of cross-pollination. Then, we decided we wanted to start some more lettuce seeds in the garden and made the room to accommodate them. Finding room for the many strong tomato seedlings we ended up with was challenging, but we made it work and decided to give a few away. We have two types of beans, two types of tomatoes, three types of onions, bell peppers, garlic, okra, radishes, beets, carrots, cucumbers, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, bibb lettuce, spinach, chard and arugula.

It turns out, our timing couldn't have been more perfect. Although it was sunny and a little too warm on Planting Day, the next few days brought several inches of gentle rain. I really think the seedlings are loving their new home. In the next few days, a few more residents will be joining them: blackberry, blueberry and raspberry bushes and some strawberry seeds.

The next Neighborhood Garden Project post will appear in two weeks.

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Obvious: Children on tree-lined streets breathe better

Jonathon Morgan — 2008-05-03T09:34:00 00:00

Filed under: Health

You're not stupid. You're aware that trees are good for the planet, as they purify the air. So, theoretically, it should come as no surprise that, if you live near trees, you're less likely to have breathing problems. Yet, somehow this seemingly direct and immediate correlation (announced in a new study released on Thursday), isn't as obvious as it might at first appear.

To be exact, Columbia University researchers found that, for every 343 trees per square kilometer, there was a 25% drop in asthma cases among four and five-year-old children. Simply put, those who lived on tree-lined streets were less likely to develop breathing problems. Not a shocker.

But not so fast. Scientists aren't positive that the improved respiratory health is due entirely to the trees' cleansing of local air. There's a host of other variables that could be affecting the finds. For instance, some believe that if you don't play outside enough as a child, your body doesn't get practice fighting infections, and you'll be more likely develop asthma -- so, assuming tree-lined streets encourage kids to play outside, their presence would indirectly affect a child's likelihood of developing a breathing condition.

Regardless, the point is: trees are good. And with that in mind, let's try to keep as many around as possible.

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Too much crap: Dealing with untreated animal waste

Shawn Schuster — 2008-05-01T16:13:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health

Most animal waste produced at factory farms is spread on the ground untreated. In addition to threatening drinking water sources, nutrients within animal waste often seep into groundwater or waterways, where they contribute to reduced oxygen levels in aquatic ecosystems.

No, this isn't an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. This isn't a report from 100 years ago. This is directly from a recent report by the ironically-named Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, where we learn that many factory animal farms simply have no guidelines for the disposal of animal waste, and they aim to change that very soon.

As long as the world's meat consumption continues to increase, and factory animal farms continue to consolidate into smaller farms with larger populations of animals, these waste problems will never go away until properly regulated. The commission aims to end many unsustainable farming practices that are affecting rural residents, impacting food security, public health, animal welfare and environmental resources worldwide.

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Pittsburgh takes top spot for particle pollution

Josh Loposer — 2008-05-01T15:45:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, Local, News

The Pirates may be leading MLB's charge to go reduce its environmental impact, but it looks like the the steelers are holding them back. Not the NFL Steelers mind you, I'm talking about the city's trademark steel industry.

For the first time on record, a non-California city has taken the top honors in 1 of the 3 categories rated by the American Lung Association. People of Pittsburgh, your air barely edged out LA's to take the prize for worst short-term particle pollution in the country.

Don't worry yourselves too much, LA still won 2 out of the 3 categories -- so the equilibrium of the universe is still in tact. LA is starting to see improvements in its air quality, however, since the city began to take action to remove particulate pollution. Pittsburgh has also taken measures to control its particle pollution, but they won't effect the rating, since the study used data collected from 2004 through 2006.

To put it in technical terms, short-term particle pollution is the tiny soot-like junk that can enter your lungs. It can vary greatly from day to day, depending on weather and factory output. This isn't the type of pollution associated with asthma, but it is thought to raise the risk of stroke and heart attacks when it's at high levels.

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Dr. Bronner's to other soaps: you are not organic, beeyatches

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-30T13:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, Natural Body Care

Here at GD, we love us some Dr. Bronner's, and for good reason: the products boast all-natural, organic, fairly-traded ingredients, they're gentle on the skin, and they can be used for pretty much anything.

Now, the slightly wacky organic soap line is filing a lawsuit against other personal care product companies, saying that they're not as organic as they claim. (One of Dr. B's mottos is "Wash with a clean conscience.")

And Dr. B's is kinda right: not many products can rightfully claim that they're organic (recently, an Origins line was the first to be registered organic by the USDA). In the official news release, Dr. B's calls out companies like Estee Lauder, Kiss My Face, and Nature's Gate, listing the hard-to-pronounce chemicals that appear on the labels of their products.

Specifically, Dr. B's claims that many of these so-called organic products still contain synthetics.

The mud-slinging has already begun: about a week prior to the release of the Dr. Bronner's lawsuit, Ecocert, one of the companies accused of being unorganic, filed a claim basically asking the judge to throw out the first suit.

So, whaddya think?

View Poll

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NYC rolls out big plans for bikers

Josh Loposer — 2008-04-30T10:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, Health, Local, News, Fitness

Only a few weeks after the congestion charge put forward by Mayor Bloomberg got denied by state legislators, NYC is back on the attack with a plan to ease traffic congestion on Manhattan's crowded streets.

What's the crux of the new plan? A bike-friendly makeover to help encourage New Yorkers to make their daily commute two wheels. Details after the jump.

Over the last decade, the number of cyclists hitting the pavement in New York City has grown by 10%. That puts it up to about 112,000 riding every day. Percentage-wise, it may not be all that impressive, but by sheer volume alone it's a pretty healthy cycling population. So, it's about time that the city's infrastructure started to reflect the biking habits of it citizens. Here are a few highlights of the NY Department of Transportation's strategic plan:

Double the number of bikers in the city by 2015.
Add 15 miles of protected bike lanes by 2010, and another 30 miles by 2015. (We really like this one.)
Create 200 miles of new bike lanes by 2009.
Build 37 bike parking shelters and 5,000 more city bike racks. Bike shelters? Sounds cool, yet not all that necessary.

[via Treehugger]

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Chernobyl gets a facelift

Josh Loposer — 2008-04-29T08:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, News, Alternative Energy

The meltdown at Chernobyl destroyed much of the world's confidence in nuclear energy and sent up a clouds of poisonous dust that have been blamed for thousands of deaths. After 22 years of crumbling and leaking radioactive materials, the site of the world's wost nuclear accident is about to get a new steel cover. Originally, it was sealed off with a hastily-built steel and concrete "sarcophagus" that has been quickly eroding on account of the intense radiation. If the structure were to collapse, it would send up a huge radioactive dust cloud -- a whole new disaster.

It's hard to imagine how the USSR, and now the Ukrainian governments have procrastinated this long over putting up a better protective shell. Even now, the project is being financed in part by a group of international donors who are footing the bill for the new construction and monitoring of the site. A giant 20,000-ton steel cover -- big enough to house the Statue of Liberty -- will be constructed next to the reactor and then transported on top of it using train tracks.

The fact that the Chernobyl disaster almost stopped the growth of the nuclear power industry in its tracks, makes it extremely relevant to our energy situation today. Had Chernobyl and Three Mile Island not happened as they did, we might be less dependent on oil today. Ironically, many nuke-proponents like Bob Geldof are proposing a nuclear renaissance to combat global warming that's partly a result of jumping off the nuclear bandwagon decades ago.

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Green cars cause cancer?

Jonathon Morgan — 2008-04-28T19:02:00 00:00

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, Health

Probably not -- at least no more than cell phones, WiFi, bottled water, the microwave in your kitchen or the fact that you were born without a twin. However, the idea that these lovable, planet-friendly vehicles might be bad for your health is certainly worth a second look.

According to the New York Times, these seemingly innocuous (and often downright cute) eco-saving autos produce an electromagnetic field -- which might be bad for you, sort of, in a "it's probably not the best thing ever but honestly we have no clue" kinda way. However, both Honda and Toyota swear up and down that these fields are well beneath European guidelines, and therefore pose no threat to your health.

So, while a few hypochondriac hybrid owners may be crying wolf over the potential health risks (one woman interviewed by NYT insists that her Honda Civic Hybrid is the reason she fell asleep at the wheel!) -- chances are your health is more in danger from the thick cloud of smog surrounding your city, rather than the low-emission vehicles driving within it.

[via AutoblogGreen]

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Cali mom sues Nalgene over not disclosing chemical leeching

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-26T17:02:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, News

The woman, Lani Felix-Lozano, claims that Nalge Nunc International Corp, makers of the ubiquitous Nalgene water bottles, knew about the fact that the Bisphenol A present in its product could leech into the liquid and harm people's health. Lozano purchased the bottles and had been using them for herself and her two daughters, aged 11 and 13.

The company says it plans to phase out the bottles that contain the chemical over the next few months. But the real issue - and the reason Felix-Lozano is suing - is the claim that the company was aware of the studies linking Bisphenol A to early puberty, hormone disruptions, and cancer - but did nothing about it, continuing to claim that the bottles were perfectly healthy.

The suit, however, does not specify whether Felix-Lozano or her daughters experienced any ill health effects from the product. Hmm..

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The Suburban Farmer: Community Supported Agriculture

Shawn Schuster — 2008-04-24T13:33:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health, Local

Let's say you've tried your hand at gardening recently, but you've discovered your thumb just isn't as green as you'd imagined. There is hope yet! A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the perfect way to become involved in a sustainable local food plan, even if you don't have the talent or time to grow your own. In a CSA, you and a group of people in your region become "members" of a specific farm. You pay annual or monthly dues, and in return, receive the freshest produce straight from the land itself, eliminating the harmful environmental effects that transporting food across the country can bring.

There are many resources devoted to finding a CSA near you, including Localharvest.org, where you can search by zip code. If you don't have a CSA in your region, don't be afraid to start one up yourself! Not only will you be supporting local farmers and their families, but in some cases, the farmers ask that the CSA members do some manual labor on their farm itself. This helps the members gain a respect for the actual work involved in the food we take for granted everyday.

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Julia Roberts: the deodorant revolution continues

Josh Loposer — 2008-04-24T12:01:00 00:00

Filed under: Celebrities, Health, Movies, TV and Books, Natural Body Care

What's up with celebrities and their outright rejection of the hygiene products that they once endorsed? It seems like every week we hear a superstar complaining because their co-star won't take control of the bodily odor. Now we find that even the best-smelling Hollywood divas don't wage war on their underarm sweat glands by jamming them full of phalates and aluminum. Is boycotting deodorant the next big celebrity trend?

Apparently, Julia Roberts has now disclosed that she is amongst the deodorant-hating ranks of Matthew McConaughey and Orlando Bloom. Her method of avoiding b.o. is so top secret, she can't even disclose it to Oprah -- now that's personal. These guys do know that organic alternatives exist out there, right? Is there something wrong with Tom's organic deodorant that we don't know about yet? Hollywood types always seem to get the info first, but of course the also have a tendency to be a little eccentric.

[via Ecorazzi]

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Scotts Lawn Care gets busted by the EPA

Josh Loposer — 2008-04-23T17:40:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, Home, News

As far as I'm concerned, a lot of eco-sins are committed in the name of keeping lawns green and 'healthy.' Suburban lawn farming accounts for tons of dirty lawnmower emissions, unnecessary water usage, and of course pouring chemical fertilizers and pesticides into the local watershed -- you never know what's really in all that stuff. Just today, the EPA ordered Scotts Miracle-Gro and Scotts Lawn Care to stop selling certain brands of its pesticides because they hadn't bothered to have them properly registered with the EPA.

The untested pesticides are labeled with the invalid EPA registration #'s 62355-4 or 538-304. If you own any of the pesticides, the EPA says to keep them in a cool dry place, don't flush them into the water supply, and don't throw them into the landfill -- just sit tight until they figure out if the products are harmful. Here's a list of the items being recalled:

Garden Weed Preventer + Plant Food
Miracle Gro Shake 'n' Feed All Purpose Plant Food Plus Weed Preventer
Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer with .28% Halts
Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer 0-0-7 Plus .28% Halts Pro
Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer 14-2-5 Plus .28% Halts Pro
Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer 22-0-8 Plus .28% Halts Pro

I have to assume the stuff isn't too terrible, since Scotts lawn care products are usually not designed to decimate the natural world -- but you never know. Companies that sell household pesticides haven't traditionally been all that active in the eco-yard movement. Why did Scotts forget that they have to register their pesticides, it's not like they're new to the pesticides business?

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Don't buy CDs; download playlists for workouts

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-23T16:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Health, Fitness

Next time you need to update your workout playlist, don't bother with CDs. Instead, check out the song suggestions on the following sites, and upload them to your mp3 player. (Most of the playlists link directly to iTunes, but you can opt to download your own on a different site, or swap tunes with your friends).

Here are some of the best music suggestions:

Women's Health has playlist suggestions dedicated to specific exercises (the uptempo spinning playlist includes Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman" and Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me 'Round") and from celebs (like Bravo TV's Jackie Warner).

Self magazine's playlists are ultra-motivating, with more current songs like The Pussycat Dolls' "Don't 'Cha" and Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On."

PodPlaylist.com is a message board where you can share your playlists with other users - there's an entire group dedicated to workout playlists.

jogTunes has a cool feature: it lists the times and the running pace in beats per minute (BPM) for each song. For example, a faster-paced song, like Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself," is a whopping 170 BPM, whereas Maroon 5's "This Love" is a calmer 94 BPM.

Men's Health features an article on the best songs to run or lift weights to (and which songs to avoid - hint: anything featuring Celine Dion), and one on how listening to music can improve your health.

Fitness magazine has music that corresponds with the mag's workouts (ie: the "Drop Inches in 21 Days" playlist) as well as playlists from each of its editors. The best feature? The magazine's Top 100 Workout songs - (I can personally vouch for Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" - but let's keep that on the down low, okay?)

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Women's Health collects "100 best foods." But how many are organic?

Ellen Slattery — 2008-04-23T13:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Food, Health

WH sent a nutritionist to the local supermarket to choose the healthiest packaged foods for women.

And, frozen foods aside, she came up with some pretty eco-friendly foods. Granted, it's hard to be completely eco-friendly when the food comes pre-packaged, but it's nice to see a mainstream mag touting organic food and socially conscious companies.

Some examples: two of the four soup choices were organic, and four of the dairy choices.

But vegans and the lactose intolerant weren't very well represented: there were only a few soy or rice-based dairy choices (vanilla soymilk and soy fudge bars made the list), and many of the dairy choices were pretty sorry ("all natural" eggs as opposed to free-range, and no faux-cheese options).

But overall, for a list dedicated to a typical shopper in your typical, non-organic supermarket, the choices weren't half-bad. They do have a whole page of "Keepin' It Green" tips on the website, so...one step at a time.

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