BoysGottaSweat & Other Important Stuff

Ever been toodling down the road, your mind more or less empty, when suddenly you recall something you forgot to do?  I call those "snap to" moments. 

This morning I realized I hadn't touched this blog for days. 

Snap to.

How convenient, then, that the world delivered up two articles worth sharing this morning.  One is from my favorite environmental nonprofit, Environmental Working Group, and the other came by way of my brother Jon, with a note that said, "here's something for your ecocurious folks." 

Btw, it definitely arrived during business hours, so, Jon, does that mean you are surfing the web on the job? 

This is an inside joke, as my brother is, among other things, the official "web police" for Jackson County, Missouri.  Anyway, thanks, bro!

EWG's offering is a new pocket guide to produce and pesticides.  I'm so jazzed because it lays out which produce receives heavy treatment and should only be purchased organic, and which is safe enough to buy "conventional."    If you've ever seen me standing in front of a produce bin muttering under my breath, that's me arguing with myself because I really want blueberries.  I really want a lot of blueberries, and I really want organic.  So why don't I just grab those organic blueberries?  Well, consider the organic blueberries in the itty bitty clamshell that will be finished off before I finish off this sentence - at $6.97, sitting next to the conventional blueberries in the whopper-sized clamshell - for $3.99.  What's a poor graduate student to do? 

EWG simplifies.  It lays out the 15 foods most treated with toxics - ALWAYS buy these organic, no matter the cost - and the 15 foods clean enough to buy "conventional."  Looks like I'll either be springing for those expensive blueberries from now on, or eating mango instead.  Once again, thank you EWG!

Whole article here: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php?key=26573763.

My brother's offering is a Smart Planet defense of lowered thermostat in office environments.  Apparently studies say employee productivity goes down when a building is too cold.  Ha!  You think you're telling we women anything we don't already know?   I'm convinced that office temps are set by men, for men.  All smart women keep a sweater at the office. 

Well boys, productivity now demands that you sweat! 

Good for the electric bill and the environment too.  http://tinyurl.com/boysgottasweat   (Don't you love tinyurl.com?  Where you can make the URL say any ridiculous thing you want to?)