• Just the facts... Medical Records Could Yield Answers on Fracking – npr
• I think I can hear the GOP fat cats uttering a big fat “no” already… 20% ‘Fat Tax’ Needed to Fight Obesity – livescience
• Tsunami debris… Dozens of Branded Flyswatters Wash Up on Alaska Beaches – myway
• Catch limits and regs can succeed… NOAA: Six Fish Populations Restored to Healthy Levels in the US – enn
• Commercial fungicide kills amphibians, snails, aquatic plants and more… Common Fungicide Wreaks Havoc on Freshwater Ecosystems – sciencedaily
• Clean-up in aisle three… Man Bitten by Rattlesnake at Washington state Walmart – reuters

plant grows in desert photo via shutterstock.com

For times when organic isn’t available or I don’t have the extra cash to buy organic, I’ve come to rely on a handy guide created by the Environmental Working Group that came out a few years ago. If you’re not familiar with all the wonderful work done by this nonprofit, you should be. EWG does valuable work – very time consuming research for all of us.

According to Environmental Working Group – here are the top twelve produce items that, when grown conventionally, have the most pesticide residue. They are known as the Dirty Dozen, and you should try to consume the organically grown versions rather than conventionally grown whenever possible. The organic versions are healthier, tastier and easier on your digestive system:

Apples
Celery
Strawberries
Peaches
Spinach
Nectarines (imported)
Grapes (imported)
Sweet Bell Peppers
Potatoes
Blueberries (domestic)
Lettuce
Kale/collard greens

They also list the Top 15 Cleanest items, meaning the lowest in pesticide. So if you can’t find (or afford) these organically grown, don’t fret. Eat and enjoy.
The Clean 15
Onions
Sweet Corn (due to genetically modified, – MGO – seeds, you may still want to buy organic sweet corn)
Pineapples
Avocado
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Mangoes
Eggplant
Cantaloupe (domestic)
Kiwi
Cabbage
Watermelon
Sweet Potatoes
Grapefruit
Mushrooms

Print this out, or download the app so you have it handy when you’re shopping.
via: ewg.org

As for all the other produce out there, if you can’t afford the organic version, just be sure to wash the food thoroughly before eating or preparing. Fresh fruits and veggies are some of the most nutritious foods available to us.

One last thing – you make want to poke around the EWG site … they also list the Best and Worst Sunscreens for 2012, and an ever growing database of healthy & beauty items – all rated according to how safe they are for our skin and bodies. Important stuff … bon appetit!

There’s a new kid on the prefab home block — Connect:Homes, a Los Angeles-based prefab innovator, soon to be launching their new line of prefab, “ship anywhere” modular homes.  The company is marketing these homes as affordable, exportable, and sustainably built.  The home designs, though not based on shipping containers, do ship like shipping containers — making them available worldwide.

The new prefab designs are “affordable” because Connect:Homes has a patent-pending technology that allows them to build modules to within 90% of completion at the factory, surpassing industry standards that are typically closer to 50%. Providing an almost-complete home reduces finish time and construction costs considerably.

The company emphasizes the fact that their distribution is not limited by the geographic location of their factory. Modules are designed to ship like shipping containers via truck, rail, or ship.

All Connect:Homes one and two story home designs are certified LEED for Homes Silver out of the factory.  And once installed, they come with systems and finishes that could potentially help them reach Gold or Platinum. They feature a plethora of eco-friendly, sustainable design components, efficiencies  and customizing options.

The company will be unveiling its Connect:2 prototype pop-up house at the Dwell on Design show at the Los Angeles Convention Center June 22- 24, 2012.

Prices for the homes will start at around $110,000.

• Navy Raises Estimate of Potential Harm to Dolphins and Whales by Sonar – msnbc
• Sea Shepherd Founder Paul Watson ‘Arrested in Germany’ – bbc
• Population Pressure Impacts World Wetlands – sciencedaily
• Science and the Fracking Boom: Missing Answers – npr
• Rhinos & Elephants Seed-Eating Habit Helps Biodiversity – livescience

Last week, my Ecology professor began his lecture with the trite cliché “You are what you eat”. Because the words are overused, they are not often taken seriously, but in the case of seafood selection, the phrase is important to remember. As you’re savoring your morsel of imported Mahi Mahi, do you consider how it made it to your plate? There are many more attributes of food that should be considered other than taste. Imported Mahi Mahi, for example, may be delicious, but it is also one of the fish listed in the “Avoid” section of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch pamphlet. The Aquarium provides basic seafood consumption tips for the general public in order to promote sustainable and healthy seafood consumption. The pamphlet is divided into three sections: Best Choices, Good Alternatives, and Avoid. Under each category, there is a list of fish with specifications on how each is caught/farmed as well as where the fish is from in order to direct seafood connoisseurs to make wise meal choices.

The aquarium published its first guide in 1999 and has since created an iPhone app that can be used as a portable source of sustainable seafood consumption tips. Many of the fish found on the “Avoid” list are caught using methods that are harmful to the rest of the marine environment such as trawl nets that destroy the benthic ecosystem in the process of catching fish. Other species are listed because they are already overfished and without mitigation, the populations will not recover. The rest of the fish listed under the “Avoid” category are a health hazard to the consumer because they contain potentially high mercury levels or hormones used during fish farming. In fact, according to the aquarium’s website, “Nearly 85% of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity, or overfished”.

Monitoring your own seafood consumption is one way in which this problem can be mitigated and Monterey Bay Aquarium has made that task easier for everyone. Their goal is to “help sustain wild, diverse and healthy ocean ecosystems that will exist long into the future. We do this by encouraging consumers and businesses to purchase seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that don’t harm the environment. When there is scientific uncertainty, we err on the side of conservation”.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has already done all the dirty work for seafood lovers. It is now up to the consumer to make wise, well-informed choices. For as we all have been reminded time and again, we are what we eat.

For more information on seafood selection as well as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, visit:
montereybayaquarium.org

For a printout or download of the pamphlet based on your geographic location, visit:
seafoodwatch/download

Related: more about sustainable seafood on The Alternative Consumer

There are all sorts of moms with all sorts of preferences and tastes. You know best just how to celebrate your mama. No matter how you decide to honor her on Mother’s Day, just keep it real, thoughtful … and include a nod to Mama Earth.

Whether you share a sweet note, cool tunes or spend time together – picnic, stroll through a nearby park – just make your mom feel extra special. If you’re inclined to spring-for a meaningful treat, be sure that it fits her personality, it’s useful, and will be of value to her. Have a joyful day.

Related: previously on altCon cool green gifts for you or your mom

One of the biggest factors limiting electric vehicle proliferation is their limited battery range for long distance travel. That being the case, technology giant IBM has now focused their development prowess on what is known as the “Battery 500 Project”, allowing electric vehicles to have a range surpassing 500 miles.

The main design feature of the newly developed battery is that it will be oxygen breathing — meaning that the air that comes in through the battery will be utilized as a reactant with lithium ions to create and dischcarge electric energy, and then the same oxygen will be transferred out as the reaction occurs almost as if nothing had happened.

IBM has recently gathered an eclectic group of researchers to tackle the project and now optimism is flourishing about the current progress being made.

“Unlike what we originally thought, we know we have a really good electrochemical reaction. The problems now are secondary,” according to Winfried Wilcke, Principal Investigator of this project at IBM, “there are still tremendous engineering challenges ahead so there’s no hope it happening  this decade”.

Current problems lie within the infrastructure of the battery, through computer analysis IBM determined that the battery needs to have new, different interactions between the electrolytes and the movement of lithium ions about the cathode and anode.

Another factor to consider is that most of today’s batteries are currently plagued several limitations including cost and energy density. Though the new battery design has yet to solve all the problems facing long range electric vehicle travel, there must be something going right since the project is continually picking up momentum, which can only mean bright things in the near future as implied by Wilcke, “. . . it’s just too early and it depends on all kinds of different things… the overall trend is that I’m feeling more optimistic as time goes by, rather than less”.

Check out the informative YouTube video made by IBM

additional source: cnet

related: more articles about electric cars from The Alternative Consumer

(above) dekt out makes these great looking bangles from the beaten and battered remains of upcycled sk8boards. $27 ea. @ the dektout Etsy shop

(above) From Maine, it’s a mad mad madgirlworld filled with fantasy based fun fashion. Inspired in part by Betsy Johnson, designer / owner Meredith Alex creates one of a kind recycled art pieces for everyday wear (60′s mini and green dress $225/each), as well as far out-art installations for special events. Temps are rising … we’re feeling it.

(above) Walk the talk in earth-conscious, stylish NayaShoes – this season’s Pop Spirit collection includes 4 colorways, including these cuties in sand.

(above) We may have one set of eyes, but we can have may pairs of sunglasses. Set your sights on Zeal Optics – makers of top quality frames made of ecofriendly castor oil (not pertroleum-based plastic). Choose from a slew of cool styles. See and feel the difference @ zealoptics.com; (ranging from $79-199).

That wraps up today’s roundup – remember, love what you buy, or don’t buy it.

Ford Motor Company is the most recent auto manufacturer to join a group of automakers (including Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, General Motors, Porsche, and Volkswagen) that are in the midst of creating what is known as the Combined Charging System.

Current charging systems for electric vehicles work from either alternating (AC), or direct current (DC) sources via household outlets, or fast-direct public charging stations; that’s it. The new system integrates all options so it can be utilized at most existing charging stations while providing a choice of the most efficient charging source — with potential charge times as fast as 15-20 minutes.

The system allows for simplicity in smart grid design, increased reliability, and will ultimately provide lower costs of ownership for customers through reduced maintenance expenses — lots of pluses to a proposal that brings very few cons. 

The first vehicles to use the system could be introduced as early as 2013 in the U.S. (Europe by 2017) and were showcased in Los Angeles (May 6-9) at the International Electric Vehicle Symposium (commercially available combined charging systems are slated for a release later this year).

Long charge times has been one of the biggest problems inhibiting widespread electric vehicle integration; ultimately this has led Ford and its group to back the development of the Combined Charging System created by the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) rather than competing technology proposed as a standard by Japanese companies like Nissan and Mitsubishi, whose design  features a different Direct Current system (Nissan’s fast charging design achieves a 50% charge in a half-hour).

The only perceivable setback thus far is the fact that most consumers charge vehicles at home and the combined system is currently featured only in public stations, even so, the new charging system should further enhance the attractiveness of owning an electric car, while potentially changing the driving habits of current electric vehicle owners.

via: cnet

• Can we ‘eat-away’ an invasive species? ‘Frankenfish’: It’s What’s for Dinner – npr
• No upside… Climate Change Expected to Help Exotic Species Invade New York – livescience
• Take that stuff outdoors… Algae Fuel Potential Greater Than Thought – enn
• Secrets of the First Practical Artificial Leaf - sciencedaily
• No diving… The Swimming Pool Garden – eatocracy.cnn
• Been to the beach lately? Big Rise in North Pacific Plastic Waste – bbc