Best and Worst of Pesticides in Produce

Want to know what produce rates the best or worst in terms of pesticides?  My friend Barbara told me about this handy guide from the Environmental Working Group:

http://static.ewg.org/reports/2011/foodnews/pdf/2011EWGPesticideGuide.pdf

Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?

Herb Swanson for the New York Times

The New York Times had a pretty interesting article today about building passive house building.

Blow Out Preventer Minutiae

Agence France-Presse Getty Images

The New York Times has a very long article today on the troubles with the blow out preventer (BOP) at the Deepwater Horizon well that blew out in April. The article goes into what might have caused the BOP to fail and how engineers failed to get the BOP to work just days after the oil well explosion occurred. The article also goes into how the federal government meekly enforced regulations or just made suggestions in regards to oil rigs, particularly on the BOP topic.

Australia's Dry Run

Amy Toensing, National Geographic

An interesting article about the drought in Australia and its affects on farmers; from a few months back in National Geographic.

Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering

Damon Winter, New York Times

Wow, time really flies. It's been three weeks since I read this very good Sunday feature article in the Times.

graphic: Clean Water Act violations: the enforcement record

video: Toxic Waters: Coal in the Water

interactive: Find water polluters near you