Super Eco

Photo credit: *hb19, flickr

When your wallet keeps a tight leash on how many organic foods you can afford to put in the basket, you have to learn how to make some hard choices. Less than a handful of days after passing along our favorite tips for choosing among the lesser of the available non-organic evils, we've learned that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has just updated their handy Shopper's Guide to Pesticides.

Their servers must be slammed, because we haven't been able to hit the site while readying this post—but we do recommend the EWG's list as the go-to guide on what produce (and pesticides!) you simply must avoid at any cost. Our friends at Eco Child's Play must have gotten in while the gettin' was good, because they've been able to post a summary of changes in the updated 2009 guide. They're reporting that kale, lettuce and carrots have replaced potatoes, spinach and red raspberries on the list of pesticide-laden conventional produce you should keep out of your shopping basket.

The new Dirty Dozen (pesticide-heavy when grown conventionally; it's worth buying organic versions of these):

• peaches
• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• nectarines
• strawberries
• cherries
• kale
• lettuce
• imported grapes
• carrots
• pears

Print out the EWG's handy pocket guide to tuck into your wallet or reusable shopping bags, and you'll never be at a loss for which items you can "afford" to go organic with—both literally and figuratively.