By Alex Formuzis, EWG Communications Director

A Denver grandmother of eight, who happens to be a trained nutritionist, decided to see for herself just how effective the preservatives used in large segments of the U.S. food system actually are.

She left an untouched McDonald's Happy Meal on a shelf in her kitchen for 12 months and has just released photos of the result. As some might expect, the year-old meal of beef, bun and French fries looks hardly different a year after it was first purchased. Hollywood note: Those of you looking to dial back the years may want look into this a little more.

Even the flies didn't want it
The most revealing and somewhat scary part of this experiment was that she said the left-out food didn't attract a single fly or any other insect over the entire year. Flies swarm almost anything with an odor. They turn out in droves to hover over a dog pile but apparently had no interest in the kids' meal.

"I had the windows open many times, but flies and other insects just ignored the Happy Meal," said Joann Burso. "What does that tell you, if they can't be bothered with it?" She conceded to the website Mail Online that the arid climate where she lives in Colorado might have something to do with the Happy Meal's long "shelf life," but still...

A closer look inside that Happy Meal
So, what exactly is in the preservatives that make the Happy Meal the Dean Clark of fast food? Let's take a look.

The bun:
High fructose corn syrup - of course.
Sugar
Soybean oil
Calcium sulphate
Calcium carbonate
Wheat gluten
Ammonium sulphate
Ammonium chloride
Dough conditioners (whatever those are)
Stearoyl lactylate
Datem (again, no idea)
Ascorbic acid
Stearoyl lactylate
Azodicarbonamide
Mono- and diglycerides (not even going to try)
Ethoxylated monoglycerides
Monocalcium phosphate
Enzymes
Guar gum
Calcium peroxide
Calcium propionate and sodium propionate
Soy lecithin

The fries:
Hydrogenated soybean oil
Natural beef flavor (Don't ask)
Citric acid
Dextrose
Sodium acid pyrophosphate (to maintain color)
Dimethylpolysiloxane (added as an anti-foaming agent)

The "beef":
Supposedly 100 percent beef. Of course, it's undoubtedly not grass-fed beef, so much of it is actually corn. Almost half the corn grown in the United States goes to feeding cows and chickens.

I don't know about you, but I think I'll grab something with fewer than 29 ingredients for lunch today.

[Thanks to Flickr CC & Xurble for the smilin' meal]

With green being the new black, there are more than a few environmental documentaries to choose from when popping that (not-in-the-microwave) popcorn.

To help you navigate the choices, EWG's very own Don Carr, press secretary and hard-hitting ag policy blogger, offers guidance on which to see. He screened them himself at this year's Sundance Film Festival to boil it down for us on Grist (trailers included). On my list are the ones Don highlights as "well-crafted, compelling films that address crucial environmental themes not yet in the public consciousness."

So find the film(s) for you and turn on the stove to start popping corn the old-fashioned way.

About that movie popcorn...
If you're ready to learn more and reduce your exposure to the perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) that line popcorn and other fast-food wrappers (among other things), get EWG's Guide to PFCs.

EWG staffers put our heads together to come up with this list of bad news environmental stories of the last decade that people might have missed. But there were plenty of big stories that hardly anyone could have missed, such as climate change. What's on your list of the biggest environmental stories of the last 10 years?

1. Secret Gas Drilling Chemical Almost Kills Colorado Nurse
Doctors ran into a medical mystery -- and a stone wall from industry -- when they tried to find what was in a gas drilling chemical that nearly killed a Colorado nurse. Aren't you glad that Congress exempted these "fracking" chemicals from regulation under the Safe Water Drinking Act?

2. Intersex Fish Turn Up All Over
Are you a boy or are you a girl? That's the question that scientists are asking as they study the organs of supposedly male fish from coast to coast and find eggs in many of them. The chief suspects: endocrine-disrupting pollutants that even in tiny amounts can mimic hormones and affect sexual development.

3. Prescription Drugs in Your Drinking Water
Take a swallow and call me in the morning. Antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - they've all turned up in tests of drinking water around the country. Could there be health risks from decades of drinking water laced with combinations of potent drugs?

4. And Rocket Fuel, Too
Perchlorate -- the stuff is used in rocket fuel and explosives and turns up not just in water but also in milk, lettuce, other foods - and in our bodies. It's been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and infants. The EPA is reconsidering its earlier decision not to regulate it in water. Stand by.

5. Ethanol -- Not Just Bad Energy Policy
There are a lot of reasons to question the drive for biofuels, especially corn-based ethanol, but there has been much less attention paid to what it means for air pollution and health. For people who like to breathe clean air, the balance doesn't look promising.

6. Non-stick, No-Stain and No-Good
They were the miracle products that were supposed to make life easier - keeping spills from staining our couches and making it easy to clean our pots without scrubbing -- until it all went sour. Chemicals in the original Teflon and now off-the-market Scotchgard were linked to cancer and developmental problems. They have a way of polluting everything and they refuse to go away.

7. Monsanto Owns Corn (and also soybeans)
80% of the corn and 95% percent of the soybeans grown in America contain genes inserted by Monsanto scientists, and the company writes tough - and secret - licensing agreements to maintain control and lock out competitors. Now the Justice Department and some states are thinking these practices might violate anti-trust laws. Turnips, anyone?

8. Occupational Hazard: Microwave Popcorn
This fun food turned to be no fun for people who make it. A strange lung malady that sickened workers in plants that make microwave popcorn was traced to a widely used butter flavoring. And one popcorn-crazy consumer was felled, too. It took a while, but OSHA finally took a look, and the stuff is being phased out.

9. Dead (Zone) on Arrival
In the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere, vast expanses of ocean have been turned into biological deserts as fertilizer runoff from farms washes downstream and nourish runaway algae growth, which deplete most of the oxygen when the tiny organisms die and decompose. The Gulf dead zone has more than doubled in size since the 1980s - accelerated by the boom in crops grown to make biofuels. In 2009, it was smaller than predicted, but more intense, in 2009.

10. The (Not So) Great Pacific Trash Gyre
It's hard to spot from the water or even from space, but an estimated 3.5 million tons of mostly plastic trash from all over the world floats just below the surface of the Pacific, swirling slowly around in an area of circular currents twice the size of Texas. It's devastating to birds and sea creatures that think the plastic bits are food. It's time to stop adding to the mess - and then see if there's any way to clean it up.

What stories top your list of the decade's biggest environmental news??

'Tis the season to be jolly cooking. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

In the next two weeks, you're probably going to do some (or possibly tons of) holiday cooking. You'll buy ingredients, cook, clean -- and enjoy some leftovers. It's a great time to do a little "greening" before the guests arrive.

EWG makes it easy to prepare your holiday feasts with your family's environmental health in mind. Just follow these simple tips as you shop, cook, eat and clean:

Cook with safer foods
The food we eat can contain ingredients we don't want to eat -- from pesticides to food packaging chemicals. To find safer foods, we suggest that you:

• Buy organic when you can. Organic produce is grown without pesticides, so when you eat it you're not also eating toxic chemicals. Organic meat and dairy products also limit your family's exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics.


• When you can't buy organic, look for less-contaminated conventional produce. Our Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them. Check out the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides.


• Avoid food containers that leach packaging chemicals into food, especially canned foods (the can linings contain bisphenol-A) and greasy fast-food wrappers. Instead, head for fresh food or prepared foods in glass containers. Pick recipes that call for fresh, not canned, foods.

Use non-toxic cookware
Skip the non-stick so you don't breathe toxic fumes (that can kill your pet bird!) while cooking on high heat. Non-stick pans are coated with a synthetic chemical (think Teflon), and, while convenient, they emit toxic fumes when overheated.

Non-stick cookware is in most American kitchens. Is it in yours? If it is, use it safely. If you can, cook with safer alternatives. Here's how:

• Choose safer cookware. We suggest cast iron, stainless steel and oven-safe glass. Yes, there are many new products on the market, but we don't know enough about them to know if they're safe. Even if they're advertised as "green" or "not non-stick," manufacturers do not have to release their safety data to the public. If you're in the market for a new pan, purchase it through Amazon and a portion of your purchase total will go to EWG!


• Cook safer with non-stick if you're 'stuck' with it. You can reduce the possibility of toxic fumes by cooking smart with any non-stick cookware you happen to own: never preheat nonstick cookware at high heat, don't put it in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F and use an exhaust fan over the stove.

• Skip the plastic food storage containers if you can. We know that chemicals routinely migrate, or leach, into food and liquids placed in plastic containers. Ceramic or glass food containers (like Pyrex) are safer.


• Don't microwave food or drinks in plastic containers, even if they claim to be "microwave safe." Heat can break down plastics and release chemicals into your food and drink. Microwaves heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.


• If you must use plastics, handle them carefully. Use them for cool liquids only; don't reuse single-use plastics; wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element (or by hand!); use a paper towel instead of plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave.

Clean greener
You clean before holiday guests arrive and after they leave -- and while you cook. But do you clean green? We recommend that you do, because our homes aren't safe and clean if the air inside is polluted with chemicals from household cleaners. It's really quite easy:

• Choose safer cleaning products. Try natural alternatives (vinegar, baking soda and water!). Avoid anti-bacterials (here's how). Avoid the biggest hazards (acidic toilet bowl cleaners, air fresheners, oven cleaners, and corrosive drain openers).


• Adopt safe cleaning routines. Open the window. Use gloves. Keep kids away from toxic products. Dust and vacuum often because dust often contains toxics.


• A few tips for the kitchen. Microwave your sponge. Wash your hands with plain soap and water -- it's just as effective. Use a baking soda & water paste instead of commercial oven cleaner.

These tips are part of our Healthy Home Tips series - read all 7 and sign up for the rest here.

My husband hates parenting books. Absolutely hates them. Which is a good thing (there. are. so. many.) and a bad thing (sometimes you just gotta get an expert outside opinion).

But there are a few parenting books I have dared bring in the house these past six years, and Raising Baby Green is one of them. It's a resource every eco-aspiring parent should read and will likely reference over and over (think: room by room info & tips, starting with the womb).

Now he's FEEDING babies green - and telling us why
Of course feeding babies is part of raising them, so it's good news for parents that Dr. Greene has since expanded the 25 pages on feeding in Raising Baby Green into a whole new book, Feeding Baby Green.

While his how-to-guidance and recipes (spicy black beans!) are gold, it's his premise that we parents have everything to do with our kids' "nutritional intelligence" that really hits home. As he describes it,

At its core, Feeding Baby Green is a revolutionary approach to cultivating Nutritional Intelligence, the age-appropriate ability to recognize and enjoy healthy amounts of great food.

Pregnancy and the first two years of life are critical windows for learning Nutritional Intelligence, an important, newly described strand of development. Most American kids of the last few decades are Nutritionally Delayed. Thankfully, this is easy to remedy.

So not only are we feeding our kids healthy food so their bodies and minds will grow and they will have energy to play and learn, we're also imprinting their food preferences for life. Starting in the womb. How?

The foods we give them at critical developmental stages, Dr. Greene suggests, are the foods for which they develop a preference. Salty, fatty, fried stuff at 2, in other words, means a craving for (you got it) more salty, fatty, fried stuff at 10, 20, even later. He says it this way,

...in the second half of the twentieth century we have unwittingly imprinted our children on the wrong tastes and textures. They will chase after junk food and kids meals, and ignore a delicious, ripe peach or tomato packed with nutrients their bodies crave.

What does Dr. Greene recommend?
Not baby food! It's a recent invention, after all. And should not be what he calls "the knee-jerk centerpiece of infant nutrition" that it is today. OK, so a few jars of pureed carrots won't hurt anyone, but in Dr. Green's mind,

the best foods on which to imprint are often foods that are local, sustainably/organically grown, in season, ripe, and recently picked (or frozen when picked) -- or from animals raised in a sustainable way (without routine antibiotics, extra hormones, or feed that is foreign to that animal). These foods have the flavors and the complex nutrients on which we developed to thrive.

It turns out these same foods and methods of agriculture are often the best for the planet. Agriculture and the transportation, processing, storage, and preparation of food are a big part of our ecological impact.

Hard to argue with that. If you're going to buy one - or both - of Dr. Greene's excellent books, get them on Amazon and support EWG without spending an extra dime.

Hear it from the good doctor himself (in a mere 3 minutes!):

By Amy Rosenthal, EWG Outreach Manager

My favorite farmer's market just closed for the winter, forcing me back to the grocery store to shop for produce. Since I can't ask the guys at Safeway about their spraying policies, like I can when I get to talk right to the farmer, I'll be pulling out my Shopper's Guide to Pesticides to help make decisions in the produce aisle.

As much as I'd like to buy all organic, it just isn't always realistic, given the cost and availability of organic fruits & veggies. EWG's Shopper's Guide ranks 47 types of produce based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them, which is a huge help to decide when buying organic is most worthwhile for my health, and when buying conventional can be OK.

The list has been around since 1995 (updated when new data becomes available), but now for the first time you can see and hear how it works (ahhh, technology). Here I am, straight from EWG HQ in Washington, DC, giving the lowdown on the 2009 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce:

Get your own! I'm sure you want your own copy now: for a printable, wallet-sized pdf with the Dirty Dozen & Clean 15 lists, visit EWG's FoodNews website. From there you can also download the handy iPhone app, or get a Dirty Dozen magnet by donating at least $5 to EWG.

Happy healthy shopping!

PS - If you were spellbound by my video premiere, share it with your friends by grabbing a link or embed it on your blog. And be sure to check out Environmental Working Group's YouTube channel, where you can see EWG experts answering environmental health questions in our "Ask EWG" series.

In case you missed the movie King Corn (if you did you should see it, and not just because EWG's Founding President Ken Cook is in it), take 2 minutes and 17 seconds to get the gist of our country's corn craziness.

As you'll soon see, the stuff is everywhere. you. turn. Then look in the mirror.

And if you want to know WHY, this might help.