The Green Community week in review: Gulf oil spill, pesticide toxins on your food, green jobs in Florida and more

By Katie Machol Simon on Sun, May 2, 2010 at 4:02 pm

What's on my food? Pesticides and toxins on conventional vs organic foods (and free iPhone app) - The Pesticide Action Network's database, What's On My Food?, provides an extensive online database listing the toxins, carcinogens, and hormone disruptors, including their health risks, found on many commonly purchased foods from being sprayed with pesticides.

Open letter from 'Hands Across the Sand' founder Dave Rauschkolb on the Gulf oil spill and lawmakers ignoring the dangers of drilling - Since last week's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico -- which is getting worse by the day -- there are now political challenges against these plans, the opposing side now being given extra firepower against drilling for oil off our nation's coasts.

Bill Nelson to Obama: Halt testing wells and and all other exploratory operations in coastal waters until investigation of oil spill in Gulf is complete - And the Florida lawmaker says that in 2000 the Interior Department issued an alert insisting that oil companies have "reliable backup systems" in the event of a rig blowout. But he writes that in 2003, a decision was made not to call for an additional line of defense. So now he is calling on the Interior Department's Inspector General to look into why that did not happen.

Green jobs in Florida: More to come due to demand for alternative energy sources? - With the recent devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there will be the inevitable cry to push even harder to look at alternative energy sources.

Donate sheets and towels for oiled wildlife aid today in St. Pete Beach and Sarasota - The Save Our Seabirds Oiled Wildlife Response Team in Sarasota is in need of sheets and towels to aid the oiled wildlife that will begin to arrive shortly from the Gulf oil spill area.

TECO responds to CL story - Two weeks ago, CL reported on a recent task force's report on efforts to make the city of Tampa more energy efficient.

Hair and mushrooms: The perfect recipe for an oil spill cleanup - "Hair mats" are made from hair woven into doormat-shaped pieces and have been used to clean up oil spills along beaches in San Francisco and the Galapagos Islands. The mushrooms can then eat the petroleum and turn the mats into nontoxic compost material.

Make your voice heard for clean energy legislation and get a free Bonnaroo compilation - HeadCount and the NRDC Action Fund have teamed up with Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Phish, Jack Johnson and many other top artists to offer you a free download of Bonnaroo. The issue: Clean Energy NOW! Send your voice to the press, Senators, and the President.

Don’t forget to check out our Green Community Calendar for green events and workshops in the Bay Area!

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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

On the Radar: Sweetwater Organic Farm's Pesto Festo and Sea Grapes Wine and Food Festival at the Florida Aquarium

See The Cove screening with star Richard O' Barry at Muvico BayWalk - See the Oscar Award winning documentary that exposed the slaughtering of countless dolphins and exposed the ecological crimes taking place in Taiji, Japan, at the Muvico Theater in BayWalk on Wednesday, May 5th.

USF Students to listen to and discuss light rail proposal in Hillsborough County - Tuesday night commissioner Sharpe, along with HART CEO David Armijo and TBARTA Chairman Ronnie Duncan will speak at a forum designated for USF students to learn more about the proposal

Gulf oil spill update: Now covering more than 1800 square miles - The current problems are not being able to shut off the well — located 5,000 feet below the water's surface — and the huge cleanup task at hand.

- If you believe and put new eco-conscious habits into action, then anything you dream of can be accomplished. Reminder: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is becoming green – baby steps.

Images from NASA satellite of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to leak over 42,000 gallons — about 1,000 barrels — of oil per day. As of late Monday, the sheen measured about 80 miles by 42 miles and was 36 miles offshore.

St. Petersburg College named "Outstanding Business of the Year" by U.S. Green Building Council chapter - The college began to cement its environmental reputation in late 2008. Since that time, it has opened two of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the Tampa Bay area.

DIY countertop and freezer composting (video) - Ask Umbra from Grist.org has some great tips on countertop and freezer (yes, freezer) composting methods and what you can do with that mini compost pile when it's ripe (in more ways than one) for the planting.