You're standing in the produce department, checking out the displays of fruit. The little baskets of strawberries catch your eye. Hmm, a strawberry shortcake would be nice for dessert, and tomorrow you could slice a few berries over your granola.

Nice thoughts; bad idea.

Why? Let's first get out of the cereal bowl and look at the big picture.

If you are concerned about oil prices and global warming, consider this: It takes 400 calories of fossil fuels to transport a single 5-calorie strawberry from California to East Coast supermarkets. What's more, that bright red, but flavorless strawberry was probably grown with methyl bromide, a carcinogenic and ozone depleting pesticide. [Reported by the Organic Consumers Association]

Still considering strawberry shortcake? Here are a few more things to think about when you're at the grocery store:   more »