Recently, the Environmental Working Group stated that celery is one of the so-called "Dirty Dozen," the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables on the market. As I was chewing on a piece of celery at the time, I began to notice the bitter overtones of what I assumed was a nasty chemical fertilizer. I began to wonder if it might be sarin or perhaps some dioxin derivative. Completely unable to enjoy my snack any longer, I resolved to find some organic celery.

After a long and fruitless (vegetable-less?) search, I finally broke down and decided to go to Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) . There, tucked into an extensive and impressive collection of colorful veggies, I found what I was looking for: fresh, organic celery. The price? $4.99.

To be honest, if I'm paying $4.99 for a vegetable, I expect it to pick my daughter up from daycare and maybe help out with the rent. I'm used to paying between $1 and $1.25 for a bunch of celery, which made Whole Foods' prices seem like a particularly tasteless joke. However, rather than throw the celery to the ground and loudly denounce Whole Foods as a bunch of money-grubbing ripoff artists, I politely returned the bunch to the counter and left.

There were two reasons for my restrained response: first, I'm saving up my first arrest for something special, like picketing Anne Coulter's funeral, and there's no way I'm getting carted off for yelling at a bunch of celery opportunists. The second reason is that I wasn't really all that surprised. You see, I've gotten used to Whole Foods' massively inflated prices and somewhat snotty attitude.

Though it's not easy for consumers to be green, MSN Money's Abby Schutlz points out that it's possible to be environmentally sensitive and fiscally prudent.

Since buying organic food is expensive -- organic milk is about double the price of the conventional variety and produce can be 200% higher -- Schultz points out that people need to make an organic budget for their environmentally friendly purchases. This can be as simple as buying organic products when they are on sale to the price disparity isn't as great or purchasing produce such as cherries, grapes and peaches that retain less pesticide residue then their conventional counterparts.

I was particularly interested in the piece because I would like to be more environmentally conscious but, like many Americans, I'm not sure about how much I am willing to sacrifice economically to do that.

While hybrid cars are still quite expensive and will likely stay that way for awhile, Schultz advises readers that simply driving less is great for the environment too. And with our country in the midst of an obesity epidemic, walking or biking makes sense for a lot of reasons.

Similarly, simply cutting back on energy use probably does more good for the environment than expensive all-natural products.

So while being green-friendly might seem more expensive, many aspects of conservation will actually save money: Buying products in bulk with less packaging is cheaper, and so is using the library instead of the bookstore.

Does anyone have any tips for being environmentally conscious on a budget? I've talked to some friends, and one of the main reasons people don't make more of an effort to go green is the cost.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

There exists, somewhere between the fearsome mass-ness of the mainstream grocery store and the high-pitched good works of the coop, farmer's market, or CSA, a world in which low prices are valued slightly higher than locality of the source but, more than anything, the products must be good. Fair-trade, organic, without trans-fatty acids, with fewer artificial colorings or preservatives or Disney characters than all the other products.

It's the world of the natural foods market. A world dominated by two very dissimilar and yet, from a target market perspective, nearly identical competitors: Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Trader Joe's, a unit of German private company Aldi Group.

Walking into a store -- or simply gazing at one from across the street -- you have a very different picture. On one corner, in the midst of a posh shopping area or trendy boutique-spattered neighborhood, Whole Foods, with its glistening crates of fresh produce, honeydew melons, purple potatoes, and blood oranges piled high in an abundance of exoticism. The doors open smoothly, the merchandise is displayed beautifully, and a high-ceilinged eating area is often overflowing with customers enjoying their deli purchases. Customers enter slowly, looking around as if discovering a stunning architectural landmark for the first time.

On Tuesday, Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) announced that it would expand its O Organics line into affordable baby food and food for children, as well as introducing Eating Right, a new brand for consumers in search of healthier fare. The move is part of larger effort to to attract consumers from both price-focused competitors like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and high-end chains such as Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI), as well as in anticipation of the entry of British giant Tesco into U.S. markets, such as southern California, where it will compete with Safeway's Vons stores.

The O Organics line was launched a year ago, and it is featured in Safeway chains such as Dominick's. The line already includes coffee, milk, cereal, and produce, and has reached more than $150 million in sales. Eating Right products will feature icons that make it easy for consumers to make the choices that are right for them.

This is all part of Safeway's ongoing efforts to update its stores to a so-called Lifestyle format. It has already updated 43% of its 1,700 stores, and expects to have updated 94% of stores to the Lifestyle format by 2009.

A Credit Suisse analyst has upgraded Safeway to Neutral from Underperform based on its strong outlook for 2007.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you are rooting for Whole Foods, cast your vote.

We want, with everything in us, to love Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFMI). Not just the company's lovely aisles full of delicious organic and natural foods, environmentally friendly diapers, and every vitamin under the sun. We want to love the stock.

But the stock doesn't always love us back. And, despite posting significant sales and profit increases, investors were highly disappointed with the company's not-quite-as-good-as-expected growth. On November 3, Whole Foods went from healthy investor darling to the simple carbohydrate of the grocery stock universe: burn fast, flame out.

You could wail and moan, and join the market selling your WFMI like organic oatmeal-spelt hotcakes. Or you could stay the course. Buy in this period of relative value (at 35x earnings, the stock isn't what you'd call cheap, but it's more realm-of-possibility than the +30-ish% level of six weeks ago). Believe in healthy.

Here are some reasons to continue to believe in Whole Foods:

I've written on the topic of Wal-Mart's entry into the offering of organic foods and produce before. Some people think that Wal-Mart's scale alone will diminish the quality and status of the organic foods marketplace, and others think that the entry of healthy organic foods into Wal-Mart stores will transform obesity in the U.S. to a thing of the past, more or less. Whatever your opinion, make no mistake: organics are coming to Wal-Mart and other bix-box stores like Costco in increasing numbers.

But, with the sheer quantity needed to supply all these Wal-Mart stores, organic produce and food suppliers are going to have to transform the entire industry to take on this new super-challenge. You have more fields, you invest in three to four times as much property -- which in organic produce-producing California is not cheap -- and these organic foods suppliers suddenly are "betting the farm" on the long-term sustainability of Wal-Mart carrying and growing the organic segment for a long time.

What if this does not happen? What if customers choose not to embrace organic, healthy eating in droves like Wal-Mart expects so that it can grow revenue and recruit a new customer base? An entire industry could plummet rather quickly. Generally, any good business plan has a disciplined growth strategy that includes multiple backup scenarios and redundancies to prevent something like this from happening.

It's another example of the power Wal-Mart has -- and yes, it's nearly bankrupted companies like Rubbermaid before who gave too much of their business to the retailer. Will the organic industry befall the same fate? Let's hope not, but as an industry, the plan needs to start, well, yesterday.

Organics are in the news. Over the weekend, consumers were paying attention to whether major organic milk producers are really honoring the spirit of organic foods, and last week, media outlets were buzzing about how just about every mainstream grocery store is launching its own organic foods line, from Safeway to SuperValu. Organics are getting cheaper, and the move by huge retailers to expand organic offerings may mean that the demand for pesticide-free goods will change the way farmers in the U.S., and elsewhere, operate.

Nowhere is the presence of organic products more incongruous than on Wal-Mart shelves. Wal-Mart is doubling the amount of organic produce in its grocery shelves for its shoppers "convenience" (and, one would imagine, to allow the retailer the ability to charge more -- and pocket higher margins as a result). The chain is also offering organic cotton clothing and organic baby formula. And while a few customers are surely happy, it seems, the larger response is... oh, no.

I feel your pain, oh ye people who are committed to organics. And I have to ask: is Wal-Mart, by trying to do good, actually doing bad?