I just finished reading "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic," by Cindy Burke.  She addresses exactly this question and also talks at length about considering distance traveled, or "food miles," when deciding whether to buy conventional or organically grown groceries.  The book includes a very helpful shoppers guide.  I highly recommend it.

Look in your area to see if there are any Farmer's Markets, CSAs or Co-ops. You can do this at localharvest.org.

Talk to these small producers about their farming methods. Go to their farms and check up on things as well. Often times they will be pesticide and herbicide feed but not able to use the organic label due to costs. Their products will often be less expensive than those in local supermarkets or whole foods stores as well. They enable you to get more bang for your buck.

If you're worried about human rights, then look for fairtrade certified items. They are required to be low pesticide or organic items as well as providing a decent wage to the workers. You will find this most often found with things like chocolate, coffee and tea. Other products can be certified fairtrade as well though. It will be more expensive but you're money is feeding families not business profits.

I'm in the same one-income boat and joining a CSA was the best food decision I've ever made. You feel really invested in the product and the community, you get to try a lot of different types of very healthy foods and the farmer takes all of the "what should I buy this week" out of the equation, which I kind of love. And it's turned out to be a pretty great deal. Anybody know what to do with 5 pounds of summer squash?

I second the CSA suggestion.  Often you can find local farmers growing organic produce, and since you're eliminating the middleman, your veggies may cost less than the conventional pesticide-laden produce at the store.  It's cheap, local, in season, often organic, and it supports independent farmers instead of the exploitive megafarms.

As for organic products, I personally don't bother.  It may be slightly better for your health, but all that processing and shipping doesn't do anything for the environment.

--
Aaron

You can blanch squash and then freeze it for later in the year when it isn't available. Less nutritious than fresh but better than canning.

I just tried a enviro-friendly laundry detergent that actually works! It's called Wintree, I bought it at Costco but haven't seen it for sale anywhere else.

I've used a few other enviro-friendly detergents in the past and was frustrated b/c they never seemed to work very well.

Wintree cleaned way better than the other eco-friendly detergents that I've tried and was less-expensive too, which is an added bonus for me!

Recently while I was shoping at a web site that sells adult toys, I noticed that a company called Doc Johnson had come out with a new line of toys made of a new material called Silagel. The company claimed that this new material is non-toxic and body-safe but several things made me suspicious; first, the toys cost between 1/3 to 1/4 what silicone toys cost, second, the manufacturer stated that the toys had a "pleasant smell", and third the material was described as having a consistency that was a cross between silicone and jelly. Do you know anything about this new material and is it safe?