ABC7.com Green Content - Green Right Now - kabc

OK, Let's Talk Turkey

Getting Beyond the Turkey: Thanksgiving Recipes

Featured Los Angeles stories

Hollywood producers looking for a hit with green ways

Stores find a cool path to sustainability with GreenChill program

‘No Drugs Down the Drain’ week in LA fights pharmaceutical pollution

Nissan’s all-electric LEAF will make US debut next month in Los Angeles

Get ready for an International Day of Climate Action

USDA conservation program gets strong California response

EnvironmentLA - The City's official site for information about projects and programs that are making Los Angeles more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power - LADWP offers environmental Green LA programs, including Trees for a Green LA, Energy Efficiency for a Green LA, Solar Energy for a Green LA, Electric Vehicles for a Green LA, Green Power for a Green LA, Recycling for a Green LA and Educational Services for a Green LA.
Green LA Action Plan - The City's official plan to improve energy conservation, transition to renewable power sources, and change the ways citizens commute to work and school.
US Green Building Council-LA - A resource for agencies, municipalities, professionals and companies interested in sustainable, green buildings.
Building a Green Los Angeles - A plan for reducing the environmental impact of buildings.
Southern California Gas Company: Energy Efficiency - Tips and tools to help you save energy, save money and help the environment.
your daily thread - A hub for all things green, sustainable and local in L.A.
GoToGreenLA.com - Find green events taking place in and around Los Angeles.
Search the California database of approved electronic waste collectors and recyclers

Environmental Headlines

Latest

Buy Nothing Day? How about Buy Responsibly Month?

Coca-Cola Zero will promote zero emissions with Nissan Fuel Cell Vehicle

Eco-geek gifts for the ga-ga green or the earnestly energy efficient

Rwanda, investors sign $250 million bio-fuel deal

Gifts you didn’t know were green

Hyundai begins building more efficient engine in Alabama

Palm oil industry’s big carbon impact

Home

Topic : waste

Waste News

January 26th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Ever on the look out for signs of the times, we noticed the other day that “Waste News,” a trade publication covering the waste, salvage and recycling industries, has changed its name to “Waste & Recycling News“.

While we’ll miss the unintentional double entendre of the previous name, we welcome the signal that the world can’t just consider its waste to be just waste anymore. Today, “scrap” or recyclables — stuff that could be re-crafted into something new, or turned into biofuel or compost or PETE plastic parkas — is the new waste. This is a good thing.

And while we’re thinking about tossing less, let’s also consider our food and how much we well-fed Americans send to the waste bin — nearly 100 billion pounds of food annually, according to one report.

[Read more →]

Related Topics: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Food/Drink, Paula Minahan, waste

Food indulgence in America: How attitudes weigh us down

January 23rd, 2009

By Paula Minahan
Green Right Now

Piles of cracked and broken shells. Gnawed bones pushed aside. Remnants of what tempted with shameless excess. And in the background, a young Army recruit observes, “This is what we fight for, you know. Not so you can waste food, but so you can have plenty.”

It’s just another day at one of Sin City’s copious casino buffets as depicted in the award-winning documentary, Buffet: All You Can Eat Las Vegas. The film, shown on PBS and at indie festivals nationwide, is MIT cultural anthropology professor and filmmaker Dr. Natasha Dow Schüll’s sometimes humorous, often outrageous look at American indulgence.

“Las Vegas is a great exemplification of things that are shared, that are afoot in American culture in a very extreme way,” says Schüll. “All over America, the buffet amplifies things endemic to our society. It doesn’t surprise me this kind of waste, which is celebrated as a public ritual at the buffet, is carrying over to the more private domain of the household. It’s very OK to throw out food.”