What do you think?
Rate this book
Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World
An investigative narrative that dives into the waste embedded in our daily lives—and shows how individuals and communities are making a real difference for health, prosperity, quality of life and the fight against climate change, by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
What happens to our trash? Why are our oceans filling with plastic? Do we really waste 40 percent of our food 65 percent of our energy? Waste is truly our biggest problem, and solving our inherent trashiness can fix our economy, our energy costs, our traffic jams, and help slow climate change—all while making us healthier, happier and more prosperous. This story-driven and in-depth exploration of the pervasive yet hard-to-see wastefulness that permeates our daily lives illuminates the ways in which we've been duped into accepting absolutely insane levels of waste as normal . Total Garbage also tells the story of individuals and communities who are finding the way back from waste, and showing us that our choices truly matter and make a difference.
Our big environmental challenges – climate, energy, plastic pollution, deforestation, toxic emissions—are often framed as problems too big for any one person to solve. Too big even for hope. But when viewed as symptoms of a single greater problem—the epic levels of trash and waste we produce daily--the way forward is clear. Waste is the one problem individuals can positively impact—and not just on the planet, but also on our wallets, our health, and national and energy security. The challenge is seeing our epic wastefulness clearly.
Total Garbage will shine a light on the absurdity of the systems that all of us use daily and take for granted--and it will help both individuals and communities make meaningful changes toward better lives and a cleaner, greener world.
What happens to our trash? Why are our oceans filling with plastic? Do we really waste 40 percent of our food 65 percent of our energy? Waste is truly our biggest problem, and solving our inherent trashiness can fix our economy, our energy costs, our traffic jams, and help slow climate change—all while making us healthier, happier and more prosperous. This story-driven and in-depth exploration of the pervasive yet hard-to-see wastefulness that permeates our daily lives illuminates the ways in which we've been duped into accepting absolutely insane levels of waste as normal . Total Garbage also tells the story of individuals and communities who are finding the way back from waste, and showing us that our choices truly matter and make a difference.
Our big environmental challenges – climate, energy, plastic pollution, deforestation, toxic emissions—are often framed as problems too big for any one person to solve. Too big even for hope. But when viewed as symptoms of a single greater problem—the epic levels of trash and waste we produce daily--the way forward is clear. Waste is the one problem individuals can positively impact—and not just on the planet, but also on our wallets, our health, and national and energy security. The challenge is seeing our epic wastefulness clearly.
Total Garbage will shine a light on the absurdity of the systems that all of us use daily and take for granted--and it will help both individuals and communities make meaningful changes toward better lives and a cleaner, greener world.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2024
39 people are currently reading
2838 people want to read
About the author
Edward Humes
21 books276 followersEdward Humes is a Southern California author, journalist and writing teacher whose most recent nonfiction book is “The Forever Witness.” His next book, “Total Garbage: How to Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World,” will be published in time for Earth Day 2024. He shares his home office with a pair of rescued racing greyhounds, Valiant and Dottie.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
April 16, 2024
I listened to the audiobook and immediately went out and purchased a print copy as I want to reference so many parts of this book. That includes the appalling stats on our consumption and waste, and the companies, products and services recommended to change our ways and make a difference. About ten years ago I was on a big environmental kick - got solar, bought an electric car, started composting kitchen waste, etc. but I’ve become complacent. Plus new technologies and products are on the market. This was just the read I needed to jump start my efforts to reduce my waste and impact on climate change. A very readable book and highly recommended.
June 17, 2024
This book balanced the doom and gloom by highlighting individuals doing amazing things; making things feel attainable and slightly hopeful.
I really enjoyed the focus on numerous topics I was not expecting. I learned some things...and I'm now interested in an induction oven when the time comes to replace my stove.
There's a decent depth to most topics but there are some statements ("facts") sprinkled throughout that have no additional context. The world is more gray than these statements imply. Perhaps a closer examination would bloat the narrative, but as is, I'm not sure how effective these statements are.
I really enjoyed the focus on numerous topics I was not expecting. I learned some things...and I'm now interested in an induction oven when the time comes to replace my stove.
There's a decent depth to most topics but there are some statements ("facts") sprinkled throughout that have no additional context. The world is more gray than these statements imply. Perhaps a closer examination would bloat the narrative, but as is, I'm not sure how effective these statements are.
January 21, 2025
A Useful Life Measure in Minutes, a Waste Life Measured in Centuries.
Information packed, Total Garbage by Edward Humes will beat you down before giving you hope. The first few chapters are really depressing, so much so I even considered putting the book down and looking for something else that would give me the right tools to help on this "garbage crisis", but I'm glad I did not. I doubt I would have found another book as informative, and I understand what the author wanted to do. If some readers would have approached this book with mere curiosity, maybe they would not have fully grasped the emergency we are facing, and the urgent call coming to our planet.
That being said, this book isn't all depressing and pessimistic
I am hopeful. More than I have ever been. Taking action is, in fact, an act of hope. We can do this. We can fix the waste driving all these crisis. We can. As Al Gore said just a few months before I sat down to write these lines, "The will to act itself is a renewable source."
"Do not be vulnerable to despair. We are going to do this. And if you doubt that we as human beings have the will to act, please always remember that the will to act is itself a renewable source."
- Al Gore, TED Countdown Summit, July 2023
if anything, once the stories coming from the people who started the change in their communities (and worldwide) start, they are full of hope. Hope driven by example, because if those people challenged habits, law, and misinformation, then so can we.
Little things add up, and they can happen if we just ask. And push. And show up.
Informative, inspirational, a wake up call, Total Garbage should be a required read in schools. Not only to understand the severity of the problem, or the challenges that the drivers of change face, but because of the useful tips in every chapter, and at the end of the book. One tip so simple it’s shocking is - in an age where products are at our fingertips, put an item in your shopping cart and sleep on it before buying.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
For those curious, here’s the book’s table of contents:
Prologue
Part I: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash
1. Our Disposable Age
2. Trash Genius
3. Message in a Bottle
Part II: Power Hungry
4. Ring of Fire
5. Taking the Heat
6. Squeezing the Juice
7. Chutes and Ladders
Part III: Eating Up, Driving Off, Buying Out
8. Stick a Fork in It
9. The Car of the Future Isn't What You Think
10. The Wallet Ballot
11. Schooled
What You Can Do Right Now About Waste: The Master List
Quotes
💬 Now the time for hope and waiting and pretending there's nothing we ordinary mortals can do about any of this is long past. We are officially in the let's-get-off-our-asses-and-get-it-done-now-or-else moment.
💬 It is naïve to expect that governments and corporations will do the right thing, or that someone else will handle it. It is naïve we can "solve" or "stop" climate change. It is also naïve to give up, when every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, every centimetre of sea level rise we avoid, every species we save, and every increasingly unnatural disaster we avert all matter so very much.
💬 "Modern energy efficiency doesn't deplete a concentrated resource, like oil or copper. Made of ideas, it depletes nothing but stupidity - a very abundant resource."
- Amory Lovins
July 6, 2024
In a nutshell, this book’s message is "Fix our trash - heal the world. This is one of the few books that provides practical ideas that actually make sense to help us with the horrible waste we are accumulating and which slowly but surely will destroy our civilization. The author not only expanded my understanding about how wasteful our society really is but also how serious the impact on our health truly is as it finds its way back into our lungs and bodies and blood circulation.
September 19, 2024
This is an environmental book that's focused on waste, which you can also think of as inefficiency. I enjoyed the sections on the history of plastics - how we took a material that was originally built for durability and turned it into something that's mostly about disposability. Similarly, the evolution of beverages from the soda fountain to the glass bottle to the single-use plastic container was a great example about how practices evolve over time. He also highlights how recycling puts the burden on consumers and gives the producers of waste a free ride.
The waste and inefficiency of gas-powered cars is also covered - that an internal combustion engine is a heater that uses some of its energy to move a car. But rather than go all-in on the big EV SUV's, the author notes that a battery-powered golf cart can be the solution for many short trips.
Some of the tips for green living can come off as a little bit preachy and repetitious, but I think that if you're continually in search of new eco habits, you're trying to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. My favorites are draft beer when I'm eating out, aluminum cans over plastic bottles, and avoiding takeout and other excessive plastic packaging.
Our waste habits changed over time - for the worse - and now we need to transform our habits for the better.
The waste and inefficiency of gas-powered cars is also covered - that an internal combustion engine is a heater that uses some of its energy to move a car. But rather than go all-in on the big EV SUV's, the author notes that a battery-powered golf cart can be the solution for many short trips.
Some of the tips for green living can come off as a little bit preachy and repetitious, but I think that if you're continually in search of new eco habits, you're trying to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. My favorites are draft beer when I'm eating out, aluminum cans over plastic bottles, and avoiding takeout and other excessive plastic packaging.
Our waste habits changed over time - for the worse - and now we need to transform our habits for the better.
January 1, 2025
Come on people.. doesn’t matter what you believe about the climate.. our oceans are full of plastic .. our air and soil is full of toxic chemicals. I loved the stories of people and towns (many in conservative states) who are proving that we can help our planet and SAVE MONEY too! We the people need to stop letting the billionaires win.
November 30, 2024
A strong start and finish, but the middle got murky with relevance and was a little boring. I think more people should read it, but we are already so attentive to this subject that I knew a majority of the suggestions.
September 20, 2024
Incredible research and spotlight on a most important topic! Uplifting and sobering at once. Very inspiring on every page.
April 10, 2025
I wish everyone would read this
did-not-finish
June 15, 2025I loved everything I learned from this book, but it was making me crash out a bit too much.
October 16, 2025
Love me a good sustainability read that gives actual examples of people/cities implementing the practices we all preach. So refreshing!
July 20, 2025
‘You will swallow 285 pieces of plastic today. You will do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.’
‘Total Garbage’ by Edward Humes opens with shocking facts about the level of plastic pollution that we have in our world today. He helpfully visualises the extent of the plastic that we are ingesting and says, ‘Think of it as pulling a credit card out of your wallet, chewing it and swallowing it. All of it. Up to once a week, every week. Forever.’ An image and action that we would not do willingly and yet, we are now aware of the levels of plastic pollution and waste, but are we doing enough to reduce this impact?
This is a thorough and extensive text that goes some way to help make the invisible, visible. Sometimes it can be hard to notice the everyday items that are wasteful and this, Humes argues, is a created phenomenon.. A lack of awareness, at times a wilful blindness over personal convenience, or has it been a carefully crafted advertising narrative that is built upon the extension of the continued capitalist practice of waste? ‘Wastefulness is driven by choice, habit and marketing, rather than by necessity, inevitability, and economic sense. We are neither helpless nor hopeless to act.’
The amount of waste that has become integral to our lives is chronicled in a variety of societal areas, from energy consumption, to plastic pollution, to transport, to house design to indoor cooking methods. Time and time again, Humes challenges us to start at the end of the process rather than the start and ask ourselves, if we knew fully about the dangers of a behaviour, would we be willing to undertake that risk?
Our disposable age
Humes uses the phrase and label, ‘Our disposable age’. A phrase that ‘says it all: the branding of waste not as a problem but as a way of life’. The use of single use plastic is seized upon by Humes as his opening example of how pervasive waste is in our world. He acknowledges that, ‘Unlike metal, wood, clay, and glass, plastic does not occur in nature. It is a 100 percent human-made thing,’ He then outlines the level of excessive use of plastic and the amount that could be recycled, were it not for deliberate ‘consumer confusion’ from a range of ‘recyclable’ labels. ‘And we Americans use about 54 billion disposable “paper” cups a year’. Our consumer choices continue in our homes and in the amount of ‘single use’ plastic containers that lurk in bathrooms and kitchens from shampoos, hand washes, conditioners, toothpastes, mouthwashes, dishwasher detergents and cleaning products. As a public, we can see these objects, but their true impact appears invisible.We are urged by Humes to think about what happens to a container once the contents have been used and how energy efficient this action might be.
‘Thinking about what will happen to a product or package at the end of its useful life before you buy is key.’
We might happily ‘recycle’, feeling a sense of righteousness and high morality at doing so, but ignoring all the other aspects of the waste hierarchy and just focusing on the end action, will never help solve the underlying issue. Trying to reduce waste from the Great Garbage Patch for example, is an effective action in itself, but it would be better to ensure that the waste and plastic doesn’t arrive there in the first place.
Producer responsibility
Humes makes the powerful argument that businesses and companies should shoulder the responsibility for their product and increase the energy usage of their product. ‘Businesses must accept responsibility not only for the creation of their disposable plastic products but for their death as well’. He terms this ‘extended producer responsibility’ and argues that this could be a shift to turbocharge the narrative of waste. Many international companies simply aren’t there yet. By 2030, Coca-Cola’s plastic waste alone in the oceans is expected to reach 602m kilograms. There are many fears over human health risks posed by the spread of microplastic pollution and marine life doesn’t stand a chance against this level of waste being dumped unceremoniously out at sea. Coca-Cola also has reduced its recycled packaging targets from 50% down to only 35-40% by 2035, continuing its pollution over the next decade.
Industry has long tried to shift the responsibility and accountability for waste onto the end consumer rather than business. The ‘Crying Indian’ advertising campaign, carefully omitting any brand packaging, with its slogan, ‘People start pollution, people can stop it’ became the ‘single most effective piece of greenwashing in history’ according to Humes, and helped create a narrative and ideology of burden shifting.
‘Taxpayers were to blame for the problem, and that individual action, not producer responsibility laws, provided the only solution.’
Lifestyle ‘choices’
Humes then begins to examine in depth a range of other so-called lifestyle ‘choices’ and argues that with government intervention and a top down approach, the burden of reducing waste would not land with the individual and therefore meaningful change could happen.
He details the level of energy waste in housing designs and identifies ‘Passive Houses’ as being more efficient- ‘A Passive House uses up to 90 percent less energy than a conventional home for heating and cooling, and 70 percent less energy overall.’
This, therefore, raises the question- if this type of house design is both economically and energy efficient, why isn’t every new home a ‘Passive House’?
Humes tries to challenge us to disentangle ourselves from the emotional bonds of two more wasteful areas- that of car usage and that of indoor gas stove cooking. For both these two emotional issues, Humes argues that our relationships are artificial ones, which have been carefully curated by the automobile industry and the food industry to give us ‘freedom’ and therefore, we emotionally respond when this is challenged. ‘We need to rethink what a car is and what we should pay for it. And we don’t need to wait for car companies to tell us what we need or want. We can tell them.’
Statistical information is given about the amount of road traffic deaths and the economic burden of owning and using a car. ‘The economic costs of vehicle air pollution in America, both toxic and heat-trapping, are estimated to be $180 billion a year.
Humes acknowledges that ‘cars are inescapable’ to the American identity, but points out that this wasn’t always the case, but has simply become the accepted ‘norm’.
‘But we’ve made them too central to our lives. Cars aren’t freedom. They aren’t irreplaceable. They are way too expensive. They are tools- just like bikes are tools.’ Having a rethink about how much you use your car, what your average journey is and more importantly why your city hasn’t been designed around sustainable, energy efficient transport options, leads to the conclusion, that it is in someone’s interest for as many people as possible to drive energy inefficient cars, which cause significant road traffic deaths globally. There are examples given in ‘Total Garbage’ of towns and cities, primarily in the USA, which have undergone a transport revolution and have made the sustainable switch successfully. Why can’t this be rolled out and who is fighting against this roll out?
With indoor gas stoves, Humes directs the reader to think about the premise in reverse. Would you willingly have in your family home a product which could increase the risk of your family developing health issues? ‘Besides the heat-trapping pollutants methane and carbon dioxide, stoves emit poisonous carbon monoxide, particulate pollution, asthma-triggering nitrogen oxides and the carcinogens formaldehyde and benzene.’ Humes continues to support his argument rationally by drawing on research, ‘Children living in a home with a gas stove have a 42 percent greater risk of developing asthma symptoms, according to a groundbreaking study in 2013.’ Cooking with induction stoves is proposed by Humes and food experts in the book as a way of reducing energy, household costs and also reducing health impacts. Breaking formed habits which can be dangerous for us, just seems sensible in the long term. ‘For better and sometimes for worse, we have a long history of replacing billion-dollar industries and entire ways of life with astonishing speed when it suits us.’
How to bring about change
Throughout ‘Total Garbage’, Humes gives multiple examples of how consumers and individuals can take action in their daily lives and feel empowered, whether this is with the clothes they wear and use, or their relationship to food and food waste. The aim is not to try and change everything at once and feel overwhelmed by the amount of either physical waste, economic waste, or energy waste that is your figure now.
Understanding that this has been brought about by a system that has encouraged you to have a ‘disposable’ lifestyle and planned obsolescence especially in tech gadgets, doesn’t benefit the world, but the companies’ profit margins, can help you mobilise communities to be less wasteful. Neighbourhood garbage cleans of local parks, trash collections, planting community fruit and vegetable allotments can all encourage others to feel that change is possible. A bottom up approach can drive change from councils, cities and governments. ‘Change comes in two ways. It can be driven from the top down…Polluters should pay, not taxpayers is the theme here…Fortunately, change is also driven from the ground up, home by home, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and community by community.’
Deciding how to act and where to act, as well as the motivation to act can seem overwhelming. Compare this to going to the gym, or starting a new diet and you can see that old habits can be powerful. We have a choice- to allow our societies to be wasteful, or to understand that through action, we can be the ones who turn up, who inspire and motivate others, who change the narrative to a new story- it does not have to be this way. Our future does not have to be like our past, We are the agents of the future. We can choose to be better ancestors.
‘Putting a stop to our wasteful ways will not immediately undo the damage our waste has already done- the plastic ocean, the toxic chemicals, the climate-disrupting pollutants. That will take generations, and those in the future will not thank us for taking so long to act.’
‘Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it’
- James Baldwin
‘Total Garbage’ by Edward Humes opens with shocking facts about the level of plastic pollution that we have in our world today. He helpfully visualises the extent of the plastic that we are ingesting and says, ‘Think of it as pulling a credit card out of your wallet, chewing it and swallowing it. All of it. Up to once a week, every week. Forever.’ An image and action that we would not do willingly and yet, we are now aware of the levels of plastic pollution and waste, but are we doing enough to reduce this impact?
This is a thorough and extensive text that goes some way to help make the invisible, visible. Sometimes it can be hard to notice the everyday items that are wasteful and this, Humes argues, is a created phenomenon.. A lack of awareness, at times a wilful blindness over personal convenience, or has it been a carefully crafted advertising narrative that is built upon the extension of the continued capitalist practice of waste? ‘Wastefulness is driven by choice, habit and marketing, rather than by necessity, inevitability, and economic sense. We are neither helpless nor hopeless to act.’
The amount of waste that has become integral to our lives is chronicled in a variety of societal areas, from energy consumption, to plastic pollution, to transport, to house design to indoor cooking methods. Time and time again, Humes challenges us to start at the end of the process rather than the start and ask ourselves, if we knew fully about the dangers of a behaviour, would we be willing to undertake that risk?
Our disposable age
Humes uses the phrase and label, ‘Our disposable age’. A phrase that ‘says it all: the branding of waste not as a problem but as a way of life’. The use of single use plastic is seized upon by Humes as his opening example of how pervasive waste is in our world. He acknowledges that, ‘Unlike metal, wood, clay, and glass, plastic does not occur in nature. It is a 100 percent human-made thing,’ He then outlines the level of excessive use of plastic and the amount that could be recycled, were it not for deliberate ‘consumer confusion’ from a range of ‘recyclable’ labels. ‘And we Americans use about 54 billion disposable “paper” cups a year’. Our consumer choices continue in our homes and in the amount of ‘single use’ plastic containers that lurk in bathrooms and kitchens from shampoos, hand washes, conditioners, toothpastes, mouthwashes, dishwasher detergents and cleaning products. As a public, we can see these objects, but their true impact appears invisible.We are urged by Humes to think about what happens to a container once the contents have been used and how energy efficient this action might be.
‘Thinking about what will happen to a product or package at the end of its useful life before you buy is key.’
We might happily ‘recycle’, feeling a sense of righteousness and high morality at doing so, but ignoring all the other aspects of the waste hierarchy and just focusing on the end action, will never help solve the underlying issue. Trying to reduce waste from the Great Garbage Patch for example, is an effective action in itself, but it would be better to ensure that the waste and plastic doesn’t arrive there in the first place.
Producer responsibility
Humes makes the powerful argument that businesses and companies should shoulder the responsibility for their product and increase the energy usage of their product. ‘Businesses must accept responsibility not only for the creation of their disposable plastic products but for their death as well’. He terms this ‘extended producer responsibility’ and argues that this could be a shift to turbocharge the narrative of waste. Many international companies simply aren’t there yet. By 2030, Coca-Cola’s plastic waste alone in the oceans is expected to reach 602m kilograms. There are many fears over human health risks posed by the spread of microplastic pollution and marine life doesn’t stand a chance against this level of waste being dumped unceremoniously out at sea. Coca-Cola also has reduced its recycled packaging targets from 50% down to only 35-40% by 2035, continuing its pollution over the next decade.
Industry has long tried to shift the responsibility and accountability for waste onto the end consumer rather than business. The ‘Crying Indian’ advertising campaign, carefully omitting any brand packaging, with its slogan, ‘People start pollution, people can stop it’ became the ‘single most effective piece of greenwashing in history’ according to Humes, and helped create a narrative and ideology of burden shifting.
‘Taxpayers were to blame for the problem, and that individual action, not producer responsibility laws, provided the only solution.’
Lifestyle ‘choices’
Humes then begins to examine in depth a range of other so-called lifestyle ‘choices’ and argues that with government intervention and a top down approach, the burden of reducing waste would not land with the individual and therefore meaningful change could happen.
He details the level of energy waste in housing designs and identifies ‘Passive Houses’ as being more efficient- ‘A Passive House uses up to 90 percent less energy than a conventional home for heating and cooling, and 70 percent less energy overall.’
This, therefore, raises the question- if this type of house design is both economically and energy efficient, why isn’t every new home a ‘Passive House’?
Humes tries to challenge us to disentangle ourselves from the emotional bonds of two more wasteful areas- that of car usage and that of indoor gas stove cooking. For both these two emotional issues, Humes argues that our relationships are artificial ones, which have been carefully curated by the automobile industry and the food industry to give us ‘freedom’ and therefore, we emotionally respond when this is challenged. ‘We need to rethink what a car is and what we should pay for it. And we don’t need to wait for car companies to tell us what we need or want. We can tell them.’
Statistical information is given about the amount of road traffic deaths and the economic burden of owning and using a car. ‘The economic costs of vehicle air pollution in America, both toxic and heat-trapping, are estimated to be $180 billion a year.
Humes acknowledges that ‘cars are inescapable’ to the American identity, but points out that this wasn’t always the case, but has simply become the accepted ‘norm’.
‘But we’ve made them too central to our lives. Cars aren’t freedom. They aren’t irreplaceable. They are way too expensive. They are tools- just like bikes are tools.’ Having a rethink about how much you use your car, what your average journey is and more importantly why your city hasn’t been designed around sustainable, energy efficient transport options, leads to the conclusion, that it is in someone’s interest for as many people as possible to drive energy inefficient cars, which cause significant road traffic deaths globally. There are examples given in ‘Total Garbage’ of towns and cities, primarily in the USA, which have undergone a transport revolution and have made the sustainable switch successfully. Why can’t this be rolled out and who is fighting against this roll out?
With indoor gas stoves, Humes directs the reader to think about the premise in reverse. Would you willingly have in your family home a product which could increase the risk of your family developing health issues? ‘Besides the heat-trapping pollutants methane and carbon dioxide, stoves emit poisonous carbon monoxide, particulate pollution, asthma-triggering nitrogen oxides and the carcinogens formaldehyde and benzene.’ Humes continues to support his argument rationally by drawing on research, ‘Children living in a home with a gas stove have a 42 percent greater risk of developing asthma symptoms, according to a groundbreaking study in 2013.’ Cooking with induction stoves is proposed by Humes and food experts in the book as a way of reducing energy, household costs and also reducing health impacts. Breaking formed habits which can be dangerous for us, just seems sensible in the long term. ‘For better and sometimes for worse, we have a long history of replacing billion-dollar industries and entire ways of life with astonishing speed when it suits us.’
How to bring about change
Throughout ‘Total Garbage’, Humes gives multiple examples of how consumers and individuals can take action in their daily lives and feel empowered, whether this is with the clothes they wear and use, or their relationship to food and food waste. The aim is not to try and change everything at once and feel overwhelmed by the amount of either physical waste, economic waste, or energy waste that is your figure now.
Understanding that this has been brought about by a system that has encouraged you to have a ‘disposable’ lifestyle and planned obsolescence especially in tech gadgets, doesn’t benefit the world, but the companies’ profit margins, can help you mobilise communities to be less wasteful. Neighbourhood garbage cleans of local parks, trash collections, planting community fruit and vegetable allotments can all encourage others to feel that change is possible. A bottom up approach can drive change from councils, cities and governments. ‘Change comes in two ways. It can be driven from the top down…Polluters should pay, not taxpayers is the theme here…Fortunately, change is also driven from the ground up, home by home, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and community by community.’
Deciding how to act and where to act, as well as the motivation to act can seem overwhelming. Compare this to going to the gym, or starting a new diet and you can see that old habits can be powerful. We have a choice- to allow our societies to be wasteful, or to understand that through action, we can be the ones who turn up, who inspire and motivate others, who change the narrative to a new story- it does not have to be this way. Our future does not have to be like our past, We are the agents of the future. We can choose to be better ancestors.
‘Putting a stop to our wasteful ways will not immediately undo the damage our waste has already done- the plastic ocean, the toxic chemicals, the climate-disrupting pollutants. That will take generations, and those in the future will not thank us for taking so long to act.’
‘Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it’
- James Baldwin
May 2, 2024
This goes way beyond what you might think by reading the title. This book is all about waste in all its forms. Yes, the author takes on plastic and other forms of garbage. But he also reminds readers that over 80% of the gasoline you burn in your car doesn't do anything to move the car - its turned into waste heat. The blue flame from your gas stove doesn't cook your food - its actually from the same infrared waves that an induction stove provides in a more direct and less air polluting way. I don't say this about many books, but THIS IS A MUST READ! if you want to make a difference in the habitability of our planet.
October 14, 2024
SUCH A GOOD BOOK! Easy to read with wonderful and down to earth suggestions for how we can fix our waste. Waste is such a unifying topic, because no matter the side having less waste is a good idea. It means saving money and helping the environment. I will be reading his other work. And he is the reason I’ve been going to the farmers market. Also we apparently eat a credit card worth of plastic. He is the reason I’ve given up Dunkin-I’ve only had it twice in the 2months(this is a sad statement I know but I like Dunkin a lot) And once they were actually nice enough to use my reusable cup.
But Fr sometimes you need to read a book like this and be reminded of how annoying plastic is and that it’s everywhere but not going anywhere in the near future. That shit doesn’t break down.
Just wonderful stories of everyday people and also experts doing what they can to reduce their waste. So it’s inspiring and I highly recommend
I never thought of golf carts being a solution or alternative to daily driving of a car. But it’s interesting to me. I’m going to have to visit Peach Tree City one day. I will argue that golf carts are not my version of a solution to cars, I’d much prefer public transit being a bigger solution. I enjoyed the different viewpoint tho.
But Fr sometimes you need to read a book like this and be reminded of how annoying plastic is and that it’s everywhere but not going anywhere in the near future. That shit doesn’t break down.
Just wonderful stories of everyday people and also experts doing what they can to reduce their waste. So it’s inspiring and I highly recommend
I never thought of golf carts being a solution or alternative to daily driving of a car. But it’s interesting to me. I’m going to have to visit Peach Tree City one day. I will argue that golf carts are not my version of a solution to cars, I’d much prefer public transit being a bigger solution. I enjoyed the different viewpoint tho.
August 29, 2024
An enthralling account of the ways in which wastefulness is embedded into our society. From paying mostly for the ability to choose which type of wasteful packaging you want to come with your food at supermarkets, to governments enacting laws making it difficult and/or expensive for homeowners to switch from more wasteful appliances to more economical ones, Humes explains that wastefulness is the bedrock of our society.
Humes provides practical suggestions for how we individuals can do our part to combat wastefulness. He highlights exceptional people or communities who have successfully started living in ways that are less wasteful, such as the man who started a subscription recycling service to help his neighbors cart away all kinds of recyclable waste to sell to those looking to buy them, and the suburban town in Georgia where nearly all residents have golf carts to get around.
I do wish, however, that Humes had talked more about how many people are unable to make less wasteful choices because of poverty. Rather than focus on exceptional people/communities that have pooled together to design systems that work for them, I wanted to hear more about the myriad ways in which American politicians have prioritized profit (and wastefulness as a byproduct) over, say, incentivizing switches to electric appliances or cars, or investment into the development of a nationwide recycling scheme.
Humes provides practical suggestions for how we individuals can do our part to combat wastefulness. He highlights exceptional people or communities who have successfully started living in ways that are less wasteful, such as the man who started a subscription recycling service to help his neighbors cart away all kinds of recyclable waste to sell to those looking to buy them, and the suburban town in Georgia where nearly all residents have golf carts to get around.
I do wish, however, that Humes had talked more about how many people are unable to make less wasteful choices because of poverty. Rather than focus on exceptional people/communities that have pooled together to design systems that work for them, I wanted to hear more about the myriad ways in which American politicians have prioritized profit (and wastefulness as a byproduct) over, say, incentivizing switches to electric appliances or cars, or investment into the development of a nationwide recycling scheme.
May 24, 2024
This book amazed me with the facts that the author revealed. Just the fact that there are microplastics in much of the food we eat and water we drink scared me. BTW, some water filters do remove microplastics.
What is awful is that so much of the plastic bags that are used to package our foods are not recyclable via our local recycling methods, it's hard to figure out what to do!
The author also talks about heat pumps (I will be doing some research on them) and the dangers (yes, you heard me right) of gas stoves which put dangerous chemicals into the air in homes that use them, not to mention how inefficient they are.
It also talks about how inefficient our cars are and how electric cars do not have to be as expensive as they are right now! The luxury models cost $55,000 but some can be manufactured for closer to $15,000 to $28,000 if we lower the travel range. According to the authors statistics, we make trips that are much shorter then the range that the lower cost EVs can take you. Still some research to be done on EVs in colder climates. I also don't think the use of golf carts will work in the northern states.
Lots more info, some of which is easy to do, some that is not.
A good read!
What is awful is that so much of the plastic bags that are used to package our foods are not recyclable via our local recycling methods, it's hard to figure out what to do!
The author also talks about heat pumps (I will be doing some research on them) and the dangers (yes, you heard me right) of gas stoves which put dangerous chemicals into the air in homes that use them, not to mention how inefficient they are.
It also talks about how inefficient our cars are and how electric cars do not have to be as expensive as they are right now! The luxury models cost $55,000 but some can be manufactured for closer to $15,000 to $28,000 if we lower the travel range. According to the authors statistics, we make trips that are much shorter then the range that the lower cost EVs can take you. Still some research to be done on EVs in colder climates. I also don't think the use of golf carts will work in the northern states.
Lots more info, some of which is easy to do, some that is not.
A good read!
June 23, 2024
This book speaks of more than "garbage". It covers so many aspects of how we are polluting our environment and our world. Not only does he talk about how much plastic waste there is, but also about topics as the dangers of using natural gas, the benefits of induction ovens, how to use land that we currently have lawns on to grow our own food, and reusing so many things we tend to throw away. This book is an eye opener. So much is out there, but the information about induction ovens and burners was something new to me. And he not just says what the problems are but cites a number of examples of communities doing something about it. An example is a community set up to use road worthy golf carts to get around instead of a car for a short trip. It would be wonderful if more communities could use some of what he talks about.
Good read, eye opener, highly recommended. A book that is hard to put down once you start.
Good read, eye opener, highly recommended. A book that is hard to put down once you start.
April 25, 2024
Global plastic waste and pollution is 400 million tons a year.
Starbucks alone sells 4 million cups of coffee a day in a plastic coated paper cup with lids and sleeves and those plastic stoppers.
No other country produces or consumes more plastic bottles than América.
Tests found plastic in 94.9 percent of United States water samples.
The average American creates 8.2 pounds of garbage a day, 1.5 tons per year.
Plastic was invented in 1907 and in production in 1924 creating products with a useful life measured in minutes or days and a waste life measured in centuries.
Of the 241 million tons of food grown for humans in the United States,
38% is either unsold or uneaten.
The world churns out 300 million tons of plastic waste each year. Ony 9% of plastic waste can be recycled.
Starbucks alone sells 4 million cups of coffee a day in a plastic coated paper cup with lids and sleeves and those plastic stoppers.
No other country produces or consumes more plastic bottles than América.
Tests found plastic in 94.9 percent of United States water samples.
The average American creates 8.2 pounds of garbage a day, 1.5 tons per year.
Plastic was invented in 1907 and in production in 1924 creating products with a useful life measured in minutes or days and a waste life measured in centuries.
Of the 241 million tons of food grown for humans in the United States,
38% is either unsold or uneaten.
The world churns out 300 million tons of plastic waste each year. Ony 9% of plastic waste can be recycled.
September 27, 2024
So well-written and engaging! I am definitely “the choir” and was already familiar with all of the major concepts, but I loved the small-scale big-impact stories shared and how approachable the author made everything.
April 30, 2024
By using positive examples of individuals (as well as some whole communities) around the country who are actually taking meaningful steps to reduce waste, the author nudges each of us to focus on the many ways that we can also do our part.
July 18, 2024
From understanding the true garbage and plastic crisis and its history, to providing real-life examples of true success and transformation in communities, I found this book both overwhelming and inspiring. If we can just change our perspective, we can change the world.
August 21, 2024
SUCH a good book - very informative about sustainable practices but does so in a way that emphasizes practicality, efficiency, and savings. The stories of people throughout make it interesting, and there are lots of tips to implement in your life. Would definitely recommend!!
May 14, 2024
Extremely approachable with an interesting mix of macro-level data and personal anecdotes.
June 15, 2024
Wow. Wow wow wow. So eye opening and full of hopeful stories of regular people stepping up to make a difference in this world. Absolutely loved reading this.
June 17, 2024
I felt like I was being lectured at rather than being informed, as the book was a bit heavy handed. Still, I did get some practical tips and ideas from it.
July 7, 2024
Lots os wonderful suggestions for living in a sustainable way. I do some of them but need to try more. Many other factors keep the individual from healing the world.
July 14, 2024
Humes is deft at describing the perilous pickle we are in but not making us (at least me) feel helplessly guilty.
August 10, 2024
Fantastic and a must-read
September 7, 2025
This book seemed like it would have potential. The author makes an insightful point early on that “In neighborhoods and communities and on campuses across the nation, they’re cracking the code on climate, plastic pollution, energy–all the big crises–not as separate problems but as symptoms of one overarching disease: Waste.” I found this to be both a simple and productive way to look at a lot of our current environmental struggles, i.e., as a function of waste. I was looking forward to an intelligent breakdown of the problems facing us and how to tackle them within this framework.
However, the book quickly devolves into a combination of scare tactics, “Think of it as pulling a credit card out of your wallet, chewing it, and swallowing it. All of it. Up to once a week, every week. Forever.” and incredibly inane advice, “Don’t accept plastic bags when you shop anywhere. That includes the little produce bags at the grocery store.” and “Use efficient LED light bulbs.”. If I bought the book then I don’t need to be scared into thinking that our waste is an issue and I don’t need you to tell me base level ways to minimize waste that I’m likely already doing.
Along with the limited insightfulness of the ideas in this book, the author also has a hard time organizing his thoughts. At one point, we are reading for 30 pages about how gas stoves are the enemy and induction stoves are the solution to cleaning up the earth, when suddenly there is a 3 page digression to how everyone should also use heat pumps. That’s pretty much how the whole book is written; mind-numbingly repetitive and unimaginative espousal of an idea with quick, loosely connected (at best) tangents thrown in.
I also find it amusing that the author slams the petroleum cabal that is actively seeking to kill us all because they are pushing fossil fuels as the form of energy we should all use, when the answer is clearly in switching to electricity. Then pray tell, sir, how you think electricity is produced? News flash - about 30% of our electricity in the US is produced through coal (very bad), and about 35% through natural gas (much less bad, but still a fossil fuel). Throw in the debatably environmentally acceptable energy production categories of nuclear (20%), and hydroelectric (6%), and you are left with a measly 9% of environmentally “friendly” biomass, wind and solar production. Like everyone who espouses how good everything electric is, they fail to acknowledge that electricity is predominantly produced by, you got it, fossil fuels.
The author also tries to make the claim that renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels and should replace them imminently, leaving out the part where wind and solar are heavily subsidized by the government. Nor are they truly “zero carbon” or environmentally “friendly”, because there are still a lot of fossil fuels and other nasty chemicals used to create, transport, maintain, and replace wind turbines, solar panels, and biomass refineries. The author also treats nuclear power as clean, but fails to acknowledge the nuclear waste that is produced with some very long term problems associated. This willful ignorance of the complex issues around all energy production is almost as laughable as the quite serious proposition that most of us should replace our cars with golf carts.
Ultimately, I was looking for a book with more science and less folksy quips like “If doctors start suggesting that worried parents consider ditching their gas stoves to keep their kids from wheezing and missing school, the days of gas cooking will be numbered.” I was looking to learn about important scientific discoveries and companies with clout that could be supported to enact these discoveries. I wanted economically viable solutions presented, that both people and companies might actually enact (money talks). I suppose that if I had wanted that then I should have looked for a book written by a scientist or an economist or both, instead of one written by a journalist from Southern California. Unfortunately, this book was quite a disappointment all around, Total Garbage, if you will. Leave this one star on the shelf.
However, the book quickly devolves into a combination of scare tactics, “Think of it as pulling a credit card out of your wallet, chewing it, and swallowing it. All of it. Up to once a week, every week. Forever.” and incredibly inane advice, “Don’t accept plastic bags when you shop anywhere. That includes the little produce bags at the grocery store.” and “Use efficient LED light bulbs.”. If I bought the book then I don’t need to be scared into thinking that our waste is an issue and I don’t need you to tell me base level ways to minimize waste that I’m likely already doing.
Along with the limited insightfulness of the ideas in this book, the author also has a hard time organizing his thoughts. At one point, we are reading for 30 pages about how gas stoves are the enemy and induction stoves are the solution to cleaning up the earth, when suddenly there is a 3 page digression to how everyone should also use heat pumps. That’s pretty much how the whole book is written; mind-numbingly repetitive and unimaginative espousal of an idea with quick, loosely connected (at best) tangents thrown in.
I also find it amusing that the author slams the petroleum cabal that is actively seeking to kill us all because they are pushing fossil fuels as the form of energy we should all use, when the answer is clearly in switching to electricity. Then pray tell, sir, how you think electricity is produced? News flash - about 30% of our electricity in the US is produced through coal (very bad), and about 35% through natural gas (much less bad, but still a fossil fuel). Throw in the debatably environmentally acceptable energy production categories of nuclear (20%), and hydroelectric (6%), and you are left with a measly 9% of environmentally “friendly” biomass, wind and solar production. Like everyone who espouses how good everything electric is, they fail to acknowledge that electricity is predominantly produced by, you got it, fossil fuels.
The author also tries to make the claim that renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels and should replace them imminently, leaving out the part where wind and solar are heavily subsidized by the government. Nor are they truly “zero carbon” or environmentally “friendly”, because there are still a lot of fossil fuels and other nasty chemicals used to create, transport, maintain, and replace wind turbines, solar panels, and biomass refineries. The author also treats nuclear power as clean, but fails to acknowledge the nuclear waste that is produced with some very long term problems associated. This willful ignorance of the complex issues around all energy production is almost as laughable as the quite serious proposition that most of us should replace our cars with golf carts.
Ultimately, I was looking for a book with more science and less folksy quips like “If doctors start suggesting that worried parents consider ditching their gas stoves to keep their kids from wheezing and missing school, the days of gas cooking will be numbered.” I was looking to learn about important scientific discoveries and companies with clout that could be supported to enact these discoveries. I wanted economically viable solutions presented, that both people and companies might actually enact (money talks). I suppose that if I had wanted that then I should have looked for a book written by a scientist or an economist or both, instead of one written by a journalist from Southern California. Unfortunately, this book was quite a disappointment all around, Total Garbage, if you will. Leave this one star on the shelf.
January 24, 2025
Lots of interesting quotes to share in this ebook.
Internal Combustion Engines: “…20 out of 100 in terms of efficiency is a feature of …internal combustion (versus 90 percent efficiency for electric cars).”
Debris Tracker: NOAA created a smartphone app called Debris Tracker that covers rivers, lakes, and dry-land litter for citizens to report plastic debris.
Plastic Pollution: “…we are on track to double ocean plastic pollution by the year 2025 to 17.5 million tons a year.” [My comment: Compared to when, not sure.]
Recycling Plastics: “…recycling releases toxins and microplastics into the environment (as part of the process involves grinding up plastics, which releases large amounts of plastic dust).”
Trash: “…Americans’ daily trash production at 6.5 pounds. … we remain one of the trashiest societies on earth. And the single largest category – 28% of what we throw away – is containers and packaging…”
Reducing Plastic Trash: “…to avoid plastic containers: toothpaste tablets … bamboo toothbrushes … shampoo and conditioner bars … laundry detergent bars or sheets.”
Meat: “Every half-pound hamburger … carries emissions equivalent to driving a three-thousand-pound gasoline-powered car 10 miles.”
Vegan: “A vegan diet can cut food-related carbon emissions by nearly 60%.”
Eggs: “…eggs – the lowest climate footprint of all animal foods.”
Fashion: “The heat-trapping pollutants generated by fashion production currently total 1.2 billion tons a year – nearly 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.”
Toilet Paper: “…toilet paper made from virgin materials leads us to collectively flush the equivalent of 27,000 trees per day worldwide. Recycled content avoids that tree toll (so does bamboo-based toilet paper, as bamboo is a grass, not a tree, and grows fast).
Green Purchasing: “…online retailers that specialize in green retailing, such as Thrive Market (groceries), Pact (organic cotton fashion basics), Package Free (sustainable personal care items), or the “Amazon of sustainable shopping,” EarthHero.” More good sites: Buy Nothing at buynothingproject.org, litterless.com, and repaircafe.org.
Non-Toxic Cleaner: “Stabilized Aqueous ozone … is basically water with an extra oxygen atom. It’s a bit like hydrogen peroxide, disinfects and cleans all surfaces, then breaks down into regular water and oxygen.”
Induction Cooking: Cooking with induction is cheaper, faster, and more efficient. Instead of replacing your whole stove, you can purchase a “single countertop induction burner.” [My comment: an internet search revealed a countertop double burner for $65. I just might try it.]
Heat Pumps: “…a heat pump can cut utility costs and waste by up to half” (depending on what it replaces) “and its carbon emissions within the home are zero.”
Some of these I'm already doing, like laundry sheets and toothpaste tablets. And making my own hummus to reduce plastic. But I will be trying out more of these helpful ideas.
Recommended!
Internal Combustion Engines: “…20 out of 100 in terms of efficiency is a feature of …internal combustion (versus 90 percent efficiency for electric cars).”
Debris Tracker: NOAA created a smartphone app called Debris Tracker that covers rivers, lakes, and dry-land litter for citizens to report plastic debris.
Plastic Pollution: “…we are on track to double ocean plastic pollution by the year 2025 to 17.5 million tons a year.” [My comment: Compared to when, not sure.]
Recycling Plastics: “…recycling releases toxins and microplastics into the environment (as part of the process involves grinding up plastics, which releases large amounts of plastic dust).”
Trash: “…Americans’ daily trash production at 6.5 pounds. … we remain one of the trashiest societies on earth. And the single largest category – 28% of what we throw away – is containers and packaging…”
Reducing Plastic Trash: “…to avoid plastic containers: toothpaste tablets … bamboo toothbrushes … shampoo and conditioner bars … laundry detergent bars or sheets.”
Meat: “Every half-pound hamburger … carries emissions equivalent to driving a three-thousand-pound gasoline-powered car 10 miles.”
Vegan: “A vegan diet can cut food-related carbon emissions by nearly 60%.”
Eggs: “…eggs – the lowest climate footprint of all animal foods.”
Fashion: “The heat-trapping pollutants generated by fashion production currently total 1.2 billion tons a year – nearly 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.”
Toilet Paper: “…toilet paper made from virgin materials leads us to collectively flush the equivalent of 27,000 trees per day worldwide. Recycled content avoids that tree toll (so does bamboo-based toilet paper, as bamboo is a grass, not a tree, and grows fast).
Green Purchasing: “…online retailers that specialize in green retailing, such as Thrive Market (groceries), Pact (organic cotton fashion basics), Package Free (sustainable personal care items), or the “Amazon of sustainable shopping,” EarthHero.” More good sites: Buy Nothing at buynothingproject.org, litterless.com, and repaircafe.org.
Non-Toxic Cleaner: “Stabilized Aqueous ozone … is basically water with an extra oxygen atom. It’s a bit like hydrogen peroxide, disinfects and cleans all surfaces, then breaks down into regular water and oxygen.”
Induction Cooking: Cooking with induction is cheaper, faster, and more efficient. Instead of replacing your whole stove, you can purchase a “single countertop induction burner.” [My comment: an internet search revealed a countertop double burner for $65. I just might try it.]
Heat Pumps: “…a heat pump can cut utility costs and waste by up to half” (depending on what it replaces) “and its carbon emissions within the home are zero.”
Some of these I'm already doing, like laundry sheets and toothpaste tablets. And making my own hummus to reduce plastic. But I will be trying out more of these helpful ideas.
Recommended!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews