GARBOLOGY

Our Dirty LoveAffair With Trash

Edward Humes

Avery  Books/Penguin  USA

Reading  Group  Guide  

1.  What  surprised  you  most  in  reading  Garbology  and  how  does  that  connect  with  your  life?

2.  What  could  people  learn  about  you  from  your  trash?

3.  When  people  talk  about  trash  solutions,  most  focus  on  recycling.  But  Bea  Johnson,  of  the  Zero  Waste  Home  blog,  focuses  on  “refusing”  –  as  in  refusing  to  let  plastic,  party  favors  and  excess  packaging  in  her  home  in  the  Nirst  place.  What  do  you  think  about  this  idea?

4.  Author  Edward  Humes  reveals  that  our  nation’s  biggest  export  is  our  trash,    and  that  our  waste  is  far  greater  than  many  government  and  industry  experts  realize  -­‐-­‐  102  tons  per  person  in  a  lifetime.  Can  you  think  of  better  solutions  than  building  Garbage  Mountains  like  the  one  described  at  the  start  of  the  book?

5.  Garbology  details  the  growing  problem  of  plastic  ocean  pollution  as  a  threat  to  sea  life  and  our  food  supply.  Responses  include  community  beach  cleanups  and  plastic  bag  bans  in  a  growing  number  of  cities.  What  more  should  we  do?

6.  Kim  Masoner,  founder  of  Save  Our  Beach  in  Seal  Beach,  Calif.,  crochets  plastic  bags  into  bedrolls  for  the  homeless.  San  Francisco’s  dump  has  3  resident  artists  making  trash  into  art.  What  are  your  ideas  for  turning  trash  into  treasure?

7.  Andy  Keller,  founder  of  Chico  Bags,  calls  plastic  bags  “the  gateway  drug”  to  wastefulness.    What’s  your  relationship  with  plastic  and  disposable  plastic  bags?

8.  Could  you  (do  you)  get  by  without  plastic  bags?  Other  disposables?

9.  What  are  people  doing  in  your  community  to  reduce  waste?  Does  your  town  offer  guidelines  for  recycling?    Collect  green  waste  separately?  Encourage  composting?  

10.  It  may  not  be  possible  to  live  truly  waste-­‐free.  But  we  all  can  do  better  -­‐-­‐  and  save  a  boatload  of  money  -­‐-­‐  if  we  make  it  a  priority  to  gradually  change  wasteful  habits.  What  simple,  practical  habits  can  you  change  in  your  home  that  would  reduce  your  102-­‐ton  garbage  footprint?

Edward  Humes  is  the  Pulitzer  Prize-­‐winning  author  of  twelve  nonNiction  books,  including  No  Matter  How  Loud  I  Shout:  A  Year  in  the  Life  of  Juvenile  Court;    Monkey  Girl;    Eco  Barons;    and  Force  of  Nature:  The  Unlikely  Story  of  Wal-­‐Mart’s  Green  Revolution.    

For  more  on  Ed’s  work,  or  to  arrange  a  live  book  club  chat  via  Skype,  please  visit  his  website,  www.EdwardHumes.com,  or  email  shout@edwardhumes.com.