Tag Archives: waste

A Walk Around the Block

Posted on January 15, 2021 by smellincoffee

A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day (And Know Nothing About)© 2020 Spike Carlsen336 pages One of my favorite books to think back on is Scott Huler’s On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Rubbish!

Posted on December 18, 2019 by smellincoffee

Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage © 1992 William Rathje and Cullen Murphy 250 pages Given that historians often use the contents of middens to glean information about societies which have long faded away, it’s only fair to see what our … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Junkyard Planet

Posted on December 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion Dollar Trash Trade © 2013 Adam Minter 304 pages I once encountered a pair of supermarket clerks unloading cases of bottled water from their pallet jack to the shelves where the water awaits the … Continue reading →

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Tiny houses and zero waste

Posted on November 26, 2019 by smellincoffee

I’ve recently read two books which can be paired together nicely, so that’s what I’m doing.      Enter Tiny House Living and 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.      In the last few weeks I’ve been watching Tiny House Nation … Continue reading →

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Garbology

Posted on February 15, 2017 by smellincoffee

Garbology :Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash© 2012 Edward Humes288 pages Readers who are passionate about garbage — a description which includes sanitation workers, victims of SimCity, and ecologists, I assume — will find no shortage of books on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Big Necessity

Posted on January 21, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Big Necessity: the Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters© 2008, 2014 Rose George238 pages In its initial publication, The Big Necessity may have been an eye-opening look into how many human beings still suffer for want … Continue reading →

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The Works

Posted on November 25, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Works: Anatomy of a City© 2005  Kate Ascher240 pages Cities are, for my money, mankind’s most astonishing invention. Their complexity is stupefying — system within system, handling tons of material at any given time, whether the subject is cars … Continue reading →

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On the Grid

Posted on May 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

On the Grid: A Plot of Land, an Average Neighborhood, and the Systems That Make Our World Work© 2010 Scott Huler256 pages If modern humans have retained a penchant for magical thinking, little wonder. Our homes accomplish marvels seemingly by the … Continue reading →

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Picking Up

Posted on January 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City© 2014 Robin Nagle304 pages When young Robin Nagle stumbled upon a communal dumpsite in the middle of an otherwise picturesque meadow, she was … Continue reading →

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Garbage Land

Posted on May 16, 2013 by smellincoffee

Garbage Land: on the Secret Trail of Trash© 2006 Elizabeth Royte335 pages Where does the garbage go? In an impressive attempt to answer that most pressing question of modern life, Elizabeth Royte spends a year following her trash to landfills, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments