What started as a community idea for Earth Day has now grown into a multi-faceted project focused on reducing food waste and is explored in this webinar by Amy Rowe, Associate Professor/Count Agent affiliated with Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Essex and Passaic Counties in New Jersey. By following the journey of an apple from orchard to consumer, the webinar examines in detail where excessive water, energy, and fossil fuels are often wasted. With practical at-home tips such as understanding labeling, expiration dates, and composting, Amy’s informative webinar is a great place to learn more about how you can fight food waste.
TED Talk: The Trek Toward a Trash-Free Life
Everyone loves a TED Talk! Here is one of our favorites:
NYU Environmental Studies graduate Lauren Singer can fit the amount of trash she has produced over the past three years in one 16 oz mason jar. By taking a critical look at her own values and lifestyle (and by picking apart the contents of her garbage pail), Singer learned that living waste-free has improved her life and her community. Her blog has empowered millions of readers to produce less waste by refusing plastic packaging and single-use items, shopping package-free, and making their own products at home.
In this TedTalk, the author of Zero Waste Blog and founder of organic cleaning product company, The Simply Co., details her journey toward a waste-free lifestyle.
Webinar: City Planning: Is zero waste possible?
The rumbling sound of the garbage truck is ubiquitous in urban areas. The slamming and clanging, the soft backing-up beeps, the whiff of rotting refuse all seem to be a staple of city life. But what if the city produced no waste? Is a waste-free city even possible?
Nic Esposito, the former Zero Waste and Litter Director for the city of Philadelphia, sits down to discuss his plans to implement change and introduce zero waste practices.
Before assuming this important role, Esposito worked in city planning for years and comes from a farming background. “Farmers are the original zero-wasters,” he says. With that mindset, in 2016, Esposito formed an initiative to address not just the city’s waste management strategies, but to improve the city’s image of being dirty and litter-strewn. His vision aimed to simultaneously reduce waste and beautify the city.
But, is a city that produces zero waste a realistic possibility? Esposito details some of the financial, political, and strategic hurdles he’s faced as well as where the city is headed.
Other topics covered in this interview include an overview of Philadelphia's Zero Waste Plan, key aspects of taking a city on a zero waste journey, challenges faced by the former director, advice for municipalities creating similar plans, and how Esposito plans to stay on track to meet the program’s goals.