Garbology

Garbology Links

Radio Interview: Garbology on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, National Public Radio, April 26, 2012. 

Article: "Earth Day Analysis: How Waste Hurts the Economy," by Edward Humes, Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2012.

TV Interview: "Turning Trash to Treasure," CNN - The Road to Rio, April 19, 2012.

Article, Slideshow, Video: "Inside America's Largest Landfill," CNN, April 26, 2012.

Slate, The Afterword, with June Thomas: America's Love Affair with Garbage, May 24, 2012.

AOL TV: You've Got.... 90 seconds on Garbology, June 2012.


Review: "The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist has written an eye-opening account... He picks through our refuse like a kind of social anthropologist to see what our garbage reveals about our culture and its values. Yet Humes’ book is not just a depressing tale of thoughtless waste and overconsumption. He ends on a hopeful note, leaving the reader with positive examples and reasonable alternatives... Humes lards Garbology with telling graphs and stunning statistics. But the most compelling parts involve the cast of colorful characters he meets along the way." Boston Globe, April 19, 2012.

Article: "Grappling with a Garbage Glut," by Edward Humes. Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2012.

Article: "Garbage: A Costly American Addiction," by Edward Humes. Forbes, April 13, 2012.

Review: "Edward Humes Enjoys Digging Through Rubbish," Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2012.

Review: "Pulitzer Prize and Pen Award winner Humes turns his impressive investigative skills to the subject of the economic and environmental consequences of America’s waste crisis… But Humes also showcases some ecoenterprises that creatively repurpose refuse. Recology converts restaurant food waste into compost for California vineyards, and TerraCycle uses earthworms to convert university dining hall waste into fertilizer. There are even garbage dump artists who fashion works of art from trash.
"Verdict: This is a horrifying, well-documented, and fascinating study of how profligate waste became a normal part of American consumer behavior and what it’s going to take for our society to shift from a disposable economy to a reusable one… This should be a 'One Book' reading selection in every American community." - Cynthia Knight, Library Journal, April 26, 2012.

Radio Interview: "The Trail of Trash," The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC (NPR New York), April 26, 2012.

Review: "American Garbology 101," Village Voice, April 27, 2012.

Radio Interview: "Garbology: A Look at America's Trash," Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, WHYY (NPR Philadelphia), April 26, 2012.

Radio Interview: "Following our Garbage," Minnesota Public Radio, May 18, 2012.

Radio Interview: "Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash," New Hampshire Public Radio, August 20, 2012.

Article: "Trash Talk with a Consumerist Message," Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2012.

Book Review: "Garbology is his (Humes') attempt to make sense of our historically unprecedented readiness to throw things away... Food for thought, and more." The Economist, April 14, 2012.

Review: "Garbology Startles with Statistics and Stories About Trash," San Jose Mercury News, April 26, 2012.

Review, Q&A: "America's Obsession with Shopping Is Doing a Number on Mother Nature," Business Insider, April 18, 2012.

Article: "Difference Engine: Taking Trash," the Babbage Science & Tech Blog, The Economist.com, April 28, 2012.

Review, Q&A: "Going Green is Frugal and Fab," Natalie P. McNeal, TheFrugalista, April 18, 2012.

Book Excerpt and Short Essay: "Edward Humes's Garbology," The Page 99 Test, April 28, 2012.

Review: "Living with L.A.'s Mountain of Garbage," LA Observed, April 17, 2012. Writes Kevin Roderick: "Investigative author Edward Humes has been on a roll of books in recent years, about Wal-Mart, enviro activism, the south, evolution poliitics. His newest, Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash, warms my wonkish heart."

Review: "Eye-opening... The author takes a sober look at a very serious threat to our world, but he does so in an extremely inviting style." BlogCritics, April 17, 2012.

Book Review: "Humes' take on the science and culture of 'garbology' is both academic and deeply personal, making this a fascinating read." Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2012.

Q&A: Author interview on Garbology.

Book Review: "Compelling... A persuasive and sometimes astonishing indictment of an economy that's  become inextricably linked to the increasing consumption of cheap, disposable stuff -- ultimately to our own economic, political and, yes, environmental peril." Book Forum, April/May 2012 (print only).

Book Review: "Zestful in his curiosity and irrepressible in his vivid chronicling, Humes takes us on a garbage tour, beginning with a hoarders’ home, where an elderly couple were trapped and nearly killed by accumulated trash, and moving on to Puentes Hills, where a monumental Southern California landfill has become a garbage mountain. As Humes describes the complex and constant operations there, he swings into a fascinating history of trash, from ancient Athens and the first municipal dump to the “legendary filth” of nineteenth-century New York City to the crux of today’s challenges, the “plasticization of America.” The plague of plastic bags and bottles and mindless, credit-card-fueled consumerism has many dire consequences, the worst of which is the trashing of the oceans, which have become poisonous “plastic chowder.” Then there arethe toxic politics and big business of garbage. But Humes finds hope in the innovative work of dedicated garbologists, trash trackers, and activists who are intent on exposing the hazards and travesties of excessive trash and pointing the way to the “low-waste path.” — Donna Seaman, in a starred review, Booklist, March 15, 2012.

Seaman recommends Garbology for General Interest readers and Young Adults, too: "Eco-minded and scientifically inclined teens will find Humes’ chronicle compelling."

Book Review: "Surprising, even shocking" and "an important addition to the environmentalist bookshelf." Kirkus, March 1, 2012

Book Review: "Humes, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist whose 11 nonfiction titles range in coverage from Wal-Mart to juvenile court to the GI Bill, here takes on…garbage? In fact, there’s a whole science to how we get rid of stuff we don’t want and a whole bunch of cultish folks fascinated with the process. Sure this could get readers; think of all those Mary Roach fans." Library Journal

Article: "Garbage In, Garbage Out: Time to recycle the trash bible," Sierra Magazine, article adapted from Garbology, by Edward Humes, March/April 2012

Mention: From The Why Files, on Garbage, Lipstick & Flatscreens - "'Garbage tells us about more than just economics,' Humes adds. 'It’s a little scary, one of our greatest exports is trash. We used to make things, and now we make trash.'”