"Total Garbage" explained with Edward Humes

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When a topic really grabs Edward Hume's interest, it has
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a good chance of becoming a book, a very good book.
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Starting on the mean streets of juvenile court to the
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battlefields of evolution, Humes.
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Has fearlessly tackled it all, earning accolades and starting controversy
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along the way. Trash and our environment is a repeat topic.
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From the plastic bottles we toss without a second thought
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to the mountains of electronic waste piling up and forgotten corners,
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Hume shines a light on the environmental catastrophe lurking in
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our own backyards. His new book, Total Garbage offers a
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comprehensive and actionable roadmap for individuals, businesses, and policymakers to
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rethink our relationship with waste and work towards a more
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sustainable future. Longtime friend Rob Curly leads Tonight's conversation. Please
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welcome back Edward Humes to the Northwest Passages Stage.
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Oh my good, pick the d Thank you.
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It's so good to have you back. And we love
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to send you places where you're gonna get kicked out.
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It just never gets old, I know, right, So this
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is a repeat story for you. Really, you've written so
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many great books for seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, yeah, seventeen, I
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guess all right, and this is a fall up to
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garbology and next week is the subtitle is the best
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part Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash.
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I mean, go ahead. It's always about the dirty love
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with you.
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So so sorry about that, just flipped down, So earth Daddy,
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This is the perfect time for this to come out.
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And when I think about all of these things and
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and I just everything in my mind comes back to
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community news. And we both love newspapers. I love putting
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this one out. I put you in there a lot.
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We should get new photos of you. So, so, what
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got you into journalism? I mean, you've had you've had
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this a great career when a Pulitzer.
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What made you want to be a journalist? Well, you know,
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I was thinking about that.
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I think I must have started writing stories when I
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was five or six, usually with a crayon, because I
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illustrated back then.
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But when I was in school, in college, I took
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this course.
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And I learned about the muckbreakers of the early twentieth century,
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these journalists who were exposing all kinds of problems I'm
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wrongdoing and they had huge impact and they really helped
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their communities over the country deal with it and by
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telling the story.
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And I said, who, we don't want to do that
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for a living.
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So I actually I started working at part time at
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the couple of little newspapers near the college I was
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at in Massachusetts. It's called a stringer when you do that,
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and I'm not sure what the origin of that term is,
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but it's kind of maybe it's because they you know,
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you have.
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To live on a shoe string with the amount of
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money they pay you. And I actually got.
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My first front page expose a in the Amherst Record
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twice a week, you know, a little community newspaper.
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And but I, you know, I had the bug. It's
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I've been doing it ever since. Yeah, and I love it.
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This is all I've ever wanted to do since I
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was in the third grade.
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I've had no luck with women since I was e
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love it. Oh.
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Actually, I wanted to be the next Jacques Cousteau and
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I was, you know, in third grade because there's national
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geographic specials.
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I grew up in just the kind of cup.
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I have been asked, why do you care so much
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about local news? And I tell people the newspaper I
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grew up reading. We put on the front page who
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visited who at the nursing home.
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I thought that's what news was, so so I just
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love that.
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So this is one of the big funny takeaways in
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the book. We how I mean, I love Red Bull,
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but I don't drink a lot of plastic.
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No, or at least we don't think we do.
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I mean, I guess I did want to start the
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book with kind of a wake up call and the
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problem with plastics as they're getting into everything, and.
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I hear all the time, we need plastic.
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It's important, it's we couldn't have a whole lot of
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things that we love without it.
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And I say, that's true.
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But plastic was invented over one hundred years ago to
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make durable things, to make beautiful things, to make useful
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things that last, because plastic kind of lasts forever. It's
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the first mass produced synthetic substance.
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It's made.
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It's a fossil fuel product. Nature can't digest it, decompose it.
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None of the things that break down natural substances work
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with plastic.
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That's its beauty.
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Why in the world would you make something disposable out
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of something that lasts for five hundred years in the environment.
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That's the crazy part, is the disposable plastics.
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And they are in everything. It's in our air, it's
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in our water, it's in our beer. You can go
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to a pristine environment covered in snow and if you
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melt the snow and drink it, you will be getting
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plastic particles in it. We have done what nobody thought
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was possible. We have changed our environment by something that
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we make and set loose in the environment.
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And the data that was.
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Developed by the World the Wildlife Fund suggests we're eating
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up to a plastic card a week of plastic particles,
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often too small to see or barely visible, and it
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gets through our filters, it gets out into the world,
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and it gets into us, and.
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We are participating in a giant lab experiment.
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What's going to happen when we have plastic as a staple.
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Of our diet and nothing good.
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Sometimes in newspapers, when you recognize immediately the topic is
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you call that the lead.
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So did you know that you were going to open
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the book the way you opened it? Because it's the
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lead I wanted so I wanted to.
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Write a book about the larger world of waste, not
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just what we throw away, which is what the first
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one Garbiology was about. All My idea was that we're
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only aware, dimly aware of that part of our waste
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and where it goes and where it ends up.
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But what about the other.
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Waste embedded in our daily lives, in our energy and
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our and how we heat our homes and how.
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We cook with our clothes, our food. Waste is often
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the charge.
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Forty percent of our food and all the effort and
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energy and water and fertilizer and everything else.
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That goes into it is waste.
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What does that do to us? What does it cost us?
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And what can we do about it? I didn't want
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a doom scroll. I wanted to find communities and neighborhoods
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and individuals who had solutions, real solutions that didn't wait
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for Silicon Valley or or Elon Musk to.
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Solve for us, but that we already knew how to do.
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Because if you talk about waste as the big source
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of our problems, it's a big tent. Everybody knows waste
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is no good. It's bad, it's a it's a cost,
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it's a loss, and it brings people into a different conversation.
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About what's happening to our environment.
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I think, yeah, so that the three rs have uh were.
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Reduced, reuse, recycle.
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Now what are the news and what are the new
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eight rs?
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Yeah?
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Yeah, up there, So I added a couple all right,
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walk us through these.
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Well you can also look right here the most important
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Oh thank you, oh oh there is yeah smart. Yeah,
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I rethink is a kind of the key because if
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waste is much bigger than what we throw away, we
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need we need to think about it differently. We need
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to see it because it's embedded in everything and and
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it's also fixable in everything. Sort of the key takeaway
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for me was talking to people who have are solving
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the waste and transportation piece of it, who are helping
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turn wasted resources into food for in food deserts.
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They just look at the world differently.
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They and they see the opportunities that await if.
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If we just are open to them. And that was
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my you know, I don't I don't have the solutions.
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I went out and found people who do, and I
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tell their stories, and that I left feeling much more
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hopeful about our future and the possibility of turning a
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lot of things around that that the doom scroll kind.
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Of is convincing us. Our hope was, I don't think
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we're hopeless, and I don't think we're helpless.
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So we've already craiked list and Angie's list. Owen's list
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is new to me. Tell us this story behind it.
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I love so.
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This is one of the earliest solutions stories you read
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about in Total Barbaige. If you read it, it's Owen
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is a seven year old who came home from school
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one day where they had had a lesson in recycling.
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There's Owen back then. This is a while ago, and
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that's his dad.
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Ryan Metzger, And he said, Dad, we got all these
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batteries in the drawer, you know, in this bag. What
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are we going to do with these? How do they
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get recycled? And you know, Ryan says.
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I don't know. Let's find out. So they make some
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calls and found a place in.
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Seattle where they lived that took batteries and actually recycled them,
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didn't send them to the dump or you know.
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A lot of people are not sure what to do.
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With them, so they end up in the trash and
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while they were leaving the.
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House, with their bag of batteries, they said.
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He asked the neighbors if they had anything they wanted
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to take, and they said, yeah, we have a bunch
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of batteries who don't know what to do with either,
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So that they drove over there. Owen was so happy
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when they got it to a place where it would
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be recycled that they decided to make it a weekend
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father son project and every week they do something different
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styrofoam or film, plastic film, stuff that they specifically say
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don't put into recycling bind but they don't tell you
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what to do with it, right, So they were doing
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this and pretty soon it expanded to the whole neighborhood,
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and then it was all the Queen Anne section of Seattle,
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and then it was West Seattle, and they had a
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whole email list. So this week, we're picking up old
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Christmas lights and I found a place that'll take them.
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And people started offering him money and saying, you know,
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we really appreciate.
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This, and you know, he said, well, no, I don't
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want to do that. Why did you start a business?
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You know, I'd pay for this, I'd subscribe, And so
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ultimately he and a couple of his early Owen's List
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members said let's start a social impact company and they
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called it Ridwell and that was their model. They would
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recycle the stuff that everybody said couldn't be recycled and
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find a place and be transparent about it. Wouldn't be
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the black hole that we have when we throw something away.
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You'd know exactly what happened to your stuff. He's in
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eight states now and cities, Los Angeles, Atlanta, all over
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the place, and of course Seattle, which is the headquarters,
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and it's actually growing. People are willing to pay fifteen
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dollars a month to have this taken care of him.
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A success for him is getting maybe twenty percent of
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a zip code to say yeah, I'll do this, and
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he's getting that in a lot of communities where you
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might not expect it, and it's transformative. Everything from used
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eyeglasses that he found a nonprofits who distribute.
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Them to the unhomed who are in need of them.
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And other products that have new life, or things that
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are remanufactured, you know, plastic bags and plastic film. No
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matter where you throw them away, they don't get recycled.
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They're not recyclable. They're theoretically recyclable, but they aren't because
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it's too expensive where there's no use for it, for
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it where it tangles the recycling machinery that does other stuff.
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He found a company called Treks that makes outdoor products
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like decking, and it's kind of looks like wood, but
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it lasts forever and it's like a vault that locks
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up this plastic that.
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Otherwise get in the environment.
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It's actually quite a nice product and they'll take as
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much as he can provide them because his stuff is
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clean that it's like materials have to be cleaned to.
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Be of any value.
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Any contamination, food or whatever renders it useless. So he
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makes sure that the material finds that kind of home
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and it's something the regular recycling infrastructure has never been
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able to do.
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He found a way to do it.
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I love that it connects the dots. So from a
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father and son project, So thank you, Owen.
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Yeah, look at that there is. Yeah he's a cute.
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Teenager now, but he was a really cute seven year old.
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So how did we as a culture generate all this trash?
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Four hundred million tons a year.
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Well, that's how much plastic waste, not just trash. That's
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how much plastic waste worldwide. In America is even though
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we're not the largest country in population, we use a
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lot of disposable plastics. We are, we're number one and
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throwing that stuff away. And you know, in the nineteen sixties,
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the average Americans trash had you know how much plastic,
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average American trash had.
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Zero in it. You know, it was a rounding era.
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And now it's the biggest component of our waste in volume,
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and it's getting up there in weight as well. And
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it's we've been normalized into disposability. We have a disposable
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economy now that didn't exist before, but now we seem
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to think it's necessary. And that's part of the rethink.
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There's not a single disposable plastic item that you can't
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have an alternative too that is not as dreadfully bad.
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For the environment.
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And it's really not that hard, but it's so ever
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present that it's hard to see anything other than that's
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just the way it is.
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Did you see the poll we did with the with
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the audience before, because this is clearly the well behaved people.
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Yeah, I saw a lot of thrifters out there, So yay,
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that's like one of the best things you could do
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for the environment and your pocket book.
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So nice.
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So how did trash become America's number one export?
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Well, that was the garbology story, because that was our
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fake recycling. You put anything you put in the recycling
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bin that was plastic or paper, fifty percent of it
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would actually be loaded onto container ships because a lot
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of full containers come to us from other parts of
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the world and the empty ones go back. So one
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of the number one things we were putting in those
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empty containers was our trash, and China would take it
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and remake it into other products, which sounds like recycling,
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but in fact the conditions and this is back a
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few years, were dreadful. The plastics went to an uncertain fate.
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Much of them ended up just being boost into the environment,
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so our what we thought was being recycled was actually
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becoming plastic pollution. But in twenty eighteen, China said, no, Mas,
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we do not want that plastic anymore.
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We have enough of our own, thank you.
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And we've been warning you for years, We're going to
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stop paying to be your trash compactor. And that was
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cut up, finally cut off. We were not prepared for that,
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despite the warnings. Our recycling systems crashed everywhere because suddenly
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an income stream because they paid quite generously for this
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for stuff nobody else wanted.
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Suddenly we're having to pay a lot to have.
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It recycled, and a lot of towns around America couldn't
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do it, so they stopped recycling.
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And we're still trying to recover that.
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Because the pandemic followed a year later and all the
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supply chains were disrupted that we're still intact. So we
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are now recycling less than we did before the pandemic.
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Because of this change, we let our infrastructure deteriorate that
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had existed earlier in the seventies and eighties for recycling,
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and it's only slowly being restored.
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One of your gifts is finding great people to talk to,
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and you found a number of fantastic people, but almost
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characters are so so great. Tell us a little bit
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about doctor Jennet Jamback, also known as the trash Genius.
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The trash Genius, well, she is literally a MacArthur genius
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and her grant you're familiar with the MacArthur Award Fellowship awards.
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It's an eight hundred thousand dollars grant to spend however
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you wish, and her wish is to continue her work
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researching plastic pollution.
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She is the world's foremost expert.
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She had the study to quantified how much was it
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going into our oceans, and she found it was between
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ten years ago, between eight and twelve million tons of
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plastic was entering our waterways and getting into basically into
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our food chain a year worldwide, and that since doubled
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in the last ten years at least. So it's a
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horrifying statistic that no one quite expected to be as
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high as it was. And she gained a lot of
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She gained a platform from that work. She became a
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UN ambassador and also for the State Department, traveling the
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world helping communities deal with their plastic pollution problems. And
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it's fascinating to see what she does.
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She does a field study of.
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Where the plastic's coming from and then helps communities tail
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or a solution to.
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Try and slow the flow.
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And I went on her field study in Tifton, Georgia, uh,
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and I'll never look at a supermarket the same way.
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She warned me, people cry when you go shopping with me.
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And I didn't cry, but I did feel like, how
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did I not see this before? I'll never forget the
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rice aisle and you know, and there's this in a
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in a you know, Walmart supercenter has its kind of
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a giant grocery store within the larger store. And we
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were in the rice aisle there and she's I challenge
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you to find the healthiest and the most sustainable packaging
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for rice there, and all the healthiest products, all these
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fine organic rice were in utterly unrecyclable containers and the
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only recyclable material was the cardboard box that the least
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healthy product there was rice a roni, you know, the
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most chemicals, the most salt, the most heart attack in
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the box that I could recycle.
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Uh.
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And it was It was crazy because there was maybe
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four five core products on this aisle, but there was
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eighteen different kinds of packaging.
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Most of it couldn't be recycled. They were, they were.
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And the revelation is they weren't selling us the rice.
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They were selling us the packaging because that was the
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only differentiator, and it makes it utterly unrecyclable.
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Yeah, a product that back in the day was sold
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in bulk. You know, you got a sack of it
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THO would be.
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00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:25.079
So you tell a story in here that very much
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affected me when I was a kid, So my parents would.
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So if you know this, I can be a little
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bit of a crier, like a good Hallmark commercial will
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bring me down, but this thing would would wreck me
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when I was a kid.
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And some people have a deep abiding respect for the natural.
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Beauty that was once this country, and.
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Some people don't. People start pollution, people can stop it
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right for pollution, Booklet Bucks, seventeen seventy one, Radio City Station,
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New York.
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So your book points out that this wasn't everything that
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00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:48.599
we thought it was. Tell us about iron O eyes, Cody,
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00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:49.680
ironized Cody.
379
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.079
Yeah, the Italian, Yes he was not.
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He was not of Native American ancestry, nor were his
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close authentic, and nor was the pollution. It was carefully
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curated to avoid identifying anything to these sponsors and funders
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of Keep America Beautiful, which was the packaging and beverage
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companies who were causing the pollution in the first place.
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This was an incredible call to arms in the minds
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of many viewers. You could still see comments going up
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on YouTube where this video lives on and eternally saying
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this is the most powerful environmental message ever.
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It really moved me to do better, and.
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It was in truth, the most successful greenwashing in history,
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because the entire purpose of this advertising campaign, which went
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on for years, was to convince us that pollution, and
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particularly packaging pollution that you saw in that picture was
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our fault. And it was a successful bulwark against laws
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over a thousand pieces of ledge ination sponsored in the
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early seventies to require beverage and deposit container systems to
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be maintained rather than abandoned in favor of disposable packaging,
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because without any notice to the public that the beverage
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industry had switched business models from one where they were
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responsible for their packaging and they wanted it back and.
401
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.480
They reused it. That was Coca Cola, for instance.
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00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:33.440
Entire business model was to have plants that were both
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00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:38.400
reception and cleaning and rebotteling systems. A single glass bottle
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00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:40.319
could be used up to fifty times that way, and
405
00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:42.839
it would be ground up and re manufactured into.
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Another glass bottle. Now, suddenly all that.
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00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:48.720
Expense could be made to go away by sending out
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no deposit bottles that we're not going to take back
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and nobody really considered what the consequences of that would be.
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And when it became apparent that it was the kind
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of you were seeing in this picture, legislatures and the
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00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:08.319
US Congress tried to say, hey, you need to be
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responsible for this mess you're creating, and they successfully beat
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it back because hey, it's consumer's fault. People make pollution,
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people can stop it. That was a very sellable, actionable
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message that seemed to make sense.
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But as we know, we haven't been able to stop.
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Pollution because the ultimate cause is a product that can't
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be dealt with.
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By any means known to science.
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You know, we recycle six percent of our plastics in
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this country, notwithstanding them all being stamped with those chasing arrows.
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This is one of the reasons why this that model
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and succeeded, and the and the legislation failed until now
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the good that's.
426
00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.480
So there's there is hope. Do you want to talk
427
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about the producer responsibility here?
428
00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:59.799
So one of the there was a woman in Maine,
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00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.680
single mom named Sarah Nichols. You worked for an environmental nonprofit,
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00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:10.440
the Natural Resources Council of main and.
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Every time she saw that ad, she got pissed off
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and she said, you know, this is just not right.
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I make my kids clean up my room, clean up
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their room when they make a mess, and yet these
435
00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:20.079
guys are making a mess of.
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All our rooms, all our natural rooms and spaces, and
437
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.319
they don't have to clean up. And that's not right.
438
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.559
That's not capitalism right, And capitalism you get your profits,
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00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:30.680
but you bear your costs.
440
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.000
We're subsidizing that. We have to pay for the.
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Recycling that's not working, and the landfilling and everything else.
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00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.880
And so she worked eight years retail politics, go out
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to town councils and Rubbert Chicken dinners with the with
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the rotary and every place else where she could talk
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this idea up, and finally a bill was introduced in
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the main legislature which he had basically written, requiring any
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companies that sell bottled and packaged material in Maine or
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products and claim they were recycled, they had to recyclable,
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had to make sure they were recycled or they couldn't
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sell them in Maine, and they had to be If
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00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.640
they didn't do it, they had to pay a hefty
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cost for that, which would be administered by the State
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Stewardship Council, and they opposed it.
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But Sarah won.
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She sold this idea because it makes sense polluters should pay,
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not taxpayers and consumers, and they like that. In main
457
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the same wall has been picked up in eighteen other.
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States so far. I was about to ask, and it's changing.
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It's a game changer because if a producer, a beverage company,
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a big brand is responsible for dealing with the consequences
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of their wasteful product, it's a big incentive to rethink
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00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:57.759
their packaging to either make the material more packaging, more.
463
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Recyclable, or to try, I don't know, reusables.
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00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:06.079
That was the mainstay of the industry for seventy five
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years before they decided to change it. So it's promising
466
00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:16.640
still emerging legislation because they're doing the rule making now
467
00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:19.079
and putting everything into place. But we'll see what happens.
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00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.759
I think it's going to change things for the better.
469
00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:25.480
What you've been to spoken several times, and you get
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to hang around.
471
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A munch of places yesterday.
472
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What can Spokane and it's people do to be more
473
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:33.559
proactive in this in this battle?
474
00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:38.079
Well, there's a lot of things you can do short
475
00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.759
of like getting the legislature to change things.
476
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:48.720
Although Washington's working on and I think you that was dramatic.
477
00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:50.359
Yeah that was you.
478
00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:54.440
So you know, if you if you're a sona lover. See,
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00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:56.559
I don't say give up anything in this book. I
480
00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:59.079
don't believe in bands. I don't think they work. They
481
00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:00.000
just upset people.
482
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:01.799
But there's other options.
483
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.799
You love soda, buy it in a can, buy it
484
00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.400
in glass, get us get into soda stream and make
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your own family.
486
00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:08.599
It's a lot cheaper that way. You know.
487
00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:12.440
I'm not a soda drinker, but I look for packaging
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that's basically infinitely, infinitely recyclable, which would be an aluminum
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00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:20.839
can or a glass bottle. Now that doesn't always happen,
490
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:23.359
but it's more likely to happen that it gets recycled
491
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:26.799
than a plastic bottle, which is more likely not to
492
00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:27.519
be recycled.
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00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.079
So I want to switch over here too. Let's see
494
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.279
that the the the.
495
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.359
I mean, I'm from Kansas and I only lived in
496
00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:39.960
California for five years, but this is the most California
497
00:27:39.960 --> 00:27:41.039
thing I've ever heard someone say.
498
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:41.240
Ever.
499
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.640
Well, you know, we all used to eat our yards,
500
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:49.759
not that long ago, you know.
501
00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:54.319
Is not that kind Yeah?
502
00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:57.799
No, so the you know, grass lawns are a relatively
503
00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.400
new phenomena except for the very rich, you know, and
504
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.480
because that was valuable labor and resources. You know, world
505
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:10.000
War two, they had something called the Victory gardens. And
506
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:11.839
it wasn't to celebrate the victory of World War two,
507
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:12.839
was to have.
508
00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:14.000
Food during the war.
509
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.079
Here in a matter of forty percent of our produce
510
00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.160
came from people's yards.
511
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:21.839
It was. It was it went from very little to
512
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:23.000
a lot in a harry.
513
00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:25.640
And that was meaningful because people had fresh food that
514
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:30.000
they otherwise wouldn't have had without it. And that was
515
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:36.559
a victory. And that generation still maintained that in a
516
00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.839
lot of their little patches of grass in big cities
517
00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:41.440
and rural areas.
518
00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:43.640
But it's kind of gone away. It's coming back a
519
00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:44.279
little bit now.
520
00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.440
But I ran to this guy for the I wrote
521
00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.200
about in the book, Jamia Hargins, and he he was
522
00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:55.359
a financier and he left that world and he came
523
00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:58.160
back to his roots in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles
524
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.799
and he started a nonprofitable crop swap la and his
525
00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:06.039
idea was, there's no easy access in.
526
00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:10.079
My old neighborhood for fresh produce, for fresh food.
527
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:13.240
The thing that doesn't stuff that doesn't come in highly processed,
528
00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:16.759
highly plastic packaged form, and.
529
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:17.880
I want to do something about that.
530
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.640
He had this idea he could turn a relatively small
531
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:25.240
lawn into a microfarm, an urban microfarm, and he got
532
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:29.200
some grants to support an experiment. He took a thousand
533
00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:34.960
square foot of grass as his demonstration, a his beta test,
534
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:40.799
and he converted it to this regenerative, solar powered water
535
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:46.160
conserving microfarm that could feed twenty five families a week
536
00:29:46.359 --> 00:29:49.519
fresh fruit and vegetables from a thousand square feet of
537
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:52.640
grass and use eight percent of the water that the
538
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:57.839
grass was consuming time before all this crazy rain, and
539
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:00.480
you know, Los Angeles wanted to pay people to stop
540
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:03.519
watering their lawn. So it was God send, and it
541
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.079
was they're beautiful. You think, oh, it's a vegetable garden
542
00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:08.000
where my beautiful grass was.
543
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:09.039
They're gorgeous.
544
00:30:09.079 --> 00:30:12.559
They'd smell good, they don't you know they people would
545
00:30:12.599 --> 00:30:13.799
stop and say wow.
546
00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:16.720
They'd actually stop their cars on the street and what
547
00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:18.319
is that? How can I get one?
548
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.240
So he's now got a bunch of these going. He's
549
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:26.559
got he goes to schools and is teaching them how
550
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:29.319
to build these same micro farms on campus.
551
00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:30.359
It's tremendous.
552
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:35.599
And and now he's harvesting fruit from untended fruit trees
553
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:37.480
around Los Angeles because they're.
554
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:39.400
All over the place and a lot of.
555
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:43.839
Rental properties have these old legacy fruit trees.
556
00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:46.119
And it's just nobody has time to take care of them.
557
00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.200
And says, well, I'll harvest it and take care of
558
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:49.759
your trees. My cruise will come by.
559
00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:51.680
We'll leave some of it with you, and the rest
560
00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:56.000
will distribute where it's needed. The game on it's it's
561
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:57.519
just a new way of looking so.
562
00:30:57.559 --> 00:30:59.480
And it's motto is why mot your yard when you
563
00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:00.359
can eat your yard?
564
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:03.599
And the other piece of it we were talking about
565
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:05.920
this before, I think is the nutritional aspect.
566
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:07.200
Oh I love this.
567
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:11.839
So the tomato part. All vegetables, but tomatoes are a
568
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:13.759
good one. Yeah, so so.
569
00:31:15.480 --> 00:31:18.160
Industrial grown tomatoes.
570
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:23.440
The only thing they have more of, the one thing
571
00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:26.920
we don't need. They seventy.
572
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.839
Times more that's right, salt than tomatoes that you would
573
00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:37.240
grow in your backyard, or that tomatoes look like in
574
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.720
the nineteen fifties, you know those tomatoes you get out.
575
00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:41.799
The supermarket, right, does everybody love them?
576
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:45.720
I mean they that their only virtue is that their shipability.
577
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.079
That's what they're bred for. Well, the stuff that makes
578
00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:53.640
fruit delicious and fragile is the nutritious part. You know,
579
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:54.640
you're taking all that.
580
00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:58.640
Good stuff out and leaving something that kind of looks
581
00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:00.480
perfect but is less than perfect.
582
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.640
Is food. So he's so he grows.
583
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.680
In a regenerative fashion, which is a new thing in
584
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:09.839
agriculture that's kind of taken off. It's where you build
585
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:13.440
soil health and then the networks of organisms under the
586
00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:18.680
soil that conventional fertilizers ammonia generally kills. That's one of
587
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:22.079
the reasons why industrial food is not so nutritious. So
588
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:25.240
you may have a smaller yield if you're a regenerative farmer,
589
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:31.119
but you're actually yielding more useful calories than the factory farms.
590
00:32:31.319 --> 00:32:34.200
And it's a new way of thinking that also is
591
00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:39.839
transformative and is a very promising solution to a food
592
00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:42.119
waste and food shortage problem.
593
00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:45.160
So one of my other favorite parts of the book
594
00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:47.759
is wanting to do the right thing, the concept of
595
00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:49.400
voting with your wallet.
596
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:52.279
It seems like it's expensive, but according to it doesn't
597
00:32:52.279 --> 00:32:52.680
have to be.
598
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:58.200
And iowa of all places right with the state where
599
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:00.480
they were doing the most, the very state.
600
00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:01.599
Yeah.
601
00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:05.920
No, So that's one of the top crops in Iowa
602
00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:09.920
is wind. You know, the farmers have energy cooperatives there,
603
00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:13.640
so they're actually sort of forming these cooperatives to erect
604
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:17.519
wind turbines in their cornfields and they you know, they
605
00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:19.960
harvest around them and drive their tractors and you know,
606
00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:23.240
and and and their crop. No matter what the conditions
607
00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:27.920
are u feast or famine with their organic crops, they're
608
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.000
always harvesting the wind. And if it was a country Iowa,
609
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:35.480
this did shock the heck out of me. Would if
610
00:33:35.480 --> 00:33:37.200
it was a country, it would be the second most
611
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.079
renewably powered country in the world.
612
00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:42.000
So I had at Denmark and Sweden and all this place.
613
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:44.519
It's only Scotland's doing better on the On the I
614
00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:49.160
guess it's a really windy place. And you know, I
615
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:52.400
got to tell you, these these farmers don't give a
616
00:33:52.440 --> 00:33:55.920
hoot about climate change in the decision making behind this.
617
00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:58.640
What they like is they now have the cheapest electricity
618
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:02.640
around and they're supplying that to their neighbors and powering
619
00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:04.400
and profiting from it.
620
00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:08.840
And that they are able to.
621
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:12.000
Form just as effectively while doing this, so it's it's
622
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:14.440
adding to their bottom line and they're proud of it
623
00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:17.840
because they have energy independence. You know, farmers like independence,
624
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:22.039
and it fits in with their culture because of how
625
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:27.639
they're framing the conversation there that the old wasteful systems
626
00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:30.559
they were using before are costing them too much, and
627
00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:34.000
this is taking advantage of the material we have in hand,
628
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.400
this natural resource and it's beautiful.
629
00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:39.599
So let's get it back to the idea to vote
630
00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:40.679
with your wallet from the.
631
00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:44.719
Wallet ballot, So that's voting with the zero waste packaging
632
00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.480
zero waste. Yeah. So okay.
633
00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.320
One of the people you'll meet is another wonderful author
634
00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:55.280
actually and a chef, the zero waste chef and Marie Banot,
635
00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:57.480
and she's all about getting the.
636
00:34:57.400 --> 00:34:59.679
Waste out of our kitchens.
637
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.559
And so you know, why are you throwing away your
638
00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:06.320
pickle jars and your peanut butter jars and buying tupperware
639
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.000
or buying plastic bags. Those are perfectly good, eternally durable,
640
00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:16.159
freezible containers. You don't need plastic bags, you don't need
641
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:18.599
plastic wraps, and you certainly.
642
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:21.119
Don't want to microwave anything in them, because if you
643
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:21.760
don't know this.
644
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.960
Microwaving food and plastics is the surest way to get
645
00:35:26.039 --> 00:35:27.679
plastic and plastic related.
646
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.440
Chemicals inside your body quickly.
647
00:35:29.719 --> 00:35:32.159
Many of them carcinogetic, so please don't do that if
648
00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:34.599
you're doing it now. If you buy a microwave meal,
649
00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:36.519
scrape it out and put it in something other than
650
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:37.800
the plastic container.
651
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:41.079
They will say it's food safe, but the laboratory results
652
00:35:41.079 --> 00:35:46.679
are not promising on that safety. So there's health reasons to.
653
00:35:46.679 --> 00:35:49.000
Vote with your wallet in favor of their alternatives. And
654
00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:51.840
many of them are just reusable. You know, you don't
655
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:54.800
need a plastic If you have a leftover salad and
656
00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:56.639
a bowl, you don't need to put plastic wrap on
657
00:35:56.679 --> 00:35:58.440
top of put a plate on top of it.
658
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:00.840
That's good. That'll do the trick for days in the refrigerator.
659
00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:04.719
Simple stuff like that. So she's a she's she's amazing.
660
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:07.079
And I have our list of things you can do
661
00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:08.400
in the book The Zero.
662
00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:12.280
Celeiate Travel to Avoid Waste. Walk us through all these
663
00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:13.960
let's let's where we're going to hit a couple of these.
664
00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:16.480
Well, transportation is the most wasteful thing we do. I
665
00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:19.400
don't know if you know that the physics of internal combustion.
666
00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:22.679
I'm sorry, guys, eighty percent of the money you spended
667
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:25.039
the gas pump goes to waste, and only one dollar
668
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:27.119
out of five is actually turned intose wheels.
669
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:27.920
So there's.
670
00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:32.159
Our miles per gallon thing that the EPA puts out.
671
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:34.440
That's kind of a greenwash in a way, because we
672
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:35.679
should be looking at.
673
00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:38.360
How much how you know, what help?
674
00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:42.000
What percentage of the fuel is wasted uh per gallon
675
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.840
and that's four out of five gallons. So that's why
676
00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:51.559
the push for electrified transportation makes so much sense because
677
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:56.000
electric vehicles are ninety percent of fission. They use ninety
678
00:36:56.039 --> 00:36:59.199
percent of the energy to actually move the car. But
679
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:01.519
I don't you know, I'm not a big fan of these.
680
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:04.480
I saw the poll of how many how far you
681
00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:05.840
drive every day?
682
00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:07.159
Most people said it was.
683
00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:13.400
Under twenty five miles, right, So you know, half of
684
00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:15.880
our trips in a car are three miles or less
685
00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:19.519
and ninety eight three percent of them are twenty five
686
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:20.440
miles or less.
687
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:22.960
You don't need a three hundred mile range Tesla for
688
00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:24.760
a majority of your.
689
00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:30.360
Majority of your drives anywhere. It would be cheaper to
690
00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:33.199
rent a car for those dribes and just own something
691
00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:40.079
much smaller with a lot less cost and capacity. I
692
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:42.360
think the car the future is something like a golf cart.
693
00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:46.000
And I have a town in Georgia that's showing us
694
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.840
how to do it. And they all still have their cars,
695
00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:49.960
they just hardly the real cars as they call them.
696
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:51.880
They just hardly ever use them because they don't need them.
697
00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:55.880
They have this other, amazing, fun, more social way of
698
00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:58.760
getting around little electric vehicles micromobility.
699
00:37:59.559 --> 00:38:00.360
Think about up.
700
00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:03.280
Finding repair cafes and its role in all of this.
701
00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:08.199
I'm sorry, finding repair cafes. Repair cafes. That's a new
702
00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:09.639
and cool thing and it's kind.
703
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:12.960
Of a little in the related to if you're a thrifter,
704
00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:16.039
you want to find a repair cafe because that lamp
705
00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:19.039
that's not working, maybe you're not handy with You know,
706
00:38:19.079 --> 00:38:20.679
there will be somebody there I'll fix it.
707
00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:24.320
For you or other broken things.
708
00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:28.239
And it's a social gathering and you know, maybe it's
709
00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:31.480
advertised on Facebook or wherever, and you find it. You know,
710
00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:34.280
they meet once a month and you're bringing broken items
711
00:38:34.280 --> 00:38:38.039
in there and somebody who has the talent they do
712
00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:42.280
sewing and repairs to garments at some repair cafes. It
713
00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:44.719
all depends on what's going on in your neighborhood. If
714
00:38:44.719 --> 00:38:47.079
you don't have one, I'll bet you know someone that
715
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:49.960
that's handy that might want to help you start one.
716
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:52.880
Yeah, I see a hand up you got one day?
717
00:38:53.079 --> 00:38:57.920
All right? Repairing instead of replacing.
718
00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:02.199
Is is a great way to lower your footprint and
719
00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:04.360
everything and to save money.
720
00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:06.239
Right, And maybe it's something you love that you really
721
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:08.239
want to have fixed. It's all.
722
00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:13.679
That's why the whole thing about giving giving half sacrifice
723
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:16.360
in order to save the environment is a misnomer. So
724
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:20.199
many of these things, like changing how you cook, and
725
00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:23.320
it ends up being something that you love more than
726
00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:23.679
what you.
727
00:39:23.639 --> 00:39:25.800
Were doing before. Yeah, if you just give it a
728
00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:26.920
try and open your mind to it.
729
00:39:27.559 --> 00:39:27.800
Well.
730
00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:31.800
One of our favorite parts of Northwest Passages is when
731
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:34.519
we ask the audience to take over the questions. So
732
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:37.639
if we can get the lights turned on and Christy's
733
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:41.400
gonna come around with a microphone, we would really love
734
00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:44.519
it if you would ask a question instead of monologue.
735
00:39:44.760 --> 00:39:49.719
Uh so, go ahead and raise raise your hands.
736
00:39:49.800 --> 00:39:50.760
I can see you there.
737
00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:53.920
I know that we're talking about repair repair cafes. There
738
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:56.320
was one that just been started at the library. Art
739
00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:58.880
Salvage is opening up this weekend. I think they're grand
740
00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:02.199
opening with a lot of reused stuff. It's really art
741
00:40:02.599 --> 00:40:04.440
stuff and user.
742
00:40:04.280 --> 00:40:11.480
Hello, thank you. A question about pricing carbon things like plastics.
743
00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:13.880
I mean there's sort of, if you will, kind of
744
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:18.639
carbon tax or carbon pricing. How much of that is
745
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:21.519
happening in the USA and what do you think of
746
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:26.960
it as a way of helping push people away from addiction.
747
00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:32.559
To these things? Carbon pricing is that's well.
748
00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:35.599
I think it's happening in other countries, not so much
749
00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:37.320
in ours.
750
00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:38.360
That's why I think.
751
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:43.519
That producer responsibility model that these polluters pay laws are
752
00:40:43.639 --> 00:40:48.679
so interesting and so powerful because they shift the burden
753
00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:53.320
from trying to to impose it upon individuals and kind
754
00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:56.480
of shaming us into changing. I think there's things that
755
00:40:56.519 --> 00:40:58.920
we can do not out of shame, because they're actually
756
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:03.280
in our interests, economic interest, in our quality of life
757
00:41:03.559 --> 00:41:07.400
that we want to change and that also support a
758
00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:08.360
healthier environment.
759
00:41:08.440 --> 00:41:10.280
But in terms of big.
760
00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:15.360
Change from it's kind of top down rather than the grassroots,
761
00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:18.760
I think we'd go and nowhere with carbon pricing in
762
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:22.639
this country. But producer responsibility is catching on, and it
763
00:41:22.679 --> 00:41:24.920
doesn't have to be just about packaging. It could be
764
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:29.320
any industry that's creating a large cost for society, like
765
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:33.000
the fossil fuel industry. They are very powerful and probably
766
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:37.920
wouldn't like this idea. But if it is ethical, moral
767
00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:42.679
and legal to impose those well, to return those costs
768
00:41:42.679 --> 00:41:45.800
to the packaging industry, that's creating the problem that certainly
769
00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:48.400
could apply to other industries.
770
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:49.880
Right, it's inevitable.
771
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:54.159
I'm passing the microphone down gently.
772
00:41:56.280 --> 00:41:59.760
Very gently, and I've got a flip seat.
773
00:42:00.199 --> 00:42:01.559
The DPA just.
774
00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:07.440
Put out requirements about the p fast these forever classics
775
00:42:07.519 --> 00:42:12.400
and things, and the challenge is, of course, is how
776
00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:15.880
do you filter these things out? So my question is
777
00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.880
are there filters that you are aware of you are
778
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:21.880
in the home that we could put in the home.
779
00:42:22.440 --> 00:42:23.239
That we could filter.
780
00:42:23.559 --> 00:42:27.360
I've got a BRITA standard filter. Does that get most
781
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:28.559
of the plastics out or not?
782
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:33.960
I don't know what.
783
00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:39.800
Your Brita's capabilities are. I did consult wire Cutter on
784
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:43.760
the New York Times, which I recommend highly for figuring
785
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:48.480
out what products and they have a comprehensive analysis of
786
00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:52.679
different home filters that I sttested to take a look at,
787
00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:57.320
because there were some that were quite powerful in terms
788
00:42:57.400 --> 00:43:01.159
of what substances they can remove from your drinking water.
789
00:43:01.239 --> 00:43:01.519
But the.
790
00:43:03.159 --> 00:43:08.400
P fast problem is related to plastic pollution. It's they're
791
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:12.360
chemicals that are often associated with plastic products, and it's
792
00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:18.239
just another example of of our embrace of certain materials
793
00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:21.039
that probably would be better off with without and certainly
794
00:43:21.079 --> 00:43:23.880
not ones that are so easily shed into the environment.
795
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:28.719
I mean people installing plastic grass on their lawns because either.
796
00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:30.719
They don't want to know they are, but they want
797
00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:31.079
to eat it.
798
00:43:31.079 --> 00:43:35.280
Either those things ship p fast like nobody's business, into
799
00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:39.000
into the environment every time it rains, and they and
800
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:41.360
people have no idea what they're setting loose when they
801
00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:45.960
buy these products. And I think proper labeling about what
802
00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:47.639
what the risks are for things might be a.
803
00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:49.480
Start right over here.
804
00:43:49.639 --> 00:43:54.400
Oh pardon me, I'm wondering how you feel about farmer's
805
00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:56.400
markets as an alternative to.
806
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:57.480
Eating your lawn.
807
00:43:58.639 --> 00:43:59.599
They are fantastic.
808
00:43:59.679 --> 00:44:03.280
I go to one every week so and because it's
809
00:44:03.320 --> 00:44:07.800
supporting local economies. The food is amazing, and you can
810
00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:09.679
bring your own bags. They may try to give you
811
00:44:09.719 --> 00:44:11.559
a plastic bag, and some of them don't take it.
812
00:44:11.639 --> 00:44:13.360
You can spring your own.
813
00:44:13.480 --> 00:44:15.920
I love these little mesh produce bags you can pick up,
814
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:18.840
or if you're handy, you can make them yourself and
815
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:20.320
just use them and rewash them.
816
00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:21.400
It's just so simple.
817
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:24.519
You don't need to load yourself up with plastic bags.
818
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:26.519
But if you have plastic bags, don't throw them away.
819
00:44:26.599 --> 00:44:30.880
Just keep reas using them, because that's better than throwing
820
00:44:30.840 --> 00:44:31.320
them away.
821
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:33.519
I will move over to the other side.
822
00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:35.199
I'm just clearing up this end and then I'm coming
823
00:44:35.239 --> 00:44:36.519
over to the other side of the audience.
824
00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:36.840
Here you go.
825
00:44:39.719 --> 00:44:42.480
I think it was about close to twenty years ago
826
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:45.800
I read an article about how Europe was moving towards
827
00:44:45.880 --> 00:44:50.320
the cradle to the grave philosophy with their manufacturing.
828
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:53.320
Cradle is a cradle you mean, well, circular economy.
829
00:44:53.800 --> 00:44:56.679
Yeah, And I'm just wondering, since it's been twenty years,
830
00:44:56.719 --> 00:45:02.000
what has been the results of those efforts overseas.
831
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:07.199
The European EU countries are generally way ahead of us
832
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:11.239
in terms of having a greater circularity for some products.
833
00:45:11.280 --> 00:45:12.960
It's it's very common.
834
00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:15.920
To buy things that we get in disposable packaging from
835
00:45:17.039 --> 00:45:21.960
uh bulk kind of dispensers like wine or or other
836
00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:25.440
liquid products that you bring your own containers to to
837
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:29.360
capture there's there's other things that typically aren't packaged in
838
00:45:29.440 --> 00:45:34.320
plastic that we typically do, and part of that is
839
00:45:34.360 --> 00:45:35.719
because of this legislation.
840
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:38.440
Part of that is because it's a cultural preference.
841
00:45:40.239 --> 00:45:44.760
But yeah, generally, Germany, for instance, is heavily invested in
842
00:45:44.960 --> 00:45:49.920
reusable glass containers for for beverages in a way that
843
00:45:49.960 --> 00:45:51.559
we used to be but aren't anymore.
844
00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:00.519
Hi, I'm pretty old. Myself and my parents grew up
845
00:46:00.599 --> 00:46:06.280
in the depression area era, and the saying back then
846
00:46:06.599 --> 00:46:11.000
was use it up, where it out, make do or
847
00:46:11.119 --> 00:46:13.639
do without. Would you agree?
848
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:20.000
Yeah, I mean that's yeah. My grandmother was very much
849
00:46:20.039 --> 00:46:20.800
of that world.
850
00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:23.719
And you know, she.
851
00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:26.519
Wasn't a particularly religious person, but the only sin she
852
00:46:26.599 --> 00:46:32.000
ever talked about was wasting, and and by that she
853
00:46:32.119 --> 00:46:35.440
met it was just wrong. I think the generation that
854
00:46:35.639 --> 00:46:42.840
endured depression and deprivation understood that it's folly to be wasteful.
855
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.480
And I don't think any of us want to be wasteful.
856
00:46:46.519 --> 00:46:50.239
I just think we've been so heavily marketed and normalized
857
00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:54.159
by this, this enormous amount of waste embedded in her
858
00:46:54.239 --> 00:46:55.639
daily lives, that it's really.
859
00:46:55.400 --> 00:46:58.440
Hard to see and or hard to see.
860
00:46:58.360 --> 00:47:02.760
As as anything but normal and that we were losing
861
00:47:02.800 --> 00:47:06.119
that generation that knew better and we have to sort
862
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:07.960
of figure it out all over again. I guess that's
863
00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:12.360
the way of human life. But yeah, I mean, I
864
00:47:12.360 --> 00:47:15.599
think we instinctively know wasting is wrong, and that's why
865
00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:22.079
it's such a great conversation when as a conversation starter
866
00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:25.159
for all kinds of environmental concerns, it really is.
867
00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:29.599
And are there any solutions on the horizon for these
868
00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:34.519
electricity wasting cryptocurrencies and all that.
869
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:39.599
I have no answer for that, but.
870
00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:44.760
I do know. I just read an article about an
871
00:47:44.880 --> 00:47:49.679
artificial intelligence search requiring something like ten times the energy
872
00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:53.519
of a typical Google search. So we're introducing new technologies
873
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:56.039
that are adding to the burden on systems that are
874
00:47:56.039 --> 00:48:02.360
already wasteful, and the mindful consumers is kind of a
875
00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:07.320
good thing. And choosing options that we know to be healthier,
876
00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:10.239
or know to be less wasteful, or you know, aren't
877
00:48:10.280 --> 00:48:11.880
that hard and should be pursued.
878
00:48:12.599 --> 00:48:15.159
I try to thanks everybody for your patients.
879
00:48:15.159 --> 00:48:18.840
I'm getting I'm moving back down there so I will
880
00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:19.960
get to the question here we.
881
00:48:19.920 --> 00:48:23.119
Go, and I just want to say thank you so
882
00:48:23.199 --> 00:48:25.800
much for being here and sharing all this with us,
883
00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:28.599
for those of us in our community, and I want to.
884
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:29.480
Give a quick shout out.
885
00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:33.079
We've got Tara Lassard and Shannondo Amar up top Wave.
886
00:48:33.920 --> 00:48:34.280
Thank you.
887
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:36.480
They are with Stokan Zero Waste.
888
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:38.119
Yea well, thank you? Yes.
889
00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:39.639
Yeah.
890
00:48:39.679 --> 00:48:43.320
So we have a fantastic mendic cafe that they run
891
00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:47.239
and several other things. I'm the founder of Let's Build
892
00:48:47.239 --> 00:48:49.440
a Community and we're trying to tackle the glass waste
893
00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:52.280
because in Spokane County, all of our glass goes to
894
00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:55.599
the landfill. So my question for you is, for those
895
00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:59.320
of us that are trying to come up with solutions locally,
896
00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:01.440
how can we be getting the word out because I
897
00:49:01.480 --> 00:49:04.719
think that is some of our challenges. We have some solutions,
898
00:49:05.079 --> 00:49:07.519
we have passion, but it's hard sometimes to know how
899
00:49:07.559 --> 00:49:09.400
to get the word out to get that local support.
900
00:49:10.079 --> 00:49:12.599
Let me take this one. Do you the paper?
901
00:49:13.039 --> 00:49:15.840
Yeah, So when this is over, you come see me
902
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:17.719
and I will give you my business card and we
903
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:20.760
will make sure that all of you get in front
904
00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:22.400
of sixty thousand people very quickly.
905
00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:27.719
All right, I promise you might have a better solution
906
00:49:27.800 --> 00:49:32.079
in vision. No, that's a great one. I say that. Actually,
907
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:33.199
there's a lot of power.
908
00:49:32.960 --> 00:49:37.599
In showing up at meetings of whether it's school district,
909
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:42.119
whether it's the local council. I mean, Sarah, Sarah Nicholas
910
00:49:42.159 --> 00:49:46.079
is proof of that. She was very persistent, but just saying, hey,
911
00:49:46.119 --> 00:49:49.480
why are we recycling our glass? Why is our community
912
00:49:49.679 --> 00:49:55.119
not passing its own ordinances to require responsible use.
913
00:49:55.039 --> 00:49:56.039
Of these materials?
914
00:49:56.239 --> 00:50:00.480
And it's a slow burn to get a respe bonds,
915
00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:06.199
but persistence and numbers and loud voices and megaphones also
916
00:50:06.320 --> 00:50:11.880
can help. But yeah, I think all these important changes
917
00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:16.679
started small and a steam roller, because collectively, our choices
918
00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:18.760
and our wishes are powerful.
919
00:50:21.599 --> 00:50:25.280
You mentioned the going and seeing the rice aisle and
920
00:50:25.679 --> 00:50:27.559
all the different packaging in the rice aisle and none
921
00:50:27.599 --> 00:50:31.719
of it is sustainable. And I go to any store
922
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:35.880
electronics otherwise, and you've got all the bubble packaging, and
923
00:50:36.039 --> 00:50:39.559
the packaging is the thing. In fact, we already know
924
00:50:39.760 --> 00:50:43.840
from it from a merchandise standpoint, if your packaging is
925
00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:47.159
not what the consumer wants, you don't sell the material.
926
00:50:47.719 --> 00:50:50.840
You know your competitor will sell faster than you. How
927
00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:54.159
do we overcome that other than legislation? How do we
928
00:50:54.280 --> 00:50:57.159
change that? Because we're not you know, there's no company
929
00:50:57.159 --> 00:50:58.719
that's going to say I'm going to take a really
930
00:50:59.159 --> 00:51:02.800
nosedive on packaging and then drop my sales thirty percent.
931
00:51:03.440 --> 00:51:05.360
You know they're not going to do that. How do
932
00:51:05.400 --> 00:51:07.079
you get around it other than legislation?
933
00:51:09.920 --> 00:51:10.480
Yeah, I don't know.
934
00:51:10.519 --> 00:51:13.920
We need we need some version of the crying Indian
935
00:51:13.960 --> 00:51:15.039
to get us back on track.
936
00:51:15.039 --> 00:51:16.559
And it's got us off track.
937
00:51:16.320 --> 00:51:16.519
You know.
938
00:51:16.599 --> 00:51:19.440
I mean, marketing is a powerful force, and it's often
939
00:51:19.480 --> 00:51:21.639
not a powerful force for good, but it can be.
940
00:51:24.119 --> 00:51:28.760
I also think that if again, it gets back to
941
00:51:28.800 --> 00:51:33.920
who should be responsible for for the packaging that's causing
942
00:51:33.960 --> 00:51:38.280
harm and that is a matter for legislation now. But
943
00:51:38.719 --> 00:51:45.079
that's different than than determining consumer behavior through through legislation,
944
00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:48.079
and I think that's an important distinction. That's why, why
945
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:52.679
why there's such pushback against banning things and and it
946
00:51:52.760 --> 00:51:56.440
it's scolding and wagging, finger wagging. None of that's working
947
00:51:56.519 --> 00:51:57.480
to move the needle.
948
00:51:57.880 --> 00:51:59.480
But holding.
949
00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:06.199
The creators of waste responsible does work. It's working abroad.
950
00:52:06.760 --> 00:52:09.800
We're now rolling it out here and that's going to
951
00:52:09.880 --> 00:52:13.480
lead to changes and to packaging that you can both
952
00:52:13.679 --> 00:52:16.719
like and feel good about because it's not killing the planet.
953
00:52:17.320 --> 00:52:19.159
I got one more question here, and then the last
954
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:21.199
question down to the gentleman with the blue who's been
955
00:52:21.320 --> 00:52:22.679
very kind and holding his hand.
956
00:52:25.679 --> 00:52:29.039
Thank you, thanks for doing the book, Thanks for coming
957
00:52:29.119 --> 00:52:32.360
here with this gives us, This gives us so much
958
00:52:32.400 --> 00:52:34.000
hope to see all these people here.
959
00:52:34.039 --> 00:52:34.320
I can't.
960
00:52:34.679 --> 00:52:38.440
I just think it's so wonderful you sold out. You
961
00:52:38.440 --> 00:52:40.480
can you think of any other things that are kind
962
00:52:40.480 --> 00:52:44.320
of that younger people are doing that really could come
963
00:52:44.360 --> 00:52:48.320
to scale to deal with such a massive problem. You've
964
00:52:48.360 --> 00:52:49.719
told us a few, but do you have any other
965
00:52:49.760 --> 00:52:53.800
ideas you did the Garbology, what other big scale.
966
00:52:53.639 --> 00:52:56.719
There's a whole list of the book, but I'll tell
967
00:52:56.719 --> 00:52:59.800
you about one that really inspired me because I think
968
00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:06.400
actually our college campuses like this one our real agents
969
00:53:06.519 --> 00:53:11.239
of change right now and experimentation. The place I wrote
970
00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:13.519
about was, I'm sure you've never heard of it, the
971
00:53:13.599 --> 00:53:19.039
University of Minnesota at Morris And, which is in a
972
00:53:19.159 --> 00:53:26.159
rural farming community Morris and surrounding Stevenson County, very conservative area,
973
00:53:27.159 --> 00:53:31.639
but the school was a former and notorious Indian boarding
974
00:53:31.679 --> 00:53:34.079
school was on this site. Now it's a public university,
975
00:53:34.280 --> 00:53:38.960
has a large Indigenous student body, but a very diverse
976
00:53:38.960 --> 00:53:39.880
student body.
977
00:53:39.599 --> 00:53:41.199
From all parts of the States to State.
978
00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:46.840
University, and a student run composting program there began years ago,
979
00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:52.360
and it kind of became very popular because the farmers
980
00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:55.000
there had wanted to compost, but they were told over
981
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:57.920
and over again, you'll need too much expensive equipment to
982
00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:01.079
do it effectively in the cold climate. And the students
983
00:54:01.079 --> 00:54:03.119
figured out how to do it for cheap. They didn't
984
00:54:03.119 --> 00:54:07.400
need any special equipment, and the farmers loved it, and
985
00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:13.559
soon ultimately the students donated the whole operation to the county,
986
00:54:13.599 --> 00:54:18.400
which now operates this county wide food and ag waste
987
00:54:18.440 --> 00:54:22.639
system that's really good because provides very inexpensive composts for
988
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:23.199
the farmers.
989
00:54:23.199 --> 00:54:26.119
They love it, and it's also a wastecutter.
990
00:54:26.519 --> 00:54:28.840
So that led to a partnership that they now call
991
00:54:28.920 --> 00:54:32.639
the Morris model that's actually spreading to different places around
992
00:54:33.039 --> 00:54:40.559
the Midwest. Where they partnered first on led lighting for
993
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:43.280
the city. The campus had already been through this and say,
994
00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:45.679
oh yeah, we'll walk you through it. And this little
995
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:48.480
town saved eighty thousand dollars a year on their lighting
996
00:54:48.519 --> 00:54:52.320
bill from making this conversion. And that doesn't sound like
997
00:54:52.360 --> 00:54:54.280
a lot of money for a town of five thousand.
998
00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:55.639
It's a lot of money.
999
00:54:55.519 --> 00:54:58.440
In tight times, and they said, what else can we do?
1000
00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:04.480
Pretty soon this little farmtown and Morris is driving around
1001
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:08.480
electric public buses. They have solar on everything. You know
1002
00:55:08.519 --> 00:55:11.119
in Minnesota, the city owns the liquor stores. They have
1003
00:55:11.239 --> 00:55:13.440
solar on the liquor store. Their model is we chill
1004
00:55:13.480 --> 00:55:15.599
your beer with the sun.
1005
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:20.400
They love it. And there's now this project.
1006
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:23.960
So the University of Minnesota MORS has these two giant
1007
00:55:24.880 --> 00:55:28.199
wind turbines that generate more than four times the electricity
1008
00:55:28.239 --> 00:55:30.079
the campus needs, so it goes into the grid.
1009
00:55:30.119 --> 00:55:31.360
The power is really cheap.
1010
00:55:31.519 --> 00:55:34.199
The students call them Burton Ernie because one's taller than
1011
00:55:34.239 --> 00:55:34.559
the other.
1012
00:55:35.360 --> 00:55:39.440
And they love Burton Ernie in Mars.
1013
00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:42.639
Because now it's part of a pilot program being funded
1014
00:55:42.679 --> 00:55:49.679
by the DOE. And it's huge because they're turning hydrogen
1015
00:55:49.679 --> 00:55:55.039
and oxygen into ammonia, which is the most commonly manufactured
1016
00:55:55.119 --> 00:55:58.920
chemical in the world. It's incredibly carbon intensive. The manufacturer
1017
00:55:58.960 --> 00:56:03.239
of ammonia's response for one percent of all global warning warming.
1018
00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:05.159
In the world, and.
1019
00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:12.199
It's a terribly toxic substance. But it's being it's being
1020
00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:17.440
produced at Mars carbon free. It's a carbon neutral product
1021
00:56:17.840 --> 00:56:19.880
and they want to take it to the next step
1022
00:56:20.039 --> 00:56:23.159
and use that ammonia to lock the nitrogen in a
1023
00:56:23.199 --> 00:56:27.440
substance called urea, which is not tough. You're familiar there,
1024
00:56:27.519 --> 00:56:30.519
it's farmers around here. It's not a toxic material. It
1025
00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:33.119
can be handled safely. You don't have to wear protective gear.
1026
00:56:33.400 --> 00:56:36.199
It's not organic farming by any means, but it's a
1027
00:56:36.280 --> 00:56:41.880
way of it's a transitional product and it's when the
1028
00:56:41.920 --> 00:56:43.079
farmers want.
1029
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:45.639
They're wildly enthusiastic.
1030
00:56:44.960 --> 00:56:46.760
Because it's going to be cheap, it's going to be
1031
00:56:47.559 --> 00:56:48.760
environmentally sound.
1032
00:56:48.840 --> 00:56:50.400
That's they like that.
1033
00:56:50.599 --> 00:56:54.280
It's not maybe not their primary motivation, but they're cool
1034
00:56:54.320 --> 00:57:00.280
with that. And this unique partnership has evolved a symbios
1035
00:57:00.320 --> 00:57:04.800
it's just beautiful and it's the farmers love it because
1036
00:57:04.840 --> 00:57:07.760
they can they can stretch their dollars, they can farm
1037
00:57:07.800 --> 00:57:11.440
more effectively, their workers are more safe, they're more safe
1038
00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.920
with products like this, and they're proud of that. They're
1039
00:57:14.920 --> 00:57:18.199
being the part of the future, and that has motivated
1040
00:57:20.480 --> 00:57:25.320
a very environmentally friendly project that crosses partisan lines.
1041
00:57:25.599 --> 00:57:26.840
And I.
1042
00:57:28.239 --> 00:57:31.760
They're doing something that can be replicated in other ways,
1043
00:57:31.800 --> 00:57:34.360
but with the same philosophy all over the country, and
1044
00:57:34.840 --> 00:57:39.199
that students are driving this and it's it's beautiful to say,
1045
00:57:39.480 --> 00:57:41.639
and it's effective and it's working all right.
1046
00:57:41.719 --> 00:57:49.360
Last question, Damon tam and I'm I have been working
1047
00:57:49.360 --> 00:57:53.159
in a garbage field for over thirty years and in Spokane.
1048
00:57:53.320 --> 00:57:57.599
Spokene has a lot of first We have the first
1049
00:57:58.320 --> 00:58:02.559
super fun landfill in the state of Washington. We have
1050
00:58:03.199 --> 00:58:08.039
lots of first over fifty percent recycling in Spokane. We
1051
00:58:08.159 --> 00:58:14.599
have a smaller reduction per capita of garbage than almost
1052
00:58:14.599 --> 00:58:23.039
any community. We have a waste energy plant. We generates electricity,
1053
00:58:23.960 --> 00:58:28.840
and we generate electricity and reduce the organic product that
1054
00:58:29.239 --> 00:58:34.800
contaminated our aquifers volatile organic compounds.
1055
00:58:35.800 --> 00:58:37.440
We destroy a lot and.
1056
00:58:37.400 --> 00:58:42.960
Recycle all the metals, not only from the plant but
1057
00:58:43.039 --> 00:58:46.159
also from the landfill, both ferris and non ferrous.
1058
00:58:46.840 --> 00:58:50.079
So what other ideas.
1059
00:58:50.360 --> 00:58:55.360
I know you're looking at ideas, but what about for
1060
00:58:55.559 --> 00:59:00.679
cities and counties that can move forward. You know, we
1061
00:59:00.920 --> 00:59:07.039
used citizens. Citizens became very involved with the decisions that
1062
00:59:07.079 --> 00:59:11.719
were made here in Spokane, and we need the citizens
1063
00:59:11.719 --> 00:59:15.639
to come up with ideas in order to further figure
1064
00:59:15.679 --> 00:59:18.000
out what are we going to do in the future,
1065
00:59:18.280 --> 00:59:21.280
whether it's build a wate energy plant, bigger, whether it's
1066
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:26.599
landfill more. You know, those are tough questions when you're
1067
00:59:26.639 --> 00:59:32.320
dealing with a thousand tons a day, they are.
1068
00:59:32.800 --> 00:59:37.280
And you know, lent fills fulfill an important function. You
1069
00:59:37.320 --> 00:59:41.519
know that a lot of cities were ten years when
1070
00:59:41.519 --> 00:59:42.440
I wrote Carbiology.
1071
00:59:42.840 --> 00:59:45.400
Now twelve years ago, I guess we're on this thing.
1072
00:59:45.400 --> 00:59:46.119
We've got to recycle.
1073
00:59:48.199 --> 00:59:52.159
Then felt nothing, and that was a wrong approach because
1074
00:59:52.159 --> 00:59:54.639
everything can't be recycled, and some things are better off
1075
00:59:54.639 --> 01:00:00.599
to questioned safely and well run landfill. But the things
1076
01:00:00.760 --> 01:00:04.639
are best diverted, like food waste because of the methane.
1077
01:00:04.199 --> 01:00:06.400
That is emitted from it. And that's one of the
1078
01:00:06.400 --> 01:00:08.760
problems that our landfills still have.
1079
01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:11.800
I'm not sure if that's the case in Spokane or
1080
01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:18.000
whether it's harvested in some way. But I also want
1081
01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:19.400
to say you left two things out of your list.
1082
01:00:19.440 --> 01:00:21.360
First of all, you saw it the garbage goat. I mean,
1083
01:00:21.360 --> 01:00:25.039
come on, you guys are And then there's the fact
1084
01:00:25.079 --> 01:00:30.639
that the Washington Water Power and the Spokane Falls facility
1085
01:00:30.719 --> 01:00:36.000
is the oldest running renewable power generation hydropower generation in
1086
01:00:36.039 --> 01:00:36.760
the in the state.
1087
01:00:36.800 --> 01:00:37.639
I believe.
1088
01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:41.320
The street cars that used to power are going sadly,
1089
01:00:41.360 --> 01:00:45.039
but the power is still there, so a lot of
1090
01:00:45.039 --> 01:00:45.639
good things.
1091
01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:46.400
Are happening here.
1092
01:00:46.679 --> 01:00:51.519
One of the things I wonder if Spokane is looking
1093
01:00:51.639 --> 01:00:54.800
at some of the technology that's being embraced in other
1094
01:00:54.840 --> 01:00:59.159
cold places like Maine in terms of heat pump technology
1095
01:00:59.280 --> 01:01:03.119
for keeping buildings warm and for cooling them as well
1096
01:01:03.199 --> 01:01:08.239
in summer, because that's a transformative technology that saves money
1097
01:01:08.280 --> 01:01:11.320
as well as protecting the environment as opposed to relying
1098
01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:17.559
upon increasingly expensive fossil fuels for heat and also hot water.
1099
01:01:18.559 --> 01:01:21.280
So I don't know anybody, anybody have a heat pump?
1100
01:01:22.800 --> 01:01:26.280
Awesome? Wow, all right, well are you saving money as
1101
01:01:26.280 --> 01:01:33.719
a result? Raise your hand. Yeah, I like that. So
1102
01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:35.000
that's that.
1103
01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.440
That can do so much good and also again an
1104
01:01:39.519 --> 01:01:41.920
upgrade to something you're gonna love more if you go
1105
01:01:42.039 --> 01:01:42.599
that route.
1106
01:01:43.440 --> 01:01:45.559
And thank you for hanging out with us.
1107
01:01:45.719 --> 01:01:46.320
It's always