On July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes will participate in an informational discussion hosted by Portland State as part of Metro’s Let’s Talk Trash series.
Humes, author of Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, will be joined by Metro’s Senior Waste Planner Tom Chaimov, and Director of PSU’s Community Environmental Services Eric Crum. Moderating the discussion will be Tony Hair, waste management coordinator for the PSU Campus Sustainability Office.
“Portland is an intimidating place to go to talk about anything green,” Humes said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Humes is an investigative journalist and author of 13 nonfiction books. His writing career has spanned from crime, real-life murder mysteries, education, the military, neonatal intensive care and most recently, issues of environmentalism, sustainability, the economy and culture of waste. Through journalism and extensive research, Humes has become familiar with America’s trash.
“I believe the environment to be the most important story of our age—for ourselves and for our children,” Humes said.
At the panel discussion, Humes will discuss the nature of Portland’s and other cities’ waste economies and trash management systems. “I’ll talk about Portland and how even a ‘green city’ has certain challenges that not everyone might be aware of,” Humes said.
He cites in Garbology that the average American produces 102 tons of garbage in a lifetime. This evens out to 7.1 pounds of trash produced per person, per day in the United States. Portland’s daily trash average is even higher than this, at 7.14 pounds per Portland resident.
“Most of us don’t know what the receivers of our trash really look like,” Humes said, “so I’ll give a portrait of the modern landfill.
“We’ve gotten really good at monitoring the supply chain, but the removal chain is really opaque,” Humes added. “Our old sneakers and printer cartridges end up going all kinds of crazy places before they find [a] final resting place. So I’ll talk about the wayward path our trash takes.”
Humes also plans to discuss some of the encouraging developments he’s encountered in his research. “There are a lot of trends going on that you don’t even think about as relating to waste that are, in fact, having a big and positive impact,” Humes said.
Humes explained that Craigslist is one of the greatest waste eliminators in America.
“It’s a virtuous way of buying local, keeping money in the community and it’s cutting down transportation—waste transportation and energy transportation,” Humes said.
“The whole reuse economy is one of the most encouraging developments, and along with it, the sharing economy,” Humes added. “Both of those have huge dividends for reducing our wasteful lifestyle. Things that previously ended up in the landfill are now finding new lives.”
Another trend that Humes pointed out is how young people are less interested in buying or driving cars.
“All those measures [buying a car, driving a car and having a license] are down for the current crop of the driving-age population in America,” Humes said. “I think if we look at those choices we’re already making and push a little more forward in that direction, we’re going to have [a] much less wasteful America in one generation without breaking a sweat.”
Metro and PSU’s Let’s Talk Trash series featuring Humes and Portland experts will be held this Thursday, July 10 from 7–9 p.m. in PSU’s Hoffman Hall.