JACKSON, Wyo. — Can fixing the world’s waste problem also help fix the economy, public health, energy costs, traffic — and even climate? Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Edward Humes believes it can.
“Waste isn’t just what we roll to the curb each week and put out in the trash,” Humes said in a recent Bookshop Podcast interview. “That’s just the part we see most clearly, although even there we’re usually not aware just how trashy we all are – much more than we think. But waste is so deeply embedded in our daily lives and our products and everything we do that we really don’t see it anymore.”
Humes — author of Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World and the bestselling Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash — will headline Teton County’s Zero Waste Week with a free keynote talk on Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Center for the Arts.
The talk will be preceded by a free reception at 5:30 p.m. The events are hosted by Teton County Integrated Solid Waste and Recycling, to celebrate Jackson Hole’s 35th anniversary of recycling.
Instead of focusing solely on problems, Humes’ presentation will inspire with solutions – how tackling waste of all kinds may hold the key to solving many of today’s biggest environmental and economic challenges.
“Edward Humes reminds us that waste is at the root of so many challenges — from energy and food to climate,” said Cindy Harger, Waste Diversion Outreach Specialist for Teton County Integrated Solid Waste & Recycling. “That perspective is powerful because it shifts the conversation from feeling helpless to realizing that change starts locally. Every community, every household, can be part of the solution — and Jackson Hole has been proving that for 35 years.”
For community members and artists who participated in Teton County Recycling Center’s Open House and Recycled Art Show on Sunday, the wait will be over Friday to see which artworks won more than $5,000 in prizes. A sampling of the 70 art entries from Sunday will be displayed during Friday’s events, and winners will be announced from the stage at 7 p.m., just before Humes’ talk.
For more information, visit: Teton County’s Road to Zero Waste website: RoadToZeroWasteJH.org/Zero-Waste-Week-Events.
