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Book Reviews of American Wasteland

American Wasteland
American Wasteland
Author: Jonathan Bloom
ISBN-13: 9780738213644
ISBN-10: 0738213640
Publication Date: 9/7/2010
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 3

4.2 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

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buzzby avatar reviewed American Wasteland on + 6062 more book reviews
Well, it was thought-provoking, but I was more on the side of "why bother?", since I have wasted a lot of my life worrying about how to throw away things (like books?), I know how much care it takes me to do what he suggests. He does address a chapter on ethics (why?), but he basically got caught in circular reasoning (because it is immoral), even he doesn't fall for the "eat it, there are starving kids in China" line that many of us heard. His argument that food waste in landfills is a source of methane doesn't hit home, because everything that dies either increases methane or carbon dioxide, either directly or indirectly. I couldn't find much on 3 reasons for so much waste, the matter of diseases increasing with less than fresh food, that many of us are fighting obesity and need to throw certain foods away, and that many so-called "foods" have not much nutritional value. He uses iceberg lettuce as an example in the book, but there are very few vitamins or anything else in iceberg lettuce to be wasted.