Photo via ecobrooklyn.com

Ever since, I have followed the company Facebook page, where I recently learned they have stocked their pond with local fish and frogs. Track new projects undertaken by Brooks-Church and his team of interns via social media, or schedule a tour and head over to Gowanus to check it out for yourself.

via Samuelsson’s Food for Thought blog section of his website

In addition to advocating freezing, composting, cooking with wine and saving bread for various recipes, Samuelsson imparts one recipe each for a delicious-sounding soup, salad, slaw and taco. I love this combination of recipe ideas as a mantra for anyone with a bit left over after a meal—especially tacos. I often make soups or salads out of surplus dinner party fare, but tacos just make leftovers sound more fun!

The whole post reminds me of my grandmother who, borrowing from the tradition of Samuelsson‘s home of Sweden, would occasionally declare  a smorgasbord lunch.  She would empty out the fridge and put out little bits of this and that, some served cold and some served hot, left over from the amazing array of gourmet offerings created in her farm kitchen each week.

“The world sends us garbage. We send back music.”

If you haven’t already, watch this video. Then head over to Kickstarter to ensure this trashtastic documentary is widely released.

via Do the Green Thing

Having just moved apartments and hemorrhaged my savings into a range of unforeseen costs and untold hours of unregulated Etsy surfing, I find this DIY project utterly charming. It reminds me of that kids book, Katy No-Pocket written by Emmy Payne and  illustrated by the same dude who drew Curious George. Did you have that one growing up? It’s about a kangaroo who has no pocket with which to tote her kid.  She consults other animals about how they carry around their babies before scoring a sweet pocket-covered apron from a handyman. I am sure there is an important conversation to be had about the White-man-saves-the-day theme, but man did little me dig that apron.

Katy No-Pocket’s badass utility apron

Stay tuned, this may inspire a longer series on the global need for more pockets in women’s clothing and how to upcycle our way out of that crisis.

Photo by by Mirko Derpmann via Flickr

So I was delighted to be reminded of the project by a recent unconsumption post. The project’s Flickr page hosts a number of wonderful images including an adorable folder called The Tonnographers comprised of photos of the men taking photos with dumpsters; as well as the eery, arty pinhole images they captured.

Photo by by Michael Pfohlmann, Christoph Blaschke and Mirko Derpmann via Flickr

I just love the photo captions noting the type of camera as a “1.100 litre garbage container.”

Photo via the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

As Dan Glickman, author of the post, points out:

Thinking about the United States, where one in seven citizens is on food stamps and many more partially reliant on food banks (which regularly complain of shortages), even a fraction of that wasted food making its way to the dinner table would change the lives of millions of Americans.

Not coincidentally, food waste guru Jonathan Bloom reports today on Wasted Food:

Exciting News: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Environmental Program and several other partners have joined forces to create Think. Eat. Save, a one-stop shop for your anti-food-waste needs.

Check out that site here and the full Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not report here.

Update: My favorite of the tips from the UN campaign is:

Buy Funny Fruit—many fruits and vegetables are thrown out because their size, shape, or color are not “right”. Buying these perfectly good funny fruit, at the farmer’s market or elsewhere, utilizes food that might otherwise go to waste.

A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers—and their trucks—inspire an audience of thousands.

Thanks for the tip, Sarah.