Commentator Robert Frank says we don't need to transform human nature to do something about global warming, we just need to change people's incentives. A global carbon tax will hit folks in the wallet, and money is always a powerful incentive.
What if everybody in the world consumed like the "average" American family? Sean Cole went in search of that family to find out how much they consume in a given week or month. He didn't have to look too far.
Globalization's delivery of goods to consumers depends on intricate choreography of container ships, trucks, trains and other heavy equipment. The scale is breathtaking. But so are the side effects. Sarah Gardner reports,
If a port is the mouth of America's consumer economy, the landfill is the other end. Tess Vigeland reports on the people and places wrestling with the question of what to do with all the waste.
Kai Ryssdal begins our series with a visit to the Port of Long Beach. You could say it's the mouth of a consumer economy that's getting hungrier and hungrier. He talks with the port's Art Wong about its continuing growth.
Landfills may be eyesores for residents, but they have money and jobs to offer communities. Amy Scott visits a Pennsylvania town stuck in the middle of the trash trade.
How did everything suddenly switch from repairable to disposable and what does that mean for your local handyman? Sean Cole visits fix-it shops to get some answers.
More than 10 percent of trash is food, but would you be willing to take a bite? Tess Vigeland trolls for the edible gems in the garbage of Manhattan with the freegans.
One country's garbage is another country's gold. Scott Tong takes us across the Pacific to see how America's trash has spawned a whole industry in China.
