News Reporter: Climate Coach: Rescue food, slash grocery bills 🥑

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Climate Coach
Down-to-earth advice for life on our changing planet.

(Illustration by Emily Sabens/The Washington Post; iStock)

By Michael J. Coren

Welcome. This week, electric blue tarantulas and whale falls. But first, how to cut your grocery bill in half and prevent food waste.

In July, I signed up for two apps built on the idea that good food should never go to waste. They connect people like me to grocery stores about to toss out food in the trash. Instead, I get it for a fraction of the price.

Skeptical, I placed my orders. Two days later, I had rescued a huge box of produce, fancy pastries from a coffee shop and an entire dinner of Nepalese rice and chili from the landfill. I came away well-fed and convinced that a new generation of apps can prevent waste and deliver affordable, delicious food.

For decades, getting surplus food from restaurants and grocery stores into people's hands has been tough. Food pantries help feed the 44 million Americans without enough to eat, but the software and infrastructure to swiftly move large volumes of eggs, fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat directly to people haven't scaled up. In 2022, retailers tossed 2.5 million tons of food, most of which went to landfills, incinerators or compost heaps.

But now apps like Flashfood and Too Good To Go have built marketplaces that are going mainstream. In all, the companies say, more than 100 million people have signed up for their services.

"It feels like they are spreading like wildfire," says Dana Gunders of ReFED, a food waste reduction nonprofit. "I love the model because at least some of the food would literally have been thrown out a day later. It really is saving it from the garbage."

Here's how you can turn your smartphone into a weapon against food waste.

Write me with your questions at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails.

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Field Sample

Scientists are editing trees' genes to grow the future of paper. Lignin is found in every land plant from redwoods to shrubs. The tough, structural molecule helps trees move water, resist pests and stand tall. But its bad news for pliable products such as paper and cardboard. It takes lots of chemicals and energy to remove.

Scientists are employing tools from artificial intelligence to the gene-editing technique CRISPR to produce low-lignin trees for commercial use by 2040. But they must navigate a maze of biochemical pathways, as well as the legal, ecological and public relation challenges facing other GMOs. "There's no one magic bullet," said Rodolphe Barrangou, a professor at North Carolina State University.

Snapshot

Narin Chomphuphuang, a researcher at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, described a new species of electric blue tarantula from southern Thailand, Chilobrachys Karsch.

"Blue is one of the rarest colors found in nature," Chomphuphuang and his co-authors write in the research journal ZooKeys. "It is a structural color that is produced by the arrangement of biological photonic nanostructures, rather than pigments."

Chilobrachys Karsh. (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae). Courtesy Narin Chomphuphuang.

Like India's blue-hued peacock tarantula, local populations of the tarantula in Thailand are being decimated by the destruction of their natural habitats and hunting for the exotic pet trade, especially in the United States. Although insect conservation efforts are still relatively nascent compared with those for other animal families, groups like the Xerces Society are making progress.

The Second Degree

After reading my last column about solar digesters, many of you wrote in with your own experience and sent suggestions. For those of you worried about methane: Don't. All composting methods (when done properly) are aerobic, so methane is not produced. It's only in anaerobic conditions, such as those in the oxygen-less depths of landfills, where the potent greenhouse gas is generated. Solar digesters can also break down pet waste if you use the specialized bacterial accelerator powder.

Suzanne OConnell, professor of earth science at Wesleyan University, says she's used a "Green Cone" since about 1994 in her yard, a registered Homegrown National Park. "It sits next to our driveway surrounded by healthy plants," she writes. Gary Barsley uses a small electric food scrap dehydrator called Lomi: "Every couple of days it grinds up the accumulated waste," he says. "I take it out and sprinkle it in the gardens or on lawn. Easy and no smell at all."

Linda Williamson recommended her ultra simple, cordless vermicomposter that has been going for the last decade. "It fits under the sink," she says, with two large nested plastic shoe boxes filled with food scraps and paper, and holes for air and water. "The worms make short work of any fruit or vegetable scraps. … I want people to see how simple (and compact!) composting can be -— especially when you have an army of worms helping you." A picture of Linda's setup is below, and here's a DIY version.

Linda Williamson

On the Climate Front

From The Post:

A megafire overwhelmed even some of the best preparations. What's next?

Death Valley just recorded the hottest month ever observed on the planet.

When is it too hot to work? Listen to climate change reporter Anna Phillips talk about the federal government's efforts to protect workers on "Post Reports."

Drought is widespread and intense in the eastern United States: Here's what to know.

From elsewhere:

'Ultracheap energy for every household:' A different kind of tariff may change everything, suggests the Guardian.

As sea leaves rise, the future of Hawaii's disappearing beaches is uncertain, finds USA Today.

Chevron snubs California by moving Its headquarters to Houston, reports the New York Times.

There are more "whale falls" — when whale carcasses fall to the seafloor — off the coast of Los Angeles than the rest of the world combined, reports Hakai Magazine.

Amid the heat, Angela Kantola of Littleton, Colo., shared this stunning image of three consecutive icy morning views from a former horse loafing shed turned outdoor bedroom taken in December. Stay cool.

Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com