So What, Who Cares (vol 2, issue 13) How one city is nudging its food-wasting citizens to change

Hello! You have all proven how smart you are per yesterday's question about the best way to compile the So What, Who Cares media list.: I had some excellent suggestions from @tahleen (who pointed out that a Pinterest board would also work for tracking movies and TV shows as well as books) and @mcperk617 (who suggested Goodreads), as well as reader Peter who emailed, "Why not post your media list as a read only file in a shared dropbox folder?" I will be pursuing one of those solutions ASAP.

You guys! So smart. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your smarts.

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Soon, people of Seattle will have the chance to earn a scarlet letter. It sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is -- the letter is a tag announcing that you've thrown food into your trash can instead of composting it. The city is hoping to push its recycling and composting rate to 60%.

So what? According a recent NPR report, food is the largest single source of waste in the U.S., accounting for 35 million tons of U.S. waste annually. An estimated 40-50% of that food waste comes from consumers -- so waste management types are hoping to target everyday households and start food-thrifty habits at home.

On a larger level, food waste is a problem because it accounts for 3.3 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions and an economic loss of $165 billion a year. Diverting some of that waste into composting -- instead of landfill -- will chisel away at the environmental impact.

Who cares? Grocery stores and restaurants -- because once consumers' behavior is regulated, they'll start looking up the chain of production. Smart grocery stores and restaurants will actually tout their food waste/composting practices, much like Starbucks already does.

Altering the nature of food waste disposal in America will also affect the freegans who rely on dumpster scores -- or the programs at places like Feeding America, which often broker deals for grocers' older stock and pass it on the hungry.

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Your pop culture moment of the day: I have been watching Manhattan in mini-marathons of two or three episodes at a go, and if you've got Hulu Plus, this is definitely a show worth adding to the queue. It's about the left-brain types who worked on developing the atomic bomb (and the people who live with and/or love them), and it's a sprawling look at what drives people or holds them back from being really great.

For those of you who, like me, can't watch TV without a second-screen experience, I recommend viewing the show while also skimming Scientific American's amusing Cocktail Party Physics blog, because Jennifer Ouelette writes some great recaps and deftly places each plot development into larger scientific or historic context.

Also, Richard Schiff's performance on the show is terrifying. Watch is for that alone.

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