there's a trash refrigerator in the basement of my work. you can see it right there when you step off the freight elevator. I've always been fascinated by it. I saw it again today when I went down to take a FedEx to shipping (haha, almost wrote shitting. silly). anyway, it's kept at a steady 41 degrees. but it occurred to me that it's actually around that temperature outside, so why are they using up all that energy keeping garbage at a controlled outdoor temperature indoors? it also got me thinking on how when I was in France last time I noticed that the French create so much less waste than Americans. for instance, I think April and I filled our kitchen trash can at least twice last week. how is this possible? we are two people. it's not as if I'm eating voluminous amounts of largely packaged food. it's stunning, really. I mean, do cigarette butts and platic cheese wrappers really take up that much space? I need to monitor my waste a little better.