Fairbanks turns problem into benefit, rewrites textbooks at same time

OK, so maybe you don't want to read this over dinner, but I found Cold Can't Stop Alaska Sewage Composting by Dan Joling of the Associated Press pretty interesting. Until utility officials in Fairbanks, Alaska, stopped listening to prevailing wisdom about composting, they couldn't find a satisfactory way of getting rid of their sludge. They had stockpiles of sludge. They had odors. They tried to burn it, with horrid results. They tried various other things: no good. Now, thanks to ingenuity and hard work and perseverance - not to mention the services of a "master of mega-mixology with a front-end loader" or two or three - they've turned what had been a problem into compost so clean it can be used to raise vegetables. No, really. The pathogens get cooked to death, so you can use the compost to raise food if you can get over the psychological hurdles.

(I warned you not to read this over dinner, didn't I? ;)