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Wherever there are piles of food waste, there are people contemplating what to do with the garbage.

One option is to eat it. And a number of diners scavenging from this buffet consider themselves conservationists and activists.

"People have been eating trash for longer than anybody's ever thought about it," said Jimmy, a Chicago resident who didn't want to reveal his last name. Jimmy is a Freegan, a member of a growing movement that encourages foraging for edible food in the refuse of grocery stores and restaurants. While many people eat from trash because they are needy, Jimmy said he does it to protest the excesses of capitalism.

"People bring politics and whatnot into it. Other people start paying attention," Jimmy said.

And people are paying attention. As reducing our carbon footprint has come into vogue, people are thinking seriously about ways to reduce or reuse food waste. Oprah showcased freegans on her show and celebrity chefs such as Chicago's Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill are turning food waste from their restaurants into fuel and compost.

About 20 to 30 percent of the edible portions of the fruits, vegetables, dairy and grains--and 30 to 40 percent of meats--that reach consumers is wasted either in cooking or simply in going uneaten, according to data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

About 7 to 12 percent of food is lost on the way from retailers to consumers, according to the same source.

That leaves a lot of leftovers for those who don't mind eating food others didn't want.

While "freeganism" may seem like simply a way to capitalize on society's excess, it is more than just about finding free food, Jimmy said.

"Economics is definitely a motivating factor for some people, but for the majority of freegans I know, it's about politics."

Freegans take issue with the American tendency to view everything not only as a commodity, but a disposable commodity, Jimmy said. To combat what they see as the wanton evils of capitalism, many freegans reclaim waste and put it to good use.

The same holds true for at least two Chicago restaurants that have found ways to reduce food waste to nearly zero by turning it into compost or even fuel.

Frontera Grill, and its sister restaurant Topolobampo, at 445 N. Clark St., are headed by star chef Rick Bayless, and specialize in high-end Mexican cuisine. While the restaurants may be known for attention to culinary detail, their staffs also exert the same amount of care with food waste.

With the help of the Resource Center, a non-profit environmental organization, the restaurants compost any waste that is biodegradable, said Bryan Enyart, Chef de Cuisine of Topolobampo. That includes paper and cardboard as well as food.

In a few months, that list will include the restaurants' used vegetable oil, which Enyart hopes to convert into biodiesel to run the farm machinery and trucks at one of the Illinois farms that supplies the restaurants with produce.

Altogether, the restaurants compost over two tons of organic materials every week. When the biodiesel project starts, Enyart hopes to recycle 735 pounds of vegetable oil per week.

But most food retailers are not that diligent with their waste, so Jimmy said finding food is relatively easy. With five or six years as a freegan under his belt, he said he could account for 100 percent of his food needs by "dumpstering," if he tried hard enough.

Stanley Peters, owner of Stanley's Fruits and Vegetables at 1558 N Elston Ave., is one step ahead of Jimmy. Rather than entice people to scrounge around in his trash, Peters regularly gives away food that he cannot sell.

"If an apple falls to the floor, you can't resell it, it's bruised," Peters said. And when a tangerine falls, it usually splits. The solution: give them away to those in need.

Peters didn't want to estimate how much food he gave away because, he said, "I don't want to sit back and cry." But he is emphatic that people should not eat straight out of his trash bins.

Frances Guichard, director of the Food Protection Program at the Chicago Department of Public Health, agreed with the assessment that trash bins are not the best place to search for food.

"Once you put it into the garbage, it's what we'd call garbage, and it's food that has been put into an environment that's not protected," Guichard said.

The primary risk of eating food that has been sitting in the trash is food-borne illness, Guichard said. Once food sits in what she called the "temperature danger zone" of about 40 to 140 degrees, it is prone to the types of microbial growths that tend to cause illness and disease.

To drive the point home, health inspection officers who find compromised food during restaurant inspections throw the food away and then pour bleach on top of it.

"We don't want people to become ill, so we denature the product," Guichard said.

Jimmy said it was easy to tell the good food in the trash from the food that will make you sick.

"You learn how to pick food after a while. You learn from other people, if something is in the least bit questionable, err on the side of putting it back in the trash rather than hurting yourself," Jimmy said.

There is no law that specifically prohibits people from sifting through garbage for food, said Tim Hadac, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health.

"The law doesn't prevent any individual from doing something crazy like that," Hadac said. He added that people could eat dirt if they wanted to and the law would be powerless to stop them.

On the other hand, grocery stores and other organizations that donate food to charities are protected from liability by the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, passed by President Clinton in 1996. The act encourages food donation by protecting donors if the food later causes harm to someone who eats it.

Jimmy, though, doesn't have to rely on handouts. He simply visits the alley behind his favorite restaurants. "If you're in the mood for pizza, you go to a pizza place. If you're in the mood for doughnuts, you go to a doughnut place," he said.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository parcels out food to over 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters and about 50 percent is food that would otherwise be tossed out, said Bob Dolgan, director of communications.

This reclaimed food can come from grocery stores, donations from individuals or food drives. A primary source is donations from large food companies such as Kraft or Sara Lee.

The food may be out of season, discontinued or the victim of a packaging misprint.

At Care for Real, a Chicago food pantry on the Northwest Side, the number of people served escalated greatly in the past year. In February, the pantry served food to 1,361 clients, up from 525 clients in January 2007, and 1,248 in January of this year. Care for Real is feeding the hungry with donations from the Greater Chicago Food Depositry, Dominick's, Whole Foods and the small bakery down the street, to name a few

Nearby, Good News Community Kitchen adds Panera Bread and Starbucks to the list. A good portion of these food pantry donations also comes from religious and civic organizations.

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

It takes three to four seconds for an animal to die from lethal injection, while it may take over 30 minutes inside a carbon monoxide chamber.

"It's the humane way," Nadine Walmsley, spokesperson for the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, said of lethal injection.

The issue surfaced again when State Sen. John Fritchen (D-Chicago) recently outlined his plan to introduce a bill banning the use of carbon monoxide to enthanize cats and dogs.

Most Illinois shelters use lethal injection. However, there are still a few shelters Downstate that use carbon monoxide, according to Jordan Matyas, an attorney for the Chicago English Bulldog Research Group. And it is difficult to know how common a practice it is because there is no law requiring shelters to report what method they use.

Walmsley also said that in order for the lethal injection drug to be used by shelters without veteranarians, a special liscense must be issued by the state. Illinois began issuing that liscense two years ago.

Another factor is that enthanasia by injection is less costly that carbon monoxide.

Ken Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues at the Humane Society of the United States, said animal shelters began euthanizing animals using carbon monoxide chambers about 40 or 50 years ago, before the animal control field became professionalized.

"Carbon monoxide was considered the most humane method at the time," Intino said.

But over the last 20 years, lethal injection became the most humane and thus the prefeeed way to euthanize animals.

Euthanizing by carbon monoxide require less work for the person, since he or she can simply place the animal in the chamber and close the door. The person can step away for 20 minutes or so and leave the animal unattended.

"Injection euthanasia requires more handling of the animal," Intino said, "--looking into the animal's eye and actually injecting the drug."

Regardless, euthanasia by injection is the humane and professional method promoted by the Humane Society of the United States and animal activist groups.

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Walk though the signature red door of Gilda's Club Chicago and you'll find people socializing, stretching into yoga postures or knitting.

The community center spirit anchors the club, a haven for anyone touched by cancer and for their friends and families. It's a place to escape, free of charge, from the loneliness and frustration that cancer often brings.

Become a member and get acquainted with Gilda's Club on Chicago's North Side at the 10th anniversary potluck on Feb. 15.

"It's a great resource," said LauraJane Hyde, chief executive director of Gilda's Club Chicago. "Physicians don't automatically refer to us."

But word has gotten out. The Chicago club includes 5,400 members and over 50,000 members belong to the 30 clubhouses across the nation and Canada.

Gilda's Club is able to offer its services for free thanks to individual donations, grants and corporate contributions, Hyde said.

The club commemorates comedian Gilda Radner, an original cast member of Saturday Night Live who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. Her husband, Gene Wilder, friends and one of her physicians founded Gilda's Club.

"People who haven't been through it don't understand there has to be support," said Charles J., whose wife died of cancer in late 2007. "You come to a place where people understand. They speak my language, emotionally."

The Chicago club also offers Noogieland, an area where children from families dealing with cancer can play, read and make crafts.

Gilda's Club features a variety of classes such as yoga and knitting. A cosmetologist teaches a "Look Good, Feel Better" session each month for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation. The focus is on how to apply makeup, wrap scarves and do hair.

Christine S. is a new member and a bladder cancer survivor. After years in an abusive marriage that she finally broke off, she has no health insurance. Even with a graduate degree from Harvard in landscape architecture, she is struggling to find a job and get on her feet, she said.

"There are many moments where I need a safety net, I need hugs, I need coffee, I need art classes," said Christine, who enjoys painting. "I can't wait to paint."

Christine added that many of the people around her don't understand how cancer changes a person. Even those closest to her tell her to "get over it". She said Gilda's Club gives her contact with people who share similar experiences she can relate to.

Gilda's Club hosts the 10th anniversary potluck from 6-8 p.m., Feb. 15, at 537 N. Wells St. Free club membership is required to attend. For more information on Gilda's Club Chicago, call 312-464-9900 or visit http://www.gildasclubchicago.org/.

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Only two restaurant groups in Chicago are certified by the Green Restaurant Association, a nonprofit environmental certification organization -- Sopraffina, which has five downtown locations, and the Blue Water Grill, at 520 N. Dearborn St.Often, restaurant owners who make the most effective changes have personal reasons for wanting to go green.

"I learned the lesson from my mother," said Dan Rosenthal, president of The Rosenthal Group, which owns Sopraffina.Rosenthal's mother, who lives in Florida, works to save the loggerhead turtles. Rosenthal said that while he was visiting her, he saw a turtle try to eat a plastic bag, thinking it was a jellyfish. The experience made him realize the environmental impact of all the plastic bags his restaurants threw away, he said.

Many restaurants throughout the Chicago area have taken steps to become more environmentally friendly, but when a restaurant claims to be "green," that can mean any number of things.

For some, it is a public relations move, tapping into the fact that consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious. For others, it is a genuine effort to reduce human impact on the environment. But making that distinction can be difficult for a casual diner.

One way to check whether your favorite "green" restaurant is really green is to find out if it is certified, said Michael Oshman, executive director and founder of the Green Restaurant Association.

Since applying for certification last April, Sopraffina restaurants have become 90 percent waste-free. They installed faucet aerators to reduce water waste, implemented a complete recycling program and are switching to light bulbs that use less energy. In addition, all of their disposables - such as plastic bags and cups - have been converted to biodegradable corn-based replacements.

As a result of the change, Rosenthal says the trash bill for the 222 W. Adams St. location has dropped from $800 to about $200. While the higher cost of biodegradable products has offset some of the savings, he said there has been a net decrease in costs.

The Blue Water Grill likewise has a complete recycling program, faucet aerators and biodegradable products. Sixty percent of their wines are made using sustainable farming methods and about 22 percent are organic, according to Charles Przybylinski, director of operations. Also, their chicken and salmon are organic and a lot of the produce comes from local farmers and the Green City Market, he said.

The cleaning products Blue Water Grill uses now are often more expensive than their traditional counterparts, but the cost is coming down, Przybylinski said. The cost will continue to decline as more businesses switch to sustainable materials, he added.

In the meantime, he said it's worth the extra cost - both for customers and for businesses.

For certification, the GRA requires restaurants to sign a five-year contract, commit to being Styrofoam-free and start a comprehensive recycling program. They must also implement four changes per year to decrease their environmental impact.

"Every restaurant starts on board at a different level," Oshman said. "There's no cookie-cutter system." When helping restaurants toward certification, the GRA does a comprehensive review, looking at bills, interviewing employees and checking the product numbers of disposable packaging. This way, the GRA helps identify what needs to be done and then make the changes.

Certification is not the only way to tell if a restaurant is making an effort to be green. The Chicago-based Environmental Law Policy Center works with restaurants throughout the Midwest.

"When we started the project, we ordered take-out to see what kind of containers the food was put in and it was an outrageous amount of disposable products that came with it," said Jill Geiger, communications director for the center.

"If you choose biodegradable and you use fewer napkins and plates, that will have a huge impact on your budget and also on the environment," Geiger said.

All GRA certified restaurants are listed at www.dinegreen.com, and the ELPC keeps a partial list of other green restaurants at www.greenrestaurants.org.