[Avodah] halakhot of ecology

[Eli Turkel]

With the emphasis on "pointless".  Remember that your criticism of
my position was that I'm "defining bal tashchis in a way such that
by definition no one would want to do it".  Once you agree that it's
only about pointless destruction then I think you've conceded my
position.  "Pointless" is simply another way of saying "something
that by definition no one would want to do"; if one has a reason to
want to do it, then by definition it isn't pointless.>>

The question is what you mean by "no one would want to do it"
We live in an era of plenty. If there is a little piece of the steak,
chicken or vegetables left then we throw it out.  In previous
generations it would have been saved.
At weddings especially smorgasbord people take huge portions
and most of it is thrown out.

R. Wosner has a teshuva in which he complains of the huge
amount of food thrown out after catered affairs. In fact in
Israel today there are organizations that collect the left overs
from several halls and distribute them to the poor.

Instead of Zev's comparison one could compare it to the halachot
of sheviit. There too one is not allowed to throw out usable
shemitta food. That is usually interped that one can throw out
small pieces of an orange attached to the peel but not a whole
section of the orange that one no longer wishes to eat.

In fact one the rabbanin in our town said that he uses the occasion
of shemitta to teach his family the value of food. One should only
put on one's plate what he reasonably thinks he can eat rather
than filling the plate and throwing out the leftovers

-- 
Eli Turkel