By CALEIGH WELLS, Associated Press

The pollution from food is sneaky. Because the apple sitting on your kitchen counter isn’t really causing any harm.

But chances are good that you didn’t pick it from a tree in your backyard. It required land and water to grow, machines to harvest and process, packaging to ship, trucks to transport and often refrigerators to store. Much of that process releases planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

That’s why the global food system makes up roughly a third of worldwide, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EDGAR FOOD pollution database.

Meanwhile, roughly a third of the U.S. food supply is lost or wasted without being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It might never get harvested, it might spoil in transit or the grocery store might reject it for being the wrong size or color. That’s a big reason why some consumers are looking for less-wasteful alternatives ranging from farmers markets to delivery services for produce that didn’t meet supermarket size or appearance standards.

“There’s a whole breadth of opportunities to purchase food,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, food systems adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

And during the week of Thanksgiving, this decision is especially high stakes because lots of grocery shoppers are buying for extra guests, and more food can mean a bigger climate impact.

Here are tips for reducing impact by shopping beyond the grocery store.

The community supported agriculture box

Jane Kolodinsky, professor emerita at the University of Vermont and director of research at Arrowleaf Consulting, has bought her produce directly from a local farmer for 30 years.

It’s called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. At the beginning of every harvest season, Kolodinsky pays that farm a fee. Then, once per week, she picks up a box of produce at the farm. Some CSA programs pick the produce, while others let you customize. Some deliver. An online database shows which farms participate in CSA programs.

Since the food is grown nearby, there is less processing and packaging. “There’s a smaller carbon footprint for purchasing locally compared to global or national food distribution channels,” said Van Soelen Kim. “When they’re local, they’re traveling less distance, so less gas, less fuel.”

Local farmers are also likely to grow whatever works best for the area’s climate and season. “When things are in season, they need less storage time, so less electricity for cold storage,” said Van Soelen Kim, who added that can also mean a smaller food bill.

It’s not pollution-free, because the crops still require land and water, and the food does travel some distance. But CSAs avoid many steps in the modern food supply chain.

That model is challenging for consumers who want to maintain the same shopping list year-round. Shopping in-season requires more flexibility. “I would encourage consumers to think, ’OK, year-round we want some hand fruit that’s firm,’” she said. “So maybe it’s apples, and then it’s pears, and then its gonna move to kiwis, and then is gonna move to pluots.”

And in colder regions, she said there is still local produce. It’s just more likely to be dried, frozen or canned.

FILE – Customers browse farmer’s market displays in Union Square, Jan. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)

The farmers market

Kolodinsky said the oldest alternative food system is the farmers market, where vendors gather and sell directly to consumers. Growers also sell at farm stands that aren’t tied to a centralized, scheduled event.

Farmers markets allow consumers more flexibility to pick the produce than a typical CSA. They also offer seasonal produce and less packaging and processing than a grocery store. Many also accept payment associated with government food assistance programs.

Plus, these models cut down on waste because customers are more tolerant of produce that’s not a uniform size and shape, said Timothy Woods, a University of Kentucky agribusiness professor.

“It doesn’t matter to me if one cucumber’s a couple inches longer than the other one,” he said. “Less waste means more efficient utilization of all the resources that farmers are putting out to produce that crop in the first place.”

FILE – Shiitake mushrooms are displayed at the stand of a farmer who sells “ugly” produce at a discount at a farmers’ market in San Francisco, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

Other delivery services

Farmers who sell to grocery stores typically have to meet high standards, Woods said. For example, there could be onions that never got big enough or the carrot that grew two roots — vegetables that are just as safe and tasty to eat. There’s also surplus harvest.

“They will intentionally not pick certain melons that are undersized out in the field. And so you’ll have gleaning programs that will be people that are saying, ‘Those are perfectly good cantaloupe that are out there. We’ll send a team out there to pick those,’” said Woods.

He said services delivering food that doesn’t meet supermarket size or appearance requirements, such as Misfit Markets or Imperfect Produce, have become more popular in recent years.

Van Soelen Kim said there isn’t a lot of data yet on whether these services have a significantly lower climate impact. They reduce food waste, but the food might come from far away.

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Misfits Market refreshes its online selection weekly. Customers then fill a box of often discounted groceries that might have misprinted labels or are undersized or blemished. They are delivered via a company truck or third-party courier such as FedEx. The company’s founder and CEO, Abhi Ramesh, said it minimizes emissions by having set delivery days instead of offering on-demand delivery.

“By doing that, we batch all of our deliveries together. So it is one van to your ZIP code on that day. One truck that goes from our warehouse on that date,” he said.

Ramesh said sometimes a farmer’s market or CSA is even better at offering nearby seasonal food than his company. But for a lot of the country, those services go away when the harvest season ends. “And so your local grocery store, believe it or not, is still transporting that from California. But the difference is we’re able to go and transport the food waste piece, which reduces a ton of emissions.”

Woods’ advice for using services like Misfits Market is the same as other channels: Eat seasonally, eat locally and look for minimal packaging.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By LEAH WILLINGHAM, Associated Press

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — For the past several years, 75-year-old Miguel Laboy has smoked a joint with his coffee every morning. He tells himself he won’t start tomorrow the same way, but he usually does.

“You know what bothers me? To have cannabis on my mind the first thing in the morning,” he said, sparking a blunt in his Brookline, Massachusetts, apartment. “I’d like to get up one day and not smoke. But you see how that’s going.”

Since legalization and commercialization, daily cannabis use has become a defining — and often invisible — part of many people’s lives. High-potency vapes and concentrates now dominate the market, and doctors say they can blur the line between relief and dependence over time so that users don’t notice the shift. Across the country, people who turned to cannabis for help are finding it harder to put down.

Overall, alcohol remains more widely used than cannabis. But starting in 2022, the number of daily cannabis users in the U.S. surpassed that of daily drinkers — a major shift in American habits.

Researchers say the rise has unfolded alongside products that contain far more THC than the marijuana of past decades, including vape oils and concentrates that can reach 80% to 95% THC. Massachusetts, like most states, sets no limit on how strong these products can be.

Doctors warn that daily, high-potency use can cloud memory, disturb sleep, intensify anxiety or depression and trigger addiction in ways earlier generations didn’t encounter. Many who develop cannabis use disorder say it’s hard to recognize the signs because of the widespread belief that marijuana isn’t addictive. Because the consequences tend to creep in gradually — brain fog, irritability, dependence — users often miss when therapeutic use shifts into compulsion.

How a habit becomes an addiction

Laboy, a retired chef, began seeing a substance-use counselor after telling his doctor he felt depressed, unmotivated and increasingly isolated as his drinking and cannabis use escalated.

Naltrexone helped him quit alcohol, but he hasn’t found a way to quit marijuana. Unlike alcohol and opioids, there is no FDA-approved medication to treat cannabis addiction, though research is underway.

Laboy, who first smoked at 18, said marijuana has long soothed symptoms tied to undiagnosed ADHD, childhood trauma and painful experiences — including cancer treatment and his son’s death. Through decades in restaurant kitchens, he considered himself a “functional pothead.”

Lately, though, his use has become compulsive. After retiring, he began vaping 85% THC cartridges.

“These days, I carry two things in my hands: my vape and my cellular — that’s it,” he said. “I’m not proud of it, but it’s the reality.”

Cannabis eases his anxiety and “settles his spirit,” but he’s noticed it affects his concentration. He hopes to learn to read music, but sustaining focus at the piano has grown difficult.

He’s seen an addiction psychiatrist for six months, but he hasn’t been able to cut back. The medical system doesn’t seem equipped to help, he said.

“They’re not ready yet,” Laboy said. “I go to them for help, but all they say is, ‘Try to smoke less.’ I already know that — that’s why I’m there.”

Younger users describe a similar slide — one that begins with relief and ends somewhere harder to define.

Kyle, a college student, smokes cannabis out of a bong, Oct. 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Brain fog becomes ‘your new normal’

Kyle, a 20-year-old Boston University student, says cannabis helps him manage panic attacks he’s had since high school. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he buys cannabis illegally.

In the Allston apartment he shares with fraternity brothers, they have a communal bong.

When he’s high, Kyle feels calm — and able to process anxious thoughts and feel a sense of gratitude. But that clarity has become harder to reach when he’s sober.

“I think I was able to do that better a year ago,” he said. “Now I can only do it when I’m high, which is scary.”

He said the brain fog and feeling of detachment develop so gradually they become “your new normal.” Some mornings, he wakes up feeling like an observer in his own life, struggling to recall the day before. “It can be tough to wake up and go, ‘Oh my God, who am I?’” he said.

Still, he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

Kyle says cannabis helps him function — more than seeking professional treatment would. Doctors say that ambivalence is common: many people feel cannabis is both the problem and the solution.

A dream turns into a nightmare

Anne Hassel spent a month in jail and a year on probation for growing cannabis in the 1980s. She cried when Massachusetts’ first dispensaries opened — and left her physical therapy career to get a job at one.

Within a year, though, “my dream job turned into a nightmare,” she said.

Hassel, 58, said some consultants pushed staff to promote high-potency concentrates as “more medicinal,” downplaying their risks. After trying her first dab — a nearly instantaneous, “stupefying” high — she began using 90% THC concentrate several times a day.

Her use quickly became debilitating, she said. She lost interest in things she once loved, like mountain biking. One autumn day, she drove to the woods and turned back without getting out. “I just wanted to go to my friend’s house and dab,” she said. “I hated myself.”

She didn’t seek formal treatment but recovered with the help of a friend. Riding her green motorcycle — once named “Sativa” after her favorite strain — has helped her reconnect to her body and spirit.

“People don’t want to acknowledge what’s going on because legalization was tied to social justice,” she said. “You get swept up in it and don’t recognize the harm until it’s too late.”

Community for those who want to leave

Online, that realization unfolds daily on r/leaves, a Reddit community of more than 380,000 people trying to cut back or quit.

Users describe a similar push-pull — craving the calm cannabis brings, then feeling trapped by the fog. Some write about isolation and regret, saying years of smoking dulled their ambition and presence in relationships. Others post pleas for help from work or doctors’ offices.

Together, they paint a portrait of dependence that is quiet and routine — and difficult to escape.

“When people talk about legalizing a drug, they’re really talking about commercializing it,” said Dave Bushnell, who founded the Reddit group. “We’ve built an industry optimized to sell as much as possible.”

A customer holds a gram of cannabis purchased from a dispensary on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

What doctors want people to know

Dr. Jordan Tishler, a former emergency physician who now treats medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts, said low doses of THC paired with high doses of CBD can help some patients with anxiety. Many products have high levels of THC, which can worsen symptoms, he said.

“It’s a medicine,” he said. “It can be useful, but it can also be dangerous — and access without guidance is dangerous.”

Dr. Kevin Hill, an addiction director at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who specializes in cannabis use disorder, said the biggest gap is education, among both consumers and clinicians.

“I think adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else,” but many users don’t understand the risks, Hill said.

He said the conversation shouldn’t be about prohibition but about balance and informed decision-making. “For most people, the risks outweigh the benefits.”

By Brooke Baitinger, The Sacramento Bee

Dreaming of a relaxing vacation with breathtaking views?

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One of the world’s best resorts is in California, according to Condé Nast Traveler.

The publication recently announced the winners of its 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards for the top hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines and more.

Readers cast more than 757,000 votes in the annual survey, Condé Nast Traveler said.

The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe in Truckee, California, was No. 28 on Condé Nast Traveler’s list of the top 50 resorts in the world.

The five-star hotel also nabbed the title of the No. 1 best resort in Northern California.

In an Instagram post in October, Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, said it was “proud” of both achievements.

What makes Lake Tahoe resort one of world’s best?

“The skiing is fantastic” at Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, Condé Nast Traveler said, and “the location can’t be beat.”

The hotel, which opened in 2009, has about 170 rooms and suites with ample access to nature.

“Ski valets carry guests’ gear and escort them to the slopes,” Condé Nast Traveler said.

“Rooms in modern woodsy colors have dark-brown leather armchairs, floor-to-ceiling windows, gas fireplaces and private balconies with views of the mountain and Martis Valley,” the publication said.

The hotel offers several dining options for guests — including Manzanita, which serves up “French-inspired California cuisine” and “delicious” breakfast offerings including burritos, egg sandwiches and fresh pastries.

In addition to “legendary skiing” and “a rejuvenating slopeside spa,” Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe offers boating, hiking and golfing in the warmer months, the resort said on its website.

What are the top 10 resorts in the world?

According to Condé Nast Traveler, the top 10 hotels around the globe in 2025 were:

1. Como Uma Ubud in Bali, Indonesia

2. Wilderness DumaTau in Linyanti, Botswana

3. Alila Jabal Akhdar in Jabal Akhdar, Oman

4. Waldorf Astoria Park City in Park City, Utah

5. Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, in Riviera Maya, Mexico

6. Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in Trancoso, Brazil

7. JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa in Khao Lak, Thailand

8. Paws Up Montana in Greenough, Montana

9. Baoase Luxury Resort in Willemstad, Curaçao

10. Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Thailand

©2025 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Amy Nicholson, Mark Olsen, Joshua Rothkopf, Josh Rottenberg and Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — It wouldn’t be an awards season without a few last-minute gifts under the tree, set to sweep the table clear. This year, those include everything from Timothée Chalamet’s cosmic ping-pong epic “Marty Supreme” to a new “Avatar” sequel from James Cameron, whom we’ve learned to never count out on Oscar night. We’re also looking forward to the kind of dumb counterprogramming that Christmas miracles are built on. A new “Anaconda” awaits, a prospect that can’t be ignored. Leave room in your movie diet for candy that’s semi-bad for you. One can’t feast on tearjerkers alone.

‘Hamnet’ (Nov. 26)

Jessie Buckley, left, and Paul Mescal in “Hamnet.” (Focus Features/Entertainment Pictures ZUMA PRESS/TNS)

Since its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, Chloé Zhao’s aching story of love and loss has won audience awards at festivals around the world: London, San Diego, Toronto, Spain. If Telluride had such a prize, it would have won there too as it left moviegoers openly weeping as they waited in line for the restrooms afterward. Perhaps the prospect of this kind of emotional devastation gives you pause. Would it help if I told you that the first part of the movie, detailing the courtship of a young Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) in love, is primal and electric? And that Jessie Buckley, playing the Bard’s future wife, is so extraordinary that she’ll go on to win more honors than the movie itself? Just go see it. There’s no better place to cry than in the darkness of a movie theater. — Glenn Whipp

‘The Secret Agent’ (Nov. 26)

This Brazilian import by director Kleber Mendonça Filho killed us at Cannes. It’s the kind of zippy, immersive crime thriller that reminds you of the international lingua franca that Scorsese all but invented with “Goodfellas.” As the country’s ’70s-era military dictatorship wreaks havoc, decent people privately put up a complex resistance over years. The real reason you need to see this one is Wagner Moura, who you may have noticed in “Civil War” and Netflix’s “Narcos,” but who here makes a persuasive bid to join the highest echelon of leading men: furious, impassioned and haunted by a backstory conveyed with a minimum of means. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ (Dec. 5)

More rampaging animatronic puppets? Yes, please. If you think we’re kidding, slow your roll: The first one, which we didn’t hate, understood the ominous, moldering potential of a kiddie restaurant gone to seed. And with a cast that includes Josh Hutcherson, Mckenna Grace and a mini-“Scream” reunion in Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich, the horror faithful should line up for a second helping of trauma. Breathe in this factoid for a second: The first “Freddy” is far and away Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie, more than “Get Out” or “M3GAN,” by $120 million. People like this franchise. You could too. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair’ (Dec. 5)

The recent craze for revivals and rereleases has spurred something many fans have long clamored to see: Quentin Tarantino’s complete “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.” While the film was broken up into two parts for its original release, this new assembly combines the two versions (with a few tweaks) to fully convey the wild genre mash-up of Tarantino’s original vision. In its tale of a woman fighting her way through a list of people who wronged her on the way to the man who betrayed her, “The Whole Bloody Affair” makes Uma Thurman’s performance even more impressive as she slashes her way toward revenge, redemption and an unlikely grace. — Mark Olsen

‘Ella McCay’ (Dec. 12)

James L. Brooks is one of Hollywood’s great humanists — and Lord knows we need those more than ever. Fifteen years since releasing his previous film “How Do You Know,” the “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment” writer-director returns with a political comedy set in the Obama era about an idealistic lieutenant governor (Emma Mackey) thrust into the power seat when her mentor, played by Albert Brooks, heads to Washington. With a stacked cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Hall and Kumail Nanjiani, “Ella McCay” promises to deliver what this filmmaker does best: funny, clear-eyed storytelling about the quiet heroism of trying (and sometimes failing) to do the right thing. — Josh Rottenberg

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‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ (Dec. 19)

After 2009’s “Avatar” reprogrammed the blockbuster, James Cameron showed no signs of coming up for air. Second sequel “Fire and Ash” plunges Jake and Neytiri into fresh conflict as their family faces down a ruthless Na’vi clan known as the Ash People. With Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet returning, this third installment promises a darker, more emotional turn and another leap in visual ambition. And with two more sequels already in the works, Cameron seems determined to outlast not just his critics, but possibly civilization itself. — Josh Rottenberg

‘The Housemaid’ (Dec. 19)

Paul Feig’s flair for crowd-pleasers about catty women has been tilting from comedy to thriller ever since the cult success of 2018’s “A Simple Favor.” He’s a good pick to direct this adaptation of Freida McFadden’s dark and pleasingly pulpy bestseller about a maid who moves into a family’s posh home and makes a major mess. All eyes will be on Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried playing, respectively, a damaged servant and her new boss, but I’m curious to get a longer look at the star potential of Brandon Sklenar (“It Ends With Us,”“Drop”), who is emerging as a leading man. — Amy Nicholson

‘Is This Thing On?’ (Dec. 19)

Bradley Cooper’s two previous efforts as director — “A Star Is Born” and“Maestro” — had the air of purposeful masterworks, looking to make bold, sweeping statements about life and art. For his latest film, “Is This Thing On?,” there’s the feeling of a step-back, an attempt to make something smaller, simpler and looser while no less emotionally committed. Will Arnett shows previously unexplored dramatic depths as a man who, in the free-fall of an impending divorce, undertakes stand-up comedy as a therapeutic release. The result is a tender, bittersweet ballad to anyone who feels they may not be fully over yet, especially when indications say otherwise. — Mark Olsen

‘Anaconda’ (Dec. 25)

Even if you have fond memories of the ultra-silly 1997 original and the four official sequels it shed, it’s a fair bet you don’t remember any plot details. Nor do you need to. Big snake. People getting chomped. That’s it. To go a step further, this meta-comedy reboot will almost certainly be a lot smarter than what’s come before. Two middle-aged friends — Paul Rudd and Jack Black (recapturing his gleam-in-the-eye mania from “School of Rock”) — decide to remake their favorite guilty ’90s pleasure as a no-budget indie flick. After their snake handler’s docile specimen has an onset mishap, the real thing slithers into view. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Marty Supreme’ (Dec. 25)

Timothée Chalamet learned guitar to play Bob Dylan in last year’s “A Complete Unknown.” That’s impressive, but I’m more eager to see his pingpong skills in Josh Safdie’s biopic loosely based on 1958 men’s singles table tennis champion Marty “The Needle” Reisman, who flipped the script on Theodore Roosevelt by speaking loudly with a very small paddle. The buzz is that Chalamet has been coached by former American Olympian Wei Wang and that “Marty Supreme” might be the all-too-rare Oscar contender that’s game to take a big swing. As a bonus, it’s got one of my favorite rising starlets, Odessa A’zion. — Amy Nicholson

‘No Other Choice’ (Dec. 25)

A longtime passion project for filmmaker Park Chan-wook, this adaptation of a 1997 Donald Westlake novel somehow feels up-to-the-minute timely. Dedicated Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), a veteran employee at a paper company, loses his job following a corporate buyout and struggles to find work that will provide for his family. Out of desperation, he plans to kill off any competitors for a promising new job he’s interviewing for. In part thanks to the lead performance by “Squid Game” star Lee, there is a warmth and charm to go along with Park’s exacting craft and formalism in this vicious satire of the zero-sum mindset of current economies. — Mark Olsen

‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ (Dec. 25)

This is a genuinely strange movie, but that’s the vibe you want from a film that tackles the life of the founder of the Shakers religious sect, doing so in the form of a musical, complete with songs (more like chants) and dances that pulsate with whirling-dervish fervor. Amanda Seyfried gives it her all playing the title character, the real-life leader of a movement devoted to gender equality and sexual abstinence. It’s directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with her partner Brady Corbet, making this something of a supplement to “The Brutalist” (including both films’ Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg). You’ll learn a lot about the Shakers and maybe not enough about Ann Lee beyond her zealotry. But the herky-jerky song-and-dance sequences are wild, a potent reminder that America has long been the land of the free and the home of the rave. — Glenn Whipp

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.