Any devotees of rotisserie-style fantasy sports leagues out there? You know, the online games where nerdy statsaholics hold a "draft" of baseball or football players and then "manage" their teams through the straits of a competition based on the real-world performance of their players?

Well, when you've climbed to the pinnacle of this noble practice -- when you've drafted perfectly balanced teams and then guided them to glory  with a sure hand -- an even more difficult challenge lies ahead:

Fantasy sanitation commissioner.

Yes, the Gotham Gazette -- which has to be the top spot on the web for wonky news about New York City politics and policy -- has released an online "game" that takes the player through the decisions, both micro and macro, that determine the overall environmental footprint of the billions of pounds of garbage that New Yorkers collectively produce each year.

I enclose "game" in quotes because playing it isn't exactly a rip-snorting good time. But I learned a lot -- I freely admit to being the kind of guy who has to consult the cartoon trash bins on the "NYC Recycles" sticker every single time I'm at the trash cans, just to make sure I'm doing it right. (It really shouldn't be so hard to remember, but for some reason I just can't remember what plastics can/can't be recycled, etc.)

The Garbage Game takes you from the decisions we all make about what to do at home to minimize waste and pollution, and some simple things to do that can actually turn certain kinds of trash to the city's advantage. And then the game takes you through the big citywide picture, looking at the options New York (and by extension any other city, too!) has in transporting, processing, reusing, and even converting (into energy) its waste stream.

All in all, a great exercise. Any help I can get in being mindful about the materials I pick up and use, eat, whatever -- where these goods come from, and where they're going when I'm done with them -- is a good thing in my book. Helps me feel more of the connective tissue that weaves me into the living universe, that weaves us all together.

The Gazette has also posted a long article with more background on solid-waste policy and best practices in the City. And here's the little badge you get -- to embed in your website or blog -- after you finish the game:

I played The Gotham Gazette Garbage Game and sent 1,897,871 tons of refuse across 13,643,091 miles.