Composting To Make The World A Better Place

It's amazing - ever since we started to compost, we literally only need to change our garbage bag once a week!
But not only that, looking into compost and what it does for the planet, it turns out that composting is the most effective way to improve our soil’s well being. In addition, new research indicates three years of applying compost on farm fields can reduce the long-term need for fertilizer and may reduce phosphorus and nitrogen runoff.
Watch this 2-minute trailer of the movie Dirt to get an idea:



If you live in an apartment building and can't start your own compost pile, don't get discouraged.
We are in the same situation and just asked neighbors and friends. At the moment, we bring our scrapes to my son's preschool, they have a garden and a compost pile!

Also, in our community we have a wonderful green store, go lighty, and the owner just started a compost cooperative! She brings hosts (people who have a garden and compost) and members (people who want to compost but are unable where they live) together. What a wonderful thing to do, and it can be done anywhere! So why not start your own cooperative now :-)

My friend John from Vermont sent me an e-mail a while back with some interesting facts about composting in his state (I love that by the way - please keep sending me suggestions and information about anything environmental that you find interesting!):


David Healy from Stone Environmental Inc. came up with The Potential Food Scrap Generation Map which illustrates the estimated food scraps generated by town. The information for this map came from a project to provide information to support statewide composting efforts and to help in determining the feasibility of building a methane digester at Vermont Technical College. Food scraps when added to manure in a digester can boost the amount of methane generated by 80 percent.
Wow! Imagine if every state would do that!

There's a lot of information on the internet about composting. Here's just one link to an online compost guide.
Happy composting, and please let me know how you got started and how you're doing!