"My whole life has been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God's presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that let's you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first compost heap." - Bette Midler
I missed my journal entry for last week, but I am so glad that I waited because I came across something today that I wanted to discuss. I found another blog with an environmental theme (from the UK):
http://resource-efficiency.blogspot.com/
There was an entry from last March titled "Compost - A Rotten Idea". I was intrigued and not just because I work as a compost technician, but because I am always curious about different perspectives on things. I love when something makes me go, "Wow, I never thought about it like that." I feel like having this kind of epiphany in the past has allowed me to broaden my horizons and learn so much more; there is such power in open-mindedness. Unfortunately, this article did not make feel more open, it did however make me want to pull my hair out and scream in frustration (a very mature reaction if I do say so myself). As the title suggests, the entry is about why composting is a bad idea. It pains me to know that there are people out there who feel that way and I honestly feel it is because they are misinformed, but who am I to judge?
Composting is such a great way to keep organics out of landfills (due to the anaerobic conditions in landfills organics produce the very potent greenhouse gas methane) and it is just a really amazing process. It fascinates me that there are billions of microorganisms at work (completely invisible to the human eye without a microscope) in a compost pile and they can turn my apple core into earthy soil that I can use in my garden. If you have a garden that has poor quality, compost can be used to to help rejuvenate it (just google composting for tips on how to actually do this and why it works). Large scale compost operations can handle organic wastes and their contaminants very easily, plus they produce compost on a much larger scale. Compost operations are subject to certain regulations to ensure their compost is good quality, so it can be used in community betterment projects, for erosion control, and for farmland regeneration. I am trying to be unbiased here, but I am just not convinced there is a better (more environmentally friendly or efficient) way to handle this type of waste.
One of my goals for the year, is to reduce the amount of waste I produce and that includes compostable waste. I am very happy though that there is an environmentally friendly way to deal with the organic waste I do produce.
Here are a couple of things I will be doing (and hope you will too!):
1) Reducing organic wastes by using as many of my food scraps as possible
- I use the material produced in my juicer to make muffins. Have you ever had a lemon,
cucumber, apple, carrot, orange muffin? So yummy!
- I save the scraps from chopping vegetables, like carrot greens and celery tops (I just
put them in a bowl in the freezer) and use them to make soup stock
2) Purchasing soil blends for my garden and potted plants that contain compost
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Litter Bug
"There aren't many things that are universally cool, and it's cool not to litter. I'd never do it." - Matthew McConaughey
(this was seriously the only quote that I could find regarding littering. It may not have been said in the most eloquent way, but it is true nonetheless)
I witnessed the most horrifying act today (perhaps I am being a little dramatic, but still!) - I was driving behind a silver Buick on my way home from work and as we pulled up to a stop sign I saw the driver roll down the window and throw out a Tim Horton's cup! I was so mad that I made a mental note of the time and licence plate number as if I could report it to someone. There is some sort of bylaw against littering in Halifax (not that I ever saw it enforced), but I wonder if a similar law exists in rural Ontario? It just makes me so sad to see garbage lining the edges of rural roads that navigate between beautiful farmers' fields. And do people seriously still litter? I think I learned not to litter before I could talk. It is just so disrespectful to the environment and to your community. It actually disgusts me to see someone litter. A note to my future boyfriends - do not let me catch you littering (or being rude to waitstaff ;) ) because it will be over very quickly!
Another thing that horrifies me is the amount of oil that goes into producing plastic bottles (not to mention the amount that is consumed to transport these bottles around the globe). To quote my Go Green calendar directly, "The Earth Policy Institute estimates that it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the plastic water bottles Americans use each year, 77 percent of which end up in the landfill." (Check out http://www.earth-policy.org/ for more information). There is a lot of controversy surrounding plastic bottles - some say that plastic bottles leach harmful chemicals into the water and some say that bottled water is just tap water. I do not know if these statements are true, but what I can say is that in my house plastic water bottles make up a large proportion of our recyclables and I would guess this is true for many other families. One of my goals for the year is to reduce the amount of waste I produce and that includes reducing the amount of recyclables. The ultimate goal would be to produce zero waste. I usually have a reusuable bottle with me, but I have to admit that I am guilty of using the odd plastic water bottle. No more plastic water bottles for me - I will let you know how it goes.
I want to end with a thank you note to a former lab partner from Dalhousie. He offered me some grocery store advice via email, which I used this week with great success. He suggested bringing resusuable containers to the grocery store for meat products to avoid the excess packaging. The people may give you a weird look at first, but it is totally worth it. Great tip, thanks!
(this was seriously the only quote that I could find regarding littering. It may not have been said in the most eloquent way, but it is true nonetheless)
I witnessed the most horrifying act today (perhaps I am being a little dramatic, but still!) - I was driving behind a silver Buick on my way home from work and as we pulled up to a stop sign I saw the driver roll down the window and throw out a Tim Horton's cup! I was so mad that I made a mental note of the time and licence plate number as if I could report it to someone. There is some sort of bylaw against littering in Halifax (not that I ever saw it enforced), but I wonder if a similar law exists in rural Ontario? It just makes me so sad to see garbage lining the edges of rural roads that navigate between beautiful farmers' fields. And do people seriously still litter? I think I learned not to litter before I could talk. It is just so disrespectful to the environment and to your community. It actually disgusts me to see someone litter. A note to my future boyfriends - do not let me catch you littering (or being rude to waitstaff ;) ) because it will be over very quickly!
Another thing that horrifies me is the amount of oil that goes into producing plastic bottles (not to mention the amount that is consumed to transport these bottles around the globe). To quote my Go Green calendar directly, "The Earth Policy Institute estimates that it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the plastic water bottles Americans use each year, 77 percent of which end up in the landfill." (Check out http://www.earth-policy.org/ for more information). There is a lot of controversy surrounding plastic bottles - some say that plastic bottles leach harmful chemicals into the water and some say that bottled water is just tap water. I do not know if these statements are true, but what I can say is that in my house plastic water bottles make up a large proportion of our recyclables and I would guess this is true for many other families. One of my goals for the year is to reduce the amount of waste I produce and that includes reducing the amount of recyclables. The ultimate goal would be to produce zero waste. I usually have a reusuable bottle with me, but I have to admit that I am guilty of using the odd plastic water bottle. No more plastic water bottles for me - I will let you know how it goes.
I want to end with a thank you note to a former lab partner from Dalhousie. He offered me some grocery store advice via email, which I used this week with great success. He suggested bringing resusuable containers to the grocery store for meat products to avoid the excess packaging. The people may give you a weird look at first, but it is totally worth it. Great tip, thanks!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Train
"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come." - Chinese Proverb
I am not exactly sure how this quote fits in with my entry for today, but it was Tuesday's thought on my Go Green calendar, so I felt it necessary to share.
I made some progress with preparing a lunch and thus reducing the amount of garbage produced from all my takeout containers. I made one out of five lunches this week. Okay, so that was a pathetic attempt and I can definitely do better. I am going to start by resisting the attempt to justify my bad behaviour, something I have realized I have become a pro at.
Something I had better success at this week, was using public transit. I took the train to visit a friend in Hamilton this weekend rather than drive my car, which I have put way too many kilometres on since I bought her in June (yes, I am one of those people who names inanimate objects. My metallic slate G5 is known as Miss Monroe or Marilyn for short). In the last year I have driven from Ontario to Newfoundland, where I spent eight months before making the long drive back to Ontario and I now drive more than 500 kilometres per week for work alone, so needless to say I have grown very tired of driving. This all led me back to public transit that I used so often in my university days. The best part about taking the train beyond the environmental benefit is the lack of focus it requires. I was able to close my eyes, get lost in the world of Bella from the Twilight saga, and people watch at my leisure. I could also safely eat my yogurt on route, although I am not entirely positive it is acceptable to eat on the Go train. I figured it was okay considering the fact that a rowdy group of 30 something year old men were drinking beer (which I am pretty sure is illegal) to prepare for the sporting event they were about to see. The funny part was seeing the face of the lady sitting next to the washroom as each of the men failed to close the door after they finished. They were oblivious to her disgust even as she slammed the door after each one of them. This is something I would have missed had I driven my car.
We went for sushi in Hamilton and I felt a slight twinge of regret when I overheard one of the sushi chefs telling another patron that the delicious salmon sushi I enjoyed had come all the way from Scotland. I plan to explore the issue of responsible seafood eating as the year progresses. For anyone who wants to get started now, go to http://www.oceansalive.org/ (you can print out a handy wallet card that helps you decide which seafood choices are the most sustainable).
Other than the sushi incident, I was so elated by the travel experience that I have resolved to take the train or bus whenever possible. I will try to keep track of the amount of emissions I reduce this year by using public transit.
In addition to using public transit, I also used only reusable bags for groceries and shopping and brought a travel mug everywhere I went. I begin this new week on a green high and I will try to carry that with me as I once continue to reduce packaging waste by preparing lunches and follow the suggestions of my Go Green calendar. My personal goal for the week is to read the first step in the Gorgeously Green plan. Wish me luck.
I am not exactly sure how this quote fits in with my entry for today, but it was Tuesday's thought on my Go Green calendar, so I felt it necessary to share.
I made some progress with preparing a lunch and thus reducing the amount of garbage produced from all my takeout containers. I made one out of five lunches this week. Okay, so that was a pathetic attempt and I can definitely do better. I am going to start by resisting the attempt to justify my bad behaviour, something I have realized I have become a pro at.
Something I had better success at this week, was using public transit. I took the train to visit a friend in Hamilton this weekend rather than drive my car, which I have put way too many kilometres on since I bought her in June (yes, I am one of those people who names inanimate objects. My metallic slate G5 is known as Miss Monroe or Marilyn for short). In the last year I have driven from Ontario to Newfoundland, where I spent eight months before making the long drive back to Ontario and I now drive more than 500 kilometres per week for work alone, so needless to say I have grown very tired of driving. This all led me back to public transit that I used so often in my university days. The best part about taking the train beyond the environmental benefit is the lack of focus it requires. I was able to close my eyes, get lost in the world of Bella from the Twilight saga, and people watch at my leisure. I could also safely eat my yogurt on route, although I am not entirely positive it is acceptable to eat on the Go train. I figured it was okay considering the fact that a rowdy group of 30 something year old men were drinking beer (which I am pretty sure is illegal) to prepare for the sporting event they were about to see. The funny part was seeing the face of the lady sitting next to the washroom as each of the men failed to close the door after they finished. They were oblivious to her disgust even as she slammed the door after each one of them. This is something I would have missed had I driven my car.
We went for sushi in Hamilton and I felt a slight twinge of regret when I overheard one of the sushi chefs telling another patron that the delicious salmon sushi I enjoyed had come all the way from Scotland. I plan to explore the issue of responsible seafood eating as the year progresses. For anyone who wants to get started now, go to http://www.oceansalive.org/ (you can print out a handy wallet card that helps you decide which seafood choices are the most sustainable).
Other than the sushi incident, I was so elated by the travel experience that I have resolved to take the train or bus whenever possible. I will try to keep track of the amount of emissions I reduce this year by using public transit.
In addition to using public transit, I also used only reusable bags for groceries and shopping and brought a travel mug everywhere I went. I begin this new week on a green high and I will try to carry that with me as I once continue to reduce packaging waste by preparing lunches and follow the suggestions of my Go Green calendar. My personal goal for the week is to read the first step in the Gorgeously Green plan. Wish me luck.
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