Green Options

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Looking for ways beyond changing lightbulbs and taking the train to help reduce your carbon footprint? Turns out we all could make a big difference in greenhouse gas emissions by not throwing out so much trash and composting our food waste.

That’s the message from “Stop Trashing the Climate,” a report prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.’s 417 coal-fired power plants.

As I strolled through the Great Hall at Navy Pier a few weeks ago, trying out samples of raw carob cookies from Karyn’s, a raw/vegan restaurant here in Chicago, I thought that I had died and gone to green heaven.

Crowds of people were walking and riding their bikes to the biggest green celebration to hit my city every year, and I just could not get enough of the samples of vegan food, the representatives from green non-profits explaining what they do, and the friendly green business owners promoting their products.

Yet the Green Festival has its detractors. Some people say it is not green enough, others say that just the idea of a green trade show is hypocritical. After all, how can an event that burns fuel to promote the environment really be good for the Earth? Here are the five things about the Green Festival that I think are truly, remarkably green (and one issue that still needs a lot of work).

In a move that had many residents bewildered, the Raleigh, North Carolina, city council voted to ban garbage disposals in all new construction and to prohibit residents from replacing broken garbage disposals. The ordinance, which took effect this week, has its roots in over 100 large sewage spillovers in the last three years within the city of Raleigh. The cost of such cleanups and the threatened fines from state agencies forced the council to implement the ban. What’s the connection between garbage disposals and sewage spillovers? Grease. The city’s sewage system builds up with grease until the pipes need to be cleaned out with a special truck - or a spillover occurs. Reduce the amount of food and grease going down kitchen sinks, so the Raleigh city council believes, and you reduce the costly cleanups.

The Garbage Can died yesterday. Not really. But, what if? Could we get by? Or, would our waste fill our streets once again, as it did in the days of the industrial revolution?

We’d get by.

We’d get by with recycling (every house, city, state, and country would HAVE to) and composting.

It’s encouraging, of course, how much we hear of the former. Everyone is aware of the importance of recycling (coupled with the need to purchase goods made from recycled materials). But composting?! That’s just for gardener(d)s!

However, if we all recycled our food scraps some very fundamental changes would take place. First, we’d create less waste. Second, we’d have a home-made fertilizer better for our lawns, plants, trees, and veggies which is better than any chemical fertilizer ever created. Third, we’d once again have nutrient-rich soil (good for us, and for future generations). I’ll stop there and take a second to quote superstar writer and gardener, Michael Pollan (from his book Second Nature) on the benefits of compost:

1. Compost improves the soils “structure”. Compost helps “airy crumbs” of clay, sand, and silt form and be held together by humic acid–creating “ideal” conditions for plant-life to grow.
2. Compost increases the soil’s waterholding capacity. One hundred pounds of humus (the main constituent of compost) can hold one hundred and ninety pounds of water! Therefore, requiring less watering, and plants grown in it will better withstand drought.
3. Compost teems with microorganisms, which break down organic matter in the soil into the basic elements the plants need.
4. Compost contains nearly every chemical plants need to grow, including such elements as boron, manganese, iron, copper, and zinc, not often found in commercial fertilizer. Compost thus returns to the soil a high proportion of things agriculture takes out of it.

How does the city of San Carlos, California, show it’s love for a citizen who recycles, composts or Craigslists everything, bringing his household waste down to zero: definitely, not by giving him a Valentine’s Day card.

Image courtesy of user Gengiskanhg at Wikimedia Commons.

Editor’s note: This week, Celsias writer Jessica Gottlieb takes a look at some of the practical aspects of incorporating green practices into a household’s routine. Is it easy? Not always. Is it worth it? Definitely! This post was originally published on September 25, 2007.

Yes? No? Maybe so?

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