flomiller’s Recent Comments

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  grass versus grain

  Trampling may well be a significant localized issue, and the environmental effects of grazing will vary according to farmers' management practices, but feeding cattle grain instead of grass is vastly more consequential in terms of climate change. Even if the grain is grown organically, there's the energy put into growing, processing and distributing it.On USDA aims to tighten grazing standards for organic cows posted 12 months ago 6 Responses

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  methane and landfills

  In the EU, they are trying to phase out allowing compostable materials in landfills by 2020 -- and my impression was that this is because the methane those organic  materials release when they decompose anaerobically in the landfills is several times more potent as a greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide they emit when decomposing in a compost pile.

  But while I get that intellectually and it does motivate ME to compost, I don't expect my neighbors to care. So I tell people the truth, which is that the thing I like most about composting is that my smelly food waste doesn't sit in my trash can, stinking up my kitchen, until I take the trash out -- where it makes my big trash can outside smell. It goes into the compost bin at the end of the day and I forget about it. No more smelly rubbish! Hooray. (Admittedly, this is more true if you don't eat much meat, since you can't really compost meat and bones in most home compost piles.)

  One other thing I like about composting is that since I started doing it (and recycling), my husband and I only produce one to two bags of trash a month. That means we only have to pay for trash pickup once a month -- and since the trash doesn't smell, there's no harm in it sitting around for a while outside in our trash can.  

  And FINALLY, when you are producing your own compost, you can, of course, put it on your garden, saving money on fertilizers (should you be tempted to use them) or store-bought compost.

  Ah, the wonders of compost.On Umbra on compost and climate posted 1 year ago 13 Responses