I am often asked why people should compost.  My general answer has been because it is better for the environment and then I usually say something about how organic materials do not break down well in landfills.  My attempt to find a better answer to this great question led me to the book Garbage Land written by Elizabeth Royte.  I want to first disclose that while I made my way through the majority of the book, I was unable to finish it before it was due to return to the library.  I will however share with you what I was able to learn from my limited reading.  Care to hear?  Well, to get your mouth watering, your mind turning, and your hands eager to make change I present you with a brief (and by no means thorough) list of reasons WHY:

1. Limited Space:  So, when your garbage leaves your possession–as it does with your neighbors and their neighbors…–it eventually makes it way (after a few stops) to a landfill.  Now the current system encourages the public towards an out of sight, out of mind approach to garbage.  Sanitation workers come by weekly to remove garbage from our presence and after that occurs we no longer have to think about it, and because we do not have to, we don’t.  For this reason we have no comprehension of the vast amount of garbage we individually and collectively create.  We have, as a group, become disconnected from the waste process. Let us try to get reconnected. To do so we must think.  1.  If everyone produces as much or more waste as you do AND 2.  All that waste gets put in landfills AND 3.  We know that even organic matter will not break down in your lifetime or even in many lifetimes (The book goes over why organic material doesn’t break down in landfills.  It basically has to do with the vacuum that landfills create, keeping out oxygen, a necessary component of decomposition) AND 4.  There is a limited amount of land space then, what is going to happen?  We will run out of room and the out of sight, out of mind mentality will no longer be a possibility or our means of disposal will need to be more creative.  This leads me to the next reason….
2. Poor neighborhoods get stuck (or are paid to get stuck with) the stink.  So, it turns out that not everyone has the luxury of not being impacted by garbage.  Once, it gets put in the bin and placed on the curb it becomes public property.  Yet, it does not become the burden of all.  It often becomes the burden of those already marginalized and/or in need of financial assistance.
3. Large amount of gas is used as fuel-inefficient sanitation vehicles transport increasing amounts of material (garbage).
4. Fossil fuels are used to make fertilizer when compost could be used.  5.5 gallons/acre of land (p. 125)
5. Organic material gets mixed with toxic material and goes from having the potential of being nutrient rich soil (see #4) to being polluted by toxic substances that are also being deposited in the landfill (such as, that bottle of nail polish remover you threw out).  In some cases, depending on the design of the landfill, apples have been found intact decades after finding a “resting place” in a landfill.
6. AND….my contribution to The List…..the cycle of life.  This is not to be taken lightly, especially given the fact that it has existed since life on Earth began.  A perfect example of this is the Amazon Rainforest whose rich biodiversity depends on the “life –> death –> decomposition –> life” cycle.  (A side note:  the soil of the Amazon Rainforest independent of this cycle is actually not all that nutrient rich.  When parts of the Amazon Rainforest are clear cut for timber and/or cattle ranches within a few years the soil is becomes dry, depleted of nutrients, and thus no longer is able to produce much vegetation.)

There you have it.  A few reasons to begin composting your organic waste, as well as incentive to decrease the amount of overall waste you produce.

As for Garbage Land, I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.  Be aware (but not discouraged) that this is no easy book to process as it is packed with information–history, research, studies, interviews, book references, etc., but Royte does a applaudable job presenting it in an interesting manner.

The Bees:

Since the cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is still being debated by bee keepers, researchers, and scientists we unfortunately can do little to help with the solution.  However, we do know when these kind of crises occur, it is always the small scale operations that are hit the hardest.

So, what can you do?  Support small, local bee keepers by purchasing their products.

The Birds:

We do know the causes (and there are quite a few) of the sharp decline of common backyard birds and fortunately we are able to still act to help.  The best overall resource is the National Audubon Society.  They are a terrific organization that has been around in one form or another since the 1800’s.  This is a list of things you can do straight from their site:

Protect Local Habitat
Join local Audubon Chapters and other groups to protect and restore habitats close to home. Audubon’s Important Bird Areas program offers opportunities to save critical bird habitat, from small land parcels to broad landscapes.

Promote Sound Agricultural Policy
This has enormous impact on grassland birds and habitat. Promoting strong conservation provisions in the federal Farm Bill and Conservation Reserve Program can help to protect millions of acres of vital habitat.

Support Sustainable Forests
The Boreal Forest in the Northern U.S. and Canada is essential breeding territory for many species of birds. Federal and state legislations promoting sustainable forest management will help fight habitat loss from inappropriate logging, mining, and drilling.

Protect Wetlands
Support for local, state and federal wetlands conservation programs is essential to protect a wide array of species. Learn more.

Fight Global Warming
Declining birds populations is just one impact of global warming’s mounting threat to people and wildlife around the world. Individual energy conservation along with strong federal, state, and local legislation to cap greenhouse emissions can help to curb its worst consequences. Learn more.

Combat Invasive Species
Invasive non-native species disrupt the delicate ecological balance that sustains birds and other wildlife. Federal, regional, state, and local regulations are needed to combat this growing environmental threat. Learn more. The Audubon At Home program also offers tips for supporting birds with native plants.

The Audubon Society also has a page called Healthy Yard.  It is a great interactive picture that allows you to hover over aspects of it, such as the bird feeder and click through to find out more information, such as:

In the United States, 54 million people FEED BIRDS around their home. Tens of thousands participate in citizen science projects, conducting bird censuses in their own backyards to help ornithologists track population trends.

I found it very accessible and helpful.  It is also a great activity that you can do with your kids and then together you can pick a project to work on.  Encouraging your kids to be informed and be a part of the solution empowers them and teaches them to be actively involved in the world.  If you are looking for more birding activities to do with your children, the Audobon Society has a space on their site dedicated to children’s education.

In addition to/with emphasis on here are my own tips to keeping those crazy birds around:

1. Condensed urban living is the way to go to combat urban sprawl.  The less land we bulldoze, cover with cement, lots of houses, and perfectly manicured lawns the better.
2. SHARE.  Whether you live in a house or an apartment transform your yard or the area surrounding your apartment into a healthy living space for birds and other animals (again I will point you to Audubon’s Healthy Yard).  Remember that much of being a good steward and being a part of a healthy ecosystem means having biological diversity within our shared space.  It is not OK or healthy to move into a habitat once occupied by many species and transforming it into a controlled and sterile environment.  So, make room for the birds and other creatures.  We can have our space and they theirs.
3. Do a little research on what birds are native to your area (look online or check a book out of the library).  They buy or make a bird feeder filled with food for those birds.  It is important that you keep your bird full of clean food.  Birds will come to depend on this food, especially in the winter, so please keep it stocked.  Also, do not feed birds moldy bread or seeds, this will make birds sick when they eat it and try to get or make a squirrel proof feeder.  As a side note, if you do the research of birds in your area with your kids they can begin to look out for those birds.  Encourage them to draw the birds, their feathers, the eggs, what kind of nests they have, and even what they eat.  Some kids may even want to keep a journal recording their bird encounters.

A few resources:

Books

Feeding Our Feathered Friends by Dean T. Spaulding

The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible by Sally Roth

Make Your Own Bird Houses and Feeders by Robyn Haus

Sites

Important Bird Areas Program

Audubon At Home

The Crafty Crow: Feed the Birds and Wild Bird Treats

Mongabay

Birds in Backyards

Mary’s View

Make and Craft have a lot of tutorials on making your own bird feeder

Build A Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder for Under $10

There is a weird rabbit guy at the Farmer’s Market and by weird rabbit guy I mean, the guy who sells honey that has the Flemish Giant rabbit. I have heard so much about this rabbit and I have never even bought honey from the guy or even gone up to his stand to peruse his goods.  I love honey, especially local honey, but I so d.r.e.a.d. getting stuck in a conversation about his giant rabbit that I am completely deterred from approaching his stand.  Thus, it was to my surprise that last Sunday as I was walking through the market the sound of his voice caused me to slow my steps (yet, despite my curiosity, habit would not allow me to bring myself to a full halt).

It was the content of his words that caught my attention?

What in fact caught my attention was that his voice which carried farther than one might hope was talking not about his rabbit, but about bees.  The sentence that almost-stopped-me-in-my-tracks-but-not-quite was, “In the past two years I have lost $91,000 worth of bees.”

What is causing the disappearance of bees?  Have you heard this question being asked?  Sitting here at 1am, the question has the feel of a Steven King movie.  Unfortunately though, it is true.  The bees are disappearing and so are backyard birds though not necessarily for the same reasons.

The bees first:

The disappearance of bees is officially called colony collapse disorder (CCD).  The peculiarity behind this phenomenon is that bee researchers don’t know what has happened to the bees, although there has been speculation that it is the result of pathogens.  However, the only known is that colonies are abandoning their hives and disappearing, leaving no trace of dead bees anywhere.  In this process the adults are leaving the hives, while the queen bee and a few younger bees in the pupa stage are left behind.  To add another puzzling clue to the mystery is the fact that no pests or other bees are invading the hives affected by CCD.  Bee losses are between 30-60% on the West Coast, while on the East Coast and in Texas there are losses of up to 70%.

The loss of honey bees does not only present problems for our honey supply.  Honey bees are a vital part of our ecosystem, particularly as pollinators.  Without bees to pollinate fruit crops we can have no fruit.  According to the USDA about 1 out of every 3 bites we consume is dependent upon honey bees for pollination.  In addition to the foundational loss of honey and food that we rely on, the structure within which those products are traded will also be negatively impacted.  Unfortunately, the decline of honey bees will cause the global economy to suffer.  While honey bees are not completely gone, the $14 billion worth of seeds and crops pollinated by honey bees annually in the United States alone will certainly be affected.

Some possible causes of the disappearance of honey bees are: pesticides, stress put on the bees by a shorter off-season, stress of having their colonies transported across the country, mites, insecticides, or a yet unidentified pathogens.

The Birds:

Audubon’s unprecedented analysis of forty years of citizen-science bird population data from our own Christmas Bird Count plus the Breeding Bird Survey reveals the alarming decline of many of our most common and beloved birds.

Since 1967 the average population of the common birds in steepest decline has fallen by 68 percent; some individual species nose-dived as much as 80 percent. All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least half their populations in just four decades.  National Audubon Society

Some of the reasons that are thought to be causing the decline in a wide range of common backyard birds are:

• urban sprawl: the habitats of these birds (grasslands, forests, and wetlands) are being destroyed as an increasing amount of vegetation is destroyed and replaced with homes, non-indigenous landscaping, strip malls, parking lots, highways, and energy development.  The ecosystem that these birds once thrived in has been transformed, in no time at all, into an inhospitable environment.
• Climate Change: climate change is changing the seasonal calendar.  The internal clocks of the birds have not been notified of this shift.  Thus, if Winter lasts a couple weeks or a month longer than they biologically anticipated then the birds and their chicks are unable to sustain themselves without the nourishment provided by Spring.  Additionally, in some northern climates:

Greater Scaup and other tundra-breeding birds are succumbing to dramatic changes to their breeding habitat as the permafrost melts earlier and more temperate predators move north in a likely response to global warming. Boreal forest birds like the Boreal Chickadee face deforestation from increased insect outbreaks and fire, as well as excessive logging, drilling, and mining.

• Intensification of Agriculture: farming in general has a negative impact on animals, including birds, as land is stripped in order to grow crops and again, as tractors sweep through to harvest.  As the demand for food rises with the growing population more land is needed to grow food.  Although all farming has its animal casualties, industrialized farming is especially harmful.  The single production of crops has a negative impact on the ecosystem as it limits biodiversity.  Additionally, the enormous quantities of pesticides and herbicides that are used in this form of farming are devasting to the life surrounding the farm.  Birds (and other animals) will invariably ingest these toxins which are incredibly harmful to their health and life.

I was asked in response to my post yesterday to provide some suggestions as to what some of the best/worst companies to support are with regard to fair trade or to provide a resource.  Co-op America’s Repsonsible Shopper is probably the best resource that I can point you to.  It allows you to search for companies and get information about their environmental and social track record.  It is not a comprehensive list, but they are always adding new companies to their directory. Gap (this includes Old Navy and Banana Republic), Wal-Mart are some of the most notoriously bad companies as far as fair trade practices go.  Gap has repeated accounts of terrible working conditions overseas, including employing children as young as 10 years old in their sweatshops.  Some of the biggest complaints against Wal-Mart involve its treatment of workers in America.  According to reports, thousands of their employees are underpayed and rely on government assistance to meet their basic needs.  Nike is another traditionally bad company to support, however, they have been making a concerted effort to change their overseas labor practices. They recently have been more transparent about the locations of their factories and are being independently monitored.

Co-op America also has a great article on sweat shop free clothing.

Here is a list of some basic tips:

1. Buy local.  Not only does this support your local economy, but you get to know the person creating the product and you can ask them as many questions as you like about their practices.  This goes for anything from food to clothing.  The clothing will more than likely be more expensive because it is handmade, but it guarantees that the product that wasn’t made in a sweatshop.  Etsy is a fun site to check out for handmade goods.
2. Buy used products.  Go to a thrift store or local consignment shop and look around.  You will find some great deals.
3. Research the companies you are buying from.
4. Look for a UNITE label.

It is important to note that none of these can guarantee that the entire product was made in a fair trade facility.  Most products are assembled from pieces made all over the world and a Made in America label could mean that only the finishing touches were put on in America (like buttons).  However, following these guidelines is still important.  It is just not a perfect solution to the social justice issues of labor practices.

Here are a few more helpful resources in your search for responsible shopping:

No Sweat Apparel

Co-op America’s National Green Pages

Green Home’s Products Page

Fair Green Trade

The Green Earth Directory

Finally, I would like to leave you with an interesting article on Portland, OR, a city that is attempting to go sweatshop free.

Apple unveiled it’s new campaign to promote it’s new line of laptop computers. They call it the greenest notebook Apple has ever created. They have also released their Environmental Report for 2008 which outlines and gives environmental information about their products and facilities.

Some highlights about the new line of MacBooks and MacBook Pro laptops (information provided by Apple).

• Arsenic-free glass
• Mercury-free LED-backlit display
• Brominated flame retardant-free internal components
• PVC-free internal cables
• Highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure
• Up to 41 percent smaller packaging

Apple has taken a lot of heat over it’s environmental practices in the past. A couple of years ago they pledged to remove PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from all of their products by the end of 2008. CEO Steve Jobs says that they are on track to meet their goals.

It’s pretty cool when a company that has as much attention and mindshare as Apple makes these claims and then meets the goals they’ve laid out. This, along with many other reasons, is why our household is committed to buying Apple products.

The Seattle City Council approved a proposal (by a 6-1 margin) that will charge shoppers 20 cents for each plastic shopping bag they use. This is great news. The fee will go into effect in January.

Opponents of this proposal have said that it taxes those who cannot afford to purchase reusable bags. So to alleviate that cost, the city of Seattle will distribute reusable paper bags to all residents, also giving lower income residents additional bags to use.

The council also passed a ban on plastic foam food containers that is a two-phase project. The first phase will address take out containers and it will take effect in January as well. Restaurants will not be allowed to use plastic foam in their takeout containers. The second phase will take effect July 2010 and focuses on all plastic food containers and utensils. Businesses will be able to use only recyclable or biodegradable products for their food containers.

I’m glad to see that our city is taking steps to reduce the unnecessary waste produced by convenience. If you live in a place that is using plastic bags and you feel like you want to make changes to that, Bring Your Own Bag is a great organization that is fighting for that. They also recently posted to their blog specifically addressing the situation in North America.

In June Co-op America and Clean Edge Inc. released an assessment of the potential of solar energy in the next fifty years entitled Utility Solar Assessment Study. The 75 page report is detailed enough to include data and evidence to support it’s claims while refraining from being written in a dry, unengaging fashion.

The report’s analysis includes a general introduction to solar energy, including CSP (concentrated solar power), PV (Photovoltaics) technology and the electric utility industry. The report goes on to give a comparison of projected solar energy costs per megawatt with fossil fuel costs. I found this section especially intriguing because the solar cost projections given here, which are based on progressions in similar computer technology and the annuals decreases in solar energy costs in the last 20 years, are what will inevitably draw electric utilities toward major solar investments. Solar Utility investment as well as updating an aging, one way electrical grid are the greatest obstacles that stand in the way of major U.S. solar development according to solar energy experts. Presently, .1% of U.S. energy consumption is produced from solar energy, but Co-op America and Clean Edge Inc believe that this could reach 10% by 2025 if solar energy continues to grow at a rate of 40% each year as it has for the last decade. It’s an excellent report and I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in solar energy.

So I just finished “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. What a good book. It talks about their year spent on their farm in Virginia as “locavores”, that is people who are committed to eating locally. In their case, they planned on planting produce as well as raising livestock.

The story is woven beautifully by the very accomplished Kingsolver (author of the highly recommended but never read “Poisonwood Bible”). But the best thing about the book is the approachable way that she, and her family, discuss their reasons along with their results. A lot of their experiences and information that they report in the book has inspired me and influenced me.

Since Mollie began volunteering at Erewhon Farm, she and I have become increasingly interested in local and organic food. Mollie has really spurred me to think about where our food comes from and why it’s important. Recently we’ve watched some documentaries, read articles and books, it’s very clear that what we eat matters to our bodies, our communities, our economy and our planet.

I plan on writing a series of posts about food, why it matters and small changes we can all make to improve our diets, strengthen our communities and care for our planet.

Sorry I have been gone for a bit. School is a total time sucker and in attempting to continue to live a simple life I must choose to give up some activities that I enjoy doing. Since spending time with my hubbo and sleeping will not be sacrificed (not even to school no matter how hard it tries to weasel its way in), my blogging cannot be as regular as I would like it to be. Unfortunately this will continue to be the case until I GRADUATE, which will be in DECEMBER!!!!

However, I did want to share with you an awesome find. Nordstrom is now selling Holistia Organic cotton underwear. It is so soft and comes is simple solid colors as well as some funky designs (most of which they unfortunately don’t picture on their site). The one down side is that when I was in the store I read the Ethical Fashion tag and interpreted it as Ethical labor practices. I wasn’t until I was in the middle of writing this post that I realized that it just talking about the environmental practices. So, it isn’t perfect but it is a step in the right direction, especially since cotton is the number one pesticide crop.

I’m happy to say that our hometown Seattle Mariners are doing their part in efforts to take responsibility for the carbon emissions related to their operations. This takes into account travel (for teams, umpires, fans and all people involved), electrical and natural gas resources used in operating the stadium, and all waste produced from the game.

To celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday the Mariners are going to partner with Cedar Grove Composting to stage the first ever carbon neutral Major League Baseball game. To accomplish this, the Mariners are going to purchase carbon offsets from NativeEnergy to account for the 230 short tons of carbon-dioxide produced at a Major League Baseball game.

As we all know carbon offsets are not the answer. Well, the Mariners agree with that too. Mariners chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln says., “we know that just buying carbon offsets isn’t enough”. The Mariners lead the charge in sustainability and conservation in Major League Baseball. They’re one of two teams who composts their food waste. They compost about 100 tons of food waste per season. Last year alone the Mariners recycled “342 tons of plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, cans and glass”. They have also made steps to reduce their consumption of electricity and natural gas (18 and 36 percent respectively).

Apparently there are also going to be many local and national organizations on hand to provide information about conservation and environmental responsibility. We won’t be able to make it to the game on Tuesday, but would love to hear about it from anyone who does make it out to the ball game.