Earth Day: Yesterday, Today - All to Preserve Our Futures

On April 22 the world will be celebrating the 48^th anniversary of Earth Day.  Earth day is a day the world turns its’ attention to the importance of our environment and the challenges it faces. It’s a day where organizers all over the world coordinate events which shine a light on certain environmental issues and propose ways how we can make the necessary changes to make the Earth a cleaner and healthier place for all living creatures including the earth, herself.

As far back as the late 1800s, conservationists celebrated Arbor Day (April 27^th) and Bird Day (May 4^th) which support forestation conservation and nature appreciation, respectively. They were the first efforts to help educate the general public about the need for environmental conservation.  A watershed moment came in the early 1960’s with the success of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring which was the first book to shine the light on the use of pesticides and the effects they had on nature. By the late sixties, there was a groundswell of activists and environmentalists who realized our environment was being trashed and official policy changes would be needed. In 1969, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara killed 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals and sea lions – further catalyzing the need for governmental change and regulation.

The seeds were planted in 1969

The National UNESCO Conference met in October 1969 and environmentalist/activist John McConnell proposed a holiday focusing on the Earth's life and beauty as well as to advance peace. He also wanted it to be a day of educating people about the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life on Earth depends. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin agreed saying, “We have but one earth, so we need to take care of her”; declaring April 22, 1970 as the first Earth Day ever.  There were smaller celebrations before there was an official proclaimed date. Many choosing to celebrate Earth Day on the first day of spring. They would gather to ring the Japanese Peace Bell at the United Nations at the first moment of the vernal equinox. Bells would ring at this time all over the world.

But organizers of Earth Day wanted to be able to make the biggest impact and maximize participation on college campuses and March 12st was too close to spring break, mid-terms, and the religious holidays of Passover and Easter. So they opted to choose April 22^nd which was close to the birthday the “Father of the National Parks” naturalist, environmentalist, John Muir who birthday is April 21 which the National Parks Department had been celebrating for years already.

Interestingly, there were some citizens and government officials believed the event to be some sort of communist act of sorts since the event coincidentally  coincided with the 100^th anniversary of Vladmir Lenin’s birthday.  The FBI reportedly conducted surveillance at the first Earth Day event send agents to various demonstrations being held that day. A woman from the Daughters of the American Revolution was quoted in a New York Times articles as saying, “subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that’s good for them.” God forbid anybody to that! Geez.  You see, it wasn’t just that it was Lenin’s birthday but also the fact that Lenin would institute subbotnik which were mandatory days of unpaid work on weekends where citizens cleaned up neighborhoods. As Lenin’s power grew he employed subbotnicks throughout the USSR and other countries under Soviet control.

The first Earth Day celebration was focused in New York City where with the blessing of Mayor Lindsey Fifth Avenue closed down to traffic. Organizers knew this was the best place to start since the big 3 networks, the New York Times and Newsweek were also all located in New York which was important to organizers to have easy access to media and vice versa. Remember this way before the days of the internet and getting the word out to the public not as easy as a Tweet or Facebook post these days. There were estimated to have over 20,000 people at this first event at any given time and a total over 100,000 over the course of the day. It marked the first time in history that environmentalists had the nationwide platform to get their message out of public and government officials to do more to protect our planet. It was a national day of education for Americans about our environmental issues the country was facing at the time.

As a result of Earth Day, policy changes lead to the passing of the Clean Air Act of 1970 which marked a major shift in the government’s role in controlling air pollution and by December 2, 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was started.  The single agency would encompass responsibilities covering federal research and monitoring, standard setting and enforcement of policies set to ensure the protection of our environment.  Major changes to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, through sweeping amendments were also passed in 1972 making the law better known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), all as a direct result of the formation of Earth Day.

By 1990, the celebration had blossomed, growing to 200 million people and went international for the first time with events held in 41 countries. There were two separate groups formed that sponsored the Earth Day events that year: the Earth Day 20 Foundation and Earth Day 1990. Disagreements between the organizers lead to the why two separate groups were formed.  Earth Day 20 organized a climb of Mount Everest that year. Jim Whittaker, the first American to ever summit Everest years earlier, climbed roped together with climbers from the Soviet Union and China – a first in climbing history.  With the help of multitude of support teams, they cleaned up 2 tons of garbage that have been left behind by previous climbers over the years.  Two tons of garbage on Everest – even the highest mountain in the world is not safe from human litterers.

Earth Day 2000 marked the first time organizers used the internet and featured a drum chain that travel to villages in Gabon, Africa. The focus that year was global warming and clean energy and hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington sending a loud and clear message that we want and need change.

Earth Day 2010 faced similar challenges as were faced in 1970. A divided environmental community didn’t help matters but the Earth Day Network managed to bring 250,000 people to a rally at the National Mall. They also launched – A Billion Acts of Green, the world’s largest service project which is a global tree planting initiative, known today at The Canopy Project.

Celebrated by a billion people all over the world, Earth Day has truly become a celebration of our planet. A day mankind takes action that changes policy and behavior. 2018, we will focus our attention on Earth Day on Ending Plastic Pollution. In a nutshell here’s the problem and if you look around your house, you’ll quickly realized why; there is way too much plastic in our world and it’s not a good thing. 

Do you know your plastic footprint?  

You can figure it out by clicking this link to the Earth Day 2018 Plastic Footprint Calculator.  Do you understand why too much plastic is harmful to our environment? Let’s start there, why it’s so harmful.  First off, plastic is made from refined oil and natural gas, so that right there is doing destructive things to our environment. When it was first invented in 1907 by Belgian-born American, Leo Hendrik Baekeland it was a game changer. So useful, it was used and still is in everything from sealing up and preserving food in great little containers to being used in cars, furniture, building materials and electronics. Initially everyone just saw the benefits and didn’t take into consideration its un-biodegradable nature. Diamonds may be forever, but so is plastic.

Plastics are the most littered item in the world. It’s the hope of organizers this Earth Day 2018 to shed a light on this environmental worldwide issue in hopes of reducing the use of plastics. There are 9.1 billion tons of plastic produced to date. 6.9 billion tons becomes waste which left in dumps and landfills – That waste isn’t going anywhere folks! They estimate it will be 13.2 billion tons by 2020 if we continue at current rates. Product packaging is the number cause for the dramatic increases accounting for 42% of non-fiber plastic products in 2015 alone. Making up of 59% of the plastics discarded that year.

What can we do to celebrate and acknowledge Earth Day in our lives? Well for one thing simply learning a little about the problem can help a lot. When people understand what the problem is and why it’s happening, they are usually readier to make the changes needed and are more willing participants in that change.  Change is difficult and breaking old habits is hard. Since plastic is the one the main focuses this year on Earth Day, I plead to make a more conscious effort to lower and minimize our plastic footprint. Hopefully, new legislation on the Hill will open up new avenues for more sustainable alternatives, such as the use of hemp-based products which could replace a lot of plastics and is much more environmentally friendly.

Bein' Green - Living Green

Kermit used to struggle with "Bein' Green" and many Americans, as well as others around the world today struggle with 'living green'.  Our society has been accustomed to throwing things away - after all it sometimes feels like takes more effort to recycle.

Three years ago I bought a Toyota Highlander Hybrid in an effort to try to be more 'green' and not use so much gas etc... Gas prices were rising and I felt I had to do something. What I didn't know was that I have to make sure the car is started at least every 3-4 days, otherwise the battery will die. WHAT????!!! Unfortunately I learned this the hard way, after buying the car and upon returning home from a 7 day vacation to discover that my car which was only 10 days old was dead.  It was later explained to me by the guys in the parts department that if I leave on vacation I need to hook the car up to a trickle charger. WHAT???!!!! Back up the truck - I have to do what?? My car is a 2009 and back then - three long years ago which in technology terms might as well be decades - they didn't just plug right in like a golf cart does and some cars now like the Chevy Volt. I have to lift the hood and attached jumper cables directly to the battery and then plug into an outlet.  I hate having to deal with my car, especially the battery.  I accidentally touched the two cables together once and received quite a jolt. Thus my very warranted fear.

Anyway what does this have to do with gardening? Nothing accept to demonstrate that in order to be green - I had to do things differently and start thinking differently. Some consider this extra work and are so accustomed to instant gratification that the change needed isn't worth their added time.  Gardening teaches patience, there is no rushing Mother Nature - after all, my generation was taught not to fool with Mother Nature.

I am a child of the '70's and I remember when the country renewed it's efforts during the tough economic times of oil crisis to "reduce, reuse & recycle". That's initially when my mother introduced me to vegetable gardening.  Recycling wasn't a new concept however in our country's short history, as there were many efforts to reuse and recycle things throughout time particularly during war time.  Mankind for centuries has been collecting and melting down scrap metals for re-purposing. Yet in 2013 we still seem to struggle with "reducing, reusing & recycling" in our daily lives.  Sure more cities and municipalities have made great efforts providing recycling bins in subways and on city streets. But the laws regarding recycling vary from state to state and make things complicated for households.

I have and continue to try to recycle over the years but it can be very challenging to keep up with at times. I have a wonderful area for our household trash - it's in a corner cabinet - which helps out at least in setting up an organizational system. Growing up my mother had a similar cabinet but her cabinet has a two-tiered lazy-Susan where she would store canned goods. However, when I was picking out my kitchen accessories I opted for a three trash bin system which hides nicely in the corner cabinet.  I see from the my cabinet's manufacturer website their newer system has four- bins.

It's neat and tidy and also keeps the dogs out the trash for the most part and worked wonderfully as long as I was the only one throwing out the garbage.  But as the children grew older and started to throw things away for themselves, although they knew the system didn't always adhere by it and their friends, well, let's just say no one seems to bother to look before they throw something away.  This would lead to everything being tossed with the non-recyclable trash that and impossible to sort out at times.  Then I even purchased a fourth bin which sits out in the kitchen which was marked 5¢ Refund Only on the lid hoping that everyone would get a clue if at least the cans were no where near the other trash.  This has been more effective recently with about a 10% error ratio when my son's friends are over.

Recently we have been composting and I found that again - in order to be successful - I needed to figure out a system.  We had already set up our composter outside which I discuss in my November 10, 2012 post Homegrown Harvest: Composting: The Making of Black Gold: Mix, Mash, Moisture, Move: The Four M's of Composting but I found initially I had to think first before I threw things away, also how or where was I going to collect the scraps for the composter while in the kitchen.  What was I going to do - run clear across the house and out the side door to our composter every time I had a contribution? I don't think so. I knew I needed a containment system for the kitchen and took to reading a number of people's recommendations on blogs and websites etc...I  was at the pet store when I stumbled upon the perfect bin. It's not too big, but not too little measuring 15" tall and holds 16 quarts and has a secure lid. This is important in my house with four dogs roaming around plus it helps contain the smell and start the composting process.

After a few weeks I added a small cup by the coffee maker so we can easily dump out coffee grounds and tea leaves and simply dump it into the mini composter bin when it's full. That reduces the number of times we have to open the lid because once you have a few wonderful compost-able scraps like orange peels, egg shells, some dryer lint, edamame shells and more you have quite the odoriferous brew going in there.  I like the size of this bin since it's not too big, it doesn't get to heavy and makes shaking the contents around easy and can be walked to the compost just as easily without breaking your back.  The kids are adapting to the idea of composting and although my daughter doesn't want to smell what's in there she will leave her clementine peels in a bowl on the counter near-by for me to throw it out. Baby-steps - it beats her simply throwing them out and having me fish them out of the trash.

Everyday, I work on new ways to continue to make recycling an easier part of our lives. As long as it takes to break a habit - it takes just as long to form a new one, at least the good ones.  I look forward to the seeing our compost supply build and will be equally excited to use the beautiful Black Gold in our garden this summer!

If you have had any experiences with recycling or composting, please leave a comment. I love to collect new and different ideas on how to "Reduce, Reuse & Recycle".







 

Composting: The Making of Black Gold

Mix, Mash, Moisture, Move: The Four M's of Composting

Compost is an important ingredient in every garden. They call it Black Gold because what it can do for your plants is priceless.  People think that composting has to be difficult - but it doesn't. People have a way of over-complicating things.  First off to make things clear let's define the word compost. According to Merriam-Webster, the noun compost is a mixture that consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing and conditioning land. But it's also a transitive verb meaning to convert (as plant debris) to compost. So composting makes compost and compost is again? Oh yeah, decayed organic matter -well that explains that!
Let's see what else we can find from the Concise Encyclopedia on compost: 

"Mass of rotted organic matter made from decomposed plant material. It is used in agriculture and gardening generally to improve soil structure rather than as a fertilizer, because it is low in plant nutrients. When properly prepared, it is free of obnoxious odors."

Well that is concise mouthful so let's break it down.  

The mass of rotted organic matter

Green matter for composting

In order to make your compost balanced you want to remember not to use just one or two items but many different items so you can have a balanced compost.   The "rotted organic matter" you want to collect are easy to remember if you break it down into two groups: brown matter and green matter.  Brown matter consist of things are hard and dry and provide carbon into the mix. Green matter consists of things are moist and wet and provide nitrogen.  
Brown Materials include: shredded newspaper, cardboard (non-waxed), dried leaves, brown bags, small amounts of sawdust, eggshells, pine needles, tea bags, corn cobs, straw and wood prunings. No single brown item should make up more than 10% of your entire mixture.  You can also use fresh manures from rabbits, horses, goats and chicken unless you want to have a vegan compost.   Green items include: vegetables, fruit, seaweed, kelp, plant cuttings, garden weeds and trimmings, and apple cores, etc.
No single green item should make up more than 20% of your entire mixture.  If you plan on using grass clipping, you have to dry them out first, otherwise you will have a stinky, icky mess on your hands.
No-no items include meat scraps, bakery products, seeds and fruit pits, dairy products, grease, whole eggs, cheese and oily things like peanut butter, mayonnaise and lettuce leaves with salad dressing on them nor can you use table scraps from dinner.  No pet food or pet litter and keep the large branches out as well, unless you can chop it up.
Some other things which you may not realize you can use include things like hair and pet fur, feathers, dryer lint, wood ashes, paper towel, the tubes from toilet paper and paper towels.
Ultimately while collecting these materials and composting them you want to strive for a 3:1 ratio of Brown:Green aka Carbon:Nitrogen ratio.

 

Brown Matter like wood chips and bark

Properly Prepared

An important thing in composting is mashing your ingredients into small bits. The smaller the better as it will help speed up the decomposition process.  Things like dried leaves can be run over with a lawn mower to make them smaller.  Moisture is very important as well. You are striving for a damp mixture not too wet or too dry either. Finally you must keep turning your pile, always towards the center of the pile where its the hottest and moistest part of the mixture. That's where all the good stuff happens in the decomposition process.

What else?

Composting can take some time , but the more you mix and mash, the quicker the process can be. Also having a certain amount of mass will help to expedite the process as well.  When you add new things to the mix be sure to mix it in well.  Think of it was making a meatloaf or a cake.  You need to be sure all the ingredients get mixed well together each time you add something new.

Composting pit

Where and how you choose to compost is a personal choice.  There are a lot of different methods, like barrels which can be rolled or containers with handles which can be turned. But a simple 3 x 3 or 4 x 4 area is all you need - anything bigger would be ineffective and actually hinder the process.  You can build your own compost pit easily with some wood or brick. You can even use the black garbage bag method, but that can be a rather stinky process and tends to use only one ingredient.  If you do this just be sure to add other composted blends to your compost mixture before you add it to the garden so it is well balanced.

Is there anything else?

One of the most challenging parts about composting can be collecting the materials.  Separating things out doesn't always come naturally to folks.   Especially if you have teenagers or children running about who find using a garbage can challenging. That may be just my kids.  Anyway, I find that having a can especially designated for the compost heap helpful.  Clearly mark it, maybe select a different color bin altogether.  If you have any ideas in this area, I would love to hear about them. If you're on Twitter send me a message @HomeharvestCT or simply leave a comment on this blog.  

Composting is a fabulous way of helping to reduce our waste and is such a valuable ingredient for our gardens.  Happy composting everyone!